An encouraging start towards greater unity
September 16, 2009 at 9:59 am | In church, mission | Leave a CommentHow good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)
Monday evening I went to a prayer meeting called together by the pastor of International Church Leiden, my good friend Andy. It was aimed at getting as many local church leaders together as possible to pray together for the city. The premise was that if local leaders are praying together then we should start seeing some interesting things happen within the Church of Leiden as a whole.
Now ok, we didn’t get too much actual praying done, nor did we have very many church leaders turn up (2 actually, with three missionary workers), but nevertheless we did have a very encouraging meeting where the presence of God’s Spirit was evident. Indeed it is noteworthy that there is very little inter-church contact amongst the church leaders in Leiden, and previous efforts to get this going were unsuccessful (to understate a little). There is currently a group of the more traditional church leaders that meets, but reports are that the meetings are stuffy and that they discuss little other than their differences in dogma! (Come on guys…?)
The most significant line of discussion was that it is not just desirable but essential to make firm efforts to get the pastors of the individual churches in Leiden together to meet, enjoy spending time together, and pray together. During the meeting we recalled the story that Ed Silvoso tells of the ‘Church of Resistencia’ in Argentina (in his book ‘That None Should Perish’). This book begins when the local leaders all meet together for breakfast and share communion. This has a dramatic spiritual effect and is the beginning of a spiritual awakening of the church in Resistencia, largely outworked through everyday missional activities within the local society.
Here in Leiden there is now a visible sign that there is more emphasis on the need to be actively working in society. There are several initiatives here in their early stages which offer practical help (Serve the City, HiP – Help in Practice, and Stichting Present – the Present Foundation) with the idea to show the love of Christ through serving the local population through practical means. What is still lacking is a clear sense of unity amongst the local leaders.
The outcome of the meeting was basically to carry on meeting and keep inviting local pastors. We’re shifting to a morning spot so that leaders can attend more easily. On the way home, one of the attendees, a missionary worker with The Navigators, had a visual picture from God. As he drove through a village a lift bridge opened in front of him and he had to wait (unusual at 11pm!). He felt God say to him, “Watch for the name of the boat that’s coming.” He waited a while and then saw the name – Union. He sensed that God was impressing to him that as we move forward towards union, God will open gates/doors/bridges. What a tremendous sign of hope and encouragement! Thank you God.
If you pray, please pray that we will get a growing number of local leaders to these meetings and that unity will grow in Leiden, rather than division. There is a sense that things have been building up for that last few years in Leiden and that we are now on the brink of something. This next step is crucial for tipping us over the edge.
Why the Dutch can’t be doing with the Church
April 14, 2009 at 7:55 pm | In church, culture | Leave a CommentIn case you didn’t know, the general population in Holland have little respect for organised religion, especially the reformed Christian church. It is generally regarded as being old fashioned, strict, a kill-joy, irrelevant, hypocritical, etc. Thankfully, many reformed Christians are trying their best to portray Jesus in a positive light, and demonstrate the love of Christ in a country that needs lots of love. However, there are still some short-sighted Christians who just don’t seem to have caught up with the 20th century (sic) yet. Have a look at the following from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7949140.stm
What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church?
November 13, 2008 at 10:31 pm | In church | 2 CommentsWant a quick laugh? Have a look at this YouTube video – a self-named modern parable:
I like it. It’s pretty funny, don’t you think? Well read on…
What disturbed me more than a little though was that if you visit the blog that it’s advertising www.beyondrelevance.com you see that the guy who has made this video isn’t necessarily trying to spark a debate about more relevant forms of church. No no, rather he is advocating that we need to be smarter at marketing the church brand! And he’s your man. Yes, he’s a church marketing guru, advertising his own services to churches, and is proud to boast that he has loads of clients, and more frequent flyer miles than he knows what to do with.
Man, why do so many evangelical Americans still make my skin crawl?
Feeling fallow
September 20, 2008 at 9:31 pm | In Church Planting, books, family, personal | Leave a CommentFirstly apologies for the long silence – not felt that I’ve had much to say for a while.
This period that Ruth and I are in at the moment is definitely odd and cannot be prepared for. We used to be actively involved in our home church in Manchester, sometimes even over-actively so. Then we went to the rather artificial environment of Bible college for three years where we were stretched and very active, but the word ‘involved’ didn’t really fit as we were so temporary there.
Now we’ve moved to a new place again, with a different language and a different culture. I’m guessing that many of the frustrations we’ve faced, and are facing, are linked directly to a mild form a culture shock. (I say mild, as I still reckon that the Dutch are culturally as close to the British as you get.) However, the hardest thing to get used to has been the feeling of being useless. I don’t mean useless as in having an inferiority complex and feeling no good at anything, but more in that it’s hard to feel meaningfully useful because of the cultural and especially the language issues.
I had this realisation last week as I was rehearsing in my mind the upcoming visit of our church pastor here (our Dominee or Predikant). I was thinking back to all the things that I have been involved with in the past: the ministry experience, all of the gifting that God has given me, my passions for God’s church, and then wondering what happened to all that stuff. I haven’t really had an opportunity to put any of that into practice now for at least 15 months, and some of it for more than 4 years.
Delft, Zuid Holland
And being generally generally unaware of my background emotions (yes, I’m a bloke!) I haven’t really noticed that I’m kind of grieving the loss of all this stuff, albeit temporary maybe. I realise looking back on things that giving out, ministering to people, using my gifts, etc. is really a huge part of my existence.
I remember trying to explain to people before we moved out here that we wouldn’t be doing much for the first couple of years in order to acclimatise, absorb the culture, learn the language and settle the boys in. Indeed, to put a spiritual spin on it for people, it seemed to make sense to liken it to Jesus’ early years before he started his main ministry phase. I did this mainly because I anticipated that people would be excited for us and might be looking forward to some amazing stories of conversions within weeks. Naturally I wanted to avoid any disappointment on their part.
Yet what I hadn’t bargained for was how darned hard it was going to be for me! Now spare getting the violins out just yet, because I still see the huge value in taking this time to focus on acclimatisation. For example, my Dutch language is coming along very well now and I should be graduating from my course in a few weeks. But when will we be able to actually start feeling useful again?
Hopefully, in a few years time I will be able to look back and see even more sense in this time…
P.S. Still dipping in and out of the same book (The Forgotton Ways), might finish it later in the decade!
Why do I go to church?
April 24, 2008 at 9:13 pm | In books, church, family, personal | 1 CommentWhy do I go to church?
I was pondering this question the other night as I was supposed to be going to sleep (when I seem to do much of my meaningful thinking!). I know I have said in the past that ‘going to church’ is a bit of a misnomer as you and I are the church and we merely go to an organised worship service on a Sunday morning. But that aside, what actually gets me out of the door on a Sunday morning to often cycle through freezing cold rain with a bleating family alongside?
Well I came to the conclusion that it is a mixture of factors, with various levels of sense:
1. I’m a Christian and that’s what I’m supposed to do, right? I would probably feel guilty if I just sat at home, though I might avoid this if I spent 10 minutes reading my Bible. Heck, I would (and may even in the future) preach on why it is important to be an active member of a church community. So hadn’t I better be there?
2. What else would I do on a Sunday morning?
3. I’m a missionary and I guess our supporters kind of expect us to be pretty regularly attending a church.
4. I’m intrigued to see how the Dutch people ‘do church’. It’s actually a vital part of my cross-cultural learning and will influence later what we do (and also don’t do) as church planters.
5. Sunday services are an opportunity to worship together, although I must admit I have very seldom felt that I have had a meaningful encounter with God in such a context for the last four years. A very sad admission.
6. Sunday services are when we share fellowship with other. This is one area where our current church is pretty hot. The after service atmosphere is buzzing and many people stay and chat for quite a long time. People have introduced themselves to us virtually every week that we have been there.
7. It is a chance to learn about God, normally via a sermon. Having been a Christian most of my life and going through Bible college kind of spoils this part of a service as most of it you’ve heard before. The last three churches I have been in have had very different sermon styles. One was short and sweet and very variable, though generally mission oriented; one was very Bible-centric and academic; and one was much more lifestyle orientated than expositional.
There are probably more reasons. All this said, I generally find Sunday morning meetings stressful and usually sit there wondering what on earth I am doing there in such a weird environment, so utterly different from the culture that I live in for the other 95% of my week. Surely there’s something wrong there? To my mind church absolutely must be culturally relevant; not totally shaped by the culture, but at least reflecting it generally. I’d rather hear Coldplay in church than another 19th century dirgey Dutch hymn! (By the way, are there any Dutch-written hymns in a major key?)
Just plain cynical? No, I try to keep myself from that and reflect on how I would do things differently. Yikes, soon I’ll soon be trying! I’m currently reading a top book The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch (also co-wrote The Shaping of Things to Come, a recent classic) which is helping me in my thoughts for the future. I’ll report back in more depth on this book at a later date.
Why do you go to church on a Sunday morning?
Easter Day celebration?
March 28, 2008 at 7:57 pm | In church | Leave a CommentI was chatting with a friend today about our Easter Sunday church service at the Nederlands Gereformeerd Kerk that we both go to. During the service we sang many songs celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and the words ‘celebrate’, ‘jubilate’ and ‘joy’ were used repeatedly throughout the service. We both remarked that we found it odd that as we surveyed the congregation the overwhelming majority of people were singing with their arms folded or behind their backs.
Is it only Christians who can turn the highlight of the calendar into something which quite literally bore more resemblance to a funeral than a party?
A cure for insomnia
March 24, 2008 at 9:06 pm | In Church Planting, church, emerging church | Leave a CommentIn 2007 I wrote a paper – Lessons fom the Divide – for my theology degree based around two authors (Brian D. McLaren and D. A. Carson) writing about the Emerging Church. I have also linked in the theme to church planting.
I would welcome any comments.
A dominant dominee?
March 16, 2008 at 8:32 pm | In church | Leave a CommentTags: church, leadership
Was at church this morning, and one thing that I find curious about Dutch protestant churches is that the pastor of the church is called a ‘dominee’ (see also Scots equivalent dominie), apparently from the Latin domine (vocative case of Dominus ‘Lord, Master’). Why would any self-respecting church pastor want to be known by such a title?
Surely church leadership is all about being a servant (Mark 9:35 et al). English protestant churches often use the word ‘minister’ which is basically the Latin for servant. I would have thought that this is a much more appropriate term, not that us English folk have a monopoly on correct terminology – the name ‘rector’ (often used in the Church of England) means ruler.
Certainly I would never refer to myself as a dominee, and would shun such a term being used of me.
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