Are we SALT... or good for nothing?

This has been a crazy busy Saturday. As Em and I and an army of local people prepare an evening of theatre and storytelling in our local park.  It's not a church activity in any way other than we're helping to organise it.  Emelie is the director and I'm a dogs-body and actor for the event.  It may not be "Church" but I strongly believe it is what we as the Church should be doing.

"You are the SALT of the earth. If SALT loses it's saltiness... it is good for nothing!" Matthew 5:13

One of our main objectives at Cafe Church is to be SALT to our community.  What does that mean though? We believe SALT - in the way Jesus meant it - was to be a preservative in the world.  It's our job as part of the family of God to be involved in the world and to add a positive influence in it, to stop things going off.

As Christians most of us believe this but we actually make it hard for each other to do it.  We fill our evenings and weekends with Bible studies, prayer meetings and "fellowship times", making actually involvement in the world such a tiring thought.  So we retreat into our safe Christian bubbles.

Why not do less at church and be involved more in the world around us?  Of course there are plenty of things we should keep well out of but there is so much we can get involved in.  Let's look around to find community activities and allow ourselves time to get stuck in.  Art, sports, parks, cafes there are all sorts of places we can find amazing opportunities to meet, support and bless local people.  We'll not only make new in roads for the gospel, we may even make our world just a little more beautiful and seem more "normal" to people.

How can you be SALT in your community?

How have you been SALT in your community?

Let me know.

Just off for a final dress rehearsal.

BenAboutLondon

Addition:  Some of performers came to visit Cafe Church the next day after the performance and more are wanting to visit next wee! Please pray for them.

An ironic prayer request

Over the past two days London City Mission has hosted a prayer conference teaching church planters how to pray for and make prayer central to their new ministries.  It may sound like teaching your grandma to suck eggs but the truth is the prayer life of many Christians/churches is sadly lacking.  I was only able to attend the first half day due to ill health but I was greatly challenged and encouraged.

In the first part of the morning we looked at how the churches call in to be a "House of prayer to all nations!"  A place where people come from all over the world and lean on a personal relationship with God.  The challenge was simple where do our churches square up with this calling?  We spent time examining the health of our own churches prayer lives.  And then the question was put...  

Q: What would Jesus say if he were to talk to you about your churches prayer life?  There are three possible answers.

A1: He'd be happy.
Maybe there are some areas that need addressing and improving but generally you are praying and leaning on God as a  church.  Your leaders are praying together and individually for guidance and help.  You have regular prayer meeting that are well attended.  And people in the church value prayer highly.

A2: He'd be worried.  
You have some good things going on but not enough of it.  Jesus would write you a letter like in Revelation where He would commend one or two things.  But then He'd give you a serious warning about some other things that had to get better.

A3: He'd be seriously angry!
Remember how he came into the temple in Jerusalem? With whips, over turning the tables and shouting...

"It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." Matthew 21:13 

Is that how he'd deal with your church? Or mine?

In Cafe Church we have 5 planks in the out working of our vision and prayer is one of them.  But to be very honest it hasn't been high enough on my agenda.  I feel God has been incredibly gracious to me by showing me now while things can be sorted, rather than later before it is too late.

I have a few ideas to start to remedy the situation but first I need to pray and I need your prayers.  I know it's ironic to ask for prayer about prayer but that's where it needs to start.  Please pray that I would hold and believe in prayer as highly as I do His word.  I want to be like the Apostles who said...

"We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." Acts 6:4

Nothing else matters but being completely dependant on our loving Father through prayer and His word.

Answering Darwin's deepest question

One of the biggest questions I face as an evangelist in London is, "How can a good God allow suffering?"  Occasionally it's posed in the more aggressive or emotional way, "Don't even try to talk to me about God's love when people are suffering all over the world!" 

Yesterday I watched the film Creation, about the struggle that Charles Darwin went though as he was about to publish his Origin of the Species.  And indeed his big question was the same.  As he looked around at nature he saw brutality and pain and even more personally he lost his beloved daughter at a very young age.  I actually felt sorry for Darwin. Theology at the time wasn't prepared to answer such questions and so preachers could offer him little hope.

We can all understand Darwin's question.  We've all asked it.  Some of us have come to a place where we feel comfortable (most of the time) with an answer we've found.  Some of us avoid the question because we're afraid we wont find a satisfactory answer.  Still others of us have given up completely on the idea that God can love us because of all the horrible things we have suffered.

Here are three simple thoughts about my faith that have helped me deal with this question through my own struggles.

1) Giving up on God wont solve the problem
Suffering is a problem for those who believe in God but its also a problem for those who don't.  I believe in a loving God that doesn't solve my questions about my pain.  But I put it to you that atheism doesn't solve the deeper questions either.  Atheism says about suffering, that's just the way it is.  But that answer doesn't satisfy either, does it?  Even atheists still say it's not right or fair when a loved one dies.  There is something in us that just wont accept the answer, "That's just the way it is!"

I believe giving up on God wont solve our problems with suffering.  In fact it wont help us at all.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2Corinthians 1:3-4

2) The cross proves that God is on my side
I may not know why suffering happens but I know one thing it cannot mean.  We can often believe that when we suffer God is mad at us for something but the cross screams the opposite.  The cross says that God came to us in Jesus and suffered for us and with us.  Jesus knows what it is like to be abandoned, rejected, lonely, falsely accused and even murdered! The amazing thing is that He went through all that for us.  Jesus suffered the consequences of our sin so we wouldn't have to.

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31-32

I don't know what the ultimate reason for my suffering is but I do know it isn't that God hates me.  The cross proves God is for us and not against us.  


3) I trust God that suffering has a purpose
If atheism says, "that's just the way it is!"  Then Christianity can be summed up with this, "God has a greater purpose (that I can't comprehend) through all suffering and it will be somehow worth it!"

To this someone might say, "How dare you say God loves me!  If he loved me he would have saved me from this pain!"  But I could turn my pain around on an atheist and say, "How dare you say God doesn't love me and that my suffering has no purpose and hope behind it!

"So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory." Ephesians 3:13

What offers more hope, the idea that all is meaningless and in the end none of it will matter, or that a loving God -who knows what it is to suffer- says that not one of our tears will be wasted in His perfect plan for the universe?

At the cross Jesus demonstrated that even through the greatest suffering and pain God can bring about new life and hope!

"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." Psalm 56:3 

Don't abandon God in your suffering, cling to the hope that is offered in Jesus.

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:4

Share Jesus, Kick a football!

Don't let your love for sport stop you telling people about your faith.  Instead you can use sport as a valuable tool to take the gospel to people who are hard to reach.  

Last weekend we held the Crossbar Challenge (quiz) at the Sports Pavilion where we meet for Cafe Church.  About 50 sports loving people (mainly guys turned up) and we had a great time.  The quiz had 6 rounds and was created by Christians In Sport.  Including lots of multimedia (including video clips, sound bites and amazing photographs) the production value of the quiz was outstanding. The highlight for me though was seeing guys who would never think about coming to church sitting next to guys from Cafe Church and having a great time.

At half-time I shared my testimony and you could have heard a pin drop.  I really felt God's help as I spoke and had a few gospel conversations afterwards.  On the response slips at least two people said they would like to talk more about having a relationship with Jesus!   Also, we've already had two people visit us at Cafe Church from the quiz.  All in all a great evening

So, if you love Jesus and enjoy sport let me encourage you, don't see them as opposing forces, instead you can use your passion for sport to bring people to Jesus!  In fact using sport as a tool for evangelism is one of the best ways of reaching young men, who are the people hardest to reach.

If you would like some help in setting up a sports related ministry contact World Sport Ministries.  WSM have been an invaluable support in setting up a Community Sports Team in Newham.  The Crossbar Challenge was the second sports outreach we have run as a CST but we have many more ideas in the pipe-line.  For example we are going to be running a Family Sports Fun-day on Saturday the 12th June.  During the event we're planning a free BBQ, a five-a-side football tournament and showing the England v USA World Cup game on a giant 16m2 LED TV.  But the main event will be testimonies being shared, bibles being handed out and people signing up for Alpha style courses.

Thank you for all your prayers for the Crossbar Challenge.  Please continue to pray for us as we plan future events.

And don't forget share Jesus, kick a football!

Ben 

Don't be a fool, lose your RELIGION!

This Week at the Well (our sending church) I had the privilage of preaching on Matthew 19:16-30.  This is the will known story of the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus to ask, "What good deed must I do to get eternal life?" 

1 - Lose your RELIGION

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" Matthew 19:16

At the heart of this young man's question is a business transaction.  He wants a product "eternal life" there is only one possible vendor "God" and so He sets the price.  In order to buy eternal life you need to pay God lots of good deeds.  If you store up enough credit then eternal life is given to you.

If we see our faith as a business deal it will cause us many problems.  First when things go wrong in our life we might blame God and say, "I kept my end of the bargain God, why aren't you?"  Or we might blame ourselves and say, "If only did more then God wouldn't be punishing me!"  But the biggest problem is that we are not making Jesus our saviour we are making ourselves our saviour.  Jesus may be our dealer or shop keeper but we pay for our salvation with our own efforts.  Notice the man asked "What must I do?"  He's not trusting in God's goodness, grace or love, he's trusting in his own ability to save himself.

This way of approaching God can only lead us to uncertainties.  If we are buying eternal life we will never know if we've paid enough off.  My Dad used to tell me, "It's a good thing you can't buy eternal life because you'd never be able to pay it off!"

2 - Hand over CONTROL

Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven..." Matthew 19:21

Jesus asks this man to give up everything to follow Him then he will have eternal rewards.  Think about it.  That money doesn't just represent wealth, it also represents his power over his own life and others.  It's his security in life and his comfort.  It's his control over his own happiness and destiny.  Jesus is literally asking him to give everything up!

We all want to be in control over our own happiness and destiny. We may not do it with money but we do try to stay control of our lives in other ways.  Maybe it's family that we are using to guarantee our happiness, "If I can just keep this family together then I'll be happy and worth something!"  Maybe we use our studies, "If I just get that top mark I can be happy and look other people in the eye!"  Maybe our jobs, "If I work hard to get that promotion then I'll be happy and people will look up to me!"

These are all ways we try to be our own saviour.  But the truth is we are not and can not be in control of these things.  They are harsh task masters.  If we do well they only ask us for more and when we fail they crush us!  We can't control our families, they are too complex.  We can't control our job security, as the recent recession taught us.

If we want to find true eternal happiness we need to quit saving ourselves and hand over control of our destinies to Jesus.  That is the cost!  EVERYTHING!

3 - And FOLLOW Jesus

"...and come, follow me." Matthew 19:21  

But it shouldn't be seen as loosing control.  It's handing control over to the only person who can handle it... Jesus!  The big questions though that might stop us are 1) Can he be trusted with my destiny? and 2) Is it worth it?

The answer to both those questions is really the same.  Firstly, he knows what it means to give up everything. The Bible teaches that Jesus is God and that he left the joys and perfection of Heaven to be born in a pugnant stable and to experience absolute poverty in comparison.  In the Gospels we see Him give up his job and family to befriend outcasts and sinners in order to give them hope.  We see Him abandoned by His friends and be left alone and naked.  Then we see the giver of life Himself nailed to a cross and killed!  Jesus knows what it's like to lose control.

But the real amazing thing isn't in what he gave up, it's found in the why he did it.  He did it for you and me!  

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2    

He did it for the joy set before Him.  He had everything except you and me.  We were lost in sin and rebellion and if He didn't step in we would have been lost from relationship with Him forever!  We were Jesus joy and His true treasure, worth more to Him than the riches of Heaven! And because we were Jesus' treasure, He can be ours and can be completely trusted!

Jesus is the only Saviour we can have that accepts us as we are and when we fail Him completely forgives and loves us.  Eternal Life is knowing this Jesus and having a relationship with Him forever and it starts now!

Don't be religious give your control over to Jesus!

“He Is No Fool Who Gives What He Cannot Keep to gain That Which He Cannot Lose!”  Jim Elliot

Jesus wins at the 2010 World Cup!

Only 115 days, 7 hours and 29 minutes (ish) till England begin their winning world cup campaign (hopefully). But even if they don't win there are amazing opportunities to introduce people to Jesus through the World Cup.

A few months ago More Than Gold approached us about putting on a event for the World Cup.  The plan was that this event will showcase to other churches across the UK the potential there is for outreach during the 2012 Olympics.  We loved the idea and didn't need much persuading.  So Bonny Downs North (that's our church plant) will be teaming up with other local churches and a few other organizations to run a football festival the day England are planned to play their first game against the USA.

During the day:

• "World Sport Ministries" will be organizing a five-a-side football tournament. At the prize giving there will be a talk aimed at the youth.
• "On The Move" will be helping to organize a free BBQ for local people who turn up.  Each table at the BBQ will be hosted by a local church member to chat.
• XLP will be bringing the youth bus down.
• Local Churches will be helping to organize music and other fun activities like face painting.
• We'll be showing the England vs USA game on a big screen on the field with a presentation at half time.
• At the event we are hoping to hand out programmes that show the rest of the games scheduled for the World Cup with listings of the churches locally hosting other games.

The potential is awesome and we could have hundreds of people turning up. We are hoping all this will happen on the field outside Cafe Church.  Cafe Church will also be hosting smaller showings of some of the key games as a way to build bridges into the community.  We are also planning a Christianity 101 course as a follow up to the event.

Please pray for all the planning and dreams of this event.  There is still a long way to go in planning it but I think you'll agree it sounds awesome.

Jesus said, "In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don't need to." Luke 15:7

I'd love England to win but I'd gladly trade a World Cup victory for one person who accepts Jesus as a result of outreach during the event!

Have you got any plans for outreach during the World Cup?  If so please share your ideas.

Entrepreneurs, Prostitutes & Bouncers

It's funny how the thing I love most about living in East London is also my biggest challenge in planting a church.

Newham is the most diverse community in the UK. In my small patch alone we have people from Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Nigeria, Ghana, Pakistan, Jamaica, Iran and Lebanon to mention a few. It's not just cultural diversity its also diversity of interests, faith, wealth and political views. One of the first things I was taught to do when I became a missionary was to get to know the community. Well I am and to be honest the more I learn the more I need to learn.  I know that the gospel (correctly understood) is glue that can bind together people from any background. But how do you plant a truly diverse church?

At the moment in Cafe Church we have been following Paul (the original church planter) on his journey and trying to learn a few lessons.  Recently we looked at his ministry in Philippi.  The first person he converted there was a lady called Lydia who was a successful business woman.  In the gospel Lydia found all that money couldn't buy.  Paul then goes on to release a demon possessed fortune telling slave girl by the power of Jesus.  In the gospel that slave girl found freedom. Then, while in prison Paul saves a working class jailer.  In the gospel that Jailer found true security.  The same gospel crossed all their boundaries and answered all their deepest needs!

They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." Acts 16:31  

Can you imagine that first church meeting in Philippi?  That's the first century equivalent to have Dragon's Den's Deborah Meaden, an ex-prostitute and a local bouncer meeting together for worship.  The diversity of that first church was amazing and beautiful.  That's what I want in our church plant.  I want people to look in and see people of all colours, races and backgrounds that represent our local community.  Because that's what the true gospel looks like.

I'll be honest; we don't look like that now.  We are mainly white east-enders. The challenge we have now is how do a bunch of English people breakout and become relevant to a mixed community?  I have heard people say that you can't do it and you can't please everyone.  I can understand that logic but I can't agree with it when I meditate on the gospel.  In east London there are loads of new churches being planted that have no relation to their local communities.  I do not want our church to become like that.

I don't know what the answer is (although I have ideas) but I do know that:

• The gospel is what everyone is looking for
• The gospel is the same basic message for everyone
• Only the gospel can truly bring unity in diversity
• When real diversity is seen in a church the beauty and awesomeness of the gospel is seen

"It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Isaiah 49:6

I don't want to limit the work of Jesus and make the gospel "too small a thing."


Please pray with me that before our church is too big we will be able to diversify.

If you have an ideas for me please let me know.