What does your Wordle say about you?

The other day I was introduced to a site called Wordle that you can create these cool word images.  The even cooler thing is that you can link it through your blog and it will create a Wordle based on you most commonly used words.

"My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever."  Psalm 145:21 

So I thought it would be interesting to see what I really blog about.  The bigger words are the most common words I use, the smaller they get the less they are used.

My top 5 are:
   1) People
   2) Jesus
   3) Church
   4) God
   5) Community


I'd like Jesus to be No.1! So I'd better talk about Him more. Maybe London should be at least on the top 10 as that's my Blog title.  Give it a try you may surprized what "Your Wordle says about you".

BenAboutLondon

Five things becoming a Dad and church planting have in common

As you may know by now I just became a Dad for the first time.  Gabriel Jonathan Clark was born on the 7th of May at 0023 weighing 4.04 kilos.  It's been a wonderful experience so far with feeding, burping, nappy changing, washing, cuddling, power napping and laughing being the basic routine in my life.  I can't wait to see how he will grow up but at the same time I want to seize every second and stare at him!

"God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of children!" Genesis 1:28 

I'm sure that just like when I got married, as this new venture develops God will have new important lessons to teach me about my relationship with Him.  I can't wait to learn them.  As I was thinking about caring for Gabriel I started to think about how starting a church plant and being a Dad have their similarities.  Here are 5 of them:

1) You are never prepared by the time it starts!

No matter how much you think you're prepared there is always more you should have done, read or planned.  You can't see everything that will happen and there will always be curve balls thrown your way.  The lesson is prepare, prepare and prepare some more but don't be fooled, you are not prepared enough. 

2) You knew it would be hard but it is much harder than you thought!

I heard lots of people tell me being a Dad is tough and I should get the rest in while I could.  Believe me I listened to their warnings as I knew it would be no walk in the park.  But now I'm doing it those sleepless nights are way harder to deal with than I ever imagined.  I knew when I got into church planting that over 70% fail and that it'd be tough but the reality has been harder than I ever dreamed.  I sometimes think if God had really told me what it would have been really like, would I have started in the first place?

3) There's plenty of advice out there but in the end you have to decide what's best!

People always have advice on where you're going wrong, what you need to do and what your priorities should be.  There is plenty of helpful advice offered that is great and well appreciated. On the other hand though there is a lot of rubbish.  Even if people have never done it themselves, met you, your child or visited your church they know exactly where you're going wrong.  In the end though it's mainly just opinion.  There is no clear manual to being a Dad or church planting (even though there are plenty of books that claim to be just that) and you have to use prayer and common sense to really figure it out.

4) It has to depend on someone!

Gabriel can't do much at the moment. He can cry really well, sleep, stare and wriggle.  Oh and today he demonstrated that he could projectile poop, quite a sight I'll tell you!  At this point in Gabriel's life he needs his parents to do everything.  We need to feed him, change him, dress him and protect him.  If we didn't do it he would just die.  One of the tough things I've found in the early days of church planting is that no matter how much we planned if I wasn't there one week things didn't go well.  Now a few years on it can work quite well without me for a while.  But the dream is that some day soon as leaders grow and develop the church will leave home and be able to stand on its own two feet.  For now I'm there for them both and I want them to know they can rely on me.

5) It's a messy job with amazing rewards!

I was warned before Gabriel came that I'd soon become obsessed with poop.  That I'd talk with complete strangers about it's colour, texture and frequency.  Oh and that I share those disgusting stories about poo and pee flying everywhere as you try and change a nappy.  I was convinced they were wrong... They weren't.  I'll spare you the details but to put it bluntly you have to deal with a lot of poo.  The reward of holding your clean baby after a nightmare experience is awsome!  Just holding him and smelling him is amazing!  In a small church plant things don't often run smoothly and it can be very stressful.  With not many people to call on you have to do most of the work yourself (yes even cleaning the toilets).  And on top of that you are helping people through tough times.  However, when you see someone growing in their faith or falling in love with the Bible for the first time all the messy jobs are worth it.

That was just my five.  Can you think of any more?  Drop them in the comments below.

BenAboutLondon

Video of the open-air performance

Here are two videos a spectator took of the open air performances on Saturday.  I'm the guy in the hat about half way through in the second video.

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