Tim Abbott

We need a revolution of the self

Wise words from Mark Sayers about what's missing in our conversation about the reimagining of church.

Young people seeking God...?

In my many years of working in schools, I have not experienced times like these. Whilst, in some ways, the work we do through assemblies, lessons and lunchtime groups has hardly changed, we're seeing a much warmer response from young people. Many have a real interest in what being a Christian is all about. But more than anything else, we've noticed an increasing number of young people asking us directly how to become a Christian, or seeking out God independent of any intervention from youth workers.

There was the boy who came into the lunchtime group we run and asked how to become a Christian. He had no church background and neither of his parents are Christians. We got the other young people there to explain how to become a Christian. The next week he was back, and said, "Since I've become a Christian I'm not afraid of death."

Then a few weeks ago I chatted with two 14 year old girls who had come to the evening service at our church. They were there because they were seeking God and just knew they needed to get to a church. They had no apparent church background and no-one had invited them, they just decided together.

Today I had a text message from one of our team. She said, "Just went to a really old church in ... to look round and there were 3 kids there on their own exploring and I had a long chat with them about God. It was amazing. Young people are so hungry!"

I wouldn't call this revival, but I've never come across this level of active seeking, as distinct from general interest. Is it happening anywhere else? Are we just reading too much into a few coincidences? Or is God quietly at work stirring up young people to seek him. It's what we've been praying for - perhaps we're beginning to see our prayers answered.

Todd Bentley

There's a lot of interest here in the revival meetings taking place in Lakeland, Florida, with Todd Bentley. Whilst most of the attention is on the big meetings, this video interview with Todd reveals the background to the man and this ministry.

Big meeting type stuff is always vulnerable to hype and 'crowd-think', and I'm sure there's a bit of this happening here. But my cynical side has been tempered somewhat.
Firstly by hearing Todd speak of his passion for a close relationship with God, regardless of whether it leads to any kind of ministry. Secondly, I've noticed in the meetings there is quite a focus on testimony from people who have seen God heal or work in their lives or the lives of their friends other than at the Todd Bentley meetings.

I still have an open mind about what's happening. But there are a few things I still hope to see:
- similar things breaking out elsewhere and perhaps in surprising settings/churches/streams
- people and churches touched by this move of God engaging with their communities, not just having amazing meetings
- people outside our churches being touched by the manifest presence of God as Christians offer to pray for them
- lasting fruit in people's lives

What are your thoughts about what's going on?

UPDATE 17 May: Honest questions about the Lakeland revival over at Charismamag - in a fast moving avalanche of views this seems, in my opinion a very balanced reflection which recognises gladly signs of revival whilst acknowledging sensitively the concerns of many.

Arthur Blessitt in Colchester

    Arthur Blessitt in Colchester, originally uploaded by timabbott.

               

Since 1969 Arthur Blessitt has carried a 12' cross into every nation on earth. As you can imagine, he's got some remarkable stories to tell.

He was in Colchester over the weekend courtesy of Kingsland Church and spoke at the Charter Hall twice on Sunday. An amazing man, bold for Christ and gentle with people. Stories that speak of the activity of God more than the achievements of the man. He's not showing any signs of slowing down!

More on Arthur here

More photos on Flickr

Faith in (un)expected places

A few weeks ago a boy walked into a lunchtime group we run and asked how to become a Christian. Some gentle questions revealed that he wasn't involved in a church, his parents weren't Christians and yes, he did understand what he was asking. So Tom & Amy got the other young people there involved in explaining how you become a Christian, which they did with a theological literacy that astounded us because, to our knowledge, none of them have yet made a definitive decision to be Christians themselves. The following week the boy came back to the group and announced that since becoming a Christian he was no longer afraid of death. I don't think death got a mention the previous week.

Today, at the end of a lesson, a group of non-Christian girls encouraged their Christian friend to ask us to pray with her for healing of a medical condition, which we did (Child Protection note: with the teacher's permission, in public, no laying on of hands.)

We've had a few other interesting, if slightly less dramatic, examples in our work in schools where we've recently noticed a lot of faith in (un)expected places. Expected, because it's an answer to part of our prayers over what we do. Unexpected, because it's always a surprise.

Living in the tension

Living in the Tension, over at Rick Meigs blog,Blind Beggar, highlights the challenge of inhabiting a world 'in between' where we can so easily polarise our thoughts and actions into one of two apparently contradictory opposites.

For example:
attractional vs. incarnational
decisions vs. disciples
models vs. movements
professional vs. passionate

to which I'd add:
retain vs. release
information vs. experience
relevant vs. radical

The theme is developed in the comments section.

Identifying these tensions can be really helpful, but the big challenge Rick highlights is how do we deal with living in the tension and how can we leverage the opportunities inherent in this tension?

How much meaning...?

No Pressure is a lunchtime group we run attended by young people who are not Christians. The brainchild of Tom, our schools worker, No Pressure gets young people discussing the spiritual and practical response to the big pressure issues like alcohol abuse, drugs, self esteem, media pressure, eating disorders, self harm, and the like, with some reference to the way Christians face and deal with these issues. Quite often we have visiting guests who talk honestly about how they have dealt with these issues and the role their faith played.

Anyway, recently we used the Lifehouse Everything Skit on YouTube (and GodTube) which has been doing the rounds for a while now. We were interested to see what the young people would make of it. For many Christians is presents a powerful dramatic portrayal of the triumph of Christ over a range of influences that can ensnare us. But we know the story that underpins the presentation.
We were curious to see if the young people would be able to understand this Christian message without being told in advance what the drama was portraying.

They didn't get it! Some of them did seem to get a vague kind of positive message about breaking free from self harm and stuff, but they missed the significance of the Christ character and many didn't really understand the thing on any level.

We were not totally surprised, and in a way this confirmed what I have said before - that people bring their own meaning to films, video, music, art and that the (Christian) message we so often wish we could embed in these things barely communicates at all. That's why 'secular' songs can inspire us to worship (we bring our understanding of worship to the song) and Christian 'evangelistic' songs can have no impact at all (evangelistically speaking) on young people (even if they like the song).

We're left with a few thoughts.

• We may have done the young people a favour by allowing them to interact with the material (in this case, a video) and draw their own conclusions. This is, in some sense, empowering and respects their capacity for self-learning.
• The video may have the power of a parable in that although they didn't 'get it' on the day, the visual power of the drama may stay with them so that at some point in the future other events, or the working of God's Spirit, may create a moment of revelation for them about it's real meaning.
• We may have denied them an opportunity to understand the transforming and liberating power of Christ by not giving them a basic framework of understanding about what the video was saying before showing it to them.

At heart is how we tell the gospel story. We want to avoid anything that smacks of indoctrination, but we also want to give people clear information about the gospel so that they can make an informed choice for Christ.

We are continuing to work with this group and there will be many more opportunities to share aspects of the gospel and of our lives. That lunchtime, and that video clip, were just one part of our ongoing relationship and discussions.

What do you think? Did we leave them space to reach their own conclusions, or have we robbed them of an opportunity to consider Christ?

Young Disciples

London Institute for Contemporary Christianity have a two day conference (Feb 4th & 5th) looking at discipleship and young people. Details are here.

Day 1 looks at the contemporary context through the stories of several youth work practitioners and researchers.
Day 2 is a mix of teaching and discussion led by Graham Cray looking at the question 'how do those involved in ministry and mission with young people create communities of whole life disciples?’

We'll be there.

Redeeming the Season - Synchroblog

It's SynchroBlog time again, when a few of us post about the same subject all at once. This month's subject is "Redeeming the Season" and as I'm very pushed for time at the moment I don't have time for deep thought on this one. The only thing I will say is that one thing I'm doing this year is going out on the streets of our town as a Street Pastor to help, chat and, where there's an opportunity, pray with seasonal revellers who probably wouldn't otherwise have any connection with the church.

I think it's something Jesus might have done, had he been here in person.
"God became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood" John 1:14 (The Message)

See these blogs for more thoughts about redeeming the season:

Recapturing the Spirit of Christmas at Adam Gonnerman's Igneous Quill
Swords into Plowshares at Sonja Andrew's Calacirian
Fanning the Flickering Flame of Advent at Paul Walker's Out of the Cocoon
Lainie Petersen at Headspace
Eager Longing at Elizaphanian
The Battle Rages at Bryan Riley's Charis Shalom
Secularizing Christmas at JohnSmulo.com
There's Something About Mary at Hello Said Jenelle
Geocentric Versus Anthropocentric Holydays at Phil Wyman's Square No More
Celebrating Christmas in a Pluralistic Society at Erin Word's Decompressing Faith
Redeeming the season -- season of redemption by Steve Hayes
Remembering the Incarnation at Alan Knox' The Assembling of the Church
A Biblical Response to a Secular Christmas by Glenn Ansley's Bad Theology
Happy Life Day at The Agent B Files
What's So Bad About Christmas? at Julie Clawson's One Hand Clapping

The power of testimony

On Thursday evening I went with Collective to an event at a secondary school run by a group of Christian teachers and a few friends. What happened challenged some of our preconceived ideas about what constitutes a 'cool' youth event.

The teacher who had organised the event welcomed the 70 or so young people, most, if not all, being non-Christians. She felt that she should share some of her testimony, including how God had rescued her from potential suicide, speaking honestly and openly for about 15 minutes to an attentive audience. Collective performed five songs with minimal chat between each song. The teacher host then invited testimony from three people. A nine year old spoke clearly, genuinely and with real confidence for about 4 minutes about her faith in God. The teenagers listened carefully and cheered and applauded the girl when she finished. Then another teacher from a Muslim background spoke about the series of events that led to her becoming a Christian. Finally, one of the church leaders shared how God had spoken to him powerfully through a dream when on tour as an entertainer and how this encounter with God had changed his life.

Collective returned to perform another three songs and then another lady stepped up and shared her testimony of how God has saved her from a life lived in reaction to abuse as a teenager. A more formal presentation of the gospel would have followed had we not run out of time!

In all, the young people listened attentively to five quite lengthy testimonies adding up to over an hour of the evening. I'm sure that the young people's interest was due in no small part to the fact that two of the people sharing their stories were their teachers. But overall, I think it was simply the impact of personal stories about God's transforming power.

To be honest, if I was organising an evangelistic event for young people I wouldn't have five testimonies. One maybe. Surely, the theory goes, too much of this is likely to put young people off. Not at all. They want the organisers to do another event.