A psalm for hard times

In our cell group this week someone brought Psalm 62 as a contribution during the worship, and it effected me deeply.

⁵ Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.

⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

⁹ Lowborn men are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie;
if weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath.

¹⁰ Do not trust in extortion
or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.

¹¹ One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,

¹² and that you, O Lord, are loving.
Surely you will reward each person
according to what he has done.

So much of what the world around tells us is "strong" does not seem very loving. So much of what the world around us tells us is "loving" is seen as weak.

Our God is strong. Our God is loving. And in hard times I need His love and His strength to sustain me.

Exciting Churches

Dave Warnock is excited about his Church, which is great to see.

It made me think. I am really excited about our Church. Here are some starters.

1. We are teaching through "Just walk across the room" on Sunday, using the DVDs in small groups, and are in faith that God would inspire our witness.
2. There are over 20 guests on our Alpha course, several of whom have found us through our website, from all sorts of backgrounds.
3. We are working increasingly effectively and purposely with other Churches in Shrewsbury. Across denominational barriers we are pushing back the boundaries of what the "body of Christ" really means when it comes to mission. Let's do it.
   
4. "Open door" is attracting 20-30 senior citizens every Monday
5. Our Money Advice Centre is training 4-5 new people to help resource the tremendous demand for the service.
6. We are hosting a "Community week" with several major events during October half term. Over 23,000 flyers will be distributed, with events at our centre and street / door to door evangelism / prayer for healing. More details to follow!
   
7. 3 of our 18 cell groups are close to multiplying. By 2010 we could be 21 and counting... In estates around our town and villages surrounding our town we have Christians meeting to worship, witness, open the word the build community.
   
8. Our finances are robust. Our gift day this summer blew away our target and allowed us to make huge improvements to our Church centre to prepare for a period of growth. We have no mortgage on a 400 capacity building. God's people are generous, God is good, Jehovah Jireh is not a distant hope but a daily reality.
   
9. We have appointed a new full time "Church manager" to help us sustain the programme / weight of practical outworking our our mission here. Tony is a gift from God.
   
10. On November 8th we are moving to two Sunday services. We have doubled all our serving teams and are ready to open the door and say to our community "Taste and see, that the Lord is good!" From 10am we will be 9.10am & 11.20am.
    

Every single one of these is the grace of God upon us. The unmerited favour of our Lord. We have not earned it. We have not strategised it, or deserve it, but we receive it, and we say "Lord, help us to use all of this to bring you glory, to encourage the body of Christ across this town and to reach people with the good news of Jesus"

That is what makes me excited! Praise God!

Church Together

Every 8 weeks all the cell groups in our Church do not meet for a week and instead we have "Church Together"

This is an evening of worship and prayer.

The meeting on Tuesday was really special.

I always love it when Christians gather just to seek God. Sometimes I think Christian ministry focuses too much on what people receive rather than what they bring.

"Come and be blessed" the promotional material for many Christian events offers, whereas "Come to be a blessing" is less consumerist.

So we worshipped together, and prayed together.

1. We prayed for a young man in our Church who is critically ill.
2. We prayed for the nation of Iran. For justice, for peace, for a change in the political circumstances, for freedom for the people and for the Church there that is, and has been so persecuted.
3. We then prayed for each other, in our own personal witness, looking forward to the start of the Alpha Course in September. We prayed for the extension of the gospel in our town and that God would use us as we live as witnesses to what Christ has done for us.

So we prayed within our Church family, for a nation, and for the gospel to spread through us being effective in living as witnesses of Jesus, where God has put us.

Not only do we want to seek God for these things, but where possible we offer ourselves to be part of the solution.

Men's top ten fears about joining a small group?

I don't agree with all of it, but fair play, this video really did make me laugh, on so many levels.


Men's Top 10 Fears About Joining a Small Group from Ray Dangelo on Vimeo.

The thing is, I would also say each point applies to women as well as men.

I don't think cell groups need to look or feel like that, but I reckon most of us have an experience similar to one of the ten, if not more. I love the one about the splinter, just brilliant.

I do believe in the cell concept, but not if it looks or sounds like this!

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

I have far, far too many ideas to even know what to do with!

On Sunday afternoon I met a couple from Church and came out with some absolutely cracking ideas for developing new leaders, media work, showcasing the life of the Church and communication.

On monday evening our cell group leaders meeting generated a 28 idea list of ways we can help new people integrate into the life of our Church, and join a cell group. Some of them were absolute pearlers.

In the last three days the Church office has had 4 prophecies emailed in from Church members with various things they feel God has revealed to them for us.

So that is about 32 ideas and 4 prophecies in five days and none of them have come from me!

That is why I love being in a body, being part of a family, and being on a mission. You never know what tomorrow holds, and everyone has a chance to contribute.

I love The Alpha Course

At our Alpha away day on Saturday 4 people made first time decisions to follow Jesus, and two made recommitments having been away from an active faith.

On Wednesday night a further two people made first time decisions to follow Jesus.

What an absolute priviledge to see God work like that!

Now the rubber hits to road for ongoing discipleship, finding a cell group and integration into the Church. We don't want one time emotional responses, we want disciples of Christ.

On a personal level one young woman has been coming to our cell group and has been bringing a friend to Alpha too. We have been praying for them in our group. Both went forward on Saturday and made steps of faith.

What a precious thing the gospel is? What a precious time that moment is, when someone first believes.

It sort of reminds me of a song: "How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed"

One guy came to Alpha on the Saturday and made a decision to follow Jesus. He came to Church the next day on the Sunday. He came to our "Introducing Barnabas" event on the Sunday evening which we run three times a year for new people. At the end he said "I want to come to the next baptism service to see how it works, then I want to be baptised at the next one"

That is quite some 48 hours.

Christmas is coming!

We have just released our publicity for our Christmas programme.

Here is the quick version!
14th Morning: Family service
21st Morning: Sunday service
21st Evening: Carol Service
25th Morning: Christmas service
28th Morning: Sunday service with baptisms

Then we come onto publicity. This is the situation so far:

2500 "Belle Vue" (the area we are in) Christmas cards delivered through local doors. This includes all Christmas services of the local christian churches in this area, us, Anglican, United Reformed, Methodist, Apostolic and Salvation Army.

Then we have produced 2500 of our own postcards, double sided
The Front:















The Back:















A few years ago a lady who worked for Riverside Press in Market Drayton, Shropshire dropped by with a selection of their products. £68 delivered for 2500 postcards has revolutionised the way we do our publicity. Their website is www.djflyers.co.uk and I cannot recommend them enough. Tell them Dave at Barnabas sent you.

So that means our church congregations the last two sundays have been given flyers. We will give them to our Kidz Klub and Barneytots families. Cell groups have taken them to deliver through doors near to where they meet. Our centre hosts Christmas lunches for several local sheltered housing places and non profit groups and they will have invites at the tables.

We are giving them out like confetti: the shot gun approach. The aim is simple: each person looks at the card and knows we exist. If that is it I am happy. if it causes a conversation then all well and good. If they come, brilliant! One lady in our Church took a handful of Alpha Course postcards earlier this year and put them through her local letterboxes. The evening came and a lady arrived a bit late. "Hi, who has invited you": "oh, I had your invitation through my door". She now regularly attends on Sundays. Now that is worth the £68 on its its own.

At each an every one of the five services over Christmas every person will be given an Alpha Course flyer. There is no better opportunity for witness in our culture than Christmas, and we have already started praying for all these initiatives.

Cell UK

Many Churches run all sorts of different types of small groups.

We are happy using the cell model and have been greatly blessed by the resources of Cell UK.

I was speaking to a Church leader in another town yesterday who was looking at cell groups in their church and previous issues they have had running them and I put forward the suggestion "The thing is about the cell model, is that it is a heart attitude more than anything else. You can't just copy a model and hope it is successful unless you have the vision"

It was at that point I realised just how influenced I am by the ministry of Laurence Singlehurst, as that sounds word for word like the sort of thing he would say.

But it is true though. We are not looking for an off the shelf quick fix solution to Church growth, we are looking for our hearts to be shaped to become a more missional community.

The same can be said of the Alpha Course.

Every week church offices across the land get blasted with adverts for all sorts of resources and packaged courses in evangelism, discipleship, reaching out, engaging with your community, caring for your people. You name it, you can probably buy it on an 8 DVD pack for £89 + p&p.

I am weary of the claims made on the promotional materials - the pastor from X town somewhere saying how it has changed his Church.

I do believe that some of these resources are fantastic tools to help churches, but I fear for a christian culture that relies too heavily on pre-packaged programmes. That is one reason I have a deep respect for Cell UK, because it is a conversational movement between likeminded Churches whose resources are born out of local Church experience across denominational lines. That means their training / ideas have been shaped dramatically by experiences in the UK over the last 10 years and the whole concept is now more of a conversation than a fixed package, and the results are far more useful because of it.

Cell Groups

A few years ago "cell groups" seemed to be all the rage. Ralph Neighbour came to the UK and with quite a bit of fanfare the cell concept was born. I used to hear quite a lot about it within newfrontiers conferences but it feels like it has dropped off the agenda somewhat.

Some of the early claims and hopes have proved false, while some have been a bit quick to send the baby flying out with the bathwater. The UK cell movement has learned, revised and strengthened the concept for the UK culture, but some maintain it "doesn't work".

Yesterday Laurence Singlehurst, head of Cell UK and long term proponent of the cell model came to speak at our Church for the second time.

I like Laurence. He is sound. He loves people and he loves people enough to share Jesus with them. I like his heart, and I like the way he actually does what he preaches, and his talks are littered with personal examples.

I can see why people follow him. Because you can't help feel loved by him. He makes you want to love other people better. He makes you want to express Jesus to people in new ways. His book "Sowing, reaping, keeping" is an absolute classic and has shaped the missional perspective of our Church more than any other.

The first question of mission is "How big is your heart?" The rest puts the answer to that question into practice.

He also spoke about being "secret pastor" to our friends. Loving them unconditionally and seeking their spiritual renewal. Do we actually love people enough?

His visit made me think of our cell groups, and the ways cell groups have shaped the Church, and how what we now see compares with the early textbooks.

Here are a few thoughts:

1) In a larger Church, a cell group is often the primary friendship group. Many people don't know many other people, but they do know the people in their groups.

2) Of the people who disengage with Church, a high percentage are either not in a group, or drift away from a group early in the process.

3) Cell meetings are not good to invite non christians to. No-one I know would actually invite a non christian to a cell "meeting". Socials "yes" - meetings "no".

4) Cells are a primary social group for missional friendships and activities. They are a key driver for mission. Bob knows Sam. Bob and Sam become friends. Bob invites Sam to a curry night. Sam comes to further social events. Sam comes to the Church quiz night. Bob invites Sam on Alpha and Sam comes. Sam comes to faith on the Alpha course away day. Sam gets discipled. Sam joins a cell group. The reason cells are a driver in mission is:

Bob was encouraged to pray for Sam at Cell group.
Bob invited Sam to cell group socials, starting with the curry night, where Sam met other friends from Church.
Cell kept praying for Sam.
Sam went to Church quiz night on the cell group team.
Sam went to Alpha and every week the cell prayed for Him.
When Sam comes to faith and is baptised, the whole cell group gather around and pray for him. They are his friendship group, and he naturally joins that group having joined the Church.

He goes to a normal "cell" meeting for the first time as a Christian, but the cell has been instrumental in his journey of faith, and those are his friends in Church.

So cells have become a missional friendship group who send people into Alpha and bring people into fellowship at the other end.

5) The 4 W's is not perfect, but I am yet to find better. Every criticism of it I hear is often genuine, based on poor experiences. I consider the 4 Ws being a trellis around which a healthy, missional friendship group grows. The vitality, holy spirit led creativity that comes when Christians gather has a framework around which to grow and develop.

6) Cells only need a week for witness and mission to disappear off the agenda. Unless it is planned, it does not happen by accident.

7) Having a cell rota and asking people to lead sections is a key way to develop people's gifts within a Church environment. We only have 52 sunday morning teaching slots per year, but we have over 750 cell word sections for people to lead. We only have 52 sunday morning worship times but over 750 cell worship times, which can involve those without musical gifts. The "priesthood of all believer's" can actually be enacted in creative ways.

8) People who don't like cell groups often say it is because they want a "deeper" bible study, but actually it is often because they don't want to live outward looking lives of mission and don't like to be reminded of it. Cerebral, intellectual, "Bomb shelter" Christianity does not enjoy cell. "What does scripture mean" is a great question, but "and so in the light of scripture what should we do" should not be missed off the agenda.

9) Mechanisms are not the answer. The G12 model for example - "we did it here so it will work for you!" But it doesn't always work. And the pain in some Churches has been massive. Too much prescription, too modernist, too a+b+c = lots of converts doesn't work. The model has to be flexible enough to change and move to continue engaging with the situation and culture. Remember Laurence's suggestion - The first question of mission is "How big is your heart?" That is the question a cell group should pose. Not "How many Ws do you use", but "How big is your heart?"

Cells help people to enlarge their heart for mission. They aren't an off the shelf "strategy for effective church growth", they are a useful tool to help us live a life of fellowship and mission.

10) When I talk to most people about cell groups they assume they know what I am talking about, but often after a brief chat it is clear that they don't. Many of the criticisms of the cell model I have heard are because people have started with the 4 Ws and not with the heart for mission. I don't believe Cells are the answer to the future of the church. But I do believe they can have a massive impact in a society that is relational yet lonely, relativist yet truth seeking, disinterested in the church and yet interested in spirituality, and can help to shape a Church that is wanting to grow but struggling or inactive in mission.


Our cells are not perfect. Every group has its own quirks and challenges. Some are stronger than others. All of them depend on their members and those shaping the vision. But I cannot help being excited when I think week by week there are 19 meetings in the estates of the town and surrounding villages as Christians gather to worship, apply the word and reach out to people who don't yet know Jesus. It isn't a perfect model, but it is trying to reach people for Jesus, and in doing so is answering that question: how big is your heart?

Cell Group Matters

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

I went to cell last night not really knowing what to expect.

We started with a welcome question "What trait would you like more of and which would you like less of" - that sparked a very humorous discussion, especially when partners started to endorse answers given readily!

Next up a member of our group has just been to Uganda and she shared her experiences and what God had taught her through the experiences she had and we saw lots of photos. It was amazing. I actually felt like I had been there and heard God through what she was saying.

Then we had a bible study - looking at the call of Samuel and discussing how we know when God is / isn't speaking to us! That opened up a whole range of stuff about whether we can trust how we "feel" about a situation. This was interesting - our desires and heart for things is shaped by God, and yet feelings can also be very unreliable.

This was followed by us naming the things we are "called" to in scripture by nature of our identity as followers of Jesus - rather than the "when", "where" and "who with" sorts of decisions. That was a great discussion - definitely future blog potential.

What are we called to, even if we never "hear" God?!!

The discussion really showed me what a privilege to be both evangelical and charismatic, and how the bible keeps us safe.

Next up a time of worship, with prepared songs from a CD, but lots of prayer in between and a spontaneous song that someone started. This was no dictation of what to do by a worship "leader" - it was a spirit led group coming together to worship Jesus with many people involved in shaping the direction.

We finished with a song to sit and reflect to. Everyone is so busy, just stop and think of Jesus. Wonderful.

And we finished with communion - reading scriptures from Isaiah, from the gospel account of the Crucifixion and the Lord's supper.

We meditated on this song:


And that was it - next week we have a social & an opportunity to invite our friends to come.

I started out a bit tired and came back later refreshed and encouraged - and that is one sign of an encounter with God & His people.

Tears of strength

3 weeks in and I don't ever remember being so utterly humbled and emotional for such a sustained period of time. So utterly amazed and bemused at the rich depth of love God has for me, for us, for them.

Last night we had some training for people who lead a different section of a cell group. As I looked around I saw such a range of people, such a range of ages and backgrounds, people who have endured such hardship and people who have enjoyed such blessing, all gathered and learning that they have a role to play in church life. 4 of the 11 came to faith within the Church, which again is such a tremendously humbling thing. They have a role to play.

I think true church leadership is about ordaining the priest in every believer, not just securing it for ourselves. The reformation gave us the lovely phrase "priesthood of all believers" but did we reform the systems, teaching, practice and model of church life to actually make that a reality?

In 1520 Luther said this: "That the pope or bishop anoints, makes tonsures, ordains, consecrates, or dresses differently from the laity, may make a hypocrite or an idolatrous oil-painted icon, but it in no way makes a Christian or spiritual human being. In fact, we are all consecrated priests through Baptism, as St. Peter in 1 Peter 2[:9] says, "You are a royal priesthood and a priestly kingdom," and Revelation [5:10], "Through your blood you have made us into priests and kings.""

Martin Luther, Weimar Ausgabe, vol. 6, p. 407, lines 19-25

That's why I believe in a "small groups" model and find the cell stuff so refreshing, as it takes the emphasis of worship, bible study and witness out of the role of the professionals and into the hands of every believer. The role of the "professionals" is to equip all, not do it for them, and the body gets stronger for it.

To top off an excellent evening - one lady told me that her friend had responded to the talk in the morning and had come back to the real living faith she had experienced in the past. It's moments like that when you know God has achieved it, because there is nothing in me that could except Him.