What does a healthy community look like?

I am writing a proposal at present to seek funding for a community worker, one of the major questions behind it is what can a church group offer that a secular agency can't - i think the major thing is a community that has the potential to hold many variables in tension (health, spirituality etc.), that's the theory anyway.
So I wanted some others thoughts on what defines a healthy community, doing a Google search can always be fun because you never know how they will interpret it. As I expected many of the web hits related to a church community, the majority of those that didn't related to either Health Care or Town Planning, but stuck in the middle of it was one link that caused me to laugh so hard I nearly wet myself. In searching Google took community out of the key words and came up with a link to "what does healthy dog poop look like?" Note to self do not confuse a firm round turd that you can pick up with your fingers (why would you want to...) with a gathering of people that respects difference and promotes belonging.

Missional research institute

Found these two charts on Ed Stetzer's blog,

I think they make for an interesting

conversation on appropriate evangelism methods

for the average person, to the average person.

Bishops Youth Retreat

I just had one of those weekends that makes me think this is the best job in the world. We went up to Lake Rotoiti with 24 young people, and the Bishop of Nelson (Richard) and his wife (Hilary). The idea being that over the course of the weekend Richard would get to know some of the young people, they would here some of his heart and passion for the church and hopefully they would be able to input into Richard's ministry - giving a youth voice to the future direction of the diocese.
The original idea was that this would be a retreat for 20 -30 somethings, to which I said that's a great idea, but there aren't that many of them in the region and we have a large group of teenagers which unless they get significant input will drift away to churches with lots of C's in their names.
So the group which had an average age of 15 met the Bishop, played PS2 Guitar Hero, got beaten on sing star and Buzz by me and sat and listened to Richard, talked with Richard and I hope gained a sense of being part of something bigger.
Friday night was introductions, Saturday morning I lead worship with some reflections and creative prayers, the scape goat stone confession seemed to hit home, with people writing their confessions on a stone and then tossing them into the lake (where no fishing is aloud), to remind them of how God gives us a fresh start - and forgiveness really is forgiveness, it is not to be dragged up again. Richard followed this by talking about conversion, when does it happen, what difference does it make, he followed Simon Peter's story, and noticed how it doesn't line up that well with the standard repentance prayer - but that the whole thing is a journey, closer to God at times, away from God at others. For the average Christian teenager who I have heard said gives their life to the Lord at least 20 times, it was a relief -its', not that they have necessary back slidden but maybe that is part of the journey. Saturday evening was questions and answers - how can i be involved in the church being a major one, how can i share my faith being just as close a second (Ed Stetzer has some good fact and figures on this subject). One thing that was apparent was a desire for these young people to do the right thing, something i have seen demonstrated again and again over this year. Sunday morning being Pentecost focused on praying for people to be filled with the Spirit - coming from a pente back ground it was nice to have seen it done without hype or force but just gently. Sunday too focused on how we here God speaking, and how we know his will, again something that is a huge issue for the average teen.
Well the young people enjoyed it, I enjoyed it and I suspect the Bish got a bit of a buzz out of it, particularly because our region is not one where people 'kiss the bishop's ring" so to speak, leadership and authority is earned int eh hearts and minds of the people through the words, action and character of the leader - I think Richard proved himself able of commanding the young people's respect and proved also that I believe this region has a bright future, not just in terms of ministry to adults but to Young people also.

Thinking aloud about doors

People blog for many different reasons, for me it's a way of thinking aloud, and allowing ideas to gel and also come under scrutiny from others, in doing so I hope to and have seen and heard the Holy Spirit confirm and critique some of my thinking, through the responses of others. When you work in such an isolated position as mine (many hours of people contact, but little in the way of contact depth) it's been a life line. Without thinking aloud I suspect i would have given up on the whole ministry thing by now.

Part of my thinking aloud over the past year or so has been in regards to pastoral ministry, I have blogged many times on my love and hate for the church, and begin to feel like Augustine; when he said; "the church is a whore, but she is still me mother." My dilemma has been what to do with this? Do I still feel I should return to pastoral ministry after my time in my current role? While I am no clearer, and the whole thinking aloud process has helped me in many ways, few other things have give some clarity too.

Last week during a meeting with my supervisor she was telling me of a dream she had of an old dusty house with many rooms, over time some of the rooms had become opened and cleaned and the beautiful things inside distributed to ordinary everyday people. Her frustration had been that there was one room that had not opened up, and she knew she would have to deal with it in God's time. The house represented her life... During a time of prayer after our meeting I felt God saying to me that locked door was unlocked, but she needed to turn the handle inorder to open it fully. I laughed at this as did she because when we talk of God opening and closing doors, we always picture them as being slightly ajar or completely closed, the thinking being that you only go through the doors that are ajar... She took it as a message to try doors, because just because they appear shut doesn't mean they are locked... When she said that i started thinking about the whole pastoral ministry thing, a door in my life that appears shut, but certainly does not seem to be locked.

God incident too was a conversation I had with a complete stranger, who after finishing the conversation said to me - "you know, you should really be a pastor..."

What I do with these God incidences I am not sure, but I think God may want me to have a little faith, and to be a bit more bolder, trying doors, if they are locked they will remain locked, but they may be unlocked. It reminds me of the Jesus feeding the 5000 incident, someone once said to me that the miracle occurred when each person put out there hand to receive -imagine 5000 little miracles - 5000 steps of faith.

I really love this Pentecost responsive prayer from Steve Collins

The Kingdom of God has many points of entry, but they are not always in the places we expect.

So we need to be alert and ready to enter any time, any place we may be called

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked"push"

We will not give up if it doesn't open easily.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "changing room."

We will not attempt spiritual exercise in clothes that restrict our movements.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "fire escape."

we will not go back into smoke filled rooms to rescue our possessions.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "late night opening and all day Sundays"

We will not restrict the time and places of access to God.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "silence recording in progress."

We will not miss our part in God's symphony.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "Bar staff only."

We will not ignore people who are thirsty.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "honeymoon Suite."

We will not keep any part of ourselves from God's love.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "to the cells."

We will not plea bargain to escape responsibility for our crimes.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "lost property."

We will not get rid of people who have not yet been claimed by God their rightful owner.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "guest list."

We will not have forgotten to have our friends names put on it too.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "exit"

We will not continue shopping when God the manager puts the lights out.

We will go through these door in the power of the Spirit, knowing that Jesus has gone through them all first.

Pastoral Tension

Just had a very interesting conversation with a complete stranger about pastoral issues, kind of weird God type appointment I think....
The latest leadership network newsletter has just arrived in my in box, this month it's on pastoral leadership coming clean, and the desrie for post modern facing ministers to be honest and authentic. While I agree with the article it strikes me that honesty and authenticity is being protrayed as something 'new' or 'emerging'. Surely or at least theoreticaly pastoral leadership has always been about being honest and authentic, maybe we are returning to a default setting, i certainly hope we are, becuase the thought that pastroal leadership for 2000 years has been anything but Authentic frankly horrifies me.

listening to.....

Just listening to Jeff Buckley's album Grace - it's so cool, spooky and very refreshing;
"Eternal Life is now on my trail Got my red glitter coffin, man, just need one last nail
While all these ugly gentlemen play out their foolish games there's a flaming red horizon that screams our names
And as your fantasies are broken in two
Did you really think this bloody road would pave the way for you?
You better turn around and blow your kiss hello to life eternal, angel"
Eternal Life...

Late Late Mothers Day, and justice....

On Sunday we ran another of our services for boarders at Nelson College, with about 250 in attendance it is quite a lot of fun, especialy because most of them don't wnat to be there. The idea of a captive audience is very appealing. However we are aware to that the worst thing we can do is bang them across the head with a bible - they may be captive but we do not have to torture them...
So this Sunday we picked up on the theme of 'Mothers' a week late for mothers day but then I am always a week late for mothers day - sorry mum if you read this- I love you though.
So we played some music by typical boys college mums favourite bands - U2 and Boys 2 men, ran a quiz on famous mums and talked about the power of a 'nagging' mum...
Apparently Abraham Lincoln said on his mother that her prayers have been with him all his life .- While my mother prayers may not have always followed me certainly her advice has. Though it often seems like she is 'nagging me' and chewing my ear, the fact of the matter is more often than not she is right. In fact the origins of Mother Day can be found in Mother’s 'nagging'.
The first Mother’s Day was established in 1914 by US President Woodrow Wilson. Now it wasn’t due to pressure from the Florists' Association; nor by the telephone company or Hallmark cards or any of the other companies that make half their annual takings on Mothers Day. The idea of Mothers' Day was invented by a mother protesting the killing of World War I – a nagging mother in an anti war protest worried about the fate of her son in what seemed like a senseless war.
This caring, 'nagging' mum got other mothers to protest, too, and pretty soon Congress gave into the pressure – amazing what a ‘nagging’ mother can do.
So in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson dedicated the second Sunday in May as Mothers' Day, It wasn’t just a day to honour Mothers – which is a cool thing to, but a day to honoring their wishes -- that the killing be stopped.
Mums can change the world, and they are worth honouring, not just on Mothers day but every day.
We followed this by looking at some contemporary 'nagging' mums the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, mums whose plight and struggle were captured in the U2 song Mothers of the Disapeared, a group of mums who 'nag' the government about human rites issues in an attempt to reunite families with their stolen children who were kidnapped for speaking out against a the government. A 'nagging' mum is a very powerful force for making the world right.

Busy, busy

The last few weeks have been insanely busy with national meeting, training days and other stuff - the irony is that I often have more stuff I want to blog when I have no access to my blog. It's quite a dilema...

Like father, like son, well almost

As a father it's great to some times see my son develop habits, characteristics that i have. As a youth worker it's quite disturbing though.
Yesterday I was talking with my son about a cross country run he had been doing at school. about half way he was last and ready to give up - because like his father (ME) if he can't be best than it isn't good enough, and like his father (ME AGAIN) when this happens he often to use my phrase "takes all his toys out of the play pen". I can still remember when i was 12 being involved in a 400m relay at school, coming last (mainly because the person who handed me the baton was last) and getting hacked off and throwing the baton at the person I was to hand it too - talk about spitting the dummy.
Anyway just as my son was about to do the same, he did something different.... He carried on running, he didn't give up and finished the race (NOT LIKE ME). I am however glad to say that not giving up is something that in my adult life i have learnt from heavenly Father, it's cool to see that trait developing in my son too.
As for the race, well after he decided to carry on he realised the reason he was behind was not becuase he was slow, but becuase he had paced himslef, while everyone else was of sprinting and colapsing on the side line exhausted, he ran at a pace that meant he would finish and finish well - I think there is soemthing in the Bible about that....

And they buried him with his father.....

I have just got back from the 1st of 5 retreats that I am to be part of over the next 7 weeks here in our diocese.
In all honesty I hate retreats, it tend to each too much, it normally rains, i get no exercise and am away from my family. To top it off, what often happens in God speaks. Now that may seem a strange thing to say but sometimes the last voice I want to here is God's.
It's not that my faith is falling apart, it's just I can be lazy and i have spent so much of the past 15 years wanting to do God's will and often finding it painful as well as rewarding that I figure i need some time out, I am a tired disciple who needs a bit more than a rock to lay me head on (a 5 star motel room would be nice). So going on retreat, while giving me time out was also going to give me time with God - and I didn't want that....
SO what did God say to me....
Well it was during a session our Bishop led on Samson that God really spoke to me. In the session Bishop Richard was looking at how Samson was a man with Leadership Gifts but not much in the way of character, hence he failed to do the right thing because, he saw something, he desired it and he took it. As a follower of Jesus this something I identify with, I seem to fight with the fact that my character is not what it should be - but me heart longs to serve God, a few weeks back i said to my supervisor, I often feel as though I can do this job with out consulting God, I have the skills to do this job well, but sometimes my character lags behind...
Anyway at the end of a long session where i didn't so much feel convicted as condemned to fail because of my character flaws I read these words from Judges 16:31
"Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years."
I nearly cried, because this seemed to be grace in action. After failing God for so long, betraying the oath he had made to be a man of God (a Nazarene), he was buried with his people. As you look through the records of leaders among the people of God in the Bible to be buried in this way is a huge compliment, it's a place of honour and recognition of good works, of a godly person.
I think it's a huge testimony to Samson (and his God), that is spite of his failings, God still used him.
That really spoke to me, because I wrestle with my failures every day, i wrestle with the fact that many days I am not who God has called me to be, but it was assurance that even through this God is still there, and the words "you have done well good a faithful servant" still ring true.
As churches and as people we can be so judgemental of people who fail and fall, that is not the way of Christ, and it would seem that, that message echoes in the Old Testament too, failure is not end when a heart desires to do God's will, even if our character stuff us up