Evangelism in a lazy river

On Tuesday I went to the Central Ministers Fellowship at Ararat, which was a good time of laughter and learning with other Baptist Ministers in the area. Jonathan from Bethel Whitchurch led some thoughts on methods of evangelism, starting by describing the work they did in May, prompted by an encounter with someone who had a serious fear of Friday the 13th as an unlucky date. Jonathan sat at a table giving out ‘free blessings for a bad day’, giving scriptures to people who stopped to chat. I heard a bit about this when I went to Bethel Whitchurch on the Sunday after they had done that. Others from the church also did surveys of people, asking questions about superstition.

We had discussion at the meeting about methods of meeting people where they are, and how much we need to go right through a process of leading people to faith, for instance working through a booklet, or a course, etc.

Some interesting comments, about how we are all on a journey, and there are people following Jesus (or at least moving in his direction) who haven’t yet ‘made a commitment’.

I do think that we should take as many opportunities as possible to simply be Jesus’ hands and feet as much as we can, ministering to people in whatever simple way we can. For instance, the Big Question project last year, and also the Christmas Blessings project where we took Christmas dinners to people.

As I was coming home from Ararat I was thinking about how the point is that we should just assist people in whatever way we can to follow Jesus, or start walking his way. Every little part is a gentle shove (which is probably not the right word! I suppose I mean a helping hand in the right direction…).

In searching for an illustration, I thought of the ‘lazy river’ you get at some swimming pools – a part of the pool where there is a current propelling you around a short loop. It works by having jets of water below the surface, pointing in the right direction. If you go round the ‘lazy river’ keeping to the wall, you feel the jets as you pass. And maybe what we do as Christians and as churches is to simply be the jets below the surface, giving people a ‘push’ that they can feel when they come into our sphere of influence, encouraging them to keep moving in the direction of following Jesus.

Bands and Ties

A fairly frivolous observation, although no doubt a symptom of something else:

I’ve been to 18 different churches so far during this sabbatical, and noticed a close connection between the worship being led by a band and the preacher not wearing a tie. (All the preachers have been men, by the way).

Not counting Solace or Gateway Café, where there was no music (and in each case the person leading did not wear a tie), here are the other results:

In four churches there was a tie and no band.

In eleven churches there was a band and no tie.

The only church that bucked the trend was Bethel Penyrheol, when Owen was preaching, was the solo musician did not wear a tie!

Café Church and Spree

Catching up! Sunday 26th I went to Caerphilly Independent Evangelical Church (Watford) in the morning, and Gateway’s Café Church at Funtastic in Caerphilly. Watford is pleasant, friendly and quite traditional, with very uncomfortable pews! The preacher was from Gabafa Baptist, and his theme was 1 Peter 1. He talked about ‘reverent fear’, referred to in verse 17, and how Jesus always told his followers not to be afraid. When he walked on the water, he said, “It’s OK, it’s me!” meaning that there was no need to fear because here was a person whom they trusted. So ‘reverent fear’ is never about being afraid of God, but is about treating him with honour, awe and respect.
The Café Church was very good – some video and discussion at the tables, with activities for the children. It’s good because it is in a non-threatening venue, which parents of young children are used to going to. The problem is that the building is like an aircraft hangar, with acoustics to match, and when the fans were one (it was a hot day), it was like there was a jet engine on test!
Finding new ways of ‘doing church’ is vital in this time, and it has been really good to see what goes on at Solace (Cardiff pub church) and Gateway’s Café Church. Both those ideas are full of potential for plenty of exciting development!

Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd July was Spree Wales camp in Llanelli. One dead minibus, but lovely weather, and an excellent weekend!

Momentum and Stuff

The Baptist Assembly in Wales, called Momentum, gathered in Carmarthen on Friday and Saturday last week. I travelled on the Thursday, taking our caravan, and did a short tour of the area en vélo. The caravan site was a little basic, but cheap. Here’s a picture of the shower block:

The Assembly was very enjoyable, getting together with other ministers and church members, and able to spend longer chatting and getting to know people over meals (which were excellent). There were some very good, interesting parts to the Assembly, such as the guest speaker, Eric Bryant, and the news of what is going on in Baptist circles in Wales, and in BMS.

I drove down to Llansteffan on the Friday evening after the close of play, and when the rain had stopped.

On Sunday I went to Glenwood Church in the morning, and St Mark’s, Gabalfa, in the evening. I found Glenwood to be a wonderful example of what church should be, in that they do so much in the community, as well as ministering to one another, and worshipping in a joyful, informal way. There was a presentation about a charity that works with local disaffected young people, and how they make video documentaries with them, and paint murals in scruffy underpasses. The charity is called People Around Here, which I think is a superb name!
The pastor, Paul Francis, was the preacher, and he looked at how we should give God our best, based on Mark 14.
St Mark’s was quite different to Glenwood. I know they are quite a large, lively, evangelical Anglican church, but I suppose most people go to the morning service. It was an enjoyable service and a blessing and a typical Anglican service.

This week I’ve been working on our Hymns Database – copying the Songs of Fellowship scripture index into it, and working on a combined Songs of Fellowship thematic index. (This is church work, but the kind of thing it is impossible to make time for in usual life. I did say in advance that I would try to do this job during the sabbatical!)

Tuesday 14th June 2011 - Cycling and Reading in the sun.

Lovely weather today, and I set out cycling from home joining Route 4 in St Christopher Drive, taking it through Caerphilly, Bedwas, Trethomas to Machen and then Draethen. A lovely village to stop at in the sun and read for half an hour, before pressing on (and up… and up!) to Rudry where I had lunch and read some more. Then a fast run from the Rudry mountain viewpoint down Van Road and back to Caerphilly where I sat looking out over the castle and read some more for an hour or so.
I’m still on John James’s book, Dry Bones Can Live, and I’m very much enjoying it. He made a couple of comments about miracles which I found helpful. John James is one who sees signs and wonders as important, but he notes that miracles are not as common today in the UK church as they are in some other parts of the world. (Miracles do still occur here, as well as answers to prayer, of course, he comments). This goes with what I was thinking about last week concerning the way signs and wonders tend to happen more in pioneer evangelistic situations, and maybe they are less for the complacent, comfortable church.
Secondly, we see the fulfilment today of Jesus’ remarks in John 14 about ‘greater things than these’ in the miraculous nature of modern medicine. Far more healing miracles occur every day now than during Jesus’ earthly ministry – things we accept as coming from science, but which the people of Jesus’ day would have seen as just as miraculous as the healings he performed.

Sunday 12th June 2011 - Pentecost

I went to four churches today! I started at Abertridwr Community Church, but I was only there for half an hour – Owen was playing the keyboard for one song, and then he needed to get to Bethel, so I was there in the capacity of chauffeur. A very friendly welcome, as always.
Then I went to Elim, Caerphilly – a Pentecostal church for Pentecost Sunday. There were about 120 people in the congregation, and the sung worship lasted about an hour, and included communion. There was also a part I quite liked, which was a Pentecostal version of sharing The Peace, but between a couple of the songs. The preacher was the regional superintendent for the Elim churches, and a former senior pastor at City Temple, Cardiff.
He preached on Acts 2 (of course) talking about the ‘Suddenlies of God’ – The Holy Spirit came suddenly! He talked about the Holy Spirit as ‘a helper alongside, who will partner with you,’ which I liked, and it matched very closely something I wrote about the Holy Spirit here a couple of weeks ago.

The third church was right across the road – Wesley, who were hosting the Caerphilly Pentecost Picnic, due the the extremely heavy rain. At least we were in no doubt as to whether to hold the picnic inside or outside! A good atmosphere, with people breaking out of their own church groups.

Number four was the evening service at Heath Evangelical Church, Cardiff. The preacher was the pastor, Rev Wyn Hughes, who surprised me by being very young. Well, younger than me, anyway!
This was only the second church in the fourteen I have been to during the sabbatical not to have a band playing. Anyone care to guess which one the previous one was?
…Yes, Bethel, Penyrheol where the preacher doubled as the pianist.
Oh, also Mount Carmel had only one musician, but Terry pressed ‘play’ on the pre-recorded piano track and strummed along on the guitar.
But Heath Evangelical was the first where there was solo organ (an impressive pipe organ). Heath was also the first of the fourteen to use hymn books rather than a projector. And it’s a long time since I last sang from the EMW book ‘Christian Hymns’. All minor keys, of course, apart from the one to the tune of Crown Him With many Crowns.
One hymn included the line “Our bosoms with gratitude glow” (I wrote it down to be sure I had it right!). I confess, I didn’t notice many glowing bosoms.

It’s interesting that both Elim and Heath would say they are Evangelical, and place full trust in the grace of God for salvation in Christ. They both hold the Bible as of paramount importance, but the two services couldn’t be more different in style and emphasis.

At Heath the pastor preached on John 16: 1 – 15 (from the KJV – and prayed in King James language too). He said, “If you haven’t been wrought upon by the Holy Spirit, you are not a Christian,” which sounds like it would be interesting, if I knew what it meant!
Here’s another: “You may think you are free, but you are a pawn of the devil.”
He made a good point that when the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, there is no ‘torment’ in it – God never loses his temper. Scaring people about Hell and Damnation is not the way to lead them into the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I suspect some of his predecessors within the evangelical tradition would have taken a different view, but it was good to hear that.

The warmth of the welcome has varied considerably over the last seven weeks. The smaller churches are definitely better at making visitors feel at home. That’s not to say I haven’t been welcomed at some of the bigger churches I’ve visited, because I have. Just not all of them!

During the Week

On Monday (6th June) I went to the fourth and final part of the course on Acts. It has been an enjoyable course, with lots of helpful ideas coming from various people, especially the Catholic lady. When we looked at a part where Paul gives his testimony, I was asked whether we have people giving testimonies in the Baptist church. I said we did, especially at baptismal services, “where people talk about why they are being baptised, how they met Jesus and what he means to them.” One lady was horrified at my phrase ‘how they met Jesus’… “I haven’t met Jesus!” she said. “Who meets Jesus these days???”

On Tuesday (7th June) I spent most of the day helping to load all John and Pauline’s worldly goods into two small self-drive vans. Whenever I do something like that I am always so glad I am not a removal man by trade!

On Wednesday (8th June) I dropped some children off at Bethel for ‘Roundabout’ then sat in the car and listened to a CD from New Wine 2007, which included a comment that “signs and wonders occur on the border between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the enemy.”
I need to think further about that one. It fits with something I heard someone say a while ago – someone who says he is not really a dispensationalist, but nevertheless thinks that signs and wonders are for pioneering church-planting situations.

Thursday (9th June) began with a Governors’ Committee meeting, and was followed by a trip along Route 47. This is the northern part of the Celtic Trail between Swansea and Chepstow (I only rode a small part of it!) It is more ‘challenging’ than Route 4 which goes further south. I rode the part from Penallta Park near Ystrad Mynach over the Hengoed Viaduct to Cwmfelinfach in the Sirhowy Country Park. Nice one – about 16 miles there and back.