Purpose of church

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The church's best asset

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The church's best asset

Thirty-eight years ago, I led a small group of students with very little experience and even less money in planting a church in the cathedral city of Durham in northern England. This week, we are back with the family of God’s people who have carried on and expanded that work far beyond its humble beginnings. Teams going out from Emmanuel Church have been instrumental in planting numerous churches in the United Kingdom and other countries, and thousands of people have been reached for the kingdom. Back at home base, in spite of all the people sent out, the house is full and expansion plans are underway.

But the best thing of all is that it’s still family. At the end of a prayer meeting, the folk gathered around Elaine and me to pray for us. One of the men referred to the account of Paul being let down in a basket from the walls of Damascus. He pointed out the critical role in the story played by the anonymous people who held the ropes that let him down. And then he said something which I found very moving, that there are people here who will hold the ropes for you.

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Challenged by change

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Challenged by change

Youth With A Mission is an amazing movement in which there’s rarely a dull moment. In fact, its motto was once described as constant change is here to stay.

We’ve been in the English city of Newcastle upon Tyne this week, working with South African friends planting a great church here. Elaine grew up nearby, and used to work in the city centre. She made the observation that while some things were the same, most things had changed, and some things were unrecognizable. And that’s always a bit of a shock - because we don’t like change.

For the most part, we understand that what we believe does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

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How to deal with your non-perfect church

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How to deal with your non-perfect church

People get disgruntled. I’ve had a number of conversations in the last few weeks with people from different churches. All of them appreciated their church, but all were struggling with deficiencies. Some of the folk were in leadership positions and others weren’t.

At one level, dealing with this kind of thing is a no-brainer. As the old saying goes, if you ever find a perfect church, you’ll ruin it as soon as you join it.

But we need to start asking ourselves a number of questions when doubts arise as to whether we’re in the right place.

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A teaching moment

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A teaching moment

The other evening Elaine and I were at a small group we joined at the church. The leader was planning to show a teaching video, but there were problems with the sound, and in the end he (being my age) declared, “I’m just going to teach this myself!” And I was glad he did, because he was outstanding. 

It seems to me there are three critical elements in the health of a local church: teaching, worship and community. Evangelism is of course essential, but what’s the point of evangelizing in order to bring people into a church where there is poor teaching, questionable worship and no sense of relationship? The best thing that could happen is for the convert to go in one door and out the other into a church in better shape.

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A handful of quietness

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A handful of quietness

A handful of quietness.

It sounds like the title of a novel you found at your local Christian bookstore, doesn’t it? Or maybe just somebody’s desperate cry for peace after a busy day.

It is in fact a Bible verse. The full verse reads like this: “Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.” It goes on to talk about the futility of a man who keeps on working harder and harder in order to amass more and more riches, but has no heir to pass them on to.

There's a lots of interesting things in Ecclesiastes, and you really have to study up on the background to understand it properly. But there’s gold in it if you look.