What really bites from my perspective is that young people get hurt... get really really nailed. When you give your little heart out, make a huge pledge that ultimately will probably benefit those running the event or the person speaking... and your new girlfriend doesn't turn up, you don't get your new dream job, your don't walk into financial blessing, your friend still has cancer - well you start questioning whether the whole enchilada is a hoax.

Best case scenario is that these people who get burnt by this excrement (and actually have the courage to journey through the pain of it and not completely bail on Jesus) wind up in churches but are so jaded and cynical about anyone talking about money that they don't do give anything to anyone and consumerism wins again.

Stu (Mr Wisdom himself) said "i don't think that the test of the authenticity of Christianity is in it's weathering persecution, i think persecution distills fortitude in people and will make a cause worth dying for (even if it isn't).i think the test of the authenticity of Christianity is how it weathers through the apathy of affluence. If Jesus can work with that messy substance, then he can work with anything. found at this post

We are meant to give. We need to break the hold that consumerism has on our lives. In following Jesus I would argue we are called to be recklessly, wonderfully generous, especially to the poor. And in doing so live a life of freedom from being owned by the dollar. Its fun being generous, its a great reputation to develop, the poor are better off. And its surprising how simply we can actually live. Two places I would suggest to give some coin regularly; Tear Fund and Amnesty NZ. And support missionaries and YFC (or inceedo) workers and others that live off the generosity of others and blueprint soul survivor workers : ) Comprehensive list of places to flick some coin here Stop thinking about it so much, stop justifying your consumerism, stop being lazy and apathetic and just do it. Just set up the automatic payment, start living more simply. Start feeling the tension of having so much in a world that has so little.

And lastly, a cool little post I just read that is totally unrelated but "hehe" funny as well as kinda true.

The thing about evangelism is this: People can spot it a mile off and they run a mile (so they generally end up two miles from it, depending upon the relative speeds of the evangelism and their running). I have found that evangelism is probably the least effective form of evangelism. If you want to communicate your faith to someone else the best way to do it is not to try.

And read this

You can go now

Labels: evangalism, money, rant

Labels: quote, rant, stu mcgregor

What an amazing weekend, it was such a privilege to be part of the first ever Fuse event, replacing the CTC weekend after 41 years.

Labels: event, friends, fuse, rant

I was reading Mark's account of Jesus before the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:53-65) and was trying to put myself in the shoes of Jesus - trying to feel the emotions that Jesus must have being feeling. I am conscious that He was aware of what lay ahead, I was thinking of how much Jesus must have being packing himself, freaking out. I am amazed at the restraint that Jesus shows, His silence in the face of some absurd accusations, I cant believe that he never once becomes or responds with the same evil that is being done to him. Here he is being falsely accused of all this stuff, his mates are bailing on him, a religious system is trying to get remove Him from the picture. And then this moment when he breaks his silence, and says the words that ultimately nail him to the cross. "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" the priests asks... "I am".

I don't know why, but I am amazed by this moment, this one little sentence that Jesus says that cements that path that he was to walk. I think that Jesus must have struggled with what was required of Him even after Gethsemane, and that in that time in front of the religious leaders he may have got off being crucified if he had continued to remain silent or responded differently. It must have being tempting. It strikes me as as such an intense moment and I am deeply moved by it for some reason right now.

Jesus continues to disturb me, He makes me uncomfortable about the way he went starting this revolution that we have so poorly continued. This "weakness is actually strength" paradox is popping up all the time at the moment in my readings and it deeply challenges me and my approach to so much of my life. Jesus is boldly weak in this moment, he steps into weakness, and in doing so changes everything.

Loosely tied to this is one of the most beautiful explanations of church and its relationship to structure, its a must read so make some time to read this if you haven't already. Once again its my mate Stu pulling out all the stops. READ THIS

Labels: Jesus., random, rant

I've come to the conclusion that are some very important qualities that need to be cultivated today - in emerging leaders - in all of us - in me. One of these that has being bouncing around the last couple of years is a teachable spirit. By this I mean people who have a humble heart, a person who is quick to listen, someone who can have their faith or theology robustly challenged and not freak out, a person who can sit with mystery, and tension, a person who does shift in understanding, and in practice, a person who wants to learn from others,someone who carries honestly their doubts, questions and uncertainty, people grounded, and authentic and real.

Tony Campolo said something on the "Quest" training sessions, that had an enormous impact on me. It was something to the effect of "If you cannot entertain the possibility you are wrong, then you are not engaging in dialogue". Darryl once made the comment (im sure he stole from someone else) that "a mind expanded will never return to its original size". The issue with some of us is that we are often hang round of the same "ilk". It has being my great privilege to travel the width and breadth of the country and spend time with people from all sorts of different approaches and theologies in the last year, and it is so exciting to see the Wellington crew start to honestly yarn about following Jesus, and discuss our different approaches and understandings. We are truly better off for it when we can critique each other and models around us in a spirit of love and with a genuine desire to see the Kingdom of God grow, the Church be all it can be, and young people discover this incredible God that loves them to bits. But to honestly be people "that could be wrong..." woah, that is huge stuff.

At its best, I think this is where blogging can be really interesting place where people with different views on things can engage and wrestle in a constructive dialogue. At its worst its a bun fight with people very intrenched in their own positions and hardly any positive dialogue taking place. Its pretty easy to make big statements (ive made a few of them) that you would probably not say in public.
At its best the emerging church movement gives freedom to un-learn, and maybe re-learn what it is to be Church. At its worst, it throws the baby out with the bathwater and arrogantly declares that "we can do it better, more authentically than anyone before us".

I would argue that we should value theological study (of any sort) is important - it scares me how often young leaders think they know the bible and butcher scripture in their talks, or how much faith is built around an incredibly small understanding of the bible. I sat through a talk recently in which a young bubbly guest speaker at a combined event proceeded to give the complete opposite message to the book of Ruth from which he was basing his talk. I'm not sure if it was that, or that kids that went for it hook line and sinker that scared me more... but I digress on a tangent. My point is that we should all attempt to be scholars of varying degrees, we all have a theological framework whether we call it that or not. There is so much to discover in scripture, and its a book that we will never get to the bottom of. But it is incredible exciting to discover the truth, and to reflect on its application. Hebrews 6 begins by saying "We must try to become mature and start thinking about more than just the basic things we were taught about Christ. We shouldn't need to keep talking about why we ought to turn from deeds that bring death and why we ought to have faith in God". (CEV)

I believe that this is part of the command to "work out our faith with fear and trembling" (Phillipians 2:12). We need to encourage ourselves and young people to grow up, to stop being spoon fed, to realize that you are not a bad Christian if you don't believe everything said from the front. We need to remind each other that you don't have to act a certain way in church to be loved by God. We need to constantly talk about the God that He loves us to bits, the grace that is freely ours. To follow Jesus is to wrestle with what it means to follow Him, it is to feel uncomfortable, it is to pursue His truth not our culture no matter what it costs us.
In saying that we don't need the opposite. The truth is that you don't know it all. You don't have it sorted. The way you are out-working your faith is flawed. And so is mine. Welcome to existence.

And so in conclusion. We do not need more speakers. We need more listeners who sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from the greatest Rabbi there is and ever has being. We need people that can sit with the doubt, and the mystery, people who are not precious about their theological position, but can honestly say "I could be wrong". And more than anything, people who pursue truth, honesty and integrity, that we would continue to explore what it means to follow Jesus, and what it means to outworks his teaching today. Lets not pretend this is easy. It requires enormous amounts of courage to live this sort of life. But I believe that Jesus is the Truth, as well as the way and the life. And Truth loves being discovered.

And so we hold on to this beautiful promise in Phillipians 1:6 "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears". (MSG Version)

Sorry for the mini sermon... gotta learn how to write this stuff without sounding like a blimmin school teacher. However If you wanna come forward to the altar call, you can do so now... ; )

Labels: rant

I've spent the last couple of days on a retreat with some extraordinary people who serve blueprint church community and the people around it. Incredible people because they all live off support from others to do what they do, have all paid a huge cost to do what they do and all weathered some storms. The misconception about doing full time churchy type work being "glamorous" is the biggest hoax ever and bugs me no end. You think its a sweet gig? Then quit your job and start serving a church or being missional. There are HUGE numbers of churches and youth groups desperate for someone to step up. These guys have all gone "all in" (to use poker terminology) and so consequently its being a great two days, filled with laughs and wisdom and honesty. Ive being deeply challenged by hanging with them.

One of these guys is my old flatmate Matt, a wise man, a gifted man, and a ridiculously good looking man. So check out Matt's debut video. I reckon it is brilliant. And props to his flatmate Kieran Rynhart for busting his guts making it. Check out Matt's Website and his Myspace page or for a Hi Res version check out the Twig Records page.

Labels: Blueprint, Matt Hollemen, rant, Twig

The things that annoy me today
(annoy isn't strong enough, but the string of expletives I would like to use in front of it will get me in too much trouble)
One: My propensity to sin, stuff up, do stuff I shouldn't do etc.
Two: That I need faith to follow God... I wish I could get rid of my strong doubts, questions, my unbelief, and it would be awesome to grow a mustard seed of faith someday.

Tangent: I'm off to speak at an Easter camp in a couple of days (8 Main Sessions gulp), and I was thinking last night about how sweet it would be if God turned up in all His glory, and just stood in the room (having watered down his glory enough so that we didn't all get fried). Then all my doubts and questions would be thrown away, and then I would be able to say "see kids, I told you he was freaken awesome". Imagine the altar call after that one! Instead, inevitably there will be young people where where God becomes very real for them, there will be young people who go along with a crowd and have an emotional time, and there will be a group that think it is a load of rubbish and try and spade the ladies (or vice verca).

The things I'm stoked about today
One: Grace; more and more I am amazed at how much I didn't understand the reality of grace growing up as a teenager. It is a scandal that I am just coming to terms with, and why I will continue to passionately follow the person of Jesus.
Two: Hope; not only that there will be a day when I see God in all his glory (and the sweetest right hand reef break you could ever imagine), but that I get to charge around on earth and do my best to be a person who ushers in this new Kingdom, and that God likes using me in spite of (and maybe because of) number two above.

And for those wondering if I got up to mischief in the weekend which brought on this post... sorry to disappoint, I hung out with my dad all weekend on a surf trip up north. And the thought of me getting up to mischief?!?! Never... ; )

Labels: personal, rant

Christchurch has being fun, remind me to tell you the yarn about the surf and the dolphins sometime. And I left my freaken phone at the airport... the equivalent to leaving my brain there. Smart. And I picked up the flu. So yeah, great times.

So humility huh? Well interestingly there is actually a wikipedia article on the subject!
There are some amazing scriptures dealing on the subject of humility. Jesus said clearly that he was a a humble person (Mathew 11), he said statements like "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted". Philippians 2 is one of the most beautiful scriptures on this subject;


Humility must be right up there in qualities to nurtured and desired as a leader, as a person, especially if we profess to follow Jesus, and therefore imitate Him in this aspect.

But here is my theory specifically here in NZ; I wonder whether introverts have often being seen as humble people – perhaps because they are quieter people. Extroverts are not normally seen as being humble – I suspect because they normally think out loud, especially if they have a “big personality” to boot. Surely humility is far more than how loud we are, how we are wired?

Now – to be honest I sit in the second category, I am an extrovert, I think out loud most of the time, I’ve being labelled by others as having a “big personality” and its probably an accurate description. As part of this wiring, I have been called proud and assumed to be arrogant by people in my life, some of them pretty important voices to me. And sadly there is a lot of truth in these statements, and so for many years now I have being reflecting on what it looks like to “walk humbly before God”.

I was talking to this guy called Bruce Collins about humility and he said; "Sam, don't worry about humility, if you get proud, God will humble you". And actually, I think to a degree he is right . My history is filled with moments that I am extremely grateful for, that have shaped my character and brought a change in attitude and heart. But they have being hard times, it has hurt to be humbled.
The tragedy in my story is that I started getting resentful about how I am wired. I became gutted that I was an extrovert, I wished I was not in the middle of the ruckus all the time. I started to feel uncomfortable about the speaking engagements that I had, and over analysing my motives for so much of what I do.

Now that is not bad stuff, but in the same breath, "the glory of God is Sam fully alive" to paraphrase Irenaus. How do I walk in freedom with the personality and gifts that God has given me while walking humbly? So how do I serve the world around me wired like this? So what the heck is humility?

Im no scholar, but I reckon that humility is a heart attitude which manifests itself in how we act and how we relate to people around us. Again Philippians 2 nails it when Paul says; "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves". Amazing piece of advice and something that has being rattling round in my brain for a while now. I would contend that this is partly outworked in our ability to listen to others (instead of waiting for our turn to speak). You can tell when someone is genuinely listening to you, and it is a beautiful thing (It turns out Steve Taylor ticks this box like few people I have met, a very very good listener). Mike Pilavachi challenged me on some of this stuff, and said "start acting humbly, the heart will then follow".

I think Micah 6 nails it; "What does the Lord require of us? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God".

I believe that there is something that happens when we spend time with the poor. Whether that is the socially poor, the lonely kid at school, the smelly weird guy, or the literal poor in the third world or in our cities. We are changed when we are with the poor, perhaps that is why Jesus said in Mathew 25 that we meet him in these places. Perhaps that is why those who spend there lives serving the poor in NZ and around the world are often such very humble people.

At the end of the day, its an awesome thing to spend time with someone in which there is a genuine humility which may be why I have being thinking about it so much in recent times. Ive met humble people all around the place, sometimes they are powerful people in the Christian scene, most of the time they are your wonderfully ordinary servant hearted person who loves others and loves God. One of my personal heroes is my grandfather, who has never had a "speaking ministry", never pastored a church, or released a worship album, but has had an impact on more people than you could imagine. I could tell you story after story of people challenged by my grandfather. I want to be more like him in many ways, its very hard to define, but humility just oozes out of him.

Labels: humility, personal, rant

I want to be quite careful about how I say this, especially after reading this from Scott McKnight the living legend, and this from Scottie - a legend because his bowels are so nasty his odour can clear a room of hardened men. It burns the back of the throat and makes the eyes water.

Now, it is a bit frustrating because I would love to have a good story about how I grew up. But I have had a pretty good Christian up-bringing, and have done all the things a good Christian kid should do. The camps, leading worship at church, degree from Bible College, tours with bands etc etc etc. And yet I have had a major (underline freaken MAJOR) re-adjustment about how it looks to follow the person of Jesus, and what it looks like to be living a life for Him which cemented itself about four years ago.

Ask me when I was 17 about the poster (found in a Christian mag with a huge circulation here in NZ, in the Soul Survivor UK festival booklet etc) below and I would have said, "yep that looks right, I hope one day i can have a life of significance like that guy".
Now I think that it is absolute rubbish.... this is NOT significance, and in no way is the destination I believe Jesus had in mind for us as I see it in the Gospels.

Labels: doubt, emerging church, honesty, jesus followers, personal, rant

Saturday Night saw my mate Darryl give yet another brilliant yarn to the folks at Blueprint Church. I'm gonna give you his first point (with some sam harvey embellishments) mainly because the second point was really good but I cant remeber it that well, didnt really take any notes on it. Something about changing the way we view ourselves or something fluffy along those lines.

Anyway after thinking about it, what was so good about the talk was that it wasn't a "lets get sorted so God can maybe use us" talk, it wasn't a "You are going to change the world" talk, it was a couple of practical things that we should be doing if we profess to follow Jesus. Its so refreshing to hear stuff that we should and can easily do.

Point one: We should all be involved in helping the poor on three levels.

• Sponsor a child. All of us should be doing this even though we are distant from the person and they are often just a picture on the fridge.
  
• Connect ourselves (via a trip to a 2/3rds world country) so that these people suffering move from pictures to a reality in our life. That we would know someone who is living in poverty overseas. I know this is a strong view, but my perspective is that every single person who follows Jesus should go as least once in their life to spend time with the poor. I spent three years in South America as my parents served as missionaries and it has so profoundly changed my world-view it cannot be overstated. We spend huge amounts of money on study, cars, rent, christian confrences. We will be more transformed than all of this stuff combined, and we can all afford it if push came to shove.
  
• Connect in NZ to the poor. Darryl mentioned some of the needs here in NZ that we should all be a part of (as he ranted about here)
  

As he was talking I wrote down the words "we actually act least like a Christian in church".

Following Jesus looks like hanging out with the un-popular kid at school. Following Jesus looks like giving our time and money to those that struggle physically, emotionally etc. Following Jesus is looking at creative ways of blessing people with no strings attached (click here for a great yarn along those lines). Following Jesus looks like the struggle in the secret place not to sin. Following Jesus is hurting and being confused by circumstances and situations that are not right in the world. Following Jesus is being angry about injustice, and giving yourself to make a difference even if it feels small. Following Jesus is sharing life with those that are on the fringes and looked down upon in our culture, with those that are hurting (which is why my friend Stu's latest post blows me away).
Following Jesus is plodding along doing normal life in an abnormal way. You can continue the list yourself this definitely isnt the extensive list : )

All of a sudden it seems that our church gathering (while freaken awesome times and really important) is not just what it looks like to be a Christian.

But where does most of our energy go? If "the medium is the message" then what are communicating?
I for one have had a really huge adjustment about what it looks like to follow Jesus in the last 6 years, and yet have grown up in a healthy Christian family, with part of that time overseas living amongst the poor, being to all the camps and events one goes to, studied at Bible College for three years. And with all this Christian input I still had a really imbalanced idea about what it looked like to follow Jesus.

To be continued...

Labels: darryl, emerging church, jesus followers, justice, personal, rant

Yesterday I brought a little TV to complete my bachelor pad (and to probably make it more difficult to actually "recharge" on my day off as I blogged about here). I caught a bit of the late-night news, a piece on the homosexual community leaving the church "in droves". The video of the piece can be seen here. And while the media are obviously out to stir things up and make a good story, it is still tragic that this is our reputation.
It would be great to sit here all day and really analyse the news clip (the destiny march, the comments of stuart lange who is a person I enormously respect and enjoyed the lectures of at BCNZ etc), but I can only procrastinate from writing a talk for so long... I will save that for a good coffee with those that want to yarn about it. Although I would be interested in Chez's reaction as I believe (I could be wrong) that we hold somewhat different views on this issue.

What really rips my guts out is that we (if we go to a Christian church we are sadly lumped in) have brilliantly managed to alienate, and I would argue, really hurt a community in our society that should know more than anyone that we stand for grace, love, acceptance etc. We have missed out on our churches being hugely enriched by the homosexual community. Somehow we have made this a great big naughty sin, and forgotten about the greed, the judgmentalism, the superior moral attitude's rampant in Christian culture that I suspect from the gospels would have really got Jesus mad. It seems ludicrous that we welcome those that struggle with lust, that are divorced, and get all agitated by this issue.
Im picking Jesus would be saying these days (as these great ideas suggest) "Contrary to popular belief I don't hate anyone who's gay"


The reality is that this is a complex issue, and a very divisive one in our churches at the moment. More than ever we need good voices to help us guide this discussion.

A great resource that I have found very helpful is this transcript of a talk between Tony, and his wife Peggy Campolo. Both hold very different views on the topic, but provide a great dialogue and perspective that I think is so healthy and important for those of us that follow Jesus. And a good read for those who wonder if all Christians are anti-gay. That is certainly not my angle, or that of many of my peers.
Another brilliant resource is this essay (the link downloads the pdf straight away) by my good friend Stu McGregor. In his words its an essay "that takes us through a survey of the Biblical, biological, psychological and philosophical debates. It’s conclusion may be controversial, but I think it was hard earned". One of the more intelligent people I know, I envy Stu and his ability to be so articulate and well thought out - if people want a super deep theological discussion on a blog, I am wrong person. Stu on the other hand is the one.

Comments are closed on this one because I dont want to turn it into a big freaken bun fight. They are closed to remind us that while it is a very important issue that needs to be thought out from a christian view point, we need to keep it in perspective with all that Jesus said (and in this case didnt say). And finally because I really don't want to put hours into replying to comments if the world discovers this and gets all angry.
If you strongly disagree or have something to say, blog about it : )
If you really really don't like what I have written (or really really do) you can email me at sam at soulsurvivor dot co dot nz

Labels: homosexual, jesus followers, rant

Tony Campolo wrote a book called "we have met the enemy and they are partly right". In it he looks at other ideologies and pulls out what followers of Jesus need to learn from these worldviews. I recently stumbled across a letter on an old article written by Keith Green that was written by an American Student breaking off his engagement to his fiancee after converting to communism. I love the tone of the letter, and want to have the same passion for cause and teaching of Jesus that this young guy had for communism. There is a lot we could learn from this dude...

"We Communists have a high casualty rate. We're the ones who get slandered and ridiculed and fired from our jobs and in every other way made as uncomfortable as possible. A certain percentage of us get killed or imprisoned. We live in virtual poverty. We turn back to the Party every penny we make above what is absolutely necessary to keep us alive. We Communists don't have time or the money for many movies or concerts or T-bone steaks or decent homes and new cars. We've been described as fanatics. We are fanatics! Our lives are dominated by one great overshadowing factor - the struggle for World Communism.

"We Communists have a philosophy of life which no amount of money could buy. We have a cause to fight for, a definite purpose in life. We subordinate our petty, personal selves into a great movement of humanity. And if our personal lives seem hard or our egos appear to suffer through subordination to the Party, then we are adequately compensated by the fact that each of us in his small way is contributing to something new and true and better for mankind. The Communist cause is my life, my business, my religion, my hobby, my sweetheart, my wife and mistress, my bread and meat. I work at it in the daytime and dream of it at night. Its hold on me grows, not lessens, as time goes on. Therefore, I cannot carry on a friendship, a love affair, or even a conversation without relating it to this force which both guides and drives my life. I evaluate people, books, ideas, and actions according to how they affect the Communist cause and by their attitude toward it. I've already been in jail because of my ideas, and if necessary, I'm ready to go before a firing squad."

I love the passion, the emotion, and the reckless flavour of this letter, and it reminds me of those first times when you knew Jesus was real, where I was blown away by the holiness of this God. I really want (and feel like we are slowly getting back to some degree of "first love" in recent weeks) that totally crazy sense "living like a dead man" with a life totally given to the cause and person of Jesus.
On top of this, I would argue that the early church looks like Communism functioning pretty well, with "no one having need", and the sharing of possessions amongst the community, anyway it looks pretty similar to my un-trained eye (see Acts 2 vs 42 - 47).
Inspiring and challenging stuff

Labels: jesus followers, rant

I WOULD DEARLY LOVE TO GO AND RE-WRITE THIS POST, THE POINT I WAS TRYING TO MAKE IS VERY BADLY COMMUNICATED, AND I DISAGREE WITH WHAT, BUT MAINLY HOW I HAVE WRITTEN IT. BUT TO PRESERVE THE INTEGRITY OF THE POST AND THIS BLOG IM GOING TO LEAVE IT AS IT IS... ENJOY ; )


Note: this is an not an attempt to try and raise the maturity of this blog after the comments in the last post. It came out of conversation with a guy today... who lives in Palmerston North. Please pray for him, and for anyone else you know living in Palmy. If you have being there, you know why.

Does anyone else find Communion empty and boring? Does the very word “Communion” conjure up the most religious and dull of memories? Doesn’t it all sound so… Anglican?
Now I (frustratingly sometimes) love the Anglican Church don’t get me wrong, (I am a closet Anglican) but surely this ritual wasn’t meant to be so lifeless?

While I think the words in the Anglican liturgy are incredibly beautiful words, (warning: judgement alert) hearing them said in a monotonous voice from a guy who sounds as spiritually excited as a plate of sausages and bored witless makes contemplating this incredibly act of grace difficult. And then to have the same words repeated every week, year on year until they have had every bit of life beaten out of them seems to be adding insult to injury.
I am well aware that for many the marriage of liturgy and communion really is something that works for them. This is not the case for me, and I would argue that many young people struggle to engage with this expression (and if we are really honest many not so young).
Once every now and then when I haven't being to an Anglican service for a long while (as in right now) and it is a deep experience. Thrashed out every week, and before you know it I am thinking about everything but the cross, it becomes another empty ritual. C.S. Lewis disagrees with me and writes that the familiarity of these words makes it like a well-worn shoe in which one can easily dance. The familiarity of the words for Mr Lewis helped the act of contemplation, didn’t hinder it.

And then there is the Pentecostal churches who are just as bad in my opinion. It seems that whole command to do this to remember what Jesus did is a bit of a pain in the back side, and so they seem to quickly get communion over and done with, and do it every blue moon to tick the box. Throwing the bread and a thimble of juice down the aisle in between songs is as much an act of contemplation as the drive thru, and again seems to have cheapened the whole point of it.

So what’s it to be; the token or the boring?

Now all these conversations are fine if you don’t actually help pastor at a church. Alas, my theory, my rants, my frustration can actually be used to try different things. Unlike many, I cannot enjoy the satisfaction of being pissed off about something and enjoy stewing about it with out ever trying to make a positive alternative. The exploration of different ways of "doing" communion began in my old church in Karori in 2005, and was really emphasised at the beginning of last year as I began helping to lead at a church called Blueprint.

Like many emerging churches, Blueprint has being guilty of throwing out the baby with the bathwater in its exploration of what Church looks like these days. And so communion had hit the sack heap until someone piped up from the church and challenged the leadership on the whole deal part way through last year. Brook, my good mate saw the point and re-introduced the event. I can take none of the credit, but love the way that things have turned out and have learnt a lot. Let me explain what has being happening the last 7 months.

In between every series through out the year (or about every 6 weeks) there is a night in which we focus on grace. For a church filled with new Christians, or old munted ones (like me), I struggle to really believe the scandal of grace, and so this is a welcome reminder. Obviously central to grace is the cross, and at the end of the talk, or sometime in the night we spend a decent amount of time either in silence or with background music eating some bread and drinking some juice. I cannot overstate that they are the most powerful nights where there is a very tangible sense of beauty and a very deep sense of contemplation of this incredible act of love. The whole process of listening to someone speak on grace, and then to spend time with some physical elements and to consider that this God loves us that much, to consider the implications of the cross, and the implications of grace on our lives. This has brought such renewed life, passion and gratitude in the act of communion on a personal level, and a desire to see new life breathed into this ancient ritual that is filled with mystery, freedom and beauty.

In no way has blueprint got it nailed and if anything it is a church marked by its obvious and very real imperfections. The truth is that in every church there is the danger that we can very easily slide into ritual and loose meaning of important parts of the fabric that make "Church", but on the other side there are things that we can learn and grow from. And I know that no denomination or church has ever set out to try and make something loose meaning or disengage young people. My argument is that something so special and powerful as communion is worth having some hard yarns about as there is such a depth that we can easily loose when we have not spent time thinking about how we will create an atmosphere of contemplation and reflection.

My apologies for the judgemental tone of the post, I would be very interested in your thoughts and experiences in this matter, and look forward to my Anglican friends roasting me on a spit.

In other news…

A blog well worth checking out is my mates Dave “Bare Theology” (no its not the theology of nudistst…). Dave has some very impressive titles next to his name; dean of men, lecturer at the Bible College of NZ, writer for Soul Purpose magazine... etc etc. Dave was my flatmate for the whole time I lived in Auckland, we completed our degrees at the same time. The difference was that I was content with the mantra "C's get degrees", Dave actually studied... and after I graduated Dave stayed on, has just about finished his masters, and lecturers at the college to this day.

He has shamelessly advertised his blog on my comments twice, and seeing that putting his blog on my link page is not enough, I am going to advertise his site in the hope that this monkey will stop peddling his new blog on my blog... jokes its a good read. Although to be honest my brain cells get a little fried after reading to much of blogs like his, a reflection of my simple mindedness and his intellect. In fact, I would encourage you to find the comment I left on his blog, which was all I could think of at the time. His last post had me cross eyed.

But for those bored of the paddling round the puddle, and know its time to have a “real meal” and tackle some meaty issues, then head over to Dave’s blog. On top of his intellect he is a quality guy, we had some legendary times flatting together.

Labels: emerging church, jesus followers, rant

I really appreciate the honesty of the comments in the last post, great stuff.

The Second big issue I have with the Christian Music scene, particularly here in NZ, is that there is a huge desire to make it in the States. A large number of bands have either moved to the states, or go their to tour to maybe one day crack in the scene. In fact I was part of a band that had being signed to a major US label... though fortunately (it didn't feel like it at the time!) I was dumped from the band, and then later the contract fell through...

The big question I have is why? Why on earth is there such an interest in going to the states? Is it because the states need more christian music? Come on, what a load of bollocks, the place has got more music than it knows what to do with, christian and non-christian...
Is it for mission? That cant be the case, the place is full of churches and bands propagating the Jesus message. The conclusion I therefore come to is that a lot of bands go to the states because there is a HUGE amount of money to be made, as well as the fact that if you make it in the states, you make it in the entire world.
Money, Success, Significance, Power.

The truth is that a lot of christian people support christian labels here in NZ, but a lot of this money is used to fund these very expensive expeditions to the states. When I look at the needs worldwide and here in NZ I feel sick that this money is being invested into sending bands to a country that doesn't need the music, with questionable motives, and I would suggest that there is very little return in terms of the world being a better place because of this investment. I struggle to see how this lines up with values of Jesus as I see them in scripture.

Now I have no problem going overseas to tour your music. But if you want to go overseas to spread the love of music, your love for Jesus, then why not go to Africa or South America and encourage the Christians there, or influence and be influenced by the local music scene? Or why not go to Europe, a highly secular area in desperate need of artists who love Jesus and live by his teachings.

My last question; why is there so little talk about this whole christian music scene. We seemed to have become so used to having a whole industry that has a "christian" attached to it, yet seems to have the same motives and methods as any other label or industry, just dressed up with different language. Aren't we called to live a radically different lifestyle, with radically different business practices, with a very different set of values, and a completely upside down view of success? I love the story of Keith Green giving away his records when he was alive and touring... it infuriated his record company, but is this not the kind of wild behaviour that I think Jesus was trying to encourage?
How come we are so comfortable with this whole scene, shouldn't it make us uncomfortable? Or am I reading it completely wrong?



I am truly sorry if this comes across as a real judgemental angry position. That's not how I'm trying to come across, just genuinely confused after playing in christian bands for the last four years, and seeing the incredible power and influence this scene has on many young people (as well as the very corruptable power that it brings... story there for a later time) - and trying to reconcile it with how Jesus lived and what he taught. I would really appreciate your comments and feedback because this whole thing has being brewing for a while now...

Another (way more positive rant) to round of this discussion is on its way in a day or two... and then we can go and have Christmas, I can chill out a bit and stop being so angsty, and we can begin the new year being a wee bit more happy!!!!

Labels: jesus followers, music, rant

It’s the business end of movember, and it turns out that this molestache is just as bad as the last time I grew one, just thicker, with more substance.

I do want to have one little rant if I can. You will notice that I have gone for the classic “slug”. The slug is the purist form of movember. I have noticed a lot of people have chosen to go for the “handlebars”, or even the “beard that I will shave a couple of days near the end”. From my perspective, I wonder why you are bothering.

I am sorry is this sounds really harsh, but I am very passionate about his particular topic. Let me put it this way. Having the handlebars is like going for a nudie run with your boxers on. Whoopdeedo. You think you are participating, but there is no risk, no cost, and no fear of being caught looking like an absolute idiot (which by the way those with the slug have to deal with every day). The slug is where it is at… those with the slug are the ones on the edges of society, they are the ones shunned in public places, they are the lepers of our culture. I would contend that the word “mo” and “slug” are interchangeable, and therefore I would strongly argue that we could be calling it “slugvember”. Which raises serious questions about those who are choosing to have a more “culture friendly” version of the mo.

To those with the bars and with the beards I say… step up!!! Acknowledge your error, shave the offending part, and join the purist movember crew. You will be welcomed to the inner circle with the love and tenderness that only those with dirty slug mo’s can give. Wink wink

Labels: movemeber, rant

I am (insert expletive here) sick and tired of people (in church out of church, wherever) thinking the God we follow is some kind of distant, boring, kill joy with a big beard. You want an idea about the type of God I am following and giving my life for... read on.

(Written by Mark Strom, the principle of BCNZ)

This God

This God could put on eyebrows and kneecaps, tear ducts and saliva glands.
This God could be born under the tyrants Augustus and Herod.
This God could accept the smells of shepherds, and the extravagancies of political emissaries.
This God could start life a vulnerable hunted child born into scandal.
This God could grow up under foreign domination and among terrorists and outcasts.
This God could sit in the street playing marbles.
This God could wear with pride the calloused splintered hands of an honest workman building the houses and fixing the furniture of half-castes, outcasts and bigots.

This God could ask his cousin to baptise him along with the rest of the crowd.
This God could make the best vintage Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon even when the guests were too drunk to know the difference.
This God could befriend a bloke in a tree with small man syndrome.
This God could enjoy a prostitute washing his feet, giving her his full and undivided attention, and ignoring the eye-rolling of lawyers and theologians.
This God could spend a whole night making a whip to crack over the backs of con artists who rip-off the poor.

This God could wrap the greatest truths in the simplest stories, and put a sting in the tail of every yarn.
This God could let himself hang on a tree, nails tearing at his sinews, blood, faeces and urine running down his legs.
This God could invite women to be the first to know that he was back.
This God could delay his own glorious homecoming long enough for a bite of breakfast on the beach and a yarn with an old friend to let him know there were no hard feelings and to pass on his mantle.
This God could take his own story and give it the most surprising ending.

This God, this God, is worth knowing.
This God could reach into the crevices of my soul to bring to life the longings I smother so pathetically and recklessly with shame and excuses.
This God could raise me up to life with him.
This God could give me every blessing he could give himself.
This God could draw me out of my petty self-interest without a hint of a ‘tut-tut’, a frown, or a patronising smile.
This God could be more infuriating and fascinating and gobsmacking than any god I could ever make up.

This God could love my obsessiveness and overlook my forgetfulness.
This God could laugh and cry with me, and come play with me.
This God could make me his glory.
This God could love me.
This God could trust me.
This God could never be safe, but always be good.
This God, this God, is worth knowing.
This God I want to know.
This God I know in the face and Spirit of Jesus.

Labels: jesus followers, rant, theology

Latest article I have written for Soul Purpose ezine is here. Hopefully it speaks for itself, but im becoming increasingly aware of this rumbling in my heart for something far more "Jesus centered" than "christian culture centered" in my life, and in my communities. In conversations with many people it seems that I am not alone in feeling this growing anger, tension, frustration about what is... and what could and should be. What excites me is that this holy frustration is bubbling over into action, into life choices, into churches and communities looking outward rather than inward. Every week I encounter someone who is living out some very practical initiatives to help those on the fringes in our world.

This is why I love spending time with Darryl, because for all his shallowness and anger, he is hurting and burning for the poor, he loathes injustice. This is why I am listening to Tony Campolo every freakin day at the moment, because he is angry and frustrated about the Church's response to the needs of the poor, and he is frustrated at his governments social and fiscal policies. This is why I love the work of Urban Vision and UNOH. This is why I think Soul Survivor rocks and I hope will provoke a lot of discussion and action about the call for followers of Jesus to be active in pursuing justice, and looking to the needs of the poor both locally and around the world.


Guys like Darryl, Campolo, Ash Barker light fires. These people are modern day prophets reminding us that for the most part, we have forgotten the poor. These people spark the conversations and draw attention to the uncomfortable way that Jesus related to people, to the way that Jesus spoke, acted, the things that made Jesus angry, and passionate , the places and people where Jesus put his time.

The reality is that I cannot stand before God and plead ignorance to the cause of the poor, thanks in part to the guys I have mentioned. And I am acutely aware that my theory craps all over my practice. I am yet again very uncomfortable with what it means to truly follow Jesus...

Here endeth rant

Labels: jesus followers, justice, personal, rant, soul purpose

Disclaimer; The following thoughts are not something I would die for, just some ideas that have being floating around. I would love to be corrected. Please feel free to disagree with me.

So for a long time now there has being this thought rattling round my head that the majority of young people I meet do not associate or pride themselves as belonging to a particular denomination. This has being hugely re-enforced this year as I have traveled and met a lot of youth workers, and spoken and hung out with kids from all sorts of churches. I have sat down with a lot of youth workers from most denominations out there in all sorts of towns and cities, from all types of churches. And we have talked and talked about life as we know it, sometimes for hours. And I have yet to see one of the these yoof types (as gareth calls them) get warmed up about their particular denomination. In fact the worldview of most youth leaders, from what I have seen, is remarkably similar.
They don't care about their particular church name, they do care about serving young people, and getting to know Jesus, and serving him whatever that means. But there has always being a skepticism about my particular angle or motivation for wanting to spend time with them... was I covertly representing a particular denomination so that we could steal all the young people from there church through Soul Survivor, and stealthily fill up the Presbyterian church, or Catholic, or whatever...

And I can totally relate. Even though I have grown up in an Anglican church, and worked in one, I certainly wouldn't identify myself as an Anglican. Sesh, im not passionate about the Anglican church, im passionate about the local Church, any flavor, im now part of some wierd emerging church type community made up predominately of young people who are pretty missional and very creative, and work for a Youth Movement called Soul Survivor that exists to serve anyone game enough to be in relationship with us, and then some.

And so I am wondering if our culture, as well as being post-modern and post-everything under the sun, is also post-denomination? What does that mean.

My mate dan (who I hung out with last week and blogged about here) wrote;
"it does seem like people are no longer interested in what church is called, but what it is called to, worship, serving (with heart), Holy Spirit, justice etc.



There are naturally a bunch of red flags and concerns about this shift.
I mean the last thing we need is a bunch of young people who flit from church to church with out ever being a part of community (and I want to underline part, rather than "in", stu highlights the difference in this post) and without ever giving themselves sacrificially to a group, to a community. What we don't need is this whole consumer Christianity being fed by the buffet Christian approach.

And I know there is a sense of loss, and a huge concern about young people drifting away from church full stop. My observations in most established, historical denominations has being that this drift has being met with fear, and a discussion about how we can "keep" young people, or "attract" them. I would argue that this is the wrong conversation to be having. I would argue that Church leaders need to be asking how they can be a resource, support, blessing, encouragement, source of wisdom, EVEN if this means that there denominational label wont be put on these particular communities. That these institutions with a lot of money and experience would invest in young emerging leaders, and back them, gamble on them, almost to the point of foolishness. Sadly I do not see this happening for the most part. Yes, this requires humility, this requires death to ourselves, but I think that there is some very real opportunity in the midst of this shift.

That we can be united in vision and values, through relationship, in a way that we haven't had for a very long time. And that we can have more conversation about the things that matter, than the things that don't. And we can move beyond just talking about stuff, and maybe, just maybe we could do something to build the Kingdom of God here in NZ and around the world.

There is a lot more I want to write but this would then turn into this post into something wwaaayyyy too long, and I know i haven't looked at a whole of angles, and have just scratched the surface of the problems with this, and haven't really explained myself that well, but hopefully it is enough for you to have something to chew over.



Im off to speak at LIVE camp this weekend, and then to Singapore on Monday to help and participate at the Alpha Asia Pacific conference. I am as excited as a little kid, coz I have never being to Singapore before.

Labels: denomination, emerging church, rant

Ahhh, already it feels better to have had the nasty first post under my belt. One of the habits I would like to get into is to post something at least weekly, if not more regulary. Now of course no one wants to know the insignificant details of my life, so I am going to try not to bore everyone with nothing posts. And if you do like that sort of stuff; just watch Big Brother or prowl around beebo.

But I love great conversation, wrestling with the real issues, having constructive dialogue. For example my mate Dave had some points of difference to an article I had written. We sparred on email for a while before he posted his response. It was great dialogue, and sparked some good discussion for myself, and some of my mates. The issue is if we stayed here. What really bugs me is when those sorts of discussions become the destination, rather than just a discussion on the journey. And when they become the a big deal. When really there is a lot of stuff that we should be way more agitated about if we really follow Jesus. Like this stuff.
Im hoping that this blog will be a healthy outlet for me with some of the stuff rolling round my head, as well as a place where people can violently disagree with me without fear of my incredibly muscular ninja body kicking their ass.

Coz it the end of the day there is a lot that really drives me up the wall, but I am realizing more and more that I don't have all the answers I once thought I did. There are some weird people that call themselves "Christians" out there, and I want to be someone that as much as possible reflects my understanding of who Jesus is, and what it means to follow Him. Even though that is going to look wierd to a lot of people!
Somehow I don't think the photo below quite reflects what I know of Jesus. Jesus didn't alienate people. He did say some pretty hard things from time to time, but I love the way that for the most part it was the religious people that bugged Jesus the most, those were the ones he had the most problem with. And the broken, munted, outcast people on the fringes were the ones he just loved hanging out with, and were the ones most attracted to Jesus.

Labels: blogging, rant