Upside Down, You Got Me Turning, Inside Out, and Round and Round**

Something happened to me on 7th September that has literally shaken my thinking on evangelism. It revolves around this passage.

Yes, I did know this story before that date and yet it came alive........(doh)
I had been preparing with a little team for an alpha course for families - we had prayed lots, we had planned together, we had prayed some more. Food for 30 was waiting. As 6pm drew near, no-one came. Ah well, I thought, a lovely meal awaits and this will be relaxing, all these folks are good friends of mine and it will be an opportunity to chat and catch up.

But something within me ROSE up - NO! It's not to be like this - we can't sit and share a meal so comfy and cosy - so it was coats on and into the street as we set off find people who will come eat with us. "Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find." So two of us set out and I invited families in the nearby park to our meal.

One family came - and the sense of God's love and care for them is moving me to tears every time I think of it. As a friend put it: think how much God loved them that he wanted to seek them out; it's as if the other people who were busy just weren't meant to come so that this family were reached with a meal which represented love, compassion and friendship. And they live on our doorstep.

It's this Lost Sheep principle which we lose when we become numbers driven...what? An alpha course with only two guests? And one a child! Hallelujah! Not just two people - it's a household! One of my most favourite speakers, Heidi Baker, who does phenomenal work in Mozambique and Malawi says "love the one, just the one. Everyone love the one in front of you. Then more will be added as they love the one in front of them".

And so my thoughts have turned to the flats in the streets around; the houses and streets aren't as wide and spacious and green as the houses which most of our congregation live in. The families perhaps not nuclear. And yet these are my neighbours. I feel some of my thoughts and strategies for the future being re-formed over the last two weeks in the light of this parable.

If the people we work and socialise with are too busy with their property (= field); their possessions (= oxen)or their partners, who are we to share the good news to?

**Can you name who sang this song? Answers in the comments!

Families on Fire

Families on Fire Conference, Queens Park Baptist Church, 19 and 20 October

For 18 months now I have been planning this conference, It's an exciting conference for families to attend together on Friday and Saturday 19 and 20 October. Age 5 and upwards are present in every session for all age teaching with Darrin and Daphne Clark, Children’s Pastors at Toronto Airport Church. The conference aims to ignite a passion for God in the whole family and foundational topics such as forgiveness and reconciliation within families will be presented. A separate workshop stream operates for the final session of the day, for parents, grandparents, teenagers and children.

All generations are welcome!

Further information is available at www.qpbc.org – click on the Families on Fire button! Booking forms can be downloaded online or we can send some out to you.

Call 0141 423 3962 or email office@qpbc.org

Glory Hallelujah

It was lost and now it's found!
Yes, thanks to the prayers of the saints and a damp cotton bud, my S has returned to the fold.
Thanks to all who emailed and posted comments offering some of their Sssss from their bountiful provision. Took me a while to work out who uan was!

I removed lots of the key covers (they *do* make a satisfying snap once clicked back on again) on my laptop keypad and then got to work with a cotton bud.

The "t"s a bit funny just now so maybe it's on its way out now. I have heard that laptop keypads begin to deteriorate when worked exceptionally hard :)

Life at work is....interesting......lots of changes, lots happening. Am watching and waiting (hey that sounds ominous. It's not meant to be). I've worked hard recently with my 8s to 11s team to get their group organised; loads of changed and new things afoot - from coloured lanyards to loads of new leaders, who are committed, fresh, talented and envisioned. That's one team review meeting in October I'm really looking forward to!

I'm bursting with the desire to get the next round of kids' discipleship up and running - I hit a brick wall last year when a volunteer who was going to help me was no longer available to do so. I had potentially three groups of under 12s who wanted to learn more about God's heart for them, about God's word, prayer and evangelism and it was simply too much for me to take on. Yet after school was the best time to meet - evenings are no good for this type of input but after school is no time for adult volunteers. I'm starting to think of teenagers who could assist.....

I also felt it was time to share with this blog another major foray I am making for the first time - organising a conference. So I will post a promo for that tomorrow. I had the privilege of speaking to other leaders in my denomination to advertise this. I do hope some of our churches take up the offer to come as I have always gained so much from the conferences and bible weeks I have attended that transcend denominations.

I went out for Brunch today with my friend Fiona and also had another friend Philip round for tea, lovely, lovely people time.

Gotta go - Heroes has started - blame Brodie!!

The Miing Letter

Dear Reader

You may come here for deep theology (not); or for the cutting edge review of children' minitry literature (ahem); or for torie from my own enthralling life; more likely for the hambolic writing tyle of thi blog but never before have you come to thi blog TO HELP ME FIND A MIING LETTER!

My heart i inking becaue I have had thi laptop ince I tarted the my job almot 4 year ago. I have been kinda hinting for a while to the office manager that it' beginning to have thing go wrong with it - cracked cae etc, wonky key etc

But now one of the letter ha gone AWOL!

You can ee the ign that thi wa about to happen in the lat line of the previou pot.

Can I maintain a eriou witne to the profeional agencie I omtime write to when I have to type like thi?

Or do I hammer the keyboard very very hard to ee if the miing letter make a faint appearance?

One thing I know - it' driving me abolutely pitting mad. I'm getting frutrated. I'm eriou.

Even wore - am I going to have to go through a committee to get a new laptop? Pleae NO!

Most embarrassing moment........

Question: you're not yet five years old, its your first few weeks at primary school, it's your first whole school assembly with the Head Teacher speaking about an Important Matter as you sit on a wooden floor beside 150 other children and you need to go to the toilet.

What's the most embarrassing thing that could happen to you?

Yes, dear reader, that was my wee pet today. And apparently the dark circle is still visible on the assembly hall floor.

And I didn't know until I was in a meeting with said Head Teacher about the Christian club I run in the school and she remarked to me: "how's your little boy, after this morning?"

"WHAT ABOUT THIS MORNING?" I asked, mildly gritting my teeth and wondering if he had been extremely naughty (regular readers will know about his occasional spitting habits and his private part-revealing moments, to name but some of the reasons why I do love him so much. I really do)
She thought I knew.
Ah well. I'm an ordinary parent with an ordinary boy.

My husband tells me tonight he remembers wetting himelf in P3.
I feel so much better now!

Silly quiz part 2

HT to Brodie for this.
I think I may have taken part in a quiz like this a year or two ago and I can feel the effects of my DC class; meaning I can recognise the satisfaction and substitution questions!!

Unsurprisingly, given what I had to read this year, I come out as:

You scored as Jürgen Moltmann,The problem of evil is central to your thought, and only a crucified God can show that God is not indifferent to human suffering. Christian discipleship means identifying with suffering but also anticipating the new creation of all things that God will bring about.

Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Wonderful day

Does it sound arrogant to say I had a great day today at a children's ministry training day? OK I did organise it but I didn't speak much as I got to sit back and listen to the highest quality speakers from my own church and from outwith. There was just a great............atmosphere as a fair number of us gathered with expectation and excitement on our hearts, I think. I really do sense a movement in Scotland where more and more people are excited about the opportunities to walk and talk the Good News to children and families - there's an open door for those preschool/primary years. To quote George Barna:
“The data shows that churches can have a very significant impact on the worldview of people, but they must start with an intentional process introduced to people at a very young age. Waiting until someone is in their teens or young adult years misses the window of opportunity”.
(Barna, G. (2003): Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions)

I read an email when I got home from the training day with some excellent news in it, the kind of news that makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time; where you feel very precious and valued. Do I sound like a page from a Mills and Boon novel? Hah! It's not a romantic love thang - it's a "I'm part of the Body of Christ" moment.

There are such, such a good bunch of folks who work with me and I am blessed by them all. They graft and serve on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and at many times inbetween, in kids work or on alpha.

I just love being a Christian. I got a moment today to say to God that it's been the best thing ever in my life. Where would I have been without him?