The illogical - the birthing place of faith

The title of this post was spoken over me just over two weeks ago after a phone call from a friend we haven't seen for over 2 and a half years. This phone call followed a one line exchange on facebook. He is a wise, wise man with a prophetic ministry. He knows what he's talking about with regard to doing the unexpected and unusual! The illogical, not the logical, is the birthing place of faith. Stable and straw. Fishes and loaves. Water and wine. Cross and resurrection...

More remarkably, this guy did not know anything of my thoughts and dreams about the future. The things I would like to see happening. The things I have loved doing and want to do more of. I'm at a place this week of stepping back in wonder and amazement at watching what God is doing amongst people who don't know him yet, to woo them and draw them in.


Just this week in my second Alpha contribution of the day (Morning then Evening!) I had the absolute pleasure of dancing (yes, DANCING!) with grown women (in a hermetically sealed room, doors and window blinds)to a song by Nick and Becky Drake. To protect the innocent I can't say much except that this was a small alpha group and I was the only one who had been part of church for any length of time yet following a comment about how, six months earlier at the holiday club service, a guest had said that the song "That's How You Made Me" had stirred up so much emotion in her that she wanted to investigate more into this ONE who had made her. She said it was such a happy song, it made her want to dance and I just found myself saying: "well, shall we?" (N & B are always on my iPod and we have speakers in our meeting rooms!!)

We danced and danced and God's presence came in this room (blinds drawn!!), I was crying out for joy and we all danced. We danced for joy, we danced with joy, we danced and experienced joy in a deep place.

Later that day, I was the speaker at the evening alpha course on one of my favourite topics - healing. We looked at the character of God to heal in the OT, we examined the mandate given to us in the NT, we looked at healing in church history and finally we looked at the values behind praying for healing. I had received four words of knowledge. I always say that these *might* be right, or they might not be! There were five people there so I reckoned we might be able to pray for one or two of the conditions (and one of them was a word I didn't recognise!) All of them were claimed!

And once the first person had experienced some relief of pain I got them to pray for the next, and so on. I was so touched when one guest said: "But surely I'm not qualified to pray?" He said he received immediate relief from an aggravating symptom and when I suggested it, he was keen to give praying a go.....my heart melted when he asked if that was OK as surely he wasn't qualified? I explained God's grace and how we are qualified through Jesus. There was more than one of us in that room with tears in our eyes as we watched someone who might have never prayed before in the name of Jesus for another person's physical pain. His prayer was simple, heartfelt, and (to my mind) prayed with child-like faith.

And so it's been a week where things have happened that I neither planned nor expected. At the same time I have felt deep, deep child-like joy like I haven't experienced for quite a while. The two seem inextricably linked.......

June....all for Christ

Looking back over the four years of blog entries in June, it's always the case that June is like: "how can I manage to do all the things in this month that need to be done?"

Yet I always manage it. Although I feel like I might not be able to (I sent a crisis text to a praying friend just this week) I try to take one week at a time. I try to "rest" my way through each one of them. Sometimes I manage it, sometimes I don't.

Our church has superb administrative staff, real high quality, servant hearted, organised and caring folks who go out of their way to help me and they have been a lifeline to me as I had to initially undertake a huge tranche of admin work to get systems and paperwork in place for children and volunteers.

In May, I gained a part-time volunteer children's worker who is also very gifted and organised and a real grafter and I am hoping we can retain her.

So this month:
* I held a residential children's weekend away. Our theme can be best summed up by the Drake's song "God is Here" - He was *so* present. The kids had a total and utter breakthrough when we used this song to worship more freely than they have ever done so before which opened the way to more freedom and response to the Word. I was teaching on preventing sin becoming a stronghold and how the application of the Word of God into our minds affected our will and our emotions - our ability to obey, resist and overcome.

All I can say is that God is just so AWESOME and so faithful to reveal what he is like - I love, love, love it when children who have been part of a church community for 2 minutes (3 months) have a supernatural encounter with God's Holy Spirit without anyone telling them anything about it or manipulating anything to happen. This has happened every single year we have gone away. "I feel all wobbly, like I might fall over and I kept seeing Jesus in front of me, holding his arms out", "it feels like God is hugging me"...what were we doing? Worshipping Jesus. Singing, dancing, praying, offering up our lives to him in spontaneous worship - both leaders and children saying: here we are Father God.......
God wants to tell us AND show us that he loves us!

* I've got a Positive Parenting Course running this month, and its full, 80% folks from the community. I was told today that two of the guests were pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere and how the course ran - they had expected to be lectured in a dusty and cold hall. It's a form of guided self-help, to use the parlance, so I facilitate, not teach, the course.

* I'm also running a daytime Alpha course just now, with one of my previous guests who came to faith helping me run the course. We have seven guests and a couple of Christian "bringer-alongers" - if you read regularly you will know how much I love Alpha and next week is our Holy Spirit morning and a bacon roll breakfast! What's really great about this course is that we have two of our guests are parents from the midweek kids club, so we are seeing two or three members of the same family be immersed in the words of Jesus and in loving wee communities (small groups)at the same time! My kids team see them during the week and I see parent during the week!

Coupled with this, God continues to bring families along who are just waking up one morning and coming to church.I shouldn't compare this with my previous church, but I have been blown away by how often this is happening. It seems like a once or twice monthly occurrence. I'm visiting not one but three families this month to talk about how to have friendship with Jesus and become part of our church (and in particular, part of the missional expressions; our smaller gatherings) is why I am reminded again and again of what I believe the Lord has for us in Scotland in the realm of children and families, oh Jesus, I'm longing for the more.

I've said it before, but I sense there will be an ease in evangelism if we welcome the Spirit's leading and not rely solely on our own good effort. I've just to co-operate as he moves freely in response to the prayers over this nation. I have honestly not come up with any strategies personally except I run Alpha when I sense there are a cluster of people ready to do it, for me this usually takes the form of one teatime course and two daytime courses. I try to ask God about what else I should do in my morning a week retreating to lay the diary out. I try to be myself (this can be hard as my background is so different from the community I am now part of). Oh, and it helps that I am part of an obsessively outward-focussed church. I don't like typing that. Shouldn't every church be outward focussed?

* there are two other really big things on this month. Tomorrow I have holiday club team training day and I am really excited about this club. I knew it was a Dave Godfrey as soon as I read the daily themes - if you are a NE England person, check Dave out. He's great. I think I will post on this another time, I want to offer some theological reflection on why I think starting a holiday club with the Ascension story (Day 1) and then Pentecost (Day 2) is great :-) So I see 25 or 30 lovely people tomorrow.

* finally, before I can go on the holiday we haven't really got organised yet, I have to finalise the summer cover arrangements. Dance, drama, games and Persecuted Church Sundays.

* oh and order the loads of Bibles - see other posts. That's a fun June job. Cept the NCV translations are being reprinted and not available anywhere in the UK. Grrrr. Might have to go backwards to the Good News version for one of the age bands.....

* I've got two preaches to do and two all age services to plan but at least some of them are well underway already.

*I forgot I am leading children and family worship evening/praise event on Friday nightt with a mini-teach and ministry between the age ranges present.

*I'm actually trying to meet with some of the kids' teams (managed two so far) regarding some major changes after the summer, as well as see some pretty vulnerable parents, I'm keen to catch folks before school holidays hit us in 3 weeks. Invariably I am not going to manage all of this before July starts.

We managed to have a babysitter to get to a small group meeting together this week and the Spirit fell very powerfully and very gently. Cue: stuck to the floor in rest and having a download of joy and a vision of heaven. Just want you need to get you through the rest of the month! I just couldn't do it without you, Jesus. It's all for you because I love you so and I understand afresh this week that what I manage to accomplish - or don't - doesn't matter a jot.

Come Holy Spirit

Tonight was the Holy Spirit evening for my family alpha course. There are four guest families and three host families and therefore not a few children. I love, love, love alpha, as you will see if you follow the alpha tag on this blog.

And as usual, after I had given the first talk live and during the DVD version, it is my habit to disappear to the Ladies - for physical necessity you understand,but it also becomes a precious God moment. I have been leading alpha for 8 years, two to three times a year, but on the Holy Spirit evening every single time I shut myself away to pray and listen to God, earlier in the week and earlier in the day (we have the luxury of a gorgeous 24/6 prayer room) but also for 3 minutes before every "come Holy Spirit" session.

My loo conversation tonight went something like this:
Father I have nothing to prove.
You love these people so, so, so much
Holy Spirit, come.
I act only for you.
Fill them, love them, show them your power.
Its all about you Father.

I go into the loo while the "how to receive" dvd plays every single time with butterflies in my stomach. And every time, in a tiny water closet, I genuinely feel no pressure and complete peace and confidence every time I run an alpha course. Holy Spirit, you convict, you draw close, you fill. The beauty of Alpha is that it is all about him. We can't force, browbeat, work up or manipulate. But I do love our guests, very, very much and I hope they know that. I just love being with them. The high point is praying with the children and parents together, just describing it now brings tears (two days running. There I go again!). God touched people very deeply tonight.

Tomorrow I return to my former city to speak twice during the day on my journey of leading children and families into deeper experiences of worship. I heard a really funny thing has been said about me prior to "booking" me but I couldn't possibly repeat it on a public blog. Can I just say I would very much like to behave in the manner with which I was described?? ::::mischeivious grin:::::

I think some lovely people from my former church are going to be there, cheering me on and my good friend from the sidebar is speaking too. LORRAINE - update your blog!!

Exciting but Full Weekend

This is one of those weekends when I think my scheduling is just plain awful. But, as the title of this post implies, it's going to be an exciting and full weekend.

This morning I led the Holy Spirit morning from the current daytime alpha that I lead with an ace team. We ate a cooked breakfast together then looked at who the Holy Spirit is and what he does. Then we moved on to the session "How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?". It is always such an honour and a privilege to pray with people on alpha. God's faithfulness to the guests is awesome. He knows what they need and just how they best receive. We enjoyed a very real sense of God's presence and power. I just love alpha. Hearing lots of words on the Nicky Gumbel DVD is great. The content is great. Learning to pray and read the Bible is great but to have all of these things covered over with "phileo"love - the demonstrated, natural affection of the Father is just WONDERFUL. Don't you find that when you feel his love so tangibly you just love him back all the more and so on?

After a couple of hours at home I have scurried back to finish my preparations for a new kids discipleship course tomorrow. I have 12 kids coming to learn about how God sees them and in subsequent months to learn more about growing in God; learning to pray and to listen to God's voice.

I've been hard at work preparing an (actual) treasure chest per child full of spiritual truths for those "no good, down days" (we all get them!) But I couldn't be doing this without the wonderful gals in the office who are crafty and ingenious where I run out of ideas.

Then after this I am taking some of the children to perform a sort of dance (its hard to describe!!) at a major conference of some 1,200.

On Sunday I have managed to have one service off and not over-commit to things I am personally responsible for. So I can sit in on one of the kids groups and just enjoy.

On MONDAY I am committed to leading an afternoon on a year out programme in another city. I love meeting this crew. Here's my brief, which I need to give a lot of thought to as I try to make it not a lecture but pretty interactive:-

"It would be great if your topic could be along the lines of “A Vision for working with children and families (more than Sunday School)

By the end of the session I would hope the trainees would have a wider, broader and more holistic understanding of not only the needs of children and families within church, but also their strategic part to play in advancing the Kingdom of God outside the walls of the church. I feel that within this framework you have plenty scope to touch on things like developing supernatural gifts; evangelism; family cell etc and also share stories of what God has been up to in your own experience"

Lots to prepare for and think about!

Coming soon .......

oh the embarrassment - just received an email from a church leader on the north of the city to say that they saw my smiley coupon on a very large screen at a conference at Holy Trinity Brompton on Saturday - on the new Alpha Invitation Promotional DVD being sent out to thousands of churches. I didn't know it was ready to be viewed yet! I was told May. I haven't even seen it yet!

A copy is coming up with the Alpha UK Director to be shown at the Scotland Vision Day on Saturday, so I'll squirm under my seat at that point (I always think I sound about 12 years old when I hear my voice played back)........

Shameless plug

I'm running a daytime alpha course at the moment and loving it as usual. I've written before about teatime alpha (snippets of our last teatime course is coming to a DVD near you sometime in May 2008. I'm just preparing myself for the fact that I should have got my haircut - no thanks to my dear colleagues who teased me mercilessly!) It's one of the most effective tools at my disposal in my work with families. I love building a sense of warmth in the group and letting the questions and comments flow. I love the whole ethos behind alpha. It's great! Give it a try if you haven't before - do consider some alpha training first! I can do this in my role of an alpha adviser so feel free to email me at lynnjane1@aol.com if you need a hand with this. I'd love to see more churches running alpha in innovative ways that fit in with their ministry situations, which is what I have tried to do.

Alpha Scotland are holding a national vision day on Saturday 8 March at Bishopbriggs Christian Centre, Glasgow, from 9.30 til 4.30, lunch provided - please email peter.anderson@alpha.org if you want to attend.

I strongly recommend this day as it is gives an opportunity to hear how God is using Alpha round Scotland. I always come away from an Alpha event refreshed, envisioned, encouraged, blessed. Maybe see you there!

Addendum: talks to choose from:
Working with Eastern europeans in your community
Getting started with Alpha in the workplace
Getting started with Senior Alpha
Using Alpha to reach families (with yours truly in the hotseat)
Running the marriage course
Getting started with Prison Alpha and Caring for Ex-Offenders
How to run Youth Alpha in an hour or less
Follow-on ideas for after Alpha

Lights, camera, action.....

Last night a film crew came up from London to catch a flavour of what an alpha course with families is like. I hoped that the children would just be themselves; that the hustle and bustle would continue as 30 folk share food together; with drinks spilled, chocolate covered faces and hands, lego everywhere, chatty adults, dig in and help yourself if you want seconds etc etc

And I'm pleased to say it went as normal, someone fell backwards off their chair, mini-disagreements occurred, sensible food was left on plates while lots of ice cream was consumed. Adults deep in chat and yet at one with their kids, prior to moving downstairs for 50 minutes of "separate" time; adults in discussion and kids making fantastic crafts to take home.

I was interviewed to say why and how this vision came about; I hope I was natural with what I said; I certainly didn't prepare a script nor did I get time to apply copious amounts of lipstick - though YES, COLLEAGUES WHO READ THIS, I DID WASH AND STRAIGHTEN my hair (there was an in-office debate about whether I would go to the hairdressers before 4pm!!!)

I hope it inspires people to open up their homes or churches to noisy, unpredictable, jumpy-about children and their parent(s), because community can be forged wherever we are willing to meet together and care and show genuine interest and concern. If you know anything about me and not much about alpha - the outcomes of the course is not my primary concern. I run it and leave the outcome to God. He does the conviction; the hard work; I've just got to be faithful to providing the means by which people can talk and ask questions and bounce ideas off other people in the group. So last night, when someone spoke about a theory I can in no way agree with; my response was: "that's an interesting point. Thank you. What do others think?" - in alpha your job is to allow people to discuss, and muse and listen, not to force your point of view.

I am very concerned when I hear people say: my church has no children or young families in it therefore I don't need to think about getting Disclosures or running a kids club or a family event etc. Not much is needed to provide a place of welcome for kids and teens and families and age, status and resources don't matter; it's the vision and open heartedness of those who provide such a time and space. People reading this might think "it's all right for her to say that, where she is" but I am sure that I would run teatime alpha no matter where I was; its not down to the church but down to friendships with people OUT there - all you need is a cooker, the alpha course and a floor to eat from!

Reflections on "up North"

I met some amazing people at the weekend. That kind of situation where you walk into a place and you feel totally at one with the others who are there. I always thought, when I heard people say this; that they were kind of kidding themselves - after all, we all have a natural suspicion of other people, don't we?

I enjoyed the drive up - singing my heart out to a very loud Ipod and beautiful scenery - and a lot of time to reflect on what I was going to be speaking on that day. As those who know me can testify, I am not an exegetical whizz kid, but I do have a heart to train and equip; and that's where my passion is. I hope I got that right on Saturday!

I had the opportunity to spend an hour with the team from the Healing Rooms before I spoke at the final training session - they were going off to pray for a while; I didn't know them; they didn't know me; but I asked if I could join them and honestly - it was amazing. God's presence swept over us. We sat (or knelt) in a small room mainly in silence, or praying quietly on our own, but it was like "We belong here with you Lord. We're family".

Precious moments.

It was a great day; I met folk from all over the north west coast and heard great stories of what God is doing all over these rural parts. Encouragement!

And so I'd like to ask: what is encouraging you these days?

Learning from little children

I have been away for the weekend on alpha. A great time was had and I have in particular found a 4 year old who loves me (aaaah) - not my own child, someone else's!!! There were twelve children on this weekend, some children I knew and some guests' children. All were under 4 except two.

Impromptu worship and prayer broke out really. Amongst the children. I hadn't planned it - and most interestingly of all the child who had never been to church really started it all off by asking if we could do a particular song which I had taught on Friday night. It talks of God being our shield and protector as we lie down to sleep. She and her sister were transfixed by this song.

Children, I believe, are in the heart of God. His heart for them hasn't changed. Even if and when they decide to walk away from him, he still loves them. I think that's why the kingdom of God belongs to "such as these" and that's why they recognise him for who he is. There is a respect for the things of God in little children. They simply love him back. As Judith Gundry-Volf said (hey! I know more of Miroslav's wife's work than I know of Miroslav himself! Sisters UNITE!):

“Children are not mere ignoramuses in terms of spiritual insight in the Gospel tradition. They know Jesus’ true identity. They praise Him as the Son of David (Matthew 21:14-16). They have this knowledge from God and not from themselves and because they do, they are living manifestos to the source of all true knowledge about Christ as from God.”

Reflections on London

A few people have asked me how I got on in London.
Hotel - OK (cheap and in South Kensington therefore miraculous)
Conference - awesome
Shopping - as expected. Pressies for other people. But then I did get to buy a copy of "Cosmo".

I went to HTB as part of an Alpha EMEA week - European, Middle East and Africa week. I felt right at home. From stepping off at Heathrow to entering the conference venue I was struck by the sheer number of different nationalities represented. To me, it had a heavenly quality. Every nation, tribe and tongue will be represented there!

Had my first ever experience of not being able to get into a church service. Yes, you read that correctly, the 5pm service was full, as was the overflow facility. Bring it on! (that was the fourth service of the day) And so I enjoyed a solitary Costa cup of tea, reading my glossy magazine and marvelling at a sell-out, SORRY, packed church service just across the road. BTW, is Costa OK? I hear from neighbour's blogs that Starbucks isn't.

Enjoyed the 7pm service immensely, particularly the fact that there seemed to be so many other visitors for whom this may have been their first "church worship" experience. I was asked twice where the toilets were. I must have that "in with the bricks" look about me. Oooooooh, Coxy, could I be an Anglican?? :-)

Listening to (now assistant Bishop) Sandy Millar was - as ever - fantastic. I could listen to his wisdom for hours. For the church planters among you - HTB has planted 11 congregations since 1992, sending 200 people each time. Sandy said last year he thought he should take his own advice to the congregation of 3,000 and stepped down as vicar to lead a plant to an empty church in North London with 200 members.

And so to the conference itself. As an Alpha adviser I had some other meetings to attend outwith the main conference but I managed to hear most of the main sessions straight from the man himself, Nicky Gumbel. A most engaging and entertaining speaker yet not afraid to challenge.

Whatever you think of Alpha, I heard and saw the evidence that God is anointing it as an evangelistic tool hugely around the world. I would have questioned its effectiveness in different cultural contexts and yet I heard delegates give reports in the Sunday evening service) on huge numbers of converts to Christianity in France, Spain, Latvia, Ukraine, Soweto, S.A., Sweden, Uganda, Burundi, Russia.......(can't remember all of the representatives who spoke!) For me, most moving was to see the Orthodox priests (beard, robes, huge cross), monks, nuns and loads of Catholic priests in attendance. They had paid money to travel to be there - such was their hunger to learn more about alpha. I felt so THRILLED to see them there. As Nicky Gumbel says: alpha focuses on that which unites us, not that which divides.

Two-thirds of the dioceses in France run the course. It has found its place as one of the most useful tools for a parish to evangelise. Some of the things that I picked up in my summer reading/exams came in handy - being able to remember that Vatican 2 called for re-evangelisation and a call to community and a place for spiritual gifts :-)

So I've come home renewed in the vision to continue to use alpha with the families I come into contact with. All my questions (relating to an upcoming assignment) like: does this work cross culturally? were answered. The emphasis on community (people are invited out of relationships with people inside the church); the sharing of food, the invitation to speak freely and share opinions without (me as leader) butting in and the lack of intensity plus the anointing of God make this course work!

Mammoth post - any comments??

Excitement in the air!

I'm off to London Sunday until Tuesday. I love flying by myself; over the years I have been very privileged to fly away with only hand luggage and my thoughts beside me on various occasions - usually to London and Dublin. A few years ago I flew "solo" across the Atlantic to meet my husband who had gone ahead to a conference with our senior pastor in North Carolina, USA. That was slightly more stressful; had to dash from Gatwick to Heathrow in an hour - not to be recommended in London traffic........I was hoping for one of those Tony Campolo moments with a fellow passenger and it didn't happen (I'm sure many readers have heard Tony Campolo speak about his interactions with fellow air passengers! - incredible time of witnessing, leads them weeping to Christ etc etc)

I'm attending speaker training with a small group of people here, and I'm really excited. I will meet up with a few other Alpha folk I know; we're staying in the same hotel, and I am looking forward to socialising for two days with adults without the "he did this/she's annoying me/please can you get/do/pick up/buy/give me" type chat from my (seriously) much loved and cherished offspring.

Also, and I am slightly concerned about putting this private reflection in the public domain, I'm flying on Sunday morning rather than in the afternoon so I can wander around the shops for the afternoon. Does that make me materialistic? Ummm, hope not, I am looking forward to doing something with me, myself and I that I rarely get to do. I am planning on a visit to Hamleys (toy shop) - any other shopping recommendations?

I always, always go to the Natural History Museum, using my teacher's pass to get in legitimately for free (It's SO expensive!) but I don't think I will have time to do that on this trip.

I'm also having my monthly "I'm not suited to studying theology" crisis so I am looking forward to a Sunday off, although still working (:::::she adds hastily::::)reflecting a bit more on what I believe with time to think instead of my usual mad-runaround-Sundays. I simply can't present my thoughts well enough. I'm feeling quite inadequate when debates take place. I can never remember where to find that certain verse which was there in my memory banks a few minutes ago and a brief discussion today on atonement and Steve Chalke's views had me closing my eyes and wishing that the bell would ring (NOW that reminds me of moments in school!)

Saturday's over but Sunday's coming....

My goodness, I must learn to organise my diary a little better....teatime alpha, big training event and Sunday morning service all being organised by me and all happening between 6pm Friday and 10.30am Sunday. Thank you God for such a huge team of supporters and hard workers who surround me to help in every way possible.........without them I'd be........in a mess, truly!

Really looking forward to tomorrow; the service theme is "Love the one".

The only wee cloud on the horizon is that I have four exam answers to write out and rewrite in shorter paragraphs and then commit to memory and I have only got one done.

Eschatology, anyone?.....anyone? .........anyone?

Do Children Make More Smells Than Adults?

If you are of a nervous or sensitive disposition, or get offended by "botty talk", read no further.

My little boy has been making smells all day. Started in the church administrator's office at lunchtime (sorry J) and continued right though the afternoon and evening with no "unloading of solid matter" taking place.

I did the "this is how your digestion system works" talk and then the "get thee to a toilet" command - point blank refusal.

Ran an alpha course tonight for families, went well although punctuated by rank smells.

Drove everyone home in the car, coughing at the fumes.

Got him to bed, removing age 3 dinosaur pants which are sparklingly unmarked but should really be fumigated.

And so this reminds me.........when teaching a classfull in a secular school context; there are always really horrible smells wafting round. I think its Irn Bru and cola bottles for breakfast that does it. As a teacher you can just move away *UNLESS THE CHILD HAS COME TO YOUR DESK to get jotter marked!!! Nightmare scenario!! No escape!

Same with any children's events in a Christian context. We may be cleaned up, washed, forgiven etc but the remnants of the "old" still linger and remind us of the hold they have on us as they leave the natural body.

Think I will halt that analogy there.