Thoughts and Amusings

A combination of factors have had me thinking about Christianity and leadership lately.

For one the recent debacle over the Christian Party or the lack of one and a rather interesting sermon that I listened to on Sunday that I disagreed with! However a conversation I had with a very good friend made me think that maybe the issue of where we go wrong as Christians and leadership actually goes back to the fact that many Christians are just down right (hold your breath here) idiotic.

This particular friend told me that at his church the previous youth pastor had a policy that youth leaders were not allowed to be in leadership unless they were from a Christian home. Yes folks you heard right. Evidently they ‘made the best leaders’ Goodness help us if the apostle Paul had wanted to be a leader at his church. I really have no idea what exegesis of what Biblical passage this particular belief is held on. It obviously wasn’t anything from Galatians anyway.

Anyway I think Paul is actually a good example of a leader for Christians in a secular environment in anytype of ministry or mission (hence all of us) to emanate.

* Paul constantly reflected back to Jesus and that true wisdom came from here (1 Corinthians 1-4)
*Paul took risks for the sake of the gospel
* Paul persevered through incredible trials
* Paul invested in future leaders and in christian communities
* Paul was not afraid to pull people up (Galatians, 2 Thess, Colossians) or conversely answer criticism in a loving way (2 Corinthians)
* Paul invested in those who others thought could not be leaders (Gentiles, those with mixed heritage, women) and conversely understood the liberating principle that regardless of our cultural standing or past we are all one in Christ Jesus.
* Where Paul was under attack or made a mistake he went back and sort to rectify it (Corinthians)
* Paul was knowledgeable about the cultures he was in ( cf Speech at Athenian Areopagus Acts 17 to Acts 28 where he is speaking to Jews)
* Paul was willing to invest time into his charges – note the amount of time he spent with his churches – 3 years in Ephesus on one of his Journeys.
* Paul was not a user of people (skills /talents) but was genuinely interested in the person and people, see the extended greetings in the letters and his heart felt pleas .
* Paul was open about his feelings, this was not seen as a sign of weakness but was genuinely appreciated in the Christian communities in which he worked (see Corinthians)

Sam and Lily get out of the busy traffic and escape into the quiet of a cafe and reflect on the latest movie - it made them good to feel a Christian. Wasn't it good to know that slavery was all over?

'Good movie that Amazing Grace? ay Lily?'

'Yeah great Movie?'

'Wasn't William Wilberforce wonderful,'

'Isn't it great all that slavery stuff is done with now? '

'Yeah less work for us to do Sam, i mean that guy was certainly persistant, it was so annoying that those others wouldn't help him , I mean how could you not see the injustice in people being held against their will ......'

sips coffee ( where are the coffee beans from?)

'beats me..... it makes me so so angry ...Lily!!'

They pull up a video off Youtube recommended by a friend off their latest whizz gadget phone (totally essential item)

'I don't get it! Sam what the frickin heck is the video on about that was a little whack!'
------------------
Yes well , it is really!

• At least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide. Of these 2.4 million are as a result of human trafficking.
• 600,000-800,000 men, women and children trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately 80 per cent are women and girls. Up to 50% are minors.
• An estimated 1.2 million children trafficked each year.
• The majority of trafficked victims arguably come from the poorest countries and poorest strata of the national population.
• Trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are caught in the trap of slavery.
• Human trafficking is the third largest source of income for organised crime, exceeded only by arms and drugs trafficking. UN office on drugs and crime
• People are trafficked into prostitution, begging, forced labour, military service, domestic service, forced illegal adoption, forced marriage etc: Types of recruitment; include abduction, false agreement with parents, sold by parents, runaways, travel with family, orphans sold from street or institutions.
  

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/ - be the difference. What Wilberforce started we have to continue. Its always more than 'just a movie'

A lot of you read this blog, and by all accounts many of you hang around for some very long amounts of time, 30 minutes, 20 minutes so this post while long should be okay for you.

I watched one of his video's on 'women' a couple of months ago on a women's leadership thing ( on christianity today). Despite its tone it didn't make me angry, but it did make me think and ponder ( about love, truth, the body of christ) - but how exactly would you respond in a loving way .

Anyway this particular clip is on his opinion on the Emerging church and someone's response to him.


Anyway his opinion on the emerging church...

lucaslabrador
(he has 120 video's on you tube ranging from Feminisim, to salvation, to why women should wear head scarves (!), you name it he has discussed it... if you want some intellectual stimulation I reccommend it )




THE RESPONSE

(Lisa cheers very loudly!)

Today I have been at a music conference with my staff and a whole bunch of other music educators. I went to a workshop on developing a choir and another on resources. Our keynte speaker a Dr Bob Smith, was eccentric and decided that being the fact it was a music conference he would sing his keynote address. So he did. It was all in a variety of different genres but did communicate his point. Weird.

There was also a drum circle where we got to bang on drums and other percussion for 1.5hours and improvise and compose and sing. We also had a 'big sing' where we learnt african action songs and there was also a professional educators forum which I flagged so i could talk with some of my staff. All lots of fun.

Anyway tomorrow at the venue where the conference is it just so happens that Destiny Church are going to be taking over the venue where our conference is and we are going to have to share it with them. This is a slightly nerve wracking thought........ this was unknown to our conference organisers who thought that Destiny were going to only be in the Hall. but it turns out that they are actually going to be using the majority of the places where we were having our conference for their sunday school and what not. It should be interesting. Why?

1. I want to see my response. I tend to have pre concieved notions about Destinites. After all my ranting and raving about grace its good to know God puts you in real life situations where you have to use it.
2. I wonder what everyone elses response will be?

Peace out -

A wise person once said that the Church was meant to be a sanctuary for sinners and not some glorifed hangout for holier than thou types.

This came to mind today after reading the newspaper article on Sitiveni Sivivatu (an All Black - Rugby Player - for those of my Asian and Eastern European readers just stay with me :P), who yesterday was discharged without conviction for assualting his wife. Amongst the article was this line

Sivivatu was a church-goer and a non-drinker, who had never been in trouble and simply "lost it" during an argument.

Obviously I do not know Mr Sivivatu personally so I am not going to comment on his personal relationship with God , however the article was written in that way that church is where 'the good people go'. I think that as a western church we have to get out of this mind set that church is 'where the good people go' .

Church should be a place where everyone regardless of what part of their faith journey is welcome. It is not the place you go once you get HOLY or to get 'HOLY' or to show off how Holy you are, it is a place to be real. This doesn't matter if you have been a Christian for 12 years, 12 days or it is your first time to step inside one. e.g at one particular church in Australia which is open to non christians a guy turned up to a service with a six pack of beer and after the service commented that he really quite liked the karaoke ( worship) - I mean how cool is that, that a church is open to meeting people exactly where they are! and be real about it and the God encounter he had.

We have to remind ourselves that Christianity is primarily a personal relationship with God and that our interaction with the church is multifacceted, it is not just a once a week turn up on a sunday thing, you are part of the church, as much as the church is part of you. Yes Church is very important to a Christian's faith but don't sell yourself or God short. In its full wonder it is a beautiful thing.

Grace has always been part of God's plan. It was there right from the beginning right from Genesis. When man fell God was gracious and provided for us. For Christians the idea of Grace draws the idea of the Easter Story to mind.

I came across this story that reminds us that we too are agents of God's grace and in particular how important young people are in imparting that message.

http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-03-012-v


Lisa

Hey all!

Nice to see you all, and really if you haven't been commenting please do so I know you exist!

So what did I get up to this easter? Good question. I did not go to BYM Easter Camp but I did pray for those of you who went! Big ups to those of you who went and yes I did remember to pray even though my intercessing skills are dreadful :P

Brad and I ( aka the remnant) had a great weekend without the rest of you ......and should really get extra Christian points for all the services we went to... On friday I played piano at LHB morning service, then we went to the cathedral for a very boring Anglican Vigil that basically consisted of silence and the bishops talking and random hymns that consisted of ye olde english. We were the youngest there by a long shot. And yesterday (sunday) we went to Elim for a totally different end of the spectrum where it just so happened they were having a healing service with people falling on the floor. So yes..... I had a very eventful easter.

Seriously though.... This easter has been interesting. I haven't been that well physically or spiritually but have conversed a lot with God about alot of things and people. Those of you that are closest to me will probably be able to guess what I am talking about. This has been incredibly liberating.

One of the main reasons I didn't go to Easter Camp was that I needed a break from LHB people as I was relying on you guys too much and I know that I was draining you too much. Joyce Meyer has this great saying where she says 'Go to the throne and not to the phone' and in all honesty I haven't been doing that lately. So I used this weekend as a sort of detox and have really gone back to Jesus. Yesterday I speant a good hour and more laying on my bed and crying out to him about a whole range of things and I am much better for it. Thank you all for your support lately it has been wonderful, I am especially indebted to those of you that keep asking me the hard questions even when I don't like you asking them. You know who you are and may God bless you richly as we are all in this together!