Sam Allberry who is a speaker for RZIM, founding editor of Living Out, and author of Is God Anti-Gay? addressed the Church of England General Synod in London this week:
Our Greatest Christmas Hope
Our great hope is not just going to heaven when we die, though that is so wondrously good. But God has much grander plans. Our great hope is that Christ will come again, not as a helpless baby in a manger, but as a magnificent king on a throne—a king who will be close enough, and gentle enough, to wipe every tear from our eyes. He will personally put an end to everything that has brought his people pain. He will “raise the sons of earth” by transforming “our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:21) to live with him forever on a gloriously renewed earth.
The wonder of it made the herald angels want to sing. And as the wonder of it begins to sink in, it makes us want to sing, too.
Oasis College to no longer recruit undergraduate and postgraduate students
I was sad but not unsurprised to hear that Oasis College will no longer be recruiting students to their undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
You can read Adrian Smith’s statement (College Principal) in full here. Here’s some key parts of the statement:
Unfortunately Oasis College has also seen a steady decline in students, despite having a positive recruitment strategy in place, supported by staff and resources. We have failed to recruit our minimum target of students for a number of years. Consequently this has put a stress on the financial resources available and as a result, the College Board has had to re-consider the future direction of the College.
In the light of the financial implications specifically brought about by low recruitment levels for the current 2016-2017 academic year, the decision was taken by the College Board to no longer recruit to our undergraduate and postgraduate courses. In practice this means that no new undergraduate and postgraduate students will commence studying at Oasis College.
Oasis College will still seek to provide short and continued professional development courses for the foreseeable future and will continue to recruit for these courses.
Changes to the landscape of higher education always made this likely. Ever since the development of higher fees for undergraduate degrees through the Higher Education Act 2004 universities funding has become increasingly consumer driven. The top Russell group of universities are able to fund their budgets through a combination of high students numbers willing to pay the higher fees (now £9,000 plus inflationary increases) and large research grants.
For smaller colleges or departments it is impossible to compete because the research funding has often been cut in the more specialist areas not linked to industry (which Brexit will potentially only make worse by losing more EU funding) and they are not able to attract sufficient student numbers to balance the books.
What this means for the future of youth work and youth ministry isn’t clear. The sector itself is much smaller, but with fewer teaching and research institutions, representing a narrower brand of youth work I don’t see this being a positive step.
Enabling Church No Limits conference
An Enabling Church conference from Churches for All
An event full of ideas & inspiration for all who work with or support children, youth & families plus anyone with a passion to see the abilities of everyone recognised.
Although primarily aimed at both volunteers and professionals working in children, youth and family ministries, those working in a more general pastoral capacity would also find the day to be helpful and inspiring.
When: Saturday 12th November 2016 • 10am – 4.30pm
Where: Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London
Cost: Early Bird Price £20, From 8th October £25.
Contact: enabledchurch@gmail.com
Book: http://enablingchurch.eventbrite.co.uk
Assistance: If you need assistance with booking or accessibility advice call 01372 749955 (Through the Roof)
Download: No Limits flyer (PDF)
Follow this link for the Conference Programme
Download: The Conference programme
Why God Might Not Have Plans To Prosper You And Keep You Safe
Martin Saunders has written a brilliant article on how too often we misinterpret Jeremiah 29:11 – instead we need to understand that God “doesn’t promise we’ll all get rich, and he doesn’t promise that life is going to be easy. His plan is so much grander than that.”:
It’s one of the most popular verses in the Bible, bringing comfort to millions every day. It’s a wonderful, warm sentiment, which has spawned a veritable industry of bookmarks, posters and mugs. It is pinned to refrigerator doors all over the world, a source of daily encouragement that ‘God is in control.’ Most Christians will know it well:
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
There’s an awful lot of truth in this verse. God is absolutely all-seeing; he knows everything that has been and that will be already. He certainly has a plan for the world, and our privilege as his followers is to experience and join in with it daily. He definitely promises us a hope and a future. But that’s not really what we read into that verse, and it’s not really what it’s saying, either.
YLG2016: Lab Session 2
The third Lausanne Young Leaders Gathering is happening in Jakarta. YLG2016 is a gathering of 1,000 younger leaders from over 160 countries who will connect, pray, and discern together God’s leading of their generation for his global mission. It’s a privilege to be here and to share my notes from the 2nd Lab Session with you.
Churches are notoriously slow at planning. Planning in churches often seems to be done backwards – looking back at what you did last year. You get constrained by history. Other organisations such as relief organisations are much more reactive and can find it challenging to plan in advance.
The questions on service and value need more time than we have available here but do take them and continue to wrestle with them.
This template is based from a friend who led planning for a complex large organisation. It is key that if you’re not clear what your purpose is – not what to do you want to accomplish in life – but a 3-6 months time frame of what you want to accomplish and why. For example, in October I want to come back to Indonesia to celebrate my birthday. The “what” is in Indonesia, the “why” is my birthday, the “when” is in October. Then in Priorities I find out it takes 6 months to get a visa so then I either have to go somewhere else for my birthday or go to Indonesia later on.
The timeframe can then cause problems, especially in a large organisation or if a committee manages you. It is important that we have a timescale to make things more concrete, but it can be adjusted.
Either leaders end up with 50 items to do or you assign it someone else in a large organisation. What does it look like to have 3 priorities, e.g. travel arrangements, visa, and what activities I want to do. Which of those is most important, in this case 1 or 2. Under these big buckets you can then chunk down such as airfares, other connections, buy a new suitcase. If I can only do one, what would help me get started and keep me on track?
Focus on the purpose statement and the 3 priorities in your groups as there may be some divine appointments with resources and experiences others can share.
YLG2016: Lab Session 1
The third Lausanne Young Leaders Gathering is happening in Jakarta. YLG2016 is a gathering of 1,000 younger leaders from over 160 countries who will connect, pray, and discern together God’s leading of their generation for his global mission. It’s a privilege to be here and to share my notes from the 1st Lab Session with you.
Churches are notoriously slow at planning. Planning in churches often seems to be done backwards – looking back at what you did last year. You get constrained by history. Other organisations such as relief organisations are much more reactive and can find it challenging to plan in advance.
The questions on service and value need more time than we have available here but do take them and continue to wrestle with them.
This template is based from a friend who led planning for a complex large organisation. It is key that if you’re not clear what your purpose is – not what to do you want to accomplish in life – but a 3-6 months time frame of what you want to accomplish and why. For example, in October I want to come back to Indonesia to celebrate my birthday. The “what” is in Indonesia, the “why” is my birthday, the “when” is in October. Then in Priorities I find out it takes 6 months to get a visa so then I either have to go somewhere else for my birthday or go to Indonesia later on.
The timeframe can then cause problems, especially in a large organisation or if a committee manages you. It is important that we have a timescale to make things more concrete, but it can be adjusted.
Either leaders end up with 50 items to do or you assign it someone else in a large organisation. What does it look like to have 3 priorities, e.g. travel arrangements, visa, and what activities I want to do. Which of those is most important, in this case 1 or 2. Under these big buckets you can then chunk down such as airfares, other connections, buy a new suitcase. If I can only do one, what would help me get started and keep me on track?
Focus on the purpose statement and the 3 priorities in your groups as there may be some divine appointments with resources and experiences others can share.
YLG2016: Evening session: Our True Story
The third Lausanne Young Leaders Gathering is happening in Jakarta. YLG2016 is a gathering of 1,000 younger leaders from over 160 countries who will connect, pray, and discern together God’s leading of their generation for his global mission. It’s a privilege to be here and to share my notes of Tracy Trinita, Nick Hall and Ravi Zacharias from tonight’s evening session with you.
Tracy Trinita
How do we communicate the Christian faith to a generation who is easily bored, and pursue happiness through looking good, who are often lost in the kingdom of money, experience and fame, how do we share the gospel in a world of instant gratifications?
There is no simple answer to these questions.
One potential answer is speaking true stories. Stories have the power to open up minds, and breakdown barriers. Every culture loves stories, but not every story is true.
As someone who was bullied for being tall and having a funny name I was thrilled when I became a model. But I realised that money and fame made no difference. Started shopping around the world religions. The Christian faith had something different. The more I read the gospel the more I realised Jesus was not boring. I was showered with genuine love by Jesus who died on the cross for me.
Years gone by since joining God’s mission I’ve spoken with lots of young people, especially in Asia. Listening to the angst of a girl in Japan who wants to commit suicide, looking into the eyes of a girl in Hong Kong who has to get straight As, a girl in Cambodia who desperately wants white skin, a girl in Shanghai who is exhausted from trying to please her parents. They are young in age, but tired and old in souls.
Many of the young people can relate to my story they are pursuing happiness in ways that do not work. I can chat, share the gospel and pray to close with these girls. The tears shine in their eyes and I know Jesus has come, their life will never be the same again.
We all have a unique story to share about what Jesus Christ has done, we al have the Holy Spirit to guide us, we have resources to equip us. 1 Corinthains 1:6 it is the Lord that makes it grow. Let’s plan the seed of the gospel and water it with true love and compassion. We know God will make it grow.
Nick Hall
The time is now. The time is now. The time is now. Does anyone believe it? Is anyone excited tonight. Of all the time in history God placed you in this moment, on the edge of the commission being completed in our lifetime.
1974 two gatherings – the first one was a gathering in Lausanne, as leaders met to commit together resources, partner together to share the Gospel. We are sitting here because of that evening. Tonight I want to propose we use events in public places. The other gathering was in South Korea in 1974 of young people called Explode as 300,000 young people gathered. A catalytic event for the church in Korea. No matter what time zone your body is on, God’s time is now!
5 years ago we had a passion that we would take a message across the USA. Started in North Dakota, the place where no one is from. The place where no one belongs. God gave a message offering a reset to young people. To start again, to move passed errors, and to get it back to the way it was created and designed for. As we looked at our generation we saw God created us to work in a certain way. We are fearfully and wonderfully made but so many of our generation don’t know what it means to live out your life for Him. Jesus came and offered this reset, and so we felt a need to share it across our country.
We want the largest places in our culture to be full of people.
Coca Cola in 100 years has evangelised the world. Which of our nations does not believe in Coke, is not selling Coke, does not have it every restaurant, bar and café. Their product is for everywhere, not just for small gatherings – which is why they are on every stage and platform. Do we believe our message is for everywhere or do we just believe it is for the small places.
We want to fill the stadiums and the classrooms, the villages and the cities.
All the time people say events do not work, but ironically they say it while they are at an event!
Habakkuk 3:2
Stand in it
In awe of it
Renew it
Lord would you renew it in our day, and so we booked the National Mall in Washington DC for Jesus. People said we were crazy, I don’t want to be normal, I want to be sold out for Jesus. We had 500,000 young people come together. But the key to any event is the send off.
We have filled the mall, now let’s fill them all.
Ravi Zacharias
I graduated alongside Alexander the Great, you’re inviting young leaders, but to try to persuade Nick is difficult. I told him that August is my writing month but here I am.
Acts 24 would love to see an artist capture it, what an incredible moment.
He shook and trembled, whether or not it was a sense of fear, the power of what he was listening to. All along his goal was to trip up the messenger as he could not contend with the truth.
1974 Lausanne: the words of Os Guinness :
“Why is there such constant disparagement of the mind? Why so much appeal to the emotions? Why so little content presupposed on which to decide? Why all the talk of “souls” and so little talk of whole people? Why the obvious exploitation of the testimony of the famous? Why is it so often a case of the most simplistic the message the most sophisticated the techniques? Why is there the need for always being bigger and more successful? Why the creation of Christian “celebrities” and “one man denominations”? Why the unconscious manipulations or the open fraudulence in public appeals for money or in prayer letters?
…Part of our failure to get thinking people to take the Gospel seriously is born of a credibility gap. We claim Christianity is true – a claim which is awesome by contemporary standards, but then we whittle down our claims by the patent incongruity of our practices of the truth. The way we operate speaks louder than what we say. Without the practice of truth, evangelism is in danger of becoming a giant institutional mouth or as E.M. Forster dismissed it scornfully, “poor, talkative, little Christianity!”
How do we bring what one startling coalescence of contrarieties?
Here we are making a choice in one of the most powerful countries ever. Rome is no less significant and clever than the original story.
He found a point of reference
He talked to Festus about righteousness. What is it about the listener where you can find a point of reference? At the time arguing from Causality was a strong argument, now they will laugh at you. So then we always assume intelligence.
Moral reasoning
There is one argument that they all use now, trying to eliminate the ultimate cause, designer and we wonder how we split. Joseph Stalin killed 15 million people, he was once a seminary student, when asked how long people
Point of relevance
Paul was a Hebrew by birth and a student of Rome. Night, lightness, God has caused to shine light on Festus’ weaknesses. Our current biggest issue is pornography.
Pont of disturbance
We cannot win crowds. Young people are ready to pick it up when you are. But we have compromised the gospel so much there is no gospel left.
General Romeo Dare said a key government leader kept the engines running had a quick look and as he left said he didn’t know it was so bad in a Middle Eastern war zone. You didn’t know, you can’t simply Pontius Pilate 800,0000 people. How do you reach a place like that? You are talking about a womb, a womb so large it will hurt. 1 pulled muscle changes how you view everything, your life is changed. When 800,000 are killed you are speaking through gaping wounds. The only one who can do that is for the wounded to hear a wounded saviour. Forms can change but substance cannot change. If you can reach the youth they are the ones who can be game changers. I like the idea of Nick’s gatherings.
Wesley was in a burning house. The family and neighbours thought he was outside, men stood on shoulders to get him, none of them knew they would be standing on his shoulders to get to heaven. When the disciples met Paul they didn’t realise he would be writing a third of the New Testament and planting churches. You never know what that one person saved might do.
YLG2016: State of the World
The third Lausanne Young Leaders Gathering is happening in Jakarta. YLG2016 is a gathering of 1,000 younger leaders from over 160 countries who will connect, pray, and discern together God’s leading of their generation for his global mission. It’s a privilege to be here and to share my notes of Jason Mandryk and Molly Wall from Operation World as they give their State of the World address.
Largest religion by country & population
Most religions still tend to be concentrated in particular regions, especially Hinduism, Buddhism and to some degree Islam. Christianity is the most global religion, 2.3 billion Christians in 38,000 denominations in every single country, with more cultures, ethnic groups, languages represented. It is easy to see the prayer Jesus prayed for his disciples to have unity is still as challenging as before.
For about 100 years Christianity represents one third of the world population. In 1960 29% of Evangelical Christians were living in Africa, Asia and Latin America, now in 2016 it is 78%, by 2020 it will be more than 80%. This is true not just for evangelicals but every stream of Christianity. We see that Evangelical Christianity is growing in 1960 there were 91 million (3%) now in 2016 there are 600 million + (8%).
Partnership
There is a greater degree of partnership and collaboration. This is partly due to the size and complexity of the church and mission but also an increased willingness and even desire to partner together.
Prayer
The global church is seeing a deliberate focus on prayer, for every one initiative you know there are ten you probably don’t know such as the Holy Ghost service in Nigeria seeing 1 million praying together, and others much smaller. Prayer is changing the church and the world.
Mission
In the last 25 years more people have entered the kingdom than in any other point of history. A lot of this has happened in the context of persecution and suffering. In 1960 50% of the world had never heard the gospel, now in 2016 it is about 29%. There are 600-650 ethno-languages that have not yet received any part of the gospel. Definitely mission has shifted from the West to the rest onto everywhere to everywhere – polycentric mission. There is also a lot more reverse mission, former receiving fields are sending missionaries to the sending countries, a lot of people trying to reach places such as London. The world’s mission force is more diverse in nationality, location, organisations and the range of activities we engage in.
Global Context
The story of humanity is a story of urbanisation from the garden of Eden to the City of revelation. From 2008 the world population shifted over 50% urban population. Cities contain not just the most people, but influence, energy, and more.
Human lifespan
Human lifespan is increasing, and the birth-rate is decreasing. By 2050 there will be as many people aged 60 and over as those aged 15 and under. In 1980 there were 100,000 who reached the age of 100. By 2050 there will be 4 million who reach the age of 100. This will impact employment, retirement and pensions, medical care, but also our Christian service opportunities.
Population Growth
As populations of global north decline (Japan, Germany etc.), half of all population growth will be in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, D.R. Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia and Uganda. Or in other terms half of all population growth will be in Africa.
Poverty
Only 10% of the world lives in ‘extreme poverty’ according to the UN. That still means over 700 million are living in injustice, exploitation, environmental degradation. The 62 richest people in the world own as much wealth as 3.6 billion people (50% of the population).
Migration
Migration factors are the tip of the iceberg of the next 40 years. They will be the context for much of the most fruitful ministry.
Data
Which movie gets 7 sequels in the cinema and which one goes straight to DVD, which advertisement and posts you see in social media is decided by data. As the volume of data increases we are relying on others to prioritise and sort this. We are influenced by those most closely aligned to our own values which narrows our learning and prevents us from relating to those who are different to us, and so we then abuse them.
What does it mean to be human?
This is increasingly important to us as morals, ethics, science and technology pushing up against boundaries. Forming a sound biblical world view and ethic is essential.
As we look ahead we are facing critical unprecedented change.
The first Human Geno was sequenced in 2004 and cost hundreds of millions and took years. Machines can do 18,000 genos in 1 year. Long term strategic planning is nearly impossible
Complexity
The world is getting increasingly complex. It is impossible for one group to understand everything. Increasing uncertainty as the push of a button can end the world or the release of a virus. Our lives have never been more secure and comfortable and yet insecure. Terrorism happens everywhere.
The capacity to do the most good: all these technological changes mean we can communicate the good news to more people.
Secularism
We hear the narrative that religion is dying out but the global statistics doesn’t show that, in 2025 around 90% of the world will be religious. Secularism declined since the 1980s due to China and Russia.
Future Growth
Most future growth of the church will happen in Africa, Asia and Latin America, partly due to higher birth rates as well as large numbers of conversions. The global south will become an ever larger majority of the church. They will increasingly provide leadership and set the agenda for the global church. This is delayed somewhat from being proportionally represented as Western Christianity is very comfortable being in charge. But many current key leaders are from all over the global South: Pope – Argentina; World EA – Filipino, IFES – Chad, OMF – Hong Kong, SIM – Nigeria, Interserve – India, OM – Singapore
The % of unevangelised is smaller (50% down to 29%) but due to population increase it is actually 600,000 more people (1.5 billion to 2.1 billion). 80% of those working in cities live in a slum context and yet only 1 in 6 Christian missionaries work in a slum. Rural ministry can’t be ignored yet either.
There are 230 million migrants (5th largest population by country size) with an average stay in a refugee camp of 17 years. They are not camps but cities.
81% of the world’s non-Christians don’t personally know a Christian. For hundreds of millions of people they are the only gospel they may encounter. There maybe Christians in every country but the spread is very uneven 90% to 0.001% of population.
Our Response
It is about the tough slug of discipleship and making disciples throughout the body of Christ and the world. We have to radically demonstrate the power and the love of the gospel. We must do it because the King of Kings has commanded us to do it, we must obey; but we can do it as the one with all power has commissioned us to do it and therefore we can.
YLG2016: Morning 1
The third Lausanne Young Leaders Gathering is happening in Jakarta. YLG2016 is a gathering of 1,000 younger leaders from over 160 countries who will connect, pray, and discern together God’s leading of their generation for his global mission. It’s a privilege to be here and to share my notes of Dave Benson from the first Morning Plenary with you.
Where is here?
You wake up in your room, you are still jet lagged, trying to find the bathroom, you headbutt the wall, wake up your room mate.
And yet …
Nearly 3 years ago the YLG Planning Team could see you, from over 160 countries, united in God’s big story. This is meant to be. God sees the beginning and the end. God planned for you, jet lagged as you are, to be here. We might get lost, but God never does, God invented the map.
Anyone seen ‘Thank God you’re here’, the TV show you dress tem in a costume and send them through a door into a drama they know nothing about. It could be a court scene, a home, a party, or more. The humour comes as they say inappropriate things for their scene. Isn’t that like our life?
The world is a complex state, a drama. The challenges we face our great, poverty, pluralism, sexual redefinition, secularism and more. There is no evangelisation as usual. We must search for creative ways forward in a rapidly changing world.
It is tempting to simply copy other cast members, we ask ‘What would Billy Graham do?’. Even though we should learn from the past, we should ask who would Jesus Christ ask us to be for this time and this stage. A complex stage requires us to listen to the directors voice using resources such as The Mission of God by Chris Wright.
We can only play our part when we step in. We can only play our part in the story through creation, fall, repentance, reflection, love, reconciliation and worship as we look at the story of the mission of God.
Evangelisation is re-entering this ancient story, this is telling the story in fresh ways. It is glocal – global mission in a local context and flesh. If you are a white male living in the West your story is incomplete until we hear from sisters in the 10:40 window, from brothers in the majority church, from those in the persecuted church. We must act, we must act with wisdom, we must act with courage and we must act with love. Only as a great cast united in the story would we discover more of the great triune God.
YLG2016: Opening Ceremony
The third Lausanne Young Leaders Gathering is happening in Jakarta. YLG2016 is a gathering of 1,000 younger leaders from over 160 countries who will connect, pray, and discern together God’s leading of their generation for his global mission. It’s a privilege to be here and to share my notes of the Opening Ceremony with you.
Sarah Breuel
Why are we here, what is the vision?
- We are here because God is about to orchestrate divine connections for us to be here. We welcome the Spirit to bring birth to life long friendships, Gospel partnerships and more.
- We are here because God wants to speak to us. He is longing to speak to each one of us. Speak oh Lord for your servants are listening.
- We are here because our Father has given us a task that has not yet finished. The evangelistic cutting edge of the world is here tonight to see how it can fulfil Christ’s great missions as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
- Throw off anything that hinders: We might need to throw things off, cut things out this week.
- Run with perseverance: not just run, but run with perseverance, he knows it is a tough race. Perseverance is used 27 times in the NT, normally within the context of persecution.
- Fix our eyes on Jesus: after two moving metaphors he tells us to stay, to fix.
Live in Rome a few kilometres from the Colosseum, from where many Christians became martyrs. As I run in the area I could imagine the early Christians, those first martyrs in the stadium.
Grandfather grew up in a family in Brazil in real poverty. His first five siblings did not survive due to starvation. He was blessed with a great mind, became a Professor and enabled people to access schools. As I told my 6 year old son, I realized I was passing on the blessing to the next generation.
The father is inviting us to come close and hear his story, from generation to generation. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, including grandfather, and some from Lausanne 1974. One day like YLG 2006 we might be cheering on the next generation.
It will be a long but incredible week.
Michael Oh
Although I am fluent in all 7 languages meaning I can say good evening in all of them I want to greet you in the name of Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord of all nations, and of all generations. I opened the 2006 YLG with these same words. Much there is that is different in the world and much that is the same. My 4 kids have become 5, my 12 years of marriage have now 22 years, I was 35 years in 2006, people tell me I look the same age or even younger, but I just wish I felt as young as I look, a few weeks ago I got a hearing aid! Even though my body is feeling old I am still young at heart. You may even see me wearing a Brazilian soccer shirt, on a scooter, trying to save precious minutes running from appointment to appointment.
Seeing you all like this my heart is gushing with joy. Ten years ago I was just like you, a younger leader with so many dreams, so many questions so much hope. I was a bit naïve I thought I knew a lot about the world and yet I didn’t know very much about myself. I can’t wait to see how God will use you in the next 10 years.
Welcome, I am so glad you are here. Your being here is the fruit of many prayer, by many people. One of 3,000 younger leaders who were nominated, and one of 1,000 young leaders invited. This event has taken three years to come to fruition. You have come so far to come, so committed and interactive in preparation. Thank you for being so well engaged.
For many of you one of the hardest aspects was the fundraising. Thank you for your perseverance. I am going to personally take time to thank each and every single person who enabled you to be here, when I get to heaven. Thankful to Scott Horton for his biblical wisdom for us all on fundraising, it is a biblical ministry. Jesus demonstrated it was core to his disciples, he could have provided from his carpentry, or do more miracles, but he chose to be supported by a group of women. He chose to be dependent on others, something we can also do, without shame, following in the footsteps of Jesus.
We were planning on hosting this in Ukraine, but due to political unrest we had to postpone the event. I reached out to Dr. James and Eileen Riady on a hunch never having met them. I wrote it on a plane to Vietnam. By the time I was boarding the plane to Cambodia, Eileen had written back and said yes. James and Eileen and their children are amazing examples of the 4th principle as impacting society for the gospel. Their two businesses have impacted the Vietnamese society hugely.
Psalm 145:4
One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
Connecting generations to proclaim the gospel. Be it in the public square, or for those with disabilities, or 26% of the world’s population will be under the age of 14, by 2100 50% of the children under 18 will be African, but 700 million die of starvation, 1 billion are witnesses to violence, and millions are orphans. We have no future without our children, and they have no hope without the gospel.
This past year has been the most challenging of my life, days of desperate dependence on the Lord. Through this darkness and suffering the Lord has been sanctifying and refining me in very painful but very gracious ways. A reminder that God can only work through me when he is working in me.
Christ-like leaders: the formation of your character is at the core of our vision, hope and prayer for you. We cannot shape the future, but we can help to shape future leaders. Sanctified, redeemed, loveable, Christ transformed character. We each have natural weaknesses and God-given strengths, we need him to redeem our weaknesses and sanctify our strengths.
Many of the alumni from the 2006 YLG have received blessing through the Lausanne movement. This time we are more intentional in how we support and structure this through the launch of YLGen helping not just what you fulfil, but who you are:
- Connecting every leader with a mentor: In 2006 I asked Jim Chew to mentor me for prayer. For the last 10 years I have enjoyed the kindness and blessing of his prayer. You can sign up for mentor connect.
- Connecting every leader with a global connect group: either your group from YLG or a new issue group.
- Connecting you with an issue network: currently 35 groups working alongside nearly every area for global mission.
- Connect you with Lausanne movement in your region: Lars Dahle will be taking on this role to help you engage in one of the 12 regions.
- Connect you with strategic mission resources and teachings: we have a wealth of information so we want to help make them available and influence your strategies for evangelisation.
Welcome, we are here to serve you. The road ahead will not be easy, we are engaged in a battle that is taking place in the heavenly realms. Satan is not happy in this moment, but the Lord is rejoicing in singing over us at this moment. Let’s have an amazing week together.
Attila Nyari
Connected from all over the globe through Jesus.
Colossians 2:19
They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
If we want to see growth this week, growth in the kingdom, we need to connect.
Reflections on an EastEnders funeral
Rev Canon Dr Sandra Millar who leads work on funerals for the Church of England has written a great blog post reflecting on Peggy Mitchell’s funeral:
This week the funeral of the great pub landlady, Peggy Mitchell, took place in Albert Square. It was full of wonderful East End traditions, like the horse drawn bier led by the funeral conductor and the people standing by in respect. There were hints that Peggy had specified what kind of funeral she wanted – and it was certainly a very traditional, even old-fashioned, affair in the local church.
But these days a Church of England led funeral needn’t be traditional, whether it takes place in the local church or elsewhere. People can wear brightly coloured clothes, the coffin might be wicker or felt or hand-decorated, it could be draped with a favourite sports shirt, balloons might be released – whatever reflect that unique life and the love of God within a framework of reflection, prayer, thanks and commendation into God’s care. The EastEnders funeral reminded me of the time I took the funeral of a pub landlord – there were nearly 1,000 people present, a wicker coffin, the singing of Waltzing Matilda and lots and lots of tributes. I spent a lot of time with the family discovering what would make this funeral helpful, and to this day I remember them and pray for them.
Whatever the circumstances, the vicar talks with the family beforehand, finding out key family contacts and tensions (that would have been interesting in the Mitchell clan!) discovering what made this person uniquely loved and special to those around him or her. The vicar may encourage the family to make a tribute, talking about their own personal memories, and will be there alongside on the day, ready to offer a steadying arm or even take over if emotions became too much. Together with the Funeral Director the minister is responsible for the service, making sure it all works smoothly, offering care and support as needed – and should something go wrong, the vicar will be there.
Christians believe in a God who made every human being uniquely, who knows every step we take, walks with us through our journey in life, so celebrating and giving thanks is a central part of every Church of England led funeral. The camera cut away from the funeral service, but I do hope someone spoke about Peggy with affection. If I’d have been taking her funeral I would definitely have used the line ‘Get out of my pub!” somewhere in the service! But funerals are more than just thanksgiving: there is grief and loss, sometimes anger or regret, and a church service will also make space for holding those emotions, letting go where appropriate and finding comfort to face the future.
Above all a Church led funeral offers a message of hope – a hope that death is not the end and that both we who have to carry on living and those whom we love but see no longer are all held in the great love of God. Our recent research around Church of England led funerals showed that the timeless words ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life’ have a powerful resonance with people, even though their full meaning will take us all a lifetime to grasp.
A good vicar – and there are many like Revd Juliet Stephenson from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the current Funeral Celebrant of the Year – will offer pastoral care before, during and long after the funeral. Sometimes that’s the space to light a candle, sometimes the space to remember and sometimes a listening ear. I know EastEnders isn’t real [it isn’t is it?] but I hope that all who are faced with organising a funeral will know that the Church of England is there for them, meeting their needs with compassion, humour, love and grace.