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The art (or the sweat) of the start

This happened a few years ago now but I remember it vividly. I was at our local recreation ground in South London. A VW van drove into the car park and a tall athletic guy in sports gear, running spikes and a backwards baseball got out. He opened the back of the van and pulled out a harness and cable, put on the harness, attached himself to the front of the van and started to try to pull the van. Like they do on World's Strongest Man. He leaned forward, strained every sinew, pumped his legs. And nothing happened. He keeps straining. Eventually, the van moves a fraction. He pumps his legs and strains again. Finally he overcomes the inertia, gets some momentum and is able to start walking the van across the car park. I've no idea what he was training for but whoever this guy was, he was reminding me that getting something started is hard. That's where entrepreneurship and church planting are similar. Or starting any new thing, any good endeavour, any gospel work. You're s
Recent posts

The workers in the vineyard: Squashing ministry entitlement

It was a game changer for me to see that the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) is actually part of the answer to Peter's question: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (Matt. 19:27) The first part of Jesus' answer, in the following verses, is a reassurance that 'God is debtor to no man' (Matthew Henry's phrase). All those who have made sacrifices will receive a hundred times as much and eternal life thrown in. And then there is a key statement of Kingdom economy: But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. (Matt. 19:30) That phrase comes again at Matt. 20:16 - giving a bookend - and the words 'first' and 'last' come up in the middle of the parable (20:8). So this is all clearly part of the same section. Matt. 20:1-16 is the second part of Jesus answer to, "What then will be there for us [disciples who have sacrificed so much to follow you]?" As so often

The wise farmer: Why changing may be more faithful than persevering

  Clarkson's Farm has introduced many of us urban-dwellers to some of the realities of farming. The huge impact of unpredictable weather. The volatility of prices (particularly in a pandemic). The very costly investments required. The complexity of the tasks. The sheer number of different things that can go wrong.  The New Testament regularly likens pastors and gospel workers to farmers.  Jesus likens his disciples to workers in a vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16). There will be a final reward for their labour but human expectations and hierarchies are inverted in the Kingdom economy.  Paul and Apollos are agricultural labourers in 'God's field' (the church) with different roles (planting and watering). As such they are nothing in themselves, dependent on God to give the growth, but they will receive a reward for their labours. Paul calls Timothy to the pattern of the 'hardworking farmer'. Again reward is in view which here consists in sharing in the crop for which the f

14 ways to stoke love for Jesus

There's a crucial theme in the New Testament that I don’t think I’ve properly recognised before: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37) Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me (John 8:42) If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23 cf. 14:15) Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15 cf. v16, v17) …what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor. 2:9) If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. (1 Cor. 16:22) Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Eph. 6:23) Though you have not seen him, you love him (1 Peter 1:8) I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first (Rev. 2:4) Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow co

In the box

This is a tool I've found helpful in making us aware of how differently different cultures operate.  Look at the different subjects in these lists (and think of others) and decide whether (instinctively, as a gut reaction) you would be happy to talk about them publicly or whether you would rather not talk about them. Which things are you happy to talk about with most people (work colleagues, acquaintances, even strangers in the street)? Those things are outside the box, in public space. Which subjects would you only talk about with your very closest friends, if at all? Those are in the box, private.  The surprising thing is that, although most of us would think it's pretty 'obvious' which things are inside and outside the box, another culture would put them precisely the other way around. Although there are lots of variations by personality and sub-culture, broadly speaking, my own culture would put most of the first list in the box and be happy to talk pretty freely ab

Gospel centred in a biblically rich way

A danger was pointed out to me recently that simply being gospel-centred is not enough – for an individual, church or ministry. Let me try to illustrate with a few diagrams. Gospel-centred but gospel-assumed rather than gospel-explicit With gospel-assumed (as we've discussed before ) there is a lot of talk about gospel but we never quite get around to defining and spelling out exactly what we mean by the gospel. So very quickly not only are we not actually preaching the gospel to others (so no-one is being converted or built up), we start to forget it ourselves. The solution:  We go back to the Bible every day to remind ourselves of the good news from all over Scripture. We need to fill in the word with Bible detail. For example in my Bible reading this morning I saw in 1 Chronicles 11 a little vignette of the gospel – one man standing against a whole army of Philistines ‘and the LORD saved’ (v14). And I see a tiny picture of the One Man who stood instead of us and triumphed over a

What is the church?

It’s an important question. If we are looking for a faithful church to be part of. If we are looking towards church planting or established pastoral ministry. If we are wanting to be good members and servants of our church week by week. We need to know how to approach this thing which is the centrepiece of God’s eternal plan, the bride of Christ, the agent of mission, the great means of grace and growth for God’s children. There are various different ways to express the key marks of a healthy, biblical, God-honouring church. Tony Merida gives the following in  Nature, Marks and Purpose of The Church  (Acts 29 conference, Nairobi 2017): Headship of Christ Rightly appointed leaders equipping the saints for ministry True believers gathering regularly worshipping hearing the gospel of Christ preached [see Merida,  Christ-Centered Expository Preaching (2017 Nairobi conference) or his more recent book ] receiving the sacraments rightly administered under the exercise of church discipline To