Opportunities in School

It is very wet here today. We have storms blowing in from the Irish Sea leading to strong winds and heavy rain. The Teviot Water is close to breaking its banks, with a few short stretches of road in Hawick underwater. It comes at a bad time. During this week we have been in Hawick High School with a team of Scripture Union workers plus a music and drama group from Vis-a-Vis. Many of the lessons for S1 have been led by our volunteer team and PSD and Music by the band.

This is what Scripture Union call Christian Focus Week, which allows us to teach a number of subjects openly on a Christian theme - in this case, peace. We were due to have an evangelistic concert in the school this evening, but the impending flood has put a stop to that. Instead, Vis-a-Vis will lead an extended S1 assembly tomorrow morning which will include some of the material from the concert.

The whole week has gone very well, with good co-operation between the school and the visiting team. Give thanks to God for this opportunity to reach out to largely unchurched children. Please pray that the "mini-concert" tomorrow will have an impact.

We hope to be able to follow up with a Check it Out club for those who are interested in learning more about Jesus. We have also recently set up a chaplaincy team in the school - myself with three other local ministers and the Borders Scripture Union Rep. All of this is creating a good relationship between the churches and the school. We want to help support the pupils but also to have opportunities to speak to the children about our faith.

¡Hola me amigos!

¿Cómo estás?

I've started Spanish lessons at the (fairly) local college - and already discovered half-a-dozen words that I have been pronouncing incorrectly. Our teacher is a slim Mediterranean beauty called Be. (Only her mother calls her Beronika!) We are a mixed bunch of English and Scots from students to Retireds.

Our "getting to know you" session was interrupted by the fire alarm. So after just ten minutes and with no Spanish we were back at the car park.

The first lesson was quite intense with lots of pronunciation as well as the five introductory questions.
I was getting a good 'ch' sound (as in loch) for the Spanish 'j' and Be group me with the Scottish guys until she asked me:

¿de dondé eres?

And I had to answer "Soy de Ingleterra"!

Next week we learn numbers, colours & days of the week. Then hopefully get some useful sentences!

Until then: hasta luego; cuidate.

Modern day apostles

I have believed for some years that the structure of The Salvation Army requires its officers to fill the role of apostles. Indeed I have at times described myself as an apostle. These statements have generally received one of two responses: either that Jesus chose only twelve apostles and hence there can be no modern apostles; or that I am being presumptuous to class myself with the likes of Peter and Paul.

The first claim is patently untrue since the Eleven chose Matthias to replace the dead Judas. And Paul's claim to be an apostle was accepted by the twelve and confirmed by the acceptance of his letters in the canon of Holy Scripture. Taking the meaning of apostle as "sent one" this must also include the seventy two whom Jesus also appointed and sent out. By extension, if the church is now the Body of Christ on earth and operates under his authority, there must be scope for the appointing of apostles today.

Starting from Ephesians 4:11 Andy Hall began describing the place of apostles in the ministry of the church. Addressing the second objection to my claims, he points out that Paul claimed to be at the rear of the procession, where all the animal dung would collect. A bit like cleaning the toilets! From the story of Paul's journeys recorded in Acts and the descriptions he gives in his letters of his exploits, its clear Paul didn't enjoy the high life of global ministry. Apostles have a hard road.

They have in common a vision beyond the current situation and a passion to pursue it. They have too many ideas and need wise friends to discern which is God's plan, and pastors to consolidate and care for the people.

Some of the characteristics mentioned above have emerged as I have completed team profile or work style questionnaires. It has been good to discover that, contrary to what many have told me, they (and therefore I) have a useful role in church leadership.

Let is pray that The Salvation Army regains its recognition of apostleship in its officers.

God's presence

Monday passed in a bit of a blur. General tiredness, exhaustion from ministry and an over long walk in the sun on Sunday afternoon left me rather dopey on Monday morning.

The night before we heard Heidi Baker describe amazing experiences of healing and revival in Mozambique. But her style was a little way out for us. As Elizabeth described her, she is so blown away by God and her experiences, she can't explain them to most Christians in this country.

So when we had a second encounter of what she describes as presence preaching, my tiredness overwhelmed me and I slept through it all. I also slept for an hour in the afternoon, hence the lack of blogging.

Please don't think I'm knocking Heidi. She obviously loves God and has a great ministry. But most of is have no context in which to understand it and perhaps are a little afraid of God's power.

Anyway Monday evening Pete Greig of 24/7 Prayer picked up Heidi's theme of transition and acceleration. He spoke with great humour and simplicity about 24/7 and God's working through ordinary people.

Pete listed three things necessary to cope with an accelerating transition.

First, People. Identify the key people God has placed in your life, and invest in those relationships.

Second, prayer. Nothing from God ever moves without prayer. And the only way to gain the necessary strength is through prayer.

Third, Priorities. As God gives new tasks, some of theold tasks must be delegated or dropped. The People and Prayer may help to identify priorities.

This very much ties in with what has been happening in the Borders. We have a real sense of God bringing together the mini-CLAN event and creating a bond between the ministers involved. We look forward to what God has in store for the Borders.

Symbol of hope

Most of the worship has not captivated me this year. On Sunday morning Kenny Borthwick reminded us that worship involves body, soul & spirit. I know I sometimes struggle with letting hp of my emotions. There are a couple of reasons for that. First, I like to analyse everything - as witnessed by this blog. But perhaps the greater reason is a fear that nothing will really change.

I suspect that I'm unwilling to allow or recognise the value of small changes and too impatient to work a step at a time. Whilst acknowledging the need for discipline & perseverance, some of this arises from my God given makeup (see future blog on Andy Hall's seminar)

Anyway back to worship : the one song that sticks in my mind is "the cross still stands" a song of hope for event situation.