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.

Day 1 over

We survived day 1 of our camping experience unscathed. The weather was beautiful but very windy. We have some bright red patches after a walk in the sun. And at teatime we had to avoid chicken from our casserole flying off the plate in the wind!

As we retire for the night, the rain has returned.

I'll try to rise early enough to comment on the spiritual content of the day.

Arrived safely

We are here in St Andrews with three tents erected. Alex and Elizabeth are busy inflating the mattress while Andy makes tea. The rain has subsided for now but we still have plenty of clouds. Maybe we are in for showers of blessing!

Singing in the rain?

It's late Friday night, and the wind is driving the rain against the windows. In 12 hours we are due to rendezvous with friends en route for CLAN Gathering at St Andrews. We are camping again, though the tent is bigger than last year, thanks to our good friends Andy & Sylvia. They assure us that the promise "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" covers camping in the rain. I'm still praying for sunshine!

As last year, for the benefit of those who can't attend, and the good Christian people who rejoice in suffering (especially other people's) I shall attempt to maintain a daily blog.

See you all in St Andrews

Priorities

John Grisham has made his name with legal pot-boilers and page-turners. But many of them have unusual twists of plot or out-of-the ordinary characters. The Testament (link right) bears some simliarities to The Summons in that they both feature the wills of a dying man, drunks who are trying to straighten themselves out, and a fight over inheritance. But The Testament is a bit deeper than some of Grisham's other work.

Mulit-billionaire Troy Phelan signs a single page holographic will leaving his fortune to a previously unknown illegitmate daughter, then jumps fourteen stories to his death. Nate O'Riley is dragged from rehab and sent into the Pantanal jungle to find Rachel Lane, who is working as a missionary to remote Indian tribes. Nate has to persuade Rachel to sign an acknowledgement of the will -and preferably take the money, which will otherwise go to the wastrel Phelan children.

The meeting leads to a change for both Rachel and Nate - between whom there appears the beginnings of an affinity. Without spoiling the plot, I can reveal that Nate re-evaulates the practical necessities of life, and Rachel realises that she cannot pretend that her fortune does not exist. 

In some senses the writing is not as strong as Grisham's other novels - perhaps because the issues here are more personal than political. But the characters are gripping. I certainly felt some empathy with both Nate and Rachel in the struggle to establish and maintain a moral compass. In this respect, the book reminds me of Bleachers which explored the issue of loyalty surrounding a small-town football team.