Eaton Ford - Sharing a meal

Tonight we had decided to simply share a meal together, there was no plan beyond that.

We met at our house, Donna and me, Jim, Pam, Sean, and Joe. Sean had prepared some sushi (fish free as he knew I wouldn't have liked that). Pam's reaction when we talked about it showed that she didn't much like the sound of raw fish either! We followed it with jacket potatoes, vegetable chilli, beef chilli, and salad. Jim had brought an amazing pear and chocolate dessert.

It was enjoyable, fun to chat and good to eat together, but the conversation was centred mainly on events at Cornerstone. It's not surprising as most of us are involved with the shop in one way or another! There's a lot to talk about.

We're feeling our way with this and the conversation was different from our previous meetings when we haven't shared a meal. I'm keen to persevere, I have the sense it's important.

Brampton - The King or the King's book?

Sean and I met for coffee and a chat, we talked about life and some people we feel led to spend a little time with. Then we prayed briefly and devoted the rest of the evening to reading Galatians 1 and discussing our thoughts about it. Some of my main impressions follow.

Paul sets out, right at the beginning, by stating clearly that he was not sent from or by any man, but by Yahshua the Messiah and by the Father who raised him from the dead. And as usual, the letter is not just from Paul but also from the the other believers who are with him.

In verses 3-5 he provides a miniature recap of the gospel message, wrapped up in just a brief sentence. It's as if he wants to remind the Galatians right from the start that they're here by grace alone, rescued by Christ.

He writes that he is 'astonished' that they are already turning to a different 'gospel'. They've been confused by wrong teaching. Paul doesn't want them to remain confused so he explains in verse 11 that he didn't just make it all up, nor was he taught it by others, but he received it as a revelation from the Messiah.

Thinking about this it seems extraordinary that this Paul, this persecutor of the church, should have had such a powerful experience on the Damascus road that he has turned from his previous passion (legalistic Judaism) and has moved to something completely different. And of course it is extraordinary but we often miss the contrast because we are so familiar with Paul's letters that we forget how much he had changed.

It would be a complete and unexpected transformation, a little like the present Chief Rabbi suddenly having a revelation about Yahshua and, without hearing it from other people first, beginning to teach this new way. We expect that every kind of knowledge must be imparted by logical persuasion and by eloquent argument. Not so!

And Paul gives them the full story, perhaps to back up his earlier claim that he received his revelation direct from Yahshua, not by teaching from the Jerusalem church. It's a story that continues into chapter 2.

We thought how the truth comes from the source, who is Christ. Yes, it also comes through the Bible, but the Bible is not the source any more than the apostles in Jerusalem were the source. They (and Paul) wrote the New Testament so the revelation they received from Yahshua that enabled them to write must itself be more fundamental than the words they wrote.

The Bible matters to us and is important because it is our source of information about Jesus and the early church. We dare not ignore it. But knowing Jesus personally is much more important than knowing the writings about him. Walking with him daily is more important than reading the New Testament daily. Hearing and obeying him is more fundamental to our lives than following even the best traditions and habits. Everything we can plan and do is dead works, we must 'seek first the Kingdom' trusting that everything we need (including guidance) will be added in as part of the package!

ENVIRONMENT - The cost of damage

This article from the BBC News website spells it out pretty clearly. Environmental damage comes with a heavy price ticket, but the underlying and far bigger issue isn't mentioned. Because our population is way more than the planet can support (and still growing rapidly) it may not be possible to chart a way out of the mess we have created. We have left it far too late.

But it's encouraging that a major news provider is publishing an article like this one. At last, after many decades of warnings from the scientists there is growing evidence that the media, governments, and businesses are beginning to accept that we really do have a problem.

Of course there are useful things we can do. We have already started to do some of them (renewable energy, fishing quotas, emission controls, banning persistent pesticides, and much more). But we are in a phase of the human story where improvements are becoming harder and more costly to achieve while the costs of not making those improvements is also rising rapidly. And I don't mean financial costs alone, but costs in terms of living standards, health, and human safety.

The first step towards any hope of recovery is to recognise that we have a problem. It's becoming clear that at last we're taking that step. Now we're in the phase of broadening and deepening our understanding of the issues we face. That, at least, is good news.

See also: Biology and the economy, Climate change - an update, Nitrogen trifluoride - should we be concerned?

NEWS - Simplechurch.co.uk and more

This time there's an item about a new UK website for those interested in simple, organic forms of church, as well as the usual roundup of other items of news.

• Simplechurch.co.uk - This new website takes over from Alex Campbell's earlier version using the same URL. It also acts as the replacement for the Newforms site which is no longer in use. Visit the site for news, articles, and a growing list of groups and contacts in the UK.
  
  
• Interview with Paul Young - Premier Christian Radio interviews the author of 'The Shack'. The session is interspersed with phone in comments from listeners with stories of how the book has affected them. If you want more detail listen to the fourth item listed in my post about Drew Marshall a couple of years ago.
  
  
• Spring of Hope - This charity working with children and parents in Uganda is doing a wonderful job. I know the young woman who started and continues with this work, and I know her parents who support her from the UK. They are making a real difference. Catch up with their news and find out more about what they do.
  
  
• House2House - This time Tony and Felicity write about church as they found it in Myanmar and Nepal. There are also short items and links about structure, resources and stories.
  

Eaton Ford (day) - New skins for new wine

Paul and I met at his home and enjoyed a great mix of talking, thought and prayer for friends and family, and Bible study. We're picking up in Mark's gospel where we left off back in the spring.

We read Mark 2:13-22, here are some of the main things we thought about together.

There seems to be evidence here that Yahshua didn't plan what he did in quite the way we might do. It seems much more likely that he was just responding to his Father's guidance on a moment by moment basis. He went out for a walk by the lake and people gathered there, so he started teaching them. Then, still walking along, he spotted Levi at work. He called him to follow - and Levi did. He must have left the tax booth with the money and equipment - and just walked away!

Levi clearly invited him for dinner that evening, and Jesus went!

Doesn't he call us to live the same way, not planning but listening? He wants us to say what he says, and do what he does. He wants us to pay attention to him and then live his life in the world day after day. He wants to live inside us so that our words will be his words and our actions his actions. He wants the world to know him by seeing and hearing us! That is awesome!

The Pharisees asked Yahshua's disciples, 'Why does he eat with people who do wrong?' They thought that living according to rules would make them righteous and acceptable to the Almighty. But Jesus tells them that he came for sinners, not for the righteous.

The fast referred to would have been a religious festival and the righteous were certainly expected to adhere to it. It would have been like Ramadan for the Muslims, failing to take part would show contempt for the accepted religion. In that case, why were Yahshua's followers not taking part?

His answer must have been perplexing. He refers to himself as the bridegroom. Perhaps they wondered if he was going to get married!

Verses 21 and 22 are fascinating. Yahshua mentions an old garment and old wineskins. Surely he's referring to the rules of the Pharisees, the idea of fasting because it's customary, the need to avoid eating with sinners. These old patterns of behaviour will be utterly ruined and broken by the new thing that Jesus is ushering in! He's turning the world upside down.

The old rules no longer apply. For example, it's no longer enough to use a ritually cleaned cup to avoid defiling yourself; from now on the words that come out of a person's mouth will determine whether they are holy or profane.

Watton at Stone - Doing battle

It was an exciting evening. Jim had offered to drive and as I walked towards his house I fell heavily on the paving. I have two minor bruises to show for it, but nothing more serious. Perhaps someone didn't want me visiting Watton this evening.

Jim drove down to The Bull at Watton at Stone and David arrived soon after we did. A round of drinks started the proceedings and we chatted about events in our lives.

We also discussed the world's way of doing things as opposed to the Kingdom way. It's not that we need to make a better job of living according to the world. We actually need to live according to the Kingdom instead. Of course the world doesn't like this! The systems that the prince of darkness has put in place are bitterly opposed to all that is good or true or right.

What does it mean to turn the other cheek, or go the extra mile? How do we fight evil with good? How do we love our enemies? We touched on some of these issues and we also gave some thought to the need to obey Father in the moment. David and I shared some things from 'The Grace Outpouring', especially a story about a young American who, having met with Christ, immediately and simply began obeying him.

We invited David and Heather to join us for a meal next Thursday with Jim's family, Sean's family, and mine.

Eaton Ford - Accused in the garden

Sean came over and we watched the DVD of Paul Young speaking about the events in the garden when Yahweh, the man, the woman, and Lucifer faced one another over what had happened. (Part of the DVD set for the House2House Conference 2008.)

Paul sets the scene by first telling a ridiculous (but funny) story to show how theologically impressive he is. In a way, this suggests that Paul thinks theologians may sometimes get things a bit mixed up and make something out of nothing. He follows it up with another story about an experiment with monkeys wearing shock collars, and this time the point seems to be that theological tradition may sometimes be based on little more than thin air.

Then he begins his analysis of Genesis 2 and 3. He has studied this material long and hard, perhaps for some 35 years in all. Everything he says made sense to us although Sean wants to investigate some of the Hebrew words and concepts for himself. I'm very interested to hear what he discovers.

To condense Paul's address into just a sentence or two, his conclusions are as follows.

Lucifer begins by asking Eve if it's true that Yahweh had really said they mustn't eat the fruit of any tree in the garden. She ate and she gave some to Adam.

Questioning them about what happened, Yahweh asks Eve, 'What did you do'. She answers (correctly) that the serpent deceived her and she ate the fruit. But when a moment earlier he had asked Adam what happened, the man joined Lucifer in accusing Yahweh saying, 'The woman you gave me offered me the fruit and I ate it. Eve accused the serpent, but Adam accused Yahweh.

They had both depended on Yahweh to give them worth and value, but now with the relationship broken Eve will look to Adam (from whom she was taken) for these things. He will look to the ground from which he was taken. So which of them is the most damaged, Eve or Adam? In Paul's view Adam has to be in a worse place.

TECHNOLOGY - Dragon readies for launch

Most people are aware that the American Space Shuttle fleet is being retired. The last flight is currently scheduled for next year, 2011. After that, the only way Americans will be able to travel to orbit and dock at the International Space Station (ISS) will be to buy seats from the Russians.

The Constellation Program that was intended to replace the Shuttle has been cut and modified several times and is unlikely to provide a crewed launch facility soon or, perhaps, ever. China has a crewed vehicle, and Europe and Japan both have operational cargo craft from which crewed vehicles might be developed. India is planning and building a crewed launch system.

What the USA does have however is something quite unique. It has several businesses designing and building crewed spacecraft as commercial ventures.

One of these is SpaceX, based in California. They launched the first of their Falcon 9 rockets carrying a dummy Dragon capsule in June 2010. In November they plan to launch another Falcon 9 with a fully functioning Dragon cargo capsule to test the re-entry and landing systems. If all goes well, next year they will be in a position to begin carrying and returning cargo for the ISS - and they already have a full order book from NASA and other clients around the world.

Dragon was designed from the ground up to be capable of carrying seven astronauts in place of cargo. SpaceX is hoping that once Dragon is proven as a reliable cargo system NASA will decide to fund its upgrade and testing as a crewed vehicle.

I wish SpaceX well and hope the mission in November will be a complete success.

(For full details and more photos visit the SpaceX Updates page.)

See also: Up, up, and away

SCIENCE - The biggest collisions

We all know what happens when two objects collide, don't we? It depends on the speed of collision and the nature of the objects. Two balls of dough will stick together, billiard balls will bounce apart, slowly moving cars will stop one another, fast moving cars will crumple.

At some of the largest scales imaginable colliding galaxies pass through one another in a shape-distorting ballet that takes tens of millions of years. Where there were once two spiral galaxies, eventually there will be a single elliptical galaxy. To understand this process it becomes necessary to take into account the presence of dark matter in and around the two galaxies as well as the collisions of gas and the gravitational interactions of countless stars.

But what happens at an even larger scale? What happens when clusters of galaxies collide?

To understand this process more clearly, scientists at three prestigious labs in the USA have run a very large, very complex computer simulation. It took a long time to create and run the model, but you can watch the results in a movie that takes less than three and a half minutes.

What are you watching? First you will see the dark matter interactions, then the mixing of the intergalactic gas, and finally the combination. I should mention that what you see is a series of stop-start movies. In each one some interaction is shown, then the movement stops while the stationary scene is rotated to give you a better view and help you visualise the shapes, then the action moves on again.



For more information about the simulation and what you are seeing, visit Ian O'Neill's article on Discovery News.

THOUGHT - Planting the seed

< Prepare the ground | Index | No later items >

As we have already seen in previous posts on church planting, a seed has been found and the ground is prepared and ready. But how do we go about sowing the seed?

We should remember that the plant that will grow is not an individual, but a church. It will be composed of individuals and it may be quite small, even as small as two or three people. The maximum is probably about twenty, but such a large number is less likely.

Father has remarkable ways of arranging things. Jesus said quite clearly, 'I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.' It might well be that he is already building this particular manifestation of his church. Planting a church may already have been done, in secret, by the Lord himself.

Remember that the person (seed) that we are working with is a hospitable, open, caring sort of person. They will already have a community around them, perhaps family, friends, work colleagues, neighbours or a mixture of all four. This community or part of it may itself become church. So the work you will be doing might be planting a church or it might just be recognising the baby church that is already there.

Now do you see the importance of not attempting to draw the person into your existing church? That would just add one person to a group. Instead there is a golden opportunity to add an entire new group. If this is what Yahshua is telling you to do - don't miss it!

It would be foolish to prescribe a church planting method or a series of steps to perform, but there are one or two guidelines. Planting a church is just as much a miracle as is the establishment of a plant in a field. We know that it grows, but we have no idea how. What we can do is encourage the growth as much as possible.

So encourage the person you are working with to share their story with their natural community. They'll listen to someone they know far more attentively than to a stranger. Meet with them and be prepared to answer questions, but don't bring a list of topics to be covered. Be available, but be careful not to meet with them every time, especially so as the new church begins to be established and finds its feet. Give them space to discover for themselves. Their roots are in what Jesus will reveal to them, not in anything you might say.

Encourage them to listen to Jesus, they can do this by reading the gospels together and sharing their thoughts on what he said and did. They need to be willing to put what they learn into practice, they can pray for one another and help one another with practical aspects of their lives. They can begin to eat meals together, do things together, and read Acts and the New Testament letters to find out how church worked in the early years. Again they should begin to put these things into practice. The emphasis will naturally be on loving the Father, loving Jesus, loving one another, and loving those around them.

< Prepare the ground | Index | No later items >

REVIEW - Have you had enough?

It's a great question. What is enough? There are some other great questions too - Why do so many people always want more? - Does it matter? - What can we do about it? - What can I do about it?



Take a look at this excellent and challenging video. Then visit Conspiracy of Freedom, the people behind it. There are more great ideas, suggestions on how to take this forward (perhaps with a group of friends), and more videos on related topics.

(Thanks to Peter Farmer for drawing my attention to this material.)

Eaton Ford - At sea in a storm

Jim is away on holiday but Sean and I planned to travel to The Bull in Watton at Stone to meet David. Due to unforseen circumstances David had to call the meeting off at short notice, so eventually it was just me and Sean and Jesus at my place. I include the Lord in the list because he really was unmistakably meeting with us this evening.

After our usual start of coffee and a chat we began to focus on Yahshua. Quite soon, Sean shared a picture of a storm at sea. Some friends we know are in a storm like this, driving headlong into it. But Yahshua can calm the storm - he's done that sort of thing before! Our friends are moving into the storm but beyond that, everything is calm.

This reminded me of the storm on Galilee and how Yahshua had actually walked past his followers in the boat. They were battling a strong headwind and they were just terrified when they saw a figure walking on the water. But he told them, 'It's me, don't be afraid!' And then they called out to him and Peter began to walk on the water too. But it was essential that they communicated with him.

We need to communicate with him too. Reading the passage in Matthew 14 later I noticed that when Yahshua stepped into the boat the wind immediately died down. How we need him in our boat when a storm blows up! Something else that seems significant is that when the storm took place they were in the dark - it was the middle of the night and they'd been battling the headwind for a long time.

Sean remembered that Yahweh once said, 'I have plans to prosper you'. He was speaking through Jeremiah to the exiled people of Israel (Jeremiah 29:11-14). If the Almighty did this for them, won't he also do as much for us?

Sean thought that these truths are there to point us to him and give him an opportunity to show us his miraculous ability. For example, he is able to change our hearts to love him just a little more - we don't need to be able to do it, even when we can't - he can.

I imagined one of our friends having a conversation with the people who have mistreated him. He was saying, 'I forgive you. I forgive you for believing the lies you were told about me. I forgive you for not believing what I told you.' And I became aware that the pavement (or patio) was flooded. It was only an inch or two deep and the water was stained pink with blood. The details were very clear but I could only see the stonework and brickwork - no people or plants or anything else. The ground in front of me was covered with large paving slabs and a red brick wall rose from the edge of the paving. The bricks were old and crumbly. I have no idea what this means.

Eaton Ford - A crooked line

Sean and I had coffees and a catch up chat, then decided to look at 3 John which we've been wanting to do for a few weeks now.

Sean had the feeling this letter was written in haste, and I think he's right. It seems to be written to encourage Gaius, clearly a Roman, who seems to have been struggling under an overbearing (and misguided) Greek leader called Diotrophes. It's a letter of reassurance, perhaps to someone who is inexperienced or lacks confidence.

We were interested in the use of the phrase 'The Name' in verse 7. This is a traditional Jewish way of referring to Yahweh and is still used in Israel today, 'Ha Shem'. The oldest texts we have of 3 John are in Greek and it's likely that Gaius would have understood both Latin and Greek. We looked up all 17 occurrences in the New Testament of the phrase 'τοῦ ὀνόματος' (Greek for 'The Name') and found this is the only time it's used in this way. The other examples are phrases like 'in the name of Jesus'.

As we turned to prayer and worship I was given a picture of a straight line and on its left-hand side a crooked line that touched the straight line in one or two places. And the Lord said, 'When you are close to me, I am also close to you; but when you are far from me - I am close to you!'

He also gave me a word about Moses and Isaiah. Moses had felt inadequate as a speaker and therefore wanted Yahweh to choose someone else (Exodus 4:12-13). Isaiah knew he was unworthy because his lips were not holy but was made clean and was willing to go for the Lord (Isaiah 6:5-9). We may be prevented by lack of confidence or ability on the one hand, or lack of worthiness on
the other, but if Moses and Isaiah were good enough for the Lord to use, who are we to say he can't use us?

Sean elaborated on this in prayer, mentioning that there is so much fear to be dealt with, fear of speaking and fear of not speaking.

And then the Lord gave me more words, 'It's easy for me to live in you, but hard for you to live in me. But they're the same thing! So just trust that I am living in you.

We felt greatly encouraged by this evening, it seems to be another step forward, another little bit of progress on the journey.

THOUGHT - Preparing the ground

< Obtain seeds | Index | Plant the seeds >

In the second part of the series we looked at how we obtain the seeds for the work of planting a church. But the phrase 'planting a church' is loaded with meaning from our past experiences. We'd better define it before we begin to apply it here.

We've already decided that a church is a place where brothers and sisters live in harmony in the presence of the King, Jesus. It's not about us gathering, it's about him being among us. He, not we, define church. If he's not at the centre then although it's a gathering, it's not church. So planting a church means setting in place a community where he is at the centre and his people gather around him. That gets the purpose and intention into clear focus.

The seeds are welcoming, open people who are already primed with life but are currently dormant. They may have been dormant for a long time or just for a short while. If we can provide them with the right environment these people will grow - just try and stop them! So we need to look at the environment in which these people (seeds of church) are living.

What we must not do is uproot them from their environment and move them into our environment. That is often what happens but it's a serious mistake. If we move them they may wither in the new environment where they are surrounded by people they don't know. Much wiser to spend time with them amongst their own friends, family, or workmates and try to modify that environment in helpful, encouraging ways. Jesus said that when we are welcomed we should remain there (Luke 10:7). I don't think that necessarily means living in someone's house (though sometimes it will), but it certainly means living in that person's circle instead of drawing them into your own.

Read Luke 10:1-16 and Matthew 10:5-14 carefully and make a note of other things you should do or not do. There's a lot to consider in those verses. Pray about the things you find there and your attitude to those things.

A gardener would assess the situation and so should we. The gardener might notice the soil was too dry, or choked by weeds, or poorly drained, or much too shallow. He would prepare it according to its need by watering it, hoeing out the weeds, adding sand or compost, or building up the level.

We need to be observant, wise, and discerning. We might notice that the 'seed' person isn't reading the Bible, doesn't understand prayer very well, or perhaps hasn't heard or understood Christ's message of good news. We might therefore need to begin a Bible study with them, discuss and model prayer with them, or share the gospel (the good news).

If our discernment is good and what we do is appropriate we will soon begin to see them living more and more abundantly, growing in grace and love and excitement. These are just examples of the kind of thing that may help to prepare the ground. Pray fervently about the seed and your efforts at preparing the soil. Practice listening to the Holy Spirit - he will show you what to do and say. (You might like to use or adapt some of the priciples of CO2, you might consider doing this with the person you are helping, or you could do it with one of your believing friends.)

Look for natural opportunities as Philip did with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 4:26-40). Don't smother people with over-attention, give them breathing space to process what they have already absorbed.

Don't talk about doctrine or traditions or denominations. Focus as much as possible on revealing Christ to the person you are helping. There is so much in the New Testament - how he related to his followers and talked with them, the care and love he showed to those in need, his words on the hillside, Paul's abundant writings about love and other good things. You and the one you are helping will benefit by studying Jesus and spending time with him more than in any other way.

When the conditions are right and as time passes you will find signs of growth and it's likely the person will want to involve other friends or family. Encourage this - the seed is developing a root and a shoot and is already becoming a baby church without prompting from you! HalleluYah!

Next time we'll look at the details of planting the seed.

< Obtain seeds | Index | Plant the seeds >

NEWS - Updates near and far

The latest news comes from near and far. As usual all these items are well worth reading through.

• Barna Update - Spiritual dialogue but not much change - The latest survey results from the Barna Group in the USA show that although some believers are changing their opinions and attitudes there's not much overall impact. Of the changers, about half are reporting increased spiritual commitment and the other half less.
  
  
• The BreakDown - I really wanted to show you this website created by a group of enthusiastic young people in and around Godmanchester (near Huntingdon). They show all the signs of uncompromisingly following Jesus; that's very dangerous in my experience :-) I'm praying for them and if you're reading this, I hope you will too.
  
  
• Harvest Now - How deep does it go? - This is a wonderful account of how success in the Kingdom depends on following the King, not our own ideas, methods, or traditions. Great stuff from Steve and Marilyn Hill, if you read nothing else this week, read 'How deep does it go?'
  
  
• Nomad Podcast - Kester Brewin - This time Nomad inverviews an author, speaker and one of the founding members of the alternative worship community Vaux. Kester talks about what the emerging church can learn from pirates, and the importance of churches being temporary places.
  
  
• SimpleChurch Journal - From church-goers to Jesus-followers - Another good post from Roger Thoman, he seems to be saying the same thing as Steve and Marilyn on 'Harvest Now', but in a different way. Maybe you'd better read this one too!

Can decentralised control work?

Most businesses and other large organisations (government, church, military, education, medical) are based on a hierarchical command and control structure of some kind. In government, even though leaders may be selected democratically, during their term of office they work as a hierarchical structure with a prime minister or president granted overall authority.

Is the hierarchical model appropriate for all projects and organisations? Are there workable alternatives?

One alternative that has been demonstrated to work (and work well) is an organic approach. This is based on the way living organisms grow, flourish, and reproduce. It also depends on grasping the nettle of death and decay - this is an essential part of the process, anything that is no longer working must be discarded and recycled.

Take the growth of a forest as an example. A tree starts its life from a small seed and it has a pattern of growth, maturity, seed release, and death. The forest consists of many trees of a variety of kinds along with other plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. All of these follow their own particular patterns of growth and reproduction and together they form an interacting ecological web that maintains itself rather well. Not only that, species will move in or decrease as climatic and other conditions change. And over periods of tens of thousands of years and upwards the species that make up the forest may evolve and fill new or unused niches that become available. Not only is the forest self-maintaining, it's also self-adapting in the long term.

Can organisations be maintained and adapted in the same way? Yes they can.

Let's take the computer operating system Ubuntu as an example. Most of us think of Microsoft Windows when we think of an operating system, or perhaps Apple's OS X. But there are many others. One of these is Linux, and Ubuntu is just one flavour of Linux.

A recent TechRadar article outlines how Ubuntu is built and managed. The Ubuntu website is the public face of the organisation where you can download your own copy (free of charge) or learn much more about what the system offers.

Compare and contrast this approach with Microsoft's proprietary and traditional business model for Windows.

The organic approach is as old as the universe itself. It works. If it didn't, we wouldn't be here.

I began by listing various kinds of organisation - business, government, church, military, education, medical. It would be easy to extend the list. The table below provides some examples of each along with generalised properties of such organisations. In practice, of course, extreme examples are rare, normally organisations fall somewhere in the continuum between hierarchical and organic and this is certainly true for the examples below. Even the most structured organisation allows (even demands) a degree of original thinking and initiative from staff; even the most organic and democratic organisation has basic rules governing behaviour.

	Hierarchical	Organic
Business	Microsoft Shell Tesco Unilever	Traditional high street Village fair Sole traders
Government	Absolute monarchy Dictatorship	Anarchy Liberal democracy
Church	Orthodox Roman Catholic	House church Simple church
Military	Regular army	Al Qaeda
Education	University School	Life experience Parent/child interaction
Medical	Government service	Private care
Properties	Command based Controlling Formal Obey Leader decides Top down structure	Do your best Freeing Individual decides Informal Organic

So always remember that there is not just one way of doing things. There are two extremes with a whole range of possibilities between them. If you are creating or running any kind of organisation or activity, be open minded and choose the approach that will best suit your objectives.

THOUGHT - More on the garden

< No earlier items | Index | Prepare the ground >

In the first part of this short series we looked at the steps needed for planting churches. We considered the analogy of planting seeds.

Perhaps the first thing to point out is that the churches (plural) are like a garden (singular). That is the way the Lord put it in my mind and that is how I wrote it down. Here are the words again as I received them, 'Planting churches is like growing a garden.'

There is only one garden, I think that is the crucial point. There is not my garden and your garden, the churches I plant and the ones you plant. There is not the Anglican garden and the Baptist garden and the URC garden and the New Frontiers garden. There is not an English garden, an Italian garden, or an American garden - there is just Yahweh's garden.

The garden where he first walked with his people is the same garden in which he will walk with his people at the end of time. And it's also the same garden in which he walks with his people today. This garden is special not because of what it is, but because of who is in it! It is filled with the glorious presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Will you walk there with him? That's the question. If you will walk with Yahshua (Jesus) you will be walking in the garden; but you cannot go there without him.

So what are the churches that are 'like' this garden? A church is a place where brothers and sisters live in harmony in the presence of the King, Jesus. We can't all be in one place at the same time because we are spread throughout the world and also through time. A church is his people in relationship with Jesus in a local place and time. Wherever and whenever his people gather around him is church. It's not about us gathering, it's about him being among us. He, not we, define church. If he's not at the centre then although it's a gathering, it's not church.

Take these churches in their entirety and they are the garden!

Planting churches
What the Spirit told me was that planting churches is like growing a garden. I'm not an expert on church planting, I might possibly claim that Jesus involved me as several small groups sprang up. But I can see clearly enough the garden-like aspects of the process.

Step 1 - Obtain some seeds
Hmm... Seeds. You can buy seeds in a packet, you can harvest seeds from the previous season's flower heads. But in biological terms the process is the same. Seeds can't be manufactured, they must be collected from the fruits of a previous generation. Providing they're stored properly (kept cool and dry) they will remain alive although they are dormant.

So where should we go to obtain seeds to grow a church? We need to find the 'fruits of a previous generation'. If you take a late summer or early autumn stroll through the fields and along the hedges (or in a garden) you will see seed heads and ripe fruits in abundance. If you know what to look for you can collect seeds easily. If you don't know what to look for you may go away empty handed.

Jesus said, 'Look! The fields are ripe for harvest.' (John 4:34-38) And he said, 'Plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the field'. (Luke 10:1-12) Take him at his word! He gives detailed instructions in those verses. Read them. Pray.

There are 'seeds' out there, people already primed with life but dormant. Forget the idea that you have to go out and 'convert' people. People come alive when the Creator breathes his Spirit into them. It's not your job to fill people with life - it's his job.

Your job is to walk the fields and hedgerows of this world, recognising dormant life and collecting those containing it. You are a seed collector and you have been commanded to call out for the provision of more seed collectors. Together you will collect an abundant harvest of seeds.

Jesus sent out his followers in pairs to walk the fields and hedgerows. And he told them what to look for - 'peaceful people'. They were to look for people who would welcome them, house them, feed them - generous, giving, open people. People like that are already alive. They are alive but dormant. When you find them stay with them. If you don't find them try again in another place, don't even take the dust with you when you leave. Life came from dust and returns to dust. Where there is no life there is only dust - leave it behind.

If you look you will find these peaceful people in many places and at many times through your life. They're out there! Learn to recognise them, begin to notice them, but don't rush on - stay with them. And remember, where you go the Lord has already gone ahead of you.

So think about going out and collecting seeds and next time we'll begin to consider what we should do with these living, dormant seeds once we have found them.

The next post will take a look at preparing the ground for planting.

< No earlier items | Index | Prepare the ground >

More about this website

I hope you'll find what you're looking for here on 'Journeys of Heart and Mind'. Many of the articles are about aspects of following Jesus, but there are also items on science, technology, travel, history, space flight and much more.

Navigating - Click the tabs under the banner to visit the major parts of this site. There's a little more detail in the list below.

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The name 'Scilla'
The web domain is called 'scilla' after a kind of bluebell, one of my favourite flowers.

Site history - The site was at various times called All About Jesus, Focussed on the King and The Scilla Blog. You'll find these names used in some older articles. It's still all about Jesus, the name has changed but not the foundation. He is the way, the truth and the life.

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Little Paxton - A field of flowers

Although I haven't reported much on meetings recently, they've still been continuing. Here are brief notes on an evening with Jim and Sean.

We shared fish and chips and a cup of tea while we chatted about recent events, and then we made a Skype call to David in London. David told us he's heading up to Scotland tomorrow as the forecast looks promising for a walk up Ben Nevis (he's already walked Snowdon and Scafell so if he can bag Ben Nevis he'll have done the highest peaks in England, Wales and Scotland). I hope you make it, David!

Later, sitting around the table, Jim shared a vision of a field full of flowers, everything was exceptionally bright and glorious, and the flowers were so dense that you could hardly see the grass at all. This reminded me of what I wrote earlier the same day about planting churches, especially Step 8, 'Enjoy the display of life and colour'.

We prayed for our children, for our friends, for Jim and Pam as they spend a week of much deserved relaxation at Lake Garda in Italy.

Jim also shared his growing excitement in reading 'Extreme Treasure Hunting'. He is beginning to appreciate even more than before the importance of hearing from the Holy Spirit and then responding. This is further reinforcement for the sense that Sean and I have had for a long time now that listening, hearing, and obeying are fundamental to our lives in the Kingdom.

Chris mentioned something that Paul Young had said in a DVD he and Sean watched on Tuesday. 'It's not about what we do, it's about who [the Father] is.' But in a sense it's also about who we are - sons!

Jim shared the strong sense he has that we are coming into a time of truly great and exciting things. That as we hear and obey we will be used in awesome ways. I think this is already happening, has been happening for some time. I also think Jim is right in his sense it's about to ramp up a gear or two. To quote Jim - 'Bring it on!' And to quote Rob - 'The best is yet to come!' They are both right!

THOUGHT - Planting churches

The Spirit showed me that planting churches is like growing a garden. He said there are particular steps to be taken, and that the analogy is complete. Here's the process he set before me.

1. Obtain some seeds.
2. Prepare the ground.
3. Plant the seeds.
4. Water them at intervals.
5. Protect them from birds and mice and insects.
6. Watch them grow.
7. Remove diseased leaves or shoots. If necessary pull out badly damaged plants and remove them.
8. Enjoy the display of life and colour.
9. If they've been encouraged and nurtured in the right way, they will naturally produce and scatter seed for the next generation.

There's also a 'do not'.

• Do not micromanage the plants or try to conform them to your expectations. You will stunt them and they will grow misshapen and may not flower and set seed.

So there you have it, all you need to know in outline about planting churches. But of course there is every need to put some flesh on the bare bones of those steps. Over the next few days I'll explore the area covered by each of those points. The next post will take a look at how to obtain seeds.

Meanwhile I'd love to have your comments - how do you think the points relate to the practical work of planting real churches?

See also: The series on No-till farming by Miguel at Pathways International

Watton at Stone - Making a start

This evening was a new departure for us. Instead of meeting in my home or at Jim's or Sean's, we travelled down the A1 to Watton at Stone, a village just beyond Stevenage. We met at an old pub called 'The Bull'; it's full of ancient timber and has an enormous brick fireplace with a massive oak beam supporting the chimney breast above.

The reason for meeting further south is so that our friend David can join us. David lives in north London, just inside the M25. It took us and him about 40 minutes from home, much more manageable than the hour and a quarter for the journey from London to St Neots or vice versa.

I had expected 'The Bull' to be a tired sort of place and with only a few people present (based on an earlier daytime visit). But it turned out to be quite busy, clearly a favourite meeting place for local people. We asked Father to bless the place itself and the people who use it and it will be good to get to know some of them a little as the weeks and months go by. We plan to meet here every other Thursday and we'll try Skype as a way to 'meet' online in the intervening weeks.

Sean and I arrived early so we found a table and sat chatting with a drink each. When David arrived we talked about our lives and recent events and then took turns to share our feelings using SASHET as a framework. We also talked about our thoughts on what Yahshua has been saying to us. I felt that these components of CO2 were very effective in this face to face environment. We bought coffees (which were small but really quite good).

Finally we prayed together for a few minutes, slightly self-consciously on my part. Here we were in a corner of 'The Bull', surrounded by people chatting and laughing. Should I close my eyes (which might make me appear rather odd) or keep them open (which would make it harder to focus) or close them but try to hide the fact by lowering my face and leaning on my hand (which is what I finally did after trying to pray with open eyes and finding it difficult).

David thought that the early church prayed with eyes open and the habit of closing them was introduced later. Maybe I should practice prayer with open eyes to become more comfortable with it. The strange thing is that I can pray this way while I'm walking or driving, prayer is just a conversation. I've never really thought about it before, but why does it seem necessary to close my eyes when I'm sitting in prayer with others?

REVIEW - The Grace Outpouring

A lady came into Cornerstone in St Neots and asked for a copy of 'The Grace Outpouring' by Roy Godwin and Dave Roberts. She had heard about it somewhere and felt she needed to read it. James was serving at the book counter and checked the catalogue to see if we had it. We did. We hunted the shelves and failed to find it, but we said we'd continue looking for it and the customer agreed to come back later to collect it.

After she had left we found it almost immediately!

James went off for lunch and left me in charge. The shop was quiet so I picked up 'The Grace Outpouring' and flicked through some of the pages. One or two passages leapt off the page and I was close to tears as I read how a young American woman had come to faith simply through reading some Bible verses and praying to a Jesus that she did not initially know.

It quickly became clear that the book was full of stories like this and I ordered a copy for myself. I've just finished it and already intend to pass it on to a friend tomorrow evening.

Roy and Daphne Godwin are directors at Ffald-y-Brenin (Welsh for 'the King's sheepfold'), a retreat centre/house of prayer and more that is being used by the King himself to bless local people, the whole region of south-west Wales, and much further afield internationally too.

Roy and his co-author Dave Roberts describe how Ffald-y-Brenin came into existence, how Roy and Daphne became involved, how the place has been used by the King of Kings to touch individual lives and the entire area in extraordinary ways, and how you might expect to see similar things happen where you live too.

It doesn't require skill or knowledge, great wealth or influential friends. All it takes is a willingness to be used by Jesus, an open and humble heart, and the courage to surrender what you thought you wanted from life in exchange for what Jesus wants for you.

Basically, it's about obedience. That means listening carefully to Jesus, hearing what he says, seeing what he does, and following him wherever he leads. These are the same things we have been learning over the past few years, and we too have seen extraordinary things happen as a result. It's not what we do that counts, it's what Jesus will do in us and through us.

I heartily recommend this little book, 185 pages containing a great story told well. Like all good, true stories this one is full of illumination; I guarantee that it will delight, challenge, encourage, and excite.

Obtaining a copy - Order it in paperback or as an audio book from Cornerstone in St Neots if you live locally, or direct from Ffald-y-Brenin. It's also available from Amazon and other online sources.

See also:

• Extracts from the book - Journeys of heart and mind
• Ffald-y-Brenin's website
• Pentecost people of blessing - Words half heard

Burning the Qur'an

I was saddened to learn that Dr Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida plans to burn copies of the Qur'an on Saturday.

I appeal to you, Dr Jones, please think this through again.

Consider the words of Paul writing to the Galatians - 'The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.' (Galatians 5:22-23) He adds in verse 25, 'Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit'.

Just take the first word, 'love'. Didn't Jesus call us to love our enemies? (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27, Luke 6:35) Burning a book that many people value and revere doesn't seem to fit the concepts of love, kindness, or gentleness.

I have to ask you therefore, in the name of Jesus Christ, to please reconsider the Qur'an burning. Change your mind now before it is too late, not because I am asking you, but because Jesus himself is asking you.

And to any Muslims out there who may be reading this. I have heard it said that Islam is a religion of peace. If that is so I am glad and commend you. However, I follow Jesus (Isa) who is also one of your prophets, and he came in peace. He calls his followers to be a people of peace. One of his titles is Prince of Peace.

He once said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of the Most High.' (Matthew 5:9)

Thank you for reading this through to the end. My prayer is that the truth carried by Jesus will enter the hearts and minds of each of you and illuminate your innermost being with his peace and grace and joy.

REVIEW - The End of Religion

This is not a full review of Bruxy Cavey's amazing book, 'The End of Religion'. It's just a few comments and a brief extract. But I feel strongly prompted to write these words so if you are prompted to read them - here they are...

I forget where I bought the book, but I was intrigued by both the title and by the author's unusual name, so after an engaging and encouraging dip into the pages I went ahead and bought it. That was probably a year or two ago.

I really enjoyed this book - I mean really enjoyed it. For me there was refreshment on every page, I knew right away that the author sees Jesus much as I do. Bruxy Cavey understands that Jesus came to release us, not to bind us up with a thousand more dos and don'ts.

Recently I decided to give the book to a visiting friend. It encapsulates what he thinks too and if it refreshed me I think it will also refresh him.

Here's a little extract to whet your appetite for more. It comes from the introduction which is entitled 'The Holy Hand Grenade'.

I am convinced that the Bible holds clues to a way out of our slavish addiction to religious systems, while it simultaneously invites us into a direct connection with the Divine.

But isn't the Bible a book full of rules, regulations, rituals, and routines - the very stuff of religion? True, the many texts of the Bible, especially those of the Old Testament (that part written before Jesus), do contain laws and rituals, systems and institutions. But these religious ideas are not its starting point or its ending point.

The Bible begins by painting a picture of the ideal world - a world without religion, a garden where God and people live in naked intimacy. This was God's original intention for humankind. In the Bible it is only after people turn away from his ideal of mutual trust and intimacy that God gives them rules and routines, traditions and teachings - but this is not the end of the story.

The rules and rituals of the Bible are like a map that leads to a great treasure, though they are not the treasure itself. I think this is what the revered Jewish poet and philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel is driving at when he says, 'Religion as an institution, the Temple as an ultimate end, or, in other words, religion for religion's sake, is idolatry.'

Religious people often tend to confuse the treasure map for the treasure.

If you want to buy the book you can get it from Amazon. But if you live anywhere near St Neots in Cambridgeshire I urge you to visit Cornerstone, have a coffee and a delicious bite to eat, and pick it up or order it while you're there.

St Neots (River) - A container and a healed leper

David Spanberger and I visited River Church this morning for their morning meeting.

Yahshua breathes his Spirit into the lives of his followers. Sometimes this results in pictures, sometimes thoughts or ideas, sometimes actions that help those around. Today for me it took the form of words. While we were singing, this is what I was given.

Can you contain the presence of the Most High?
Can a clay jar hold a hoard of gold? Yes! It can!

Out of your mouth will come my voice.
Out of your hands will come my gifts.
Out of your eyes will shine my smile.
Out of your heart will beat my heart.
For I AM the One who lives.
You no longer live but I live in you through my Son.

I feel these words are for the people at River Church, but they are also for all believers everywhere.

After the singing, Rob McFarlane read Luke 17:11-19. He mentioned 1 Thessalonians 5:18 where we read that in everything we are to give thanks. We are to have 'an attitude of gratitude'.

Rob then spoke on the passage from Luke, explaining that the grateful attitude of the Samaritan leper is an example of the heart attitude we, too, should have. And it seemed significant to me that one of the ten lepers was a Samaritan.

This man would have seen very little point in presenting himself to the priests because he put no store in the sacrifice they would offer (Samaritans did not worship in the Temple at Jerusalem). But at first he was obedient and tagged along with the others although it didn't mean very much to him.

But the moment he realised he was healed he came straight back to the one he knew to be a priest of the Most High - Yahshua. He is indeed the Great High Priest who would offer himself as a sacrifice for Jew and non-Jew alike.

Coming to Yahshua as he did was effectively a prophetic act. He was saying, 'Look, this is the true Priest for he has made me whole! He was more perceptive than the Jewish lepers who simply followed the instruction they had been given according to the light of the Law. They went to see the priests of the old covenant. In contrast, this man returned immediately to the High Priest of the new covenant. How awesome is that!

There are two great differences between the Jewish lepers and the Samaritan leper. The Jewish lepers didn't show the same level of gratitude, but more fundamentally they failed to recognise their healer for who he was. They saw him only as a rabbi ('Yahshua, teacher') and not as King and High Priest.

And this King and High Priest is the One that we contain, jars of clay though we are. What an incomparable salvation we have in him, Yahshua the Messiah, living Son of the Most High!

THOUGHT - Reading the Bible

I've been reading the Bible regularly or irregularly for about forty years now, and early in that process I discovered that it was useful to have a plan to follow. Having a plan makes sure that everything gets covered, and it can be used in conjunction with just dipping into favourite books and passages when I feel like it.

There are many published Bible-reading plans and aids but none of them seemed quite right for me. So in my late twenties or early thirties I devised one of my own and I've followed it ever since. I offer it here for you to use, adapt, or ignore as you will. But even if you don't decide to use it perhaps it will encourage you to adopt another reading plan, modify your current one, or devise one of your own. You can find a full list of the books in the Bible and the Apocrypha on the Bible Gateway website.

If you've read this far you will probably want to know how my plan works. So here it is. An explanation follows.

Historical	Prophets	New Testament	Apochrypha	Psalms
Genesis 50	(Ezra 10)	Luke 24	(1 Esdras 14)	1-150
Exodus 40	Nehemiah 13	Acts 28	2 Esdras 16	Ps 151
Leviticus 27	(Esther 10)	Romans 16	Tobit 14
Numbers 36	Job 42		(Esther 10)
Deuteron 34	Proverbs 31	Mark 16	Judith 16
Joshua 24	Ecclesiates 10	1 Corinth 16	Wisdom 19
Judges 21	Song of S 8	2 Corinth 13	Ecclesiasticus 51
Ruth 4	Isaiah 66	Galatians 6	Baruch 6
1 Samuel 31	Jeremiah 52	Ephesians 6	Susannah 1
2 Samuel 24	Lamentations 5		Bel and dragon 1
1 Kings 22	Ezekiel 48	Matthew 28	1 Maccabees 16
2 Kings 25	Daniel 12	Philippians 4	2 Maccabees 15
1 Chronicles 29	Hosea 14	Colossians 4	3 Maccabees 7
2 Chronicles 36	Joel 3	1 Thessal 5	4 Maccabees 18
	Amos 9	2 Thessal 3
	Obadiah 1	1 Timothy 6
	Jonah 4	2 Timothy 4
	Micah 7	Titus 3
	Nahum 3	1 Philemon 1
	Habakkuk 3	Hebrews 13
	Zephaniah 3
	Haggai 2	John 21
	Zechariah 14	James 5
	Malachi 4	1 Peter 5
		2 Peter 3
		1 John 5
		2 John 1
		3 John 1
		Jude 1
		Revelation 22
403 chapters	376 chapters	260 chapters	204 chapters
1/day=13.4 mon	1/day=12.5 mon	1/day=8.7 mon	1/day=6.7 mon
2/day= 6.7 mon	2/day= 6.3 mon	2/day=4.3 mon	2/day=3.4 mon

There are four columns which are designed to contain something like 300 chapters each, a fifth column contains the Psalms. The number of chapters in each book is shown after the name in each case, ie there are 50 chapters in Genesis. The idea is to read something from one column, then something from the next and so on. When you complete a column start again at its top even though you are part way through the other columns. I prefer to read more New Testament than anything else so the pattern I follow is

• Column 1 - Old Testament (historical books)
• Column 3 - New Testament
• Column 2 - Old Testament (prophets)
• Column 3 - New Testament
• Column 4 - Apocrypha
• Column 3 - New Testament
• Column 5 - Psalms
• Column 3 - New Testament

Reading this way 50% of my reading is New Testament, 25% is Old Testament (minus the Psalms), 12.5% is Psalms, and 12.5% is Apocrypha. However, there are more verses in the Apocrypha than in Psalms, so I cover the Psalms more often than the Apocrypha. This balance suits me quite well.

The information at the bottom of the columns shows the exact number of chapters and the time it will take for the entire column reading one or two chapters daily. For example, if you read one chapter from column one every day it will take you nearly thirteen and a half months for the entire column, just over a year. At a rate of two chapters per day the column will take less than seven months.

To change the balance you can simply change the sequence of columns or the number of chapters you read each day. If you miss a few days or want to read more each day you will cover the pattern slower or faster.

Let's take a look at what's in each column and why.

Column One

This contains the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) and the historical books. In other words it includes all the books from Genesis to 2 Chronicles. This column covers creation, the Law, and the history of Israel until they were taken into captivity by the Babylonians.

Column Two

Here you will find all the Old Testament prophetic, wisdom and poetic books (except Psalms), mostly written after the return from Babylon. There are notable exceptions - Job, for example, is a very much earlier book. Ezra and Esther are in brackets because the same chapters (and more) are included in column four. You can choose to read Ezra and Esther in both columns, or leave them out of either column two or column four.

Between them, columns one and two will take you through the entire Old Testament. If you read a chapter a day from each column you'll cover the Old Testament in just over a year.

Column Three

Unlike the Old Testament columns, I have rearranged the order of the books in column three. They are presented in four blocks with a similar number of chapters in each. There are several reasons for doing this.

The four gospels are separated so you don't read them one after another. This means you will dip into a gospel book more frequently. It also makes it possible to read Acts immediately after Luke's gospel, and as Luke wrote the two books as a consistent account to be read in sequence this seems a useful thing to do.

Arranging the books this way also brings John's gospel close to his letters and to Revelation.

Column Four

If you don't want to read the Apocrypha just leave this column out of your reading pattern and include the bracketed book of Esther in column two. But I think there are good reasons to cover the apochryphal books now and again. For one thing the books of Maccabees cover some of Israel's history between the Old and New Testaments and this is interesting in its own right.

There is no agreed order for the additional material in the Apocrypha, the Roman Catholic version is differently structured than the Anglican version, not only in terms of the books but even in terms of chapters and verses. Psalm 151  would often be included here too, but I've added it to column five instead.

Column Five

Good old Psalms! I've put them in a column of their own so that they are not read as a solid block but are interspersed in your reading. If you want to read through Psalms faster, put the column into your reading pattern more than once.

How it all works

Reading according to my choice of column pattern (1, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 5, 3) I began as follows.

Genesis 1, Luke 1, Ezra 1, Luke 2, 1 Esdras 1, Luke 3, Psalm 1, Luke 4 (then following the pattern again) Genesis 2, Luke 5, Ezra 2, Luke 6 and so on.

So you can see how the pattern works out. You can read just one chapter a day (or even less than a chapter) or you can read several chapters. You can break the pattern whenever you wish and come back to it. You might, for example, want to read right through a single book or part of a book for a Bible study. Simply make a note of where you are in the pattern and come back to it later.