Eaton Ford - Small groups

Jim was working very late today, Paul was unwell, and Mary couldn't make it so it was just Sean and me meeting this evening.

We discussed the ideal size for groups of people sharing their lives together and thought that between twelve and twenty is the natural maximum. Yahshua called twelve men to follow him and we know there were women who also followed him, so there is good precedent for twenty or so as a maximum. Larger numbers would make it difficult for people to relate closely and personally with one another. It's a good size for any kind of team - in business, sport, and it's typically the size of an extended family.

We spent some time considering ways of reaching out to those around us. Both of us are keen to do this. We recognise that last summer's camp was one way to do this, and we know it was prepared and orchestrated by Papa, not by us. All we had to do was follow step by step. But we want to reach more people in the town and are sure that if we trust and expect to be led, the opportunities will come.

I described what I'd learned about CO2 from John White and others at the House2House Conference in Dallas. Sean thought it sounded a great idea and is happy to try it with me so we plan to begin right away, do it for a week, and then see how we feel about continuing. We will do the VIRKLER exercise individually and report back when we meet to share what we think the Lord is telling us each day. And we'll step through the SASHET process at the same time.

Here's a video of CO2 in action.

C02 Overview from TSP on Vimeo.

We'll let you all know how we get on. We hope to meet face to face two or three days each week for our CO2 sessions. On the other four or five days we will use Skype and/or Google Wave as communication channels. We'll also share how these worked for us as CO2 tools.

Before finishing we prayed for our friends and specific things in their lives that we're aware of, particularly illnesses and family matters.

Great Doddington - What is church?

As we chatted over coffee and biscuits the conversation turned to thoughts about faith, healing, and salvation. Healing in particular seems to be quite common at some times and in some places, but not all the time and everywhere. So what should we expect in our own lives and those of people we know? What should we expect in our own towns, villages, and workplaces?

Glenn shared about events in Argentina that he'd read about in a book years ago. Extraordinary events with strong evidence. And this prompted Barbara to tell us how she'd been praying for someone's health and had felt overwhelmed by a sense of peace, certainty, and faith. She'd been able to prayer in a different way as a result, knowing that her prayer was heard and answered.

We also chewed over some of the great mysteries that are presented in the Bible. In particular Jody wondered how it could be that the Almighty would instruct Israel to utterly destroy defeated enemies like the ancient city of Jericho. To our human understandings there is a disconnect here. How can it be right to put  men, women and children to the sword? How can it be just? Obedience demanded it, but it seems a very odd instruction. Today it would be declared genocide and the UN would intervene.

It's a good question and not easy to answer. It seems barely sufficient to argue that those were the days of the Law and today we live under a dispensation of grace. I pointed out that Old Testament events of this kind translate very powerfully into our own lives. Have I 'killed' all the dark and wrong things in my own heart? Am I clinging to remnants of my past, unsaved life? If so, they will surely come back to bite me. Yet there will be a kind of suffering (or at least discomfort) in giving them up. But the reason must be far deeper, something to do with the nature of Yahweh himself. He is love, but he is also jealous and just and pure and holy. He is gentle but also terrible.

Another topic we considered was 'What is church?' We agreed that we need to grow into fellowship on an altogether different level. Are we really closely enough involved in one another's lives? If one of us feels lonely, or far from the Lord - how can we help one another? And are we reaching out into a lost world as we should?

I recounted Floyd McClung's story about the young lady who asked for prayer. She said she wanted patience. He began praying for tribulation in her life - not at all what she had expected to hear. Some of us thought that asking for tribulation in someone's life was a dreadful thing to do, and I do understand why we might think so. But Floyd was not being unkind, he was encouraging her to understand the basis for the growth of patience in a person's life. It's not that our Father is being cruel to his children, he is actually working hard and at great cost to dig us out of the pit that we are in - but he didn't put us into that pit in the first place.

We read Psalm 107 from verse 4.

And finally we linked arms in a circle and prayed for one another.

Colworth (CU) - Money and stewardship

There was no plan for today's meeting so we did what we usually do in this situation, just enjoyed some good time chatting about life and about Jesus. We decided we'd like to make a CU lunchdate for 22nd January (probably) and meet for food and fellowship at a local pub.

Andy dipped into some notes he happened to have with him and read out thoughts on love languages and how important it is to understand one another's ways of thinking. Not only does this apply to married couples, but also to us as brothers and sisters when we meet. Expressing our care for one another in a way that works for that person is so important.

Then we discussed stewardship. Luke 16:2 was mentioned and we read verses 1-8. It's clear that any steward needs to take care of the owner and of the owner's property and business transactions. How true that  the people of this world are shrewder than the people of the light! Worldly advantages can be gained by ignoring what is right and caring little for the Lord's business.

1 Corinthians 4 clearly shows us that everything we have comes from the Almighty. We need to look to the future. Sometimes we may need to take risks for the Master's benefit. However we should never look to our own benefit.

Oundle - Jonah and the whale

The nascent group in Oundle invited me to join them for lunch on Sunday. We met at Matt and Justine's home in Peterborough, but I'm referring to it as the 'Oundle' group because I think that is where they will end up (I might be wrong, of course).

We sat and relaxed together and talked for a while over cups of tea while the younger folk made a happy noise elsewhere in the house. They were working on a play to perform for us adults after lunch. Topics that came up in conversation included the 2008 House2House Conference as well as 'The Shack'. Although views differ about the book we agreed that love demands that we allow one another to make up our own minds without becoming offended over those differences.

I'd brought the DVD sets for the 2008 and 2009 conferences and left them behind so they could go through them at their leisure. I explained that the 2008 set includes some excellent material from Paul Young, the author of 'The Shack'; and I mentioned briefly that one of the topics Paul deals with is the place of women in the church. In my view he handles this extremely well, basing his thoughts on the first three chapters of Genesis. The DVD is well worth watching.

After a delicious Italian lunch we had more time to chat before moving to a different room where the young people were ready with their play. They'd put together a short production based on the book of Jonah. Jonah heard the call from Yahweh to go to Ninevah and disobediently took a ship to Tarshish in Spain instead. The sailors cast lots and Jonah was thrown overboard to save the ship, he was swallowed by the whale (cleverly done by the young actors).

Jonah repented and the whale spat him out and he agreed to go to Ninevah. There was a well-deserved round of applause for the players.

We spent a short time in prayer during which there was reassurance about the way forward. There are several practical issues on the horizon, both for Matthew and Justine and also for Rupert and Uli. But there's no need for anxiety about these. Sometimes Papa expects us to wait for the right time, but when the time comes he makes everything clear. It's all in his hands.

For me, there's a lot to rejoice about. It is so good to see this little group gathering weekly. Thank you, Father!

Awesome video, great music, astonishing machine

Here's a fine video beautifully put together with excellent music and sound effects. Mike Interbartalo edited imagery of the Space Shuttle launch process from beginning to end. It really is an experience to watch and listen, even if you're not much interested in space or rockets.

It's strange to think that next year the Space Shuttle will fly for the very last time and there is nothing in place to take over. The USA will no longer be able to launch crewed vehicles into orbit.


STS-129 Ascent Video Highlights from mike interbartolo on Vimeo.

For anyone wanting a bit more detail, you will see the Shuttle stack on the giant tracked platform arriving at the launch pad. There are some details of the engine ignition sequence, the three main engines first, then the solid rocket boosters. You will see the solid boosters fall away and splash down under their parachutes ready to be collected by boat and returned for re-use. You will see the giant external tank released to return to a fiery destruction in the atmosphere. And then finally the shuttle itself heads on into Earth orbit.

There are shots from many angles here. Some from the ground or from the air, some from cameras mounted on the solid boosters, the external tank, and the shuttle itself.

Offord d'Arcy (day) - Brief notes only

We usually meet in Eaton Ford, but today Paul and I travelled to Roger's home in Offord d'Arcy as he'd hurt his back. We ate lunch together, had some good conversation, and prayed for the village, for people we meet in our daily lives, for ourselves as we reach out to those around us, and for friends facing difficult times.

Roger read 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 and we shared our thoughts on these wonderfully encouraging words.

Eaton Ford - Floyd's camels

Jim was involved in another meeting this evening so joined us later, Sean and I began by chatting about computing.


It's an interest we share as we both work in IT. Then we settled down to listen to Floyd McClung talking about 'Camels in the Road', in other words distractions we meet in our lives that make it hard for us to follow Jesus. Here are the major points he makes as he develops this theme.

• Dabbling - instead of being fully focused on following Jesus, we may become distracted by doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that. We're called to spiritual obedience, but we become absorbed in other things so easily.
• Plateau-ing - we stop growing spiritually. There is no moving on in our lives, no breakthrough. Past disobedience can lie behind this.
• Inner vows - we may say to ourselves, 'I will never do x, y, z again. Never!' This vow becomes an inner value that guides us. The vow is often to protect us, to avoid something, or simply for comfort. The Lord doesn't cause the problems in our lives but he does use them. He is able to use our greatest fears to create in us great strengths, but we need to embrace the pain if this is to happen.
• Unclear vision - we need to get hold of a sense of our destiny. If we don't, we may become targets for other people's passions.
• Financial security - we worry about such things and they can eat us up. Don't let materialism own you, live for a bigger dream!
• Frantic pace of life - too busy to pay attention to what the Lord is doing.
• Churchianity, religion - The Lord is really not impressed with our systems and organisations.

We discussed some of these ideas and noted how they have affected our own lives. 

Jim arrived at this point and we prayed for our friends and families asking for grace through the pain and the issues. We thought how necessary it is to pour our grace over them, forgiving wrongs freely, praising things that are well done and so on. Just as our heavenly Father pours his grace over us, so we are to do for others.

In connection with one particular issue that was mentioned, I saw a stone on a woodland path. I realised that the stone might just be lying on the surface or it might be larger than it looked with the bulk of it deeply buried. It's important to know which is the case. A stone on the surface may be easily moved but a part-buried stone could cause injury if we strain to pick it up or just try to kick it out of the way.

Colworth (CU) - Julia Fisher

It was my turn to lead this week, I had agreed to talk about Julia Fisher's work in Israel and began with a potted history of her involvement which is summarised below.

In 1998 she became interested in the need for women to have short, inspiring breaks from routine. She helped with two women's tours visiting Israel in June and November of 1998 and on the flight home from the second trip, the Lord told her she would return in six weeks.

She was unexpectedly invited to report on millenium preparations by the Israeli Government Tourist Office. She soon heard about a pastor's meeting in Jerusalem but had no idea who to contact, then the night before the flight she was given a phone number that turned out to be that of the chairman of the meeting!

So in this rather amazing way, Julia was given an opportunity to meet church leaders in Jerusalem. They were able to put her in touch with many others in Israel and she has conducted interviews and written books about the extraordinary reconciliation currently happening between Jewish and Arab believers.

We used this as a stepping stone to discuss the ways in which we, too, are guided day by day, moment by moment. We can be encouraged to hear and do the Lord's will. Andy explained how he'd given his testimony and how it is necessary to know and seize the right time. David related how he'd once been given the same verse by a variety of people and how this had influenced him and encouraged him.

Andy then mentioned love languages, how we are all different and individually need the right approach. And I commented that indeed we can all see evidence that our father in heaven loves us and treats us all individually according to our needs. We have good reason to be encouraged, he is always ready to touch us and guide us.

The coming of the electric car

I didn't know that Shai Agassi had spoken at TED until I read about it today on the Tiny Car| Smart Car News Blog. Shai's company, Better Place, is rolling out fully green, all electric cars and the infrastructure to support them. The plan is that they should be cheaper and more convenient than petrol cars. Quite a challenge!

Here's the video of his talk at TED, it's inspiring and convincing and describes an approach that is simple but original. My own belief is that this idea will fly - it deserves to. Watch and see.

Eaton Ford (day) - People in ordinary life

After we'd listed some names of people for prayer, Paul mentioned that he still feels strongly the words, 'Stand up for the Lord'. He pointed out Mark 8:38 as confirming the thought. He has mentioned this feeling several times in the last week or so, it's clearly significant.

We talked for a while about reaching people, our friends, neighbours, people we meet in every kind of situation in ordinary life. We both sense the importance of getting alongside people where they are.

Then I played the Floyd McClung recording 'Courage to Change', stopping at the end of the first 'pillar of simple church' (carnational not attractional) just as we had on Thursday in Little Paxton. If we are all able to meet together this Thursday we'll all be at the same place and can listen to pillar two together.

Paul and I agreed entirely with Floyd's approach here. In fact, we decided that Paul is already active with the first pillar in a very natural way as he meets people wherever he goes.

After we'd prayed for the people on our minds we ate lunch together.

Little Paxton - Sheep in the fog

Standing in Jim's kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil, we were already talking about 'iron sharpening iron' (Proverbs 27:17). This verse, quoted by Dale Hewitt at Moggerhanger, had especially impressed one of us. And we all felt that it was self-evidently true for us as we met together, we all feel we've been 'sharpened' and can see it in one another. Isn't the Lord great?

Jim said that we're sometimes reluctant to really go with the Lord. We realise that it might cost us something we're unwilling to lose, so we're careful not to go too far. He mentioned Martin Luther King who just did what he knew was right despite the evident dangers. And he paid the price. Jim was reminded of the Lord's words to Joshua, 'I will never leave you or forsake you' (Joshua 1:5). Proverbs 3:5 is also relevant here.

In our relationships with people, and non-believers in particular, we need to relate, make real contact, and live shared lives. Church life has damaged so many people, basically because of the many little rules we construct. We need to understand that people are more important than rules. This is what Jesus taught!

Jim also mentioned that seeing fruit in the lives of those we know is always very encouraging. I mentioned the events surrounding X-treme Camps last summer, we have seen so much impact and fruit from that.

We listened to the first part of Floyd McClung's recording, 'Courage to Change'. The long introduction is interesting and we also listened to the section on the first pillar of simple church, 'Church is incarnational, not institutional'. We may listen to the remaining four pillars on other occasions.

Working through what we had heard we thought about work, life in general, and things like shopping which in the extreme can be pure materialism but on a different level may also be regarded as good.

Jim raised the idea of prayers in parliament or in school assemblies, things which were normal in times past but  today would mean little or nothing to many people. He said that Britain has changed, we just don't do official prayer now, he encouraged us to see this as an opportunity because we are free to serve. I thought we should try to keep everything very simple and straightforward, just be followers of  Jesus in a sometimes difficult world.

We also thought about our personal response to violence. We shouldn't retaliate, but respond with life - not death. Jim felt we need to plan things, but Sean said he doesn't much like plans, we can live day by day, moment by moment, and he will guide us. This resulted in some good thoughts about Jesus, how did he lead his life? At this point I had a picture of sheep in the fog. Some of the sheep were huddled in a flock around the shepherd and were bleating to one another, others were scattered on the hillside. When the shepherd called, the scattered sheep headed towards his voice although all they could see was fog. And the bleating of the flock was added to the call of the shepherd in helping them to sense the direction to move. It's as if the flock amplified the shepherd's voice. Sounds travel long distances in fog, and we really do live in a fog.

Jim also had a picture, a shack in the mountains. There were garlands of flowers around it and all over it and Jim felt this somehow represented the fruit that we can bear in our lives. When we're in the mountains, sometimes it's bleak. But a time is coming when there'll be bright and colourful fruit in our lives if we are close to the Master.

Jim added that Father says to us in the fog, 'Trust in me and I'll show you the way.' Sean prayed that Father would enlarge our vision and that we'd devote more time to hearing him and being with him.

St Neots (Open Door small group) - say cheese!

This evening I went with Donna to her small group.

I'm always invited when they have social events and this time it was a cheese and wine supper. There were only seven of us as several were not able to get along.

But what a great time we had! There was an excellent selection of cheeses, Barbara had made scones, and with French Stick, grapes, crackers and a variety of other items there was no shortage of flavours. In fact the cheeses  featured in the conversation, along with many other topics.

Times like this are such a good way to get to know people better. The informality and fun help with this enormously. It would also be good to meet with Donna's group more often, in between the social 'events' (hint, hint). Maybe this will become possible.

Colworth (CU) - Chat and prayer

We had nothing planned today, but four of us met and discussed various issues at work and also some old friends who have retired or moved to other jobs. We thought about the possibility of having a bring and share lunch and/or a pub lunch, maybe in the new year. We prayed together before heading back to work.

Eaton Ford (day) - A greater one is coming

We started by chatting about events in our own lives, and then shared news of friends and family and spent some time praying for them.

Afterwards, to get a discussion started, I read Mark 1:1-8 and we noted several points. The people confessed their sins to John, and we are encouraged to confess our sins to one another. If we do, it can help build trust and community in the body.

The fact that Jesus forgives sins shows his great authority. It seems that during John's work of baptising many in Judea felt convicted and went en masse to see him in the desert. Roger reminded us that Jesus later said that John was Elijah.

We continued to read verses 9-20 and considered the question of what the 'good news' is. The best way we could express it was to say that it is the presence of the Kingdom, the place where the King rules unopposed. Basically this is a place in the hearts of his followers.

Paul said that 'we need to stand up and be counted', something that he's been feeling for some weeks recently. And he's right, we need to speak and live the truth in the world, in front of friends, neighbours, and colleagues.