NEWS - CO2 is spreading like a virus

It's time to mention Church of Two (CO2) again. As far as I'm aware nobody was doing CO2 in the UK until I brought it here from Dallas in September 2009. I'd like to outline the history of it since then.

Infections follow a pattern that is true for viruses, bacteria, trees, rabbits, and even us humans. The stages of this pattern are...

Infection > Latency > Spread > Symptoms > Impact > Dieback

Lets look at these one by one.

Infection - In this stage an active form spreads to a new home. With a cold virus, you might breathe in virus laden particles after someone with a cold sneezed. Or you might touch a contaminated object and then transfer the virus to your mouth or eyes.

The active form of CO2 is the knowledge of what it is, how to do it, and the value it brings. By the time I returned from Dallas I was already infected.

Latency - This is the time during which nothing much seems to happen. The cold virus has to enter a living cell, a seed takes time to absorb water and germinate. During the latent period something essential has to happen but there is no sign of it yet.

In the case of CO2 I needed to find someone who wanted to hear about it and do it with me. Until I found that person, the CO2 virus was present in the UK - but latent.

Spread - With the cold virus this is the time during which more and more people are becoming infected. It's like a chain reaction. A person is infected, becomes a mobile latent infection, and begins sneezing at home, at work, on the bus, and in the shops.

For CO2 this is the phase we are in right now in the UK. A number of people are using it daily and are starting to pass it on to others. CO2 is spreading!

Symptoms - With a cold, people hardly notice the early signs (the first few sneezes). But as the virus takes hold in a major way there are clear and unpleasant signs that something is going on. Sufferers feel unwell, they might run a slight temperature, breathing is more difficult, they may have a sore throat, a cough, a headache.

In the case of CO2 the symptoms often include a growing desire to read and understand the Bible, more prayer time, a deeper understanding of one another, a greater sense of the Lord's purpose, an increasing desire to grow spiritually, greater peace, joy and love, a new sense of the journey, and a growing drive to reach others with the good news.

I certainly have some of these symptoms and more are appearing all the time. CO2 is beginning to facilitate significant change in me. It's also having a similar impact in my CO2 partners.

Impact - As a cold virus takes hold in the population there's a change in society over and above the symptoms of individuals. People might start to avoid crowds, buy more cough medicine, stay away from work, this in turn might affect the short term profitability of companies, or cause staff shortages in schools, hospitals etc.

For CO2 the longer term impact in the UK is not yet known. The possibilities include wider scale outreach and mission, increased church planting and growth, revival, improved care for the elderly, sick, and disadvantaged in society, and more.

This is a lot to expect from such a simple thing as CO2. But that is exactly the point, a virus is simple. This simplicity makes it hard for doctors to treat. It spreads easily and quickly, very few drugs can interfere with its spread or its impact on patients. The simplicity of CO2 makes it easy to learn, easy to teach, and easy to do.

Dieback - In most cases, a virus peaks and then dies away because people develop immunity. Anything that interferes with transmission or infection will cause a virus to fade away. A cold epidemic fades as more and more people become immune.

Will CO2 die away in the same way? Maybe, and in the longer term it's quite likely. But I hope not because it's a very beneficial virus! There is no known immunity against CO2 so far and that is a good sign. And CO2 doesn't appear to be harmful in any way. Perhaps it will do what some viruses have managed to do, become part of the genome of its host, people who follow Jesus. In that case its long term future would be assured.

Meanwhile, we in the UK are in the very earliest stages of spread. I will do all I can to encourage more infections to spring up.

Here's progress so far...

Chris > Sean
Chris > Paul
..Sean > Hamish (may not have taken)
Chris and Paul > Roger
..Paul > Pete (may not have taken)
../..Roger > Ruth
Chris, Paul and Roger > David
..Paul > Jules
Chris > Tim

Likely further transfer...
Chris > Dave
Chris > Tony
Chris > Rob
..Tim > Tammy

This shows that secondary spread has begun and there are signs of tertiary spread starting. If spread is faster than dieback (and so far it has been), CO2 will spread. If dieback exceeds spread it will fade away. To some degree it's up to us.

USA thinks open source is piracy!

Now here is a very strange thing. It seems that the USA considers Canada to be guilty of a sort of intellectual property theft, or if not exactly theft then at least some sort of underhanded anti-competitive practice.

The argument seems to be that if I write a piece of useful software and decide to give it away instead of selling it, I somehow undermine free enterprise. So things like Linux, Wikipedia, Media Monkey, the Gimp, Microsoft Bing, Google Maps, and thousands of other items used daily by millions of people are undermining free enterprise.

No. I must have misunderstood. Surely?

Well, take a look for yourself.

• Read this article by Michael Geist.
• Now read this more recent article from the Guardian.

What is going on here? I mean - really? It will all be sorted out quite quickly once the Office of the United States Trade Representative thinks it through more carefully, right?

I thought the USA stood on the side of freedom. So if I write some software, or a book, I can give it away if I choose to do so. And if I want to use free software written by someone else I may do that too. How would that 'undermine intellectual property rights'?

I must have missed something...

Has the GNU project missed it too? Is Linux in the wrong? And Ubuntu? What about Open Office? Scribd? Wikipedia?

Has anyone told the Free Software Foundation?

Great Doddington - Knowledge and wisdom

Jim, Sean and I decided to visit the Great Doddington meeting this week, so Peter and Jody's living room was pretty full. It was a rich meeting, I haven't captured everything in this account.

We began by standing in a circle in prayer, then Peter read James 4. Peter went on to say that we need to seek the Lord's guidance in everything, not set our hearts on some goal and then drive for it. We have to remember who is in charge here! Jim mentioned that James is very direct. Sue felt that in some ways he is a little bit scary and not her favourite New Testament writer.

Rachael explained that the difference between knowledge and wisdom is critical. It's the difference between knowing that a tomato is a fruit and not putting it in a fruit salad. This made us laugh. Jim and Jody both talked about the fact that some things that are legal to do in man's eyes are not acceptable in the Lord's eyes. But we are not called to judge, we are called to love. I mentioned that although James seems hard, he writes that 'mercy triumphs over judgement' (2:13) We also considered how the church seems to thrive under persecution, for example in China, Korea, or North India.

Sean shared a prophecy, 'Jesus goes to church! Sometimes he stands just outside and says, "I'm here." He goes wherever people are hurting.' Glenn told us two stories, one about prayer for healing in the market place, and one about another healing experience.

Jody also prophesied, 'My word will not return to me empty. It's not just about social reforms, it's a matter of depending on the Lord.' Sean descibed a vision of a small girl. Jesus went to comfort her and told Sean to do the same. He doesn't believe he has seen this girl yet (other than in the vision). This prompted Glenn to share another story, this time of a small girl who woke in the middle of the night and left the house with her Bible. In the park she saw a man sleeping on a bench and called to him, 'Wakey-wakey, rise and shine.' The man awoke and told her that he'd been sleeping for a very long time, waiting for someone to wake him, and that he was the Angel of the North. The angel of Revival. Sean found some surprising parallels between Glenn's story and his own life.

Rachael also had a picture to share. The first part had been given to her three weeks ago and she had seen crowds of aggressive people in the streets rioting and shouting. Now tonight she has seen more. The people were running towards a second mob who were also running, there was going to be a clash. And then she saw that there was a huge mirror between the two, it was only one mob intent on fighting it's own reflection. They were being aggressive towards themselves! And she understood that Jesus removes the mirror and frees people from fighting against themselves.

Jim told us that we are drawing nearer to God and he is drawing nearer to us. We are approaching a meeting place with God, but we tend to run in fear. When we wake up to the truth we'll see that we have a most amazing future in him. And then I had a picture to share too. I saw an inky black night and knew that in the darkness nobody can work because nobody can see. But as the rising sun reached closer to the horizon a glow developed and got brighter and brighter as daylight came. And Father said, 'In you my Son will find his completeness - in him you will find yours.' I also saw a tomato with deep splits in its skin, but as I watched the splits narrowed, healed, and left the skin smooth and undamaged. And Father said, 'You can't do that - but I can.'

THOUGHT - Follow the Shepherd

This is the second in a series of thoughts from the Lord. Sometimes we feel pressure from others to conform in some way to their expectations; this can be obvious or it can be so subtle that we hardly notice. In the same way we can bring similar pressure to bear on others from time to time. Perhaps it's better if we don't!

Today, the Spirit of Christ whispered these thoughts to me and I feel I should share them.

I have particular things for you to do. I choose specific things for each of my children, things they will be able to do because their personality and gifting suits them to it. Don't try to do what you see others do, do instead what you see ME do. I will show you. My sheep hear my voice and follow me.

Nor should you try to persuade others to do what I lead you to do, my call on them may be different from my call on you. Follow me, and leave others to do the same. Don't be pressured or persuaded onto a different course, don't allow anyone to tell you what to do or how to do it. Simply follow me and do what I do for that is obedience and I will bless you abundantly in obedience.

Don't criticise others, always encourage and build up.

Walk in my ways, on the path I take, keep your eyes on me, don't be anxious. Walk joyfully, walk in peace, but walk resolutely and with courage for I am with you.

Here are some more thoughts on sheep and shepherds based on John 10. Notice that 'his sheep follow him because they recognise his voice' (John 10:4).

Colworth (CU) - A servant heart

Steph brought some thoughts based around Lent, traditionally a time of fasting and preparation for remembering Jesus' death and return to life.

The first thought she brought was about grace, something we receive freely and undeservedly, in his graciousness the Almighty doesn't expect us to earn the right to the good things we receive. We don't deserve life, but if we follow his Son we will certainly receive it. We are actually a royal priesthood, Christ is our King and also our Great High Priest and we are therefore of his royal and priestly family. Therefore we reign with him and through him, and we have access to the Almighty through grace.

Steph read the Anglican Confession, very familiar to some of us and perhaps less so to others.

Then we returned to thoughts about grace. The gospel (the good news) is bearing fruit in us. In a sense we are the fruit of the gospel. Psalm 139 shows that Yahweh knows everything about us. Grace comes to us free, without conditions, without strings.

We also though about the attitude of Christ and how we should have this same attitude in our own lives. He encourages us, we have peace, joy and love because of him. If we are like him we will always look to the interests of others. This is the nature of a servant. He humbled himself to come as a servant, in the same way we should always be ready to serve one another.

NEWS - Latest H2H e-letter

The latest issue of the House2House (H2H) e-letter dropped into my inbox this morning. I always look forward to these arriving!

In this issue Tony and Felicity Dale take a look at the underlying characteristics that result in rapidly growing, self-replicating churches. They mention simplicity, truth, relationships, and mission as essential elements. The e-letter links to other useful resources from David Garrison, David Watson, Wolfgang Simson, and the Mather family.

If you've never sampled an H2H e-letter before, now would be a great time to take a look. They're published every week or two, are always worth reading, and are kept deliberately brief to make them easy to read and absorb.

You can always find a link to H2H in the sidebar of 'All About Jesus'. It's a great resource so I like to make sure everyone can browse to it easily. Hint: you can sign up to receive the e-letters by email too, so you always see new ones right away without checking the website.