Noted from the web (1 - Feb 2013)

The blogosphere is full of interesting things to read. Here are some items I spotted recently that are well worth passing on. Chris writes about not compromising, Jim about organic church, and Kelly about kindness in love. Three great writers, three great topics, three great articles.

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It's not always about finding the middle ground - Here's a great article from 'Life with Da Man CD' in which he explains that finding holy ground and finding middle ground are by no means compatible.

Da Man CD (aka Chris Dryden) suggests that compromise is not always the way to go. He points out that society approves of compromise until its assumptions are challenged (a very good point and one worth remembering).

But in following Jesus we go way beyond any middle ground! By living the truth in love we challenge society in ways it cannot accept or tolerate.

Read the original article...

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Finding organic health - Jim Wright at 'Crossroad Junction' has posted an excellent article about the current state of organic church in the West. In my view he expresses it just right.

He says organic church is beginning to come out of a time of serious difficulty and is catching up with the rest of the world. He adds that we are leaving behind some really weird stuff that was unhealthy and that we are networking better than before. There is much about good, local, unpretentious leadership, and much about community, fellowship and accountability. All Jim's observations are helpful and he is encouraged by what he sees as a growing outward focus, touching and learning from one another.

Read the original article...

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Why good enough love is better than amazing love - Kelly Flanagan writes at 'UnTangled' and wrote about the need to accept one another without expecting perfection. Real love accepts me just as I am.

He uses Valentine's Day as a springboard to get us thinking about the bondage of expectation from others and the freedom of acceptance. As he says, somewhere inside we all know that we fall short, we all know we are broken.

To be accepted, brokenness and all, by those who love us is therefore a great gift. Pressure to be amazing will only damage us, but permission to be broken releases us.
Kelly focusses on acceptance within marriage, but the principle applies across every aspect of life and relationship.

Read the original article...

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Leaders in the church - INDEX

(See indexes on other topics)

This is the index to a series of articles on leaders and leadership in church life.

The first part is an overview and explains how the idea for the series came about. The second post examines part of a verse in Hebrews, often quoted to support hierarchical, structural, appointed leaders.

The plan for later posts is to work systematically through the New Testament.

1. Leadership and the New Testament - How should we manage and govern our meetings?
2. Follow my leader - We take apart the first section of Hebrews 13:17
3. A joy, not a burden - Completing Hebrews 13:17
4. Leading, Matthew 1:1-17 - The basis for leadership
5. Miriam and Yoseph - Matthew 1:18-25 on leading by hearing and obeying
6. Herod and the astrologers - Matthew 2:1-12, who would you follow?
7. To Egypt and back - Matthew 2:13-23, leading from obedience
8. John the Baptist - Matthew 3, John shows us how to lead
9. Jesus is tempted - Matthew 4:1-11, temptations in the Judaean desert
10. Jesus makes a start - Matthew 4:12-25, beginning his ministry in Galilee
11. Back to front truth - Matthew 5:1-20, teaching the disciples
12. Some issues to grapple with - Matthew 5:21-42, error and selflessness
13. Gifts, prayer and needs - Matthew 6, as we grow we become examples

Cross Roads

William P Young's latest book is good, very good. 'Cross Roads' follows the events in... Hmm. I'm not going to tell you any more; that might spoil the story. Once again the author manages to write something that reveals the heart of a loving and purposeful Creator.

I've just finished reading Paul Young's latest book, 'Cross Roads'.

I read his first book, 'The Shack', before it was published in the UK (I had to order copies direct from North America). Donna and I thought it was such a wonderful book that we wanted to give copies away and bought considerable numbers for exactly that purpose.

I must say that 'Cross Roads' did not disappoint, in some ways I think it's even better than 'The Shack'. Words like awesome don't even come close. Paul Young's latest book is almost literally a gentle and profound stroll arm in arm with the Most High, yet at the same time an emotion-yanking roller coaster ride with the characters it portrays.

How he writes like this is an utter mystery, but like all such mysteries the roots go deep into relationship and love. This book is another gift, from Papa to Paul, from Paul to Papa, and from them both to every reader with a heart to feel truth and see life and love in action.

I hope many, many people will read the book, I shall give some copies away for sure - as Papa leads. Meanwhile, here's a taster from the beginning of the book. At least you can decide if you like the writing style.

Some extracts

Some years in Portland, Oregon, winter is a bully, spitting sleet and spewing snow in fits and starts as it violently wrestles days from spring, claiming some archaic right to remain king of the seasons - ultimately the vain attempt of another pretender. This year was not like that. Winter simply bowed out like a broken woman, leaving head down in tattered garments of dirty whites and browns with barely a whimper or promise of return. The difference between her presence and absence was scarcely discernible.

Anthony Spencer didn't care either way. Winter was a nuisance and spring not much better. Given the power he would remove both from the calendar along with the wet and rainy part of autumn. A five-month year would be just about right, certainly preferable to lingering periods of uncertainty. Every cusp of spring he wondered why he stayed in the Northwest, but each year found him again asking the same question.

And here are some brief quotes from other parts of the book; these little nuggets impressed me.

• Pain, loss, and finally abandonment are each a hard taskmaster, but combined they become a desolation almost unbearable.
• ...hell is believing and living in the real when it is not the truth.
• Let me see if I can answer the question you meant and not just the one you asked.
• You are asking me something where the knowing is in the experiencing.
• Ah, there's the real miracle ... Somehow the pain, the losses, the hurt, the bad, God is able to transform these into something they could have never been, icons and monuments of grace and love.
• There has to be a tearing down for the real and right and good and true to be built. There has to be a judgement and a dismantling. It is not only important, it is essential.
• ...boundaries mark the most beautiful of places, between the ocean and the shore, between the mountains and the plains, where the canyon meets the river.

Questions:

• Did you read 'The Shack'? It's not too late!
• Which of the quotes above do you like most? Consider leaving a comment to explain why.
• The book portrays the Mighty One as loving and understanding yet insisting on truth. Do you see him in that way?
• If you have read 'Cross Roads' maybe you could tell us how you feel about it.

See also:

• Cross Roads - Wikipedia
• William P Young interview - The Drew Marshall Show
• 'The Shack' - Wikipedia
• 'The Shack', blasphemous? - Journeys of heart and mind
• William P Young - Wikipedia
• Wm. Paul Young

Freedom in Christ

Freedom in Christ is a course to help believers grow in maturity and fruitfulness. A set of DVDs and a workbook cover a series of thirteen sessions. The material can take new believers on to a deeper life in Jesus, or it might be used as a spiritual health-check for the more mature.

For some weeks now, Roger and I have been meeting to work through the 'Freedom in Christ' (FIC) course together. This is the British version of the course originally developed in the USA by Neil Anderson. You can also view the US website or the international page.

The course is not affiliated to a particular denomination in any way. It consists of a series of DVD presentations and a small book, the 'Participant's Guide'.

According to the back cover of the guide, the objective of the course is 'To help every Christian become a fruitful disciple*.'

Roger has been through the material several times already so he is leading and guiding the process. I'm a newbie. We're about half way through the material which is sound, helpful, and well produced. I'd recommend it to anyone. Although Roger and I are working as a twosome, FIC is often presented to a group, just like the sessions on the DVDs.

Here are the session headings together with brief content; each of the thirteen sessions is designed to take a week, perhaps an hour together and then whatever time you feel you need on your own.

If you want to get a feel for the style you can try the free sample material offered on the website.

The sessions - These fall into an introduction and four parts, listed below.

0 - Introduction - The reason for the course, content, reliability of the Bible, church growth.

Part A - Key truths
1 - Where did I come from? - Spiritual life and death, the fall, Jesus' mission, acceptance.
2 - Who am I now? - Saint or sinner, forgiven and new, already pleasing to the Lord.
3 - Choosing to believe the truth - Faith and belief, growing in faith, trouble, action.

Part B - The world, the flesh and the devil
4 - The world's view of truth - Understanding the world, worldviews, the Bible.
5 - Our daily choice - Flesh and sin not gone, natural, spiritual, fleshly, choosing.
6 - Demolishing strongholds - Nature and effect of strongholds, demolition.
7 - The battle for our minds - Satan and how he works, our resources, the light.

Part C - Breaking the hold of the past
8 - Handling emotions well - Feelings and belief, handling emotion, past trauma.
9 - Forgiving from the heart - Forgiving and freedom, from the heart, not forgetting.

Part D - Growing as disciples
10 - Walking in freedom every day - Keys to maturity, dealing with lies, good and evil.
11 - Relating to others - Grace, responsibility, awareness, discipline, authority.
12 - Where are you heading? - Feelings, responses, goals, difficulties, love.
13 - Staying on the right path - Live, believe, goals, time, fulfillment, serving.

Week by week - Each of the numbered sessions above comes with a DVD presentation and a chapter in the guidebook. The sessions are exploratory and explanatory and have pauses for thought that require action to restart the DVD each time. This means there's always enough time to deal with questions as necessary.

Feedback from the studio audience is helpful as are brief interviews with people saying what they found particularly useful.

Having completed Parts A and B so far, I think it's fair to say there's been nothing that is new to me, but several times an idea has been presented in a new way or seen in a new light. It does cover everything systematically so will fill any gaps in understanding that people might have.

Conclusions - Freedom in Christ is sound and likely to be useful to any follower of the Way of Jesus. It might be particularly helpful to newer believers (for example, those who have completed an Alpha Course, have faith in Christ and want to go further). But it will also be valuable as a check-up and reminder for those who, like me, have been on the journey a long time.

It is also worth considering for anyone who is not yet convinced about faith but is seriously interested. This is not its intended purpose, but thinking everything through systematically, as it does, could make all the difference for some.

(*Freedom in Christ uses the term 'disciple' in a different way than is normal on this blog. Rather than the sense of a person who follows Jesus into the harvest to make disciples, FIC uses the word to mean a person with maturity in Christ. The two are not incompatible, but they are not quite the same thing.)


Questions:

• Do you think a structured course like this could help you in your personal journey?
• What advantages can you see to a structured and tested course like this?
• Do you foresee any disadvantages or dangers here?
• Do you have friends that might benefit from Freedom in Christ?

See also:

• Alpha course
• Freedom in Christ (UK)
• Fruit of our lives - Journeys of heart and mind
• Groups of six to twenty - Journeys of heart and mind
• Groups of two or three - Journeys of heart and mind
• Spiritual parents - Simply church

Sixteen years climate myth

For some decades there have been constant disputes between climate scientists and those who deny that humanity is causing global temperatures to increase. This article presents a video made by Skeptical Science to show that one of the more recent claims by the deniers is wrong.

Skeptical Science is dedicated to debunking arguments that deny burning fossil fuels causes climate change.

One of these arguments is that there has been no detectable warming during the last sixteen years and Skeptical Science made a video (below) to show why this is false. It's well worth watching whatever your views on the science.

More detail about the 16-year claim is available on the Skeptical Science website.

No room for doubt - The temperature trends are very clear and the rate of fossil fuel burning is still rising year on year. Some countries are reducing their output already, but most are not. It's already far too late to prevent serious effects, but these will become even worse if we just carry on as we are.

Global warming sceptics have repeatedly clutched at every straw they can. Again and again they have attempted to find fault with the measurements, the reasoning or the conclusions and every time the scientists have show that the sceptics are the ones with the faulty reasoning. The 16-years argument is one of the most recent of these insubstantial straws.



Take a look at Skeptical Science's website for more information on all aspects of the data and discussions. It's also worth referring to the Wikipedia article on the continuing controversy. The great majority of climate scientists agree that global warming is happening and is caused by human activity.

Questions:

• Who will best understand global warming data, professional climate scientists or the media?
• Climate warming may be severe, is it wiser to make cuts or just carry on as usual?
• Are there simple things you could do to reduce your own, personal energy use?

See also:

• Climate in 2012 and 2013 - Journeys of heart and mind
• Global warming - National Geographic
• Global warming - Wikipedia
• Global warming and climate change - New York Times, Science
• Intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) - Wikipedia
• IPCC

Best of both

We take a look at the risks and likely benefits of platonic friendships between men and women. How acceptable is it for believers to have close friends of the opposite sex? And even if it's acceptable, how useful is it? Perhaps the benefits outweigh the difficulties, at least sometimes.

This post is part of the February Synchroblog 'Cross Gender Friendships'. Links to all the contributions are listed at the end of this post.

Cross-gender relationships of any kind (except for romantic love and marriage) have long been regarded as 'dodgy' in church circles. There is, of course, the potential for inappropriate romantic feelings to develop and that's something to be aware of, but is that risk a valid reason to avoid such friendships altogether? I think not.

Platonic friendships have long been regarded as not only possible, but potentially valuable. If we avoid them out of fear or anxiety are we missing an important aspect of human social interaction?

I have a wide circle of male and female acquaintances of all ages as well as a smaller number of close friends, again both men and women. Some of my close friends live nearby and we meet more or less regularly. Some live far away and we meet very rarely.

Rather than try to analyse this topic I'm just going to share some personal experiences and observations. Read on and see what you think.

Relationship, energy and danger - I'll begin by telling you that I am a man (in case you haven't already worked that out). I generally find friendships with women go deeper than those with men. For one thing women tend to be more relational and less superficial. Let me point out right away that I'm generalising here - there are plenty of exceptions to what sounds like a general rule. It's no such thing. Don't be fooled for a moment!

I have something of a shepherd's heart and like to encourage and build up. So I get a lot of energy from conversations and relationships where I can listen and respond, but very little from talking about football or fishing. I find women are more likely to engage in ways I can relate to.

Turning to the dangers of relationships becoming more than platonic in nature, in my experience I can honestly say this has never been an issue. It seems to me that most women are quite unwilling to allow a friendship to develop unless and until they are sure it will not go in an inappropriate direction.

What I have valued most in cross-gender friendship has been the opportunity to learn and grow in understanding and mutual respect. I've had many rich conversations on a host of topics, the benefit of peaceful and thoughtful insight, shared appreciation of music and literature and the natural world, and a great deal of wisdom and sound advice.

A balanced life - I am blessed by good balance in my friends. Here's a diary of my current week; it's as good an example as any.

• On Monday mornings I meet with Paul for coffee, a chat, and some Bible study. We are currently working through John's gospel together.
• On Monday evenings I meet Sean at his house to chat, read the Bible, pray, and listen. We watched a DVD of Victor Choudhrie.
• On Tuesday I meet my friend Chris for a coffee in town and we'll talk and pray about a house of prayer for St Neots and the area around. He is very keen on following up the Ffald-y-Brenin approach to local prayer and blessing.
• Later on Tuesday I met Megan for coffee and a chat at Caffe Nero's.
• In the evening Donna* and I joined her Open Door Small Group in a nearby village. We ate a meal together and spent time in prayer and praise and discussion.
• On Wednesdays I usually meet with Roger, but not this week. We are working through 'Freedom in Christ' together. 
• At lunchtime on Wednesday I visited Jody to catch up and hear news about the meetings she and Peter host at their home every week.
• On Thursday evenings Jim, Sean and I usually meet to chat and pray.

That's a grand total of four men and two women (*Donna is my wife) that I have spent one on one time with this week. All of them are friends, all are valued, all bring something special and unique to my life. In addition there'll be others, men and women that I will meet singly or in groups, and others that I'll contact by email, text, phone or on Google+. They are all special and they all contribute something valuable and irreplaceable.

What I'd miss - I would miss any of these people if they were removed from my life. Without them I would not be me. Or at least I would be a different me, a poorer me. What would life be without the richness of community? Our communities are not islands, they overlap in significant ways. Important lines of communication go out joining communities into a single, huge, world-wide network.

I can hardly imagine what life would be like if I had only male friends. It would be greatly impoverished. My advice to anyone without cross-gender friends is to be wise and careful, but to certainly consider broadening your range of friends. A friend cannot be manufactured artificially. But as friendships develop naturally around shared interests and ideas, don't say 'No' merely on the basis of gender. Far more important is to hear what the Spirit of Christ is telling you. Pray about it and be guided by what he shows you.

Another observation that I can share is that, in friendship as in marriage, the different approaches of men and women to so many things in life are complementary and have a counterbalancing effect. We have to pay attention to one another to benefit from this; we have to listen and watch and learn. But friends are usually pretty good at doing that and do it very naturally.

Here's one final point. Amongst my closest friends have been two married couples. Perhaps this is where the greatest freedom in friendship may be found. In my experience there can be no closer togetherness than a group of four or six consisting of happily married couples. As in any kind of friendship there will sometimes be fallings out and misunderstandings, disappointments and confusions. But there's real joy in it too. If such a thing happens in your life it may turn out to be truly blessed, and very, very special.

Questions:

• Have you limited your friendships due to a fear of disapproval by others?
• Jesus related well with both men and women. Did he follow the social norms of his day?
• Can you leave a comment to share your own experiences of cross-gender friendships?

See also:

• Circles of friends - Journeys of heart and mind
• Groups of two or three - Journeys of heart and mind
• Men and women can't be 'just friends' - Scientific American
• Platonic friendships, can they work? - HelloGiggles
• Travelling with friends - Journeys of heart and mind
• What I have learned about friendships - LifeStream blog

Synchroblog links:

• Jeremy Myers – Are Cross-Gender Friendships Possible
• Lynne Tait – Little Boxes
• Dan Brennan – Cross-Gender Friendship: Jesus and the Post-Romantic Age
• Glenn Hager – Sluts and Horndogs
• Jennifer Ellen – A Different Kind of Valentine
• Alise Wright - What I get from my cross-gender friend
• Liz Dyer – Cross-Gender Friendships and the Church
• Paul Sims – Navigating the murky water of cross-gender friendships
• Jonalyn Fincher – Why I Don’t Give out Sex like Gold Star Stickers
• Amy Martin – Friendship: The most powerful force 
• Maria Kettleson Anderson - Myth and Reality: Cross-Gender Friendships
• Bram Cools - Nothing More Natural Than Cross-Gender Friendships?
• Hugo Schwyzer – Feelings Aren’t Facts: Living Out Friendship Between Men and Women
• Marta Layton – True Friendship: Two Bodies, One Soul
• Kathy Escobar – The Road To Equality Is Paved With Friendship
• Karl Wheeler – Friends at First Sight
• Doreen Mannion – Hetereosexual, Platonic Cross-Gender Friendships
• Jim Henderson – Jesus Had A Thing for Women and So Do I
• Elizabeth Chapin – 50 Shades of Friendship
• D. L. Webster – Expressing Love Outside of Romance