Being Contemporary



Over these last few months I have had cause to think about how contemporary I really am as a Christian.

There are others in our denomination that look upon us as a little strange, Meshiel’s way out hair colouring, our choice of uniform, our style of leadership etc

But what is it to be a contemporary Christian and what does a Church have to do to be contemporary.

In the dictionary it says “belonging to the time actually passing”

In the Salvation Army we hear phases like “to serve the present age” and “For such a time as this”, statements that call for present thinking.

J B Philips in Romans 12: 2 translates Paul, saying “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God remake you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed.”

In my thinking being contemporary is not just about adding a few modern songs into a familiar worship meeting. All you get then is a different filling to the same old sandwich.

I believe in a present God, a God who holds time in His control and a God who has developed the minds of men and women to bring us to this point in His Story. Modern life, like it or not, we are here.

It is God who is the reformer, he reforms minds. In the verse before we are asked to offer our selves as living beings to Him, and as we do focus on God He will enable us to grasp His will for our generation.

“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould”

Some would say that this is a good argument against destroying the old ways of Church by allowing the new things of the world in.

But I believe the world of Church has become a mould into which modern people are expected to fit, and the decline of Church attendance proves they can’t.

The point we must start at is our focus on God. He is today’s God. He understands what is going on in the world and he longs for us to see the world through His eyes and to love with His heart.

If this is our focus and intention then embrace what God has provided for us to reach this present age.

I have been pulled up in these last few weeks about my attitude towards social Media. In our Church we have dealt with so much hurt through facebook that I felt it was the tool of the devil and to be avoided, but the Lord said to me it’s part of my will.

If the devil can use it for bad people to spread darkness then God too can use it to spread light into that darkness.

So I am now on face book. I want to use it to encourage and support. I want to spread love and I want to see a dome of Christian love circling the earth.

Martin Luther King had a dream, which seemed far fetched for his day, but that did change the world. As Christians let’s embrace technology, speak love to each other and in God, dream of a changed world.

Influence in the world



When Dawn and Gary Lacey were up here in Durham they created what I would call a “thin place” a spot where God seems closer, Holy ground without a national Trust sign. It’s a little café next to the Gala Theatre in Durham City Centre.

While Gary and Dawn were here they started their day and the new Officers Cor and Angelique do the same. It has become a God friendly café and you can sense it.

I met with Cor there last week just before I went on the street to meet my War Cry friends, we talked for ½ hour and then prayed together out loud, in the café. Later that day a man came over to me and put some money in the box, he said “I was in the café, overheard your conversation and I just felt I wanted to give you some money”.

I was blown away. We were in a Holy place talking about the workings of a Holy God and a man who had just come in for a coffee was blessed by our conversation.

Over these last few years there has been much talk about Post Christendom and many of the lectures I have been present at see it as a negative position for the Church. For centuries the Church had been the dominant power governed by Rome and then also by Canterbury.  The Bishops were Judge, Jury and often executioners. Rule and Judgment had become the power of the Church and most people jumped when told.

This last centaury put a stop to all that, there were mass exoduses from all denominations, even the new free churches. To look upon the scene would seem to be looking upon disaster.

Now we have a world that just seems to be wondering, looking for stability, peace, joy and spirituality.   Many are falling into the hands of mediums and spiritualists and other new age thinking. Why is it that they now do not look to the church?

Is it because they are not being blessed by the conversations of Christians in Cafés and other public places, Is it because they still see Christians who are judgmental, to whom rules are more important than grace.

Many people come up to me and offer money on behalf of relatives who during the last war were served tea by the Salvation Army in awful places. That cup of tea has influenced peoples opinion of the Salvation Army for more than the generation it served. Influence that has defined the Salvation Army to many.

In Ephesians 3: 20 we have that great prayer from Paul.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine according to His power at work in us. To Him be Glory.

The influence of God, His love, mercy and grace is at work in us who believe. We need to take it out of Church and into the cafes.

A Song for you to have a look at on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAWeHo8E70E

If we are Hid body.

Friends on the street

One day a week I have the privilage of standing with the War Cry outside Tesco in Durham, and what a privilage it is. I have made many friends, and yes I do believe them to be friends. They might not follow my blog, be on facebook or twitter, many of them do not know my name, nor me theirs, but week in and week out they share their lives with me.

A few weeks ago I was talking to one man about an experience I had in Starbucks. I was just calling in for a drink, I ordered the coffee and to my supprise the man serving me told me that his name was Chris and asked me if there was a name for my coffee. Well I wanted to say "Coffee" but I was polite and muttered David.

Well I was talking to this man on the street about this and we had a laugh, but he added, no one calls me by my first name only friends.

It must have been two months later after many more conversations, some quite deep, some personal, some about his family, some about mine, but he ended the conversation with these words "my name is Neil, what is yours?"

What an honour, I had made a friend on the steet in Durham. He might never come to hear me preach, read any of these blogs and I am almost certain I will never see him in church, but every week we talk about life and family and within this reality we talk about our God.

Is this man a Christian? In whose definition? Maybe one day I will be able to answer that question.

As soon as we look at the people on the street through the eyes of organised religion we imediatly judge them, just as the Church did in Jesus's time.

My friends on the street teach me a lot about God and his grace. Jesus showed us how God saw mankind. I believe that the people on the street can show the church how mankind sees God.

I believe that there is less rejection of God than we believe there is. I see hope in the eyes of my friends, and I know that the God of hope is out there.

PS I'm sorry but I am not a good speller, is there a spell checker