GadgetVicar

Fair Trade Breakfast

If you are in Glasgow tomorrow (Saturday, 13th March), why not join us at St Silas' from 10am onwards for a Fair Trade breakfast?

Serving And Sending Out

One of the things we are about as a church is to be "Serving and Sending Out". Yesterday I had the privilege of hosting a meeting with four representatives of two mission agencies, and a lay leader from St Silas' as we explored with a member of the congregation the possibility of God calling him to serve in another culture. It could be an excellent partnership. I believe this could be the first of many such new partnerships. It will continue our long history of partnering with mission work around the world.

Similarly, we want to see people being released into all sorts of ministry (including ordained ministry) here in the UK. But.......being sent out begins a little closer to home. Last Sunday morning (and this coming Sunday evening!) we looked at the sending out of the 72 disciples. One thing that struck me was that the disciples were to declare to those who were healed, as well as those who are simply antagonistic, "The Kingdom of God is near". It means that  the followers of Jesus take the Kingdom of God with them wherever they go. It's not contained in a building, or a ritual, or a special person - the Kingdom Of God is not far from people at all, for it is wherever we are placed. An awesome responsibility and a great joy. I think I'll try mentioning that in conversation today.............

What's In A Name?

Nick was telling me today about some of the responses to our exploration of uses for our new hall. Among several common threads, one was having a good name for the facility. He was telling me this and before he shared a suggestion, a name came to my mind. "The Lighthouse".  He then said the same two words.

What do you think?

Gibson Street Gala

One of the highlights of the year for the local community is the Gibson Street Gala. Over the last few years we've loved being part of it. It's one of our highlights too! This year it will take place on the 20th of June. I was at the little organising committee meeting  today. 

This year we face the challenge of having to find a considerable amount of money just to pay for the closing and cleaning of the street. Something like £2500-£3000. This really needs to happen to make the whole thing work. There isn't the same money around to fund these kind of community events that there has been in previous years, so it's going to be tough, but I'm sure we'll get there.

We've got an able chairperson and some enthusiastic volunteers who will persevere, but if there are any philanthropists out there who want to give us a helping hand with some cash, why not drop me a line?

A Full Day

An "action-packed" Saturday ahead, with the day beginning at a breakfast meeting of St Silas' men, (exploring addiction), the voting part of the Electoral Synod (hope we don't discuss/politic much - if we've been praying and listening this week, maybe we can move to an early vote and see what comes? Who knows, maybe we'll see consensus and a quick result?). The evening brings the AGM of the World Shine Foundation.

What's It All About?

Home communions, maybe a bit of hospital visiting, watchnight service, cleaning the rectory and preparations for Christmas dinner all to do today. Keep focussed......it's all about Jesus, of course.

Acting It

Reminder to self: never offer to act in anything again. I've trod the boards several times this month, shocking my fellow cast members last week  with my hammy sergeant-major. This morning I played "Mike", the grumpy hubbie in our marvellous Christmas play (Whaddya mean, " You didn't need to act, then?").

In my youth, I was in a little theatre troupe called "Ripples": we toured the land presenting our little Gospel tales. We performed on the stage of the Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow and the BBC recorded  and broadcast our work (I even have a video of the latter, which will remain sealed in a vault until I go to to heaven). It's been lovely to do a bit of acting again, but far more stressful than I remember it being.

Tonight at 8pm is our Carols by Candlelight Service. Another superb team has been working on this. I always find this a tough one to prepare for and every year I struggle to put some thoughts together for the talk. This year has been no exception, but I hope I've been given something worth saying.

I suppose that, in some ways, my acting has been replaced by preaching. Preachers should always have a good sense of the dramatic and an ability to project, so those experiences in the past have all been useful. The main difference being that preachers should always be true to themselves and express what God has impressed upon them, not just what they think. I hope I do that tonight.

On A Frozen Sauchiehall Street

Many thanks to the team who braved the freezing conditions to assist with our Christmas invitation and battery giveaway on Sauchiehall Street this afternoon. It was another thrilling example of taking the church to the streets. More than a thousand invitations were distributed.

The highlights? The young Asian man who commented, "Why would you give something to someone who is not of the same faith?"  The young woman who said she'd take some batteries so long as I didn't pray for her. After listening to her heartbreaking story, I offered to pray with her, and she accepted. Nick chatted to someone who didn't need batteries because he is an atheist. His XBOX controller must be powered differently from everyone else's.

At the end, two young men appeared, looking for some batteries. Sadly, by this time we had run out. We gave them some soup, bread and cookies. They are homeless and hungry. We pointed them towards Glasgow City Mission for further help. I hope we see them again. Their stories moved me to tears.

All-in-all, this afternoon was a humbling experience, and a powerful encouragement to reach out with God's love this Christmas.

Batteries Included

After the utterly brilliant experience of polishing shoppers' shoes on Maundy Thursday, my much esteemed colleague, Nick (have you not been following his coverage in the Herald and Daily Mail?),  has come up with the plan to give away batteries with Christmas invitations ("St Silas' - seeking the real power in Christmas") to the shoppers on Sauchiehall Street. Permission has been granted by the council for this mighty endeavour, so we have lift off for next Thursday. All we need are more AA batteries (great offers on Duracell and Energiser Ultimate at Morrisons right now, btw) and some volunteers to help us out. Come on, you know it will be fun!

The Third Lausanne Congress On World Evangelization

After a long process, I've been selected to attend the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town in October 2010. It's a huge privilege to be asked to attend as a representative of the Church in Scotland, coming as it does in the year of the 100th anniversary of the 1910 World Missionary Conference. My hope is that the small part of the Church of which I am part will play its full role in reaching the world with the love of God shown in Christ.

Here's what it's all about:

We are living in a time of enormous threat and amazing opportunity for the church. The life and witness of the church around the world is being assailed by external pressures while simultaneously being weakened by internal troubles.  Yet the church also faces unprecedented global opportunities for the spread of the gospel and open doors for ministry in regions traditionally closed to the witness of Christ.  Unfortunately, a concerted and well-reasoned response to these global issues and opportunities has been difficult because the church, and evangelicalism in particular, is highly fragmented.

Even so there is reason for hope.  Next year 4000 leaders from 200 countries will come together 16-25 October 2010 for The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization: Cape Town 2010.  These leaders, carefully chose from thousands of applicants, will represent the demographic, theological and cultural realities of the global church.  Young and old, men and women, mission leaders, pastors and theologians, Kingdom-minded leaders  from the worlds of business, government, education, medicine and the media – the Congress is drawing the best minds and most creative and courageous leaders the church has to offer.  In addition to the 4000 leaders who will be onsite in Cape Town, this Congress is providing an historic opportunity for people around the world to participate in Cape Town 2010 through the Internet-based Lausanne Global Conversation and Cape Town GlobaLink.

GLOBAL ISSUES
Together these leaders will wrestle with six issues that are of paramount importance to the future of the church and world evangelization, in terms of profound theological reflection and strategic action.  The Church is the most thoroughly global entity in the world with the majority of Christians now in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.  Together, we must establish a new global equilibrium for the church whereby we relate to one another on the basis of our shared vision, our shared calling, our shared wealth and our shared poverty and come together to address these issues:

1. The Challenge of the New Atheism.  World evangelization is based on foundational truth claims about the uniqueness of Christ, the centrality of the cross and the authority of Scripture.  In light of the aggressive attacks on truth by the New Atheism, we must make a compelling case for TRUTH.  We cannot afford to lose the battle for the minds of this generation or the next.
2. The Impact of Hedonism.  We are bombarded everyday with images and messages that serve to undermine our moral and biblical foundations.  The church is being impacted by nominalism, superficiality and the troubling consequences of the prosperity gospel.  We must respond with a prophetic critique of the church which calls us to AUTHENTICITY and INTEGRITY.  We must call Christians to a deeper level of repentance, renewal and discipleship.
3. The Reality of Islam.  Islam is a missionary faith with a global vision.  With a very deliberate strategy, Islam’s mission and impact has spread beyond the Arab world to significantly influence universities and governments in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.  The church must develop an equally deliberate strategy that enables us to live in fidelity to the gospel, influence public institutions and faithfully witness to men and women in all WORLD FAITHS.
4. The Globalized World.  Mega-cities, Diaspora, New Technologies, Social Networking, Political Corruption and Uncertain Futures for the Next Generation, are only a sampling of the challenges and opportunities of a Globalized World that require us to establish NEW PRIORITIES for world evangelization.
5. The Brokenness of Our World.  If our witness is to be prophetic, we must identify with the pain and suffering in the lives of individuals, families, communities and nations.  Not only must we connect with the brokenness but we must also be people of hope and peace as agents of RECONCILIATION, emphasizing the core theme of Cape Town 2010, “God in Christ Reconciling the World to Himself.”
6. Seismic Shifts in Global Christianity.  Global PARTNERSHIPS for world evangelization, unlike anything possible in the previous twenty centuries, are now attainable as we develop relationships that are based on mutual respect – acknowledging that God has called us to be one in Him.  These new partnerships, increasingly led by visionary leaders from the majority world, will also involve more lay people who comprise the vast majority of those who bear witness to Christ in this Century.  By sharing the best available resources and best practices, together “the whole church (will) take the whole gospel to the whole world.”

Its going to cost around £1750 for conference fees, flights and accommodation. I'm trusting God for this amount and inviting friends and family to support my participation in the Congress in prayer and financially. If it's appropriate for you to donate, please use the button below. I'll be updating the blog regularly with news about the Congress.