Time is of the essence...

Well time is flying by. Well, you know, time is still clicking over at the same speed it was yesterday, but for many cadets our minds are racing. Some have assignments to finish, others are beginning to pack boxes.

In a week and a half we have a covenant day, where we look at the officer's covenant...

Here's the covenant:
CALLED BY GOD to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as an officer of The Salvation Army I BIND MYSELF TO HIM IN THIS SOLEMN COVENANT to love and serve him supremely all my days,
to live to win souls and make their salvation the first purpose of my life,
to care for the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the unlovable, and befriend those who have no friends,to maintain the doctrines and principles of The Salvation Army, and, by God's grace to prove myself a worthy officer...

Sounds like a tiring task. Sounds exciting though. Bring it on!

Thanks to all those who have supported Jo and I so much over the last two years. For your prayers, for your practical support and for your friendship. Next year is going to be a blast!!

(Anyway, better go, I've got to finish cleaning the bookshelf)

Culture Shift

Eddie Gibbs in his book Emerging Churches writes that the Western Church today must study culture. We cannot just 'run church' the way we always have and expect the same results as the late 19th Century, or assume the same missional outcomes as previous generations. Why? Gibbs says, because:

* Christendom and Modernity are in rapid decline.
* Cultural understandings have always been essential to good mission practice
* The West is in the middle of significant cultural changes
* The Church in the West is in decline
* The majority of current church practices are cultural accomodations to a society of a previous era
* Baby boomers are the last generation happy with modern churches (pp. 16-23).

Attempt to understand the surrounding culture. Don't bother with Rock bands if your communities into sport. Why even have the 30 minute sermon, if your community prefers to sit around coffee shops and talk through issues.

The gospel of Jesus hasn't changed. The methods we use to engage culture with that gospel must.

Clergy and Laity

R. Paul Stevens writes some helpful thoughts on reclaiming a biblical perspective on vocation, work and ministry. Over the years we've created a clergy and laity divide in the church, and clergy has come to apply to the following things:

(1) A vicarious function - Service or ministry is applied not just on behalf of the people, but sometimes instead of the people.
(2) The ontological difference - A person becomes a priest, e.g. via ordination.
(3) The sacramental difference - The priest is the one able to offer the sacraments to others, e.g. Communion, Weddings, etc.
(4) The professional status - The priest is seemingly the only one qualified to do the work of minsitry. (The Other Six Days, p. 31).

Clergy should never mean one is more entitled to do the work of God, or is meant to fulfill the mission of God on behalf of the people. Laity actually means 'the people of God', and so actually refers to the whole community of faith. Clergy merely fulfill a different function within the mission that the church is called to.

How does this work practically in the church? The minister is not the only one who cares for the congregation! The minister is not the only one who can preach, teach or pioneer. In fact the very idea of calling this person, 'the minister' kind of assumes the other people are not 'ministers' which again is false.

Its time to rewrite the future of the church... All people are ministers, and while some may enter training to be more equipped to fulfill the roles that they will one day have, all are called to make a difference in the ministry of Jesus.