UN-CHURCH

The very first Un-Church event was held at Delacombe on Sunday night. I thought that the event went well, let me know what you thought if you were there.

For those not fortunate enough to have been able to attend this unique event allow me to explain the concept of "Un-Church".

A few months ago I was reading our T.Y's (the bloke in charge of the youth stuff for the Salvo's in Australia - for the non-Salvo acronym speakers out there) blog. Dave (that's his name) was talking about the concept of an un-conference. The basic idea of an un-conference was that those attending recognise that we can all teach each other something and that we can all learn from each other. So, instead of having a keynote speaker stand up the front and talk at the crowd as so often happens at a conference, there are perhaps a few people selected to talk specifically about what they have been doing and the strengths, weaknesses and outcomes of this, and then the rest of the time is spent sharing and helping each other.

So, a few weeks ago as I travelled back from the rained out Summer Celebration in Torquay, I began to think about this un-conference concept and whether or not we could apply it in any way to church.

In The Salvation Army we believe in the concept of the priesthood of all believers. This basically means that we believe that God is at work within each believer and that we are able to minister to each other regardless of sex, age, or culture. With this in mind I began to explore what church would be like if we all were able to participate in the worship and teaching.

The idea that I came up with was that the event would start off with a pre-chosen song and then I would get up and introduce the idea of the event and the theme for the night, including reading the verse of scripture that the theme was based around. From this point on the night would be guided by the congregation. Songs would be chosen by suggestion and popular consensus and the teaching part of the evening would come from how members of the congregation interpreted what the bible verse was saying to them. The only real leadership involved in this was a little direction in terms of when what might happen, although this could be left up to the congregation also.

This style of worship depends a lot upon the participation of the congregation and so may not work with all groups, but I think that everyone enjoyed our first un-chuch event and found it a great time of worship.

For me personally, there was a moment during the song 'Jesus Lover of My Soul' that I real felt the Holy Spirit moving. During this moment I felt God say to me; "Forget what you had planned to do tonight, ask if anyone has a verse from the Bible that they want to share." So I did. It was great then to hear Ross share with us a passage that had spoken to him recently.

So, Un-Church, a new way of worship, where we all minister to each other. What do you think??

"He's living the dream... he didnt even know what the dream was until I told him."

I went to help at a Fusion Breakfast Club held at one of the Ballarat highschools this morning. After Breakfast club finished I went home again to change out of the jeans and hoodie I was wearing into my 'corporate attire' that is more appropriate for someone who works at DHQ.

When I got home I swithced on the TV to add a bit of noise while I had a drink and began to get ready. As I flicked through the channels I caught the end of an Ellen show segment and she was talking about what was coming up. When I heard the words 'Superbowl Ad', I decided not to switch channels and waited the ads out. When the show returned I saw the video clip above.

The ad shows how one American footballer recognised the potential ability in a grocery bag packer at his local supermarket and encouraged him to try out for the team. This young man, Chester Pitts, who previously played only the oboe, a member of the woodwind family, now is a highly paid NFL player.

All of this happened because another footballer, Ephraim Salaam, recognised his potential and encouraged him to become the best he could be.

This got me thinking, how many people are there in our world who are metaphorically packing groceries and playing the oboe when they should be playing in the NFL?

As I thought about this I wondered where the people are who are like Ephraim Salaam who are recognising the potential of others and calling them to a better thing?

Do you see the potential in people you meet and encourage them to reach out and achieve it?

I love the line in this clip: "He's living the dream... he didnt even know what the dream was until I told him."

Who are you telling about the dream, and who is missing out on the dream because you havent told them?

Do you know what the dream is?

Do you have a dream at all?

I think we all have dreams, or at least we had them at one stage or another.

My dream is that I will see the Kingdom of God come on earth. I dream that people will be in passionate, vibrant relationship with their God. I dream that people will fight for the poor and oppressed and bring freedom to those captives held captive by sin and circumstance. I dream that one day there will be peace and love and forgiveness in abundace and that hate and greed and evil will be gone. Thats my dream.

Today I want to encourage to share your dream with someone else. You never know what the outcome might be. But, more importantly, share God's dream, because the outcome of that can be revoloutionary.

Lent

I made the mistake of waking up ridiculously early this morning, and then I couldnt get back to sleep!! After some effort and no reward I decided that if I was awake at this foul time of the day, then I might as well do something unproductive, like put the T.V. on.

So I got up and switched on the T.V. After channel surfing across infomercials, the American version of the Today Show/Sunrise, and some of those early morning religious programs, Sunrise came on and I was greeted by Kochie informing us that it was, and I quote, "Pancake Tuesday".

My response directed at the T.V. screen, possibly less Christlike than normal give the fact that I much prefer to be sleeping at this time of day, was the correction "It's Shrove Tuesday!!!"

But as consciousness and cognitive ability began to warm up a bit I began thinking about the concept of Shrove Tuesday and Lent, something I had been thinking about since last week when I received a reminder from my local Pancake Kitchen informing me of $5 short stacks all day.

It's kind of funny really, traditionally during Lent people will give something up for the 40 days from Ash Wednesday through to Palm Sunday, in memory of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. Often we give up luxuries like T.V. or chocolate or the like, but in the 'olden' days the people would give up much more, even staples like eggs, milk and sugar!!

Shrove Tuesday then was a day of permissable gluttony where people would cook pancakes and other delicious foods to use up the last of the stores before entering the Lenten period.

So today there are probably people out there gutsing down their last chocolates, watching the last of the T.V. and doing the last whatever before they give it up for lent.

This got me thinking though, is it really sacrifice when we fully plan to restart whatever it is as soon as this whole Easter thing is over and done with??

So this year I'm revolting, although some would argue that I have been revolting for years. Instead of giving up some token thing for the next 40 odd days, this year I am choosing to rededicate my life to God, and offering my whole life as an act of Sacrifice.

Will you join me this year and instead of giving up something for lent, will you give up your life to God??