Parlez Vous Christian?

“Eh up me duck, that cob looks peng!”
Even though I only moved to Nottingham from two hours up the motorway, I still had trouble at first working out what on earth people were saying sometimes. But that’s how language works isn’t it? Every town, every generation, every culture have their own words and phrases.

I love it that Nottingham has it’s own identity and part of that identity is it’s language (although I still reckon it’s weird to call someone ‘duck’…). The young people have their own dialect too which I’m starting to pick up and occasionally I’m even deemed cool enough to use it. But whether we use the ‘latest’ words or not, the fact remains that young people are speaking a different language, so what does that mean for sharing the gospel with them?

Youth for Christ’s mission statement is ‘taking the good news relevantly to every young person’ so to be relevant, we need to talk the same language. And we do, but it’s more than just replacing ‘not’ with ‘ain’t’ and taggingin ‘init’ on the end of everything we say. You can’t say to a young person “If you confess your sins to God, you’ll be saved by grace through the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ”. They don’t get it – even Shakespeare makes more sense to them. So ditch the jargon and speak the gospel in English. Simply yes?

I’d say nothing ever is. Eugene H. Peterson, author of The Message says, “The original books of the Bible were not written in formal language” and so “every generation needs to keep the language of the gospel message current, fresh, and understandable—the way it was for its very first readers”. And I agree entirely. But even in The Message ‘grace’, ‘salvation’ and ‘sacrifice’ are regular guests, so are we right to omit them entirely from our conversation or talks?

What happens when young people start reading the Bible and come across all our Christian jargon? I fear the Bible will feel irrelevant and the gospel message they thought they’d understood once again becomes a stranger. So, as the James wisely advises us, we need to watch our words!

Becci Raine

do we find it hard to multi task?

Being a bloke, i often get told that I am never going to be great at multi-tasking. I think it is a gift, i also think that most women are great at it. But i think i can hold my own, i think that even the most lowly of men (i.e. me) can train myself to do two things at once. Now i know that i can't rub my tummy and pat my head, i know that that is beyond me, but right now, believe you and me, i am multi tasking at this very minute. As i am typing this blog i am, yes wait for it, I am watching a DVD. lol, yeah ok so i am probably not really multi tasking, but like i say i am a bloke.

Last week, i was at the youth alpha conference, and was listening to Mike Pilivachi and he said something that i found really challenging. If you follow our tweet @nottinghamyfc you will have already heard it, but he said ' If you just read the Bible you will dry up, if you just follow the Spirit you will blow up, but if you put them together you will grow up.'

Going round lots of churches and speaking at different fellowships over the years, you do seem to see people favouring either the Bible or the Holy Spirit. Me myself, i am a raving penty and so do know i put a lot of emphasis on God's spirit, because He is what God sent us to help us to be in a relationship with Him, and therefore he helps us to communicate with our father in heaven. But to have the Holy Spirit without the bible would be, and is in some circles, dangerous and not what God would want for us and our faith. The Bible, i also see in so many fellowships, become a God on it's own. Let's face it, there are some really hard things in the bible to get your head round, and often i can end up reading it and feeling like there is nothing in it for me.
So when we do faith, when we journey in our faith it is good to remember that God knew it would be difficult, God know we would struggle. That is why He left His Spirit, because He knew. So let us not neglect what God has given us, both His word and His Spirit.

See how you do, and even if you struggle, go on try multi tasking.

How do we read the Bible?

We have our annual conference each year @ Youth for Christ and each year we get some quality speakers. This year we are going to hear a legend call Lon Allison, who trained in musical theatre, so has a very unique way of communicating his theology. (I love it, bring on camelot again lol). Last year we had a guy called Leonard Sweet and his theme was the Bible: an apple, an orange or an ostrich egg. Basically he talked about how we are trained to read the bible as we eat an orange, dissecting it and taking it apart, but actually we miss a lot of good stuff by not looking at the bigger picture and seeing Gods heart for his people.
Alongside this I am starting to read some theories about how Jesus used the culture to explain his fathers heart. Not surprising as we do that all the time, using film, music, theatre, the arts to connect young people to the Gospel message. It is really challenging some of my thoughts on things that, as a traditionalist, i have taken as read. I love thinking things through and working out where and how God works. I think it is a real shame though, that when people challenge traditional thoughts that they get shunned and looked down upon for questioning. Doesn't God want us to own our faith, not have someone else's faith that tells us what to think. Jesus asked questions a lot of the time, to help people make their own mind up and realise what God was doing. Maybe some of the things we read are not about what we should do, but it is the meaning behind it. I remember revealing to someone that the good Samaritan didn't really happen and that it was just a story Jesus used. They were devastated. When do you last challenge the way you think? is it because you are scared what people think? is it because you are scared what you might think? God gave us a mind to use, and for us to understand. Go on....try it, you may be surprised, you may see the Bible in a different way.