Where are we taking them?

I have a passion. Not just for Doctor Who, not just for Nottingham Forest but for seeing young people impacted by the love of an amazing God. The question that i keep asking myself is 'What does that look like?'

Being a dad of a couple of amazing children, i often look at them and wonder what they are going to look like when they are older. Not just in looks, but in what job they may do, the kind of people they will hang out with, what their hobbies and interests they may have and what kind of families they may have (well Joel that is, obviously Amy is not even allowed a boyfriend until she is 30). Obviously I have no idea of what is going to happen to them, and in someways I am glad, as i am sure i would want to control it more than I should. What I do know is the world will be a different place. I know that because it is different now than it was when i was growing up. I remember having a ZX81 computer system and that was top range with its 16k ram pack you could add onto the back.

I also know that the way faith looks like nois different to when i was growing up. It is now more about how you live your life everyday rather than just turning up to Church every Sunday morning. That is hard to get my head round, that actually what faith looks like to me is different to what it looks like to those lovely older ladies who were in Church every Sunday making me feel welcome and loving me. Neither of us are wrong, it is just different, and will continue to change.

Vincent Donovan in his book, Christianity Rediscovered, says this:

"...do not take people back to where they were or do not try to call them back to where you are, as beautiful as that place may seem. You must have the courage to take them to a place neither you or them have been."

Faith can be and is an amazing thing. Are we willing to walk with others to somewhere we haven't been? Am i willing to take young people on a journey where I am trusting God for a new fresh destination? Or am i the one in control wanting to feel secure and 100% certain that the way God works in my life is the way He works in others?

Richard Dawson

does anything really change?

'Taking good news relevantly to every young person in Nottingham' is an interesting statement, particularly the relevant bit. Working with young people this could mean that you develop different styles every moment.

So what does being relevant mean? For anyone who knows me they know that i can be the king of tenuous links. Sometimes this works, sometimes it is just ridiculous. I don't think writing pantomimes helps lol, as they are just ridiculous although they are supposed to be.

I still sometimes get a bit embarrassed by some Christians as they attempt to be ultra relevant. Whether that is the clothes they wear (mutton dressed as lamb is one relevant phrase), or the music they sing a long to or listen to (just cause it has swearing in doesn't mean you have to listen to it to be relevant). I think sometimes we try and over do the relevance as Christians. Being in the world, but not of the world is a tricky concept but really helpful to get your head round. YfC used to have the mission statement geared to the times, anchored to the rock. Awesome.

The encouraging thing is that this isn't a new thing. I am currently doing some preparatory reading for a course i am about to start and one of the books i am to read is Christian Theology: an introduction by Alistair McGrath. Here he talks about the relation between Christian theology and secular society. Mentioning how Christian poetry and song was often put to secular music even in those days. See it has always embarrassing lol, but the desire for the Christian faith to be relevant has always been there. Which shows that there has always been people who have wanted to connect people with Jesus. That is encouraging.

Balance that with the fact their has always been slight tension between those who want to do that and the established Church and then you really see nothing has changed over 2000 years.

As we strive to be relevant let us be secure in the knowledge that people have been there before us, and that the reason the Church has lasted this long is because there are people and fellowships that continue to strive to bring Jesus to their communities in a relevant way.

But let's try and get it right by providing the true Jesus and not cheesy Jesus.