Planning 2021

 

Planning 2021

 

At this time of year when life is a bit slower, many take the opportunity to review the past year and plan for the next.

 

In this of all years, we are aware of the contingency of our plans – as Scripture testifies (Prv 16:1-3; 9; Jas 4:13-16).

 

However, as children of the God who plans from eternity to eternity, it is good to plan rather than waste our life and service in him with aimless drifting.

 

Here is a simple tool to be used and modified as fits.

 

 

 

Personal Annual Planning Tool

 

Before God I commit to the following that I might …

 

WHO AM I? (Identity) 

 

WHAT DO I WANT TO BE IN 2021 (Vision)

 

Write a series of numbered concise individual statements that build on the identity statement

 

E.g.

1.     An engaged and supportive member of my church

 

WHAT DO I WANT TO DO IN 2021? (Mission)

 

Write a series of numbered concise individual statements that build on the vision  statement

 – everything in the vision should be represented at least once in the mission statement and everything in the mission statement should link to something in the vision statement

 

E.g.

1. Participate fully in church life as befits my circumstances

 

Goals

 

Break the mission statement into specific goals related to different life areas. Every item in the mission statement should be represented at least once in the goals and every goal should link back to the mission statement.

 

Area	Goal	M item	Evidence of achievement	Notes
Life area	Write as a SMART goal	Write the number linking this to the mission statement	How will achievement be measured
Eg
Church	Be at church every Sunday I am in town	1	Weekly ask if I could have been there and was I there	Allow some scope for variation depending on illness and exceptional circumstances

 

·       

 

How will I keep these goals in my gaze?

 

Beyond virtual church in a Covid-19 world

 

Beyond virtual church

 

Circumstances recently forced my wife and I to attend virtual church after many weeks back in physical church.

 

Our local church does a good job of presenting virtual church through the live stream of a physical service with the usual mix of songs, prayers, announcements, along with the centerpiece of the reading and preaching of Scripture. These are done well.

 

That being said, to sit in front of a screen and watch church was a big letdown. We can’t wait to be back in person next week. When virtual church was the only choice we learned to make the most of it - and I appreciate that it remains the only choice for many and that others don’t even have that luxury. However, the contrast with physical church is about the same as being fed through a gastro tube as compared with sitting with friends for a decent meal.

 

All of that led to thoughts of the possibilities when physical church is impossible.

 

Here’s a few starters.

 

1. Enhancing a virtual service by:

·       Tuning in to your local church to participate with the people you know and the leaders who know you;

·       Participating at the same time as the physical church, so as to have a shared sense of time, if not place;

·       Removing all devices other than the one used for the service and not flipping between functions on that device;

·       Accessing the virtual service on a large screen (rather than a phone);

·       Accessing the service with others from your household (rather than going solo);

·       Dressing in normal clothes and sitting in an undistracted place (as compared with couch slouching in pjs with brekkie in hand – letting alone imitating a friend who has a coffee and croissant to hand!);

·       Engaging with the prayers from our heart;

·       Opening our Bible and following the Scripture reading and sermon;

·       Singing aloud to the songs (an advantage of virtual over physical church in these restricted times);

·       Talking about the gathering afterwards with someone who also attended.

 

2. Constructing a blended mode service - either with family or church friends

·       In this mode, you do your own prayers, Bible reading and songs, but access the sermon through virtual means, thus giving a combination of face to face fellowship and skilled word ministry;

·       Different people among those present can serve the group by doing different parts of this;

·       I know a church that does this through its small groups where group leaders are given liturgical resources. They even practice the Lord’s Supper in these home-based settings.

 

3. Full-on home worship

·       Many Christians globally and historically, have this as their only option – it’s an old habit that may be in for a revival;

·       Construct a service with the usual elements of prayer, song and word ministry, according to the resources within you or available from outside sources. (Producing resources for home and family worship could be a great activity for wider church agencies);

·       Try and do this in a corporate setting, whether that is family, or even one other Christian friend;

·       The quality of this may be less than a virtual service (or a word ministry delivered by a trained person), but it has the advantage of reality to persons and context.

 

Whatever the option, the local church can give support by:

·       - Providing resources to help with blended or full-on home worship

·      -  Some leaders periodically watching the virtual service from a home base, to see how it comes over and can be improved;

·       - Keeping in touch with people not at physical church through regular contact. One church I know rang its members every fortnight when they could not physically attend, and the pastor of a small church rings every member every week.

 

One way or another, the effort to maintain the habit of a Sunday meeting with the Lord and his people is vital (Heb 10:25). This is where the means of grace (word, prayer, sacraments and fellowship) are found. This is where we are taught, trained, corrected and challenged as we grow in discipleship and service to be the people that the Lord calls us to be (2 Tim 3:15-17). This meeting with the Lord and his people is to our soul as food is to the body.

On going to the gym (temporal and eternal)

 

Going to the gym (temporal and eternal)

 

Rather train yourself to be godly. ⁸ For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ⁹ This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. ¹⁰ That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe. (1 Tim 4:7b-10)

 

As part of a physiotherapy programme arising from an injury, I have signed up for a local gym. Off I go almost every day for about an hour of various prescribed and voluntary activities. It costs time and money and, sometimes leaves me tired. It’s not always convenient to break the day’s activities and get there. But I go anyway.

 

Why go to a gym? In my case there is a mix of remedial and preventative aspects. Particular exercises help remedy the effects of the injury, some surgery and a lengthy period of relative immobilisation. Other exercises build strength, flexibility and endurance in the affected bodily parts and in my body generally.

 

The benefits are related to the motivations. After some months of physio and gym my body is returning well towards the pre-injury benchmark. I also have a much-increased level of fitness and general health which brings greater pleasure to life. It also opens new possibilities in what I can do, as against the alternative of letting injury and aging restrict me. As a result, I confidently expect to be physically fit to resume my pre-injury activities, including travel to physically challenging countries for ministry activities.

 

Nonetheless, this has a finite end. Whether through it another injury, illness or just aging, my body will hit a point where incapacity, frailty and finally death ends its strength.

 

So, even as I pay the monthly gym fee and head out to toil and sweat for the daily hour or so, there is an end to this. There’s a certain futility. All I am doing is buying time.

 

As Paul says, bodily exercise is of some value and, we might add, for some time. Its value is limited and temporal.

 

By contrast, a trip to God’s gym for training in godliness is of value in every way – both on a temporal horizon and for the life to come. As Paul also says, it’s worth the effort because my hope is set on the living God and the life that is in him.

 

There is no big secret in the equipment and routines of God’s gym. Its equipment is the means of grace such as Bible, prayer, sacraments and Christian fellowship. Its routines are to use these things on a regular and dedicated basis.

 

And of course, the parallels between the two gyms continue. The physiotherapist has taught be to be aware of pain and stress signs in my body and attend to them. Likewise with the soul. What are the signs of a soul in trouble that need attention? Again, having a skilled physiotherapist to direct my bodily exercises adds great value to them.  Likewise for having an accountability partner, coach or mentor in soul care.

 

Here’s the point. I invest daily time, money and effort at the gym from my motivations and for the expected benefit. If I do that for the temporary and limited benefits arising from gym, what investment is apt for God’s gym?

On (virtually) going to church

 

On (virtually) going to church

 

As happened with many, my local church closed its doors and went to a fully virtual mode for several weeks to help lessen the spread of Covid-19. And so, my wife and I sat in front of a screen with other family members in their nearby home. It was better than nothing.

 

With delight we returned to physical church some weeks back, with a video feed for those unable to attend. Social distancing replaced handshakes and hugs. The harsh perfume of hand sanitiser rose like incense. Masking-up meant that people smiled only with their eyes. Even so, to be with our church family in a familiar place whose walls enshrine heritage was wonderful. It is indeed good not to be alone and we yearn for the companionship of others bearing the image of our maker who is Trinity in relationship.

 

More recently, circumstances sometimes prevented physical attendance or even from doing virtual church in company. Instead I sat, with solitude, in front of a screen. I was reminded that I am made for God and that he is for me in Christ and his Spirit. The Bible was well explained, illustrated and applied and that is good for me. And of course, private and family acts of devotion can supplement the screen and nourish the soul and our social identity. Still, something was missing.

 

Virtually watching church in solitude is not the same as going to church. For church is inherently social - a gathering of God’s people to him through the Son and in the Spirit.

 

And so, I will engage with virtual church when that is all that circumstances permit. (And I am mindful that this is all that some can do and that others cannot even do this.) But, when it is possible, I will be there with real presence, for that is better by far.

 

From little things, big things grow - the verbs of faith

From little things, big things grow –  verbs of the faith

The Christian faith is sometimes the subject of elevated discussion using long sentences, polysyllabic language and abstract concepts.

That is right. Christianity claims to give a mega-narrative which explains everything in space and time (and touches on things outside of space of time). It also makes a total call of all of our thinking, emotions, feelings, words and actions. Anything making those claims deserves sophisticated thinking and language.

However, the heart of Christianity can also be expressed through a few simple verbs. (Which is apt, for he is first a God of deeds rather than of ideas).

So, here are five verbs of the faith, largely drawn from Mark 1:15-20. Jesus went to Galilee, met some people, then told them that the kingdom of God was here and how they should respond. True Christianity is always like that – always a response to the deeds and words of God in Christ.

·       Repent (v15)

At its simplest, ‘repent’ means to stop heading where you are, do an about turn and head the other way. Its starts in the mind and turns into deeds. And so, we stop walking away from God, turn to face him and then walk towards and with him.

Repentance is the first and necessary part of conversion.

·       Believe (v15)

The call is ‘to believe the gospel’ which is the message about Jesus. To believe the gospel is to trust in Jesus. To trust what he did on the Cross for our forgiveness. To trust the promises of his resurrection and ascension. To trust his words such that we live with him and for him. To entrust ourselves to him.

The two words, ‘repent’ and ‘believe’ are verbs of conversion. When we repent and believe, we have become a Christian. However, God is not finished with us yet and the person who stops at conversion has quite missed God’s point. God does not just want us to enter his kingdom with repentance and faith, but he wants us to live in his kingdom as a loyal follower and servant.

·       Follow (v17)

As we follow Jesus, we start to resemble him. Our thoughts, words and actions will be increasingly like his. All this is a natural outcome of believing in him. Notice how the call to the fishermen brothers was simply expressed as ‘Follow me’ and resulted in them arising, leaving and following. For them, to believe was to follow.

To follow is to turn our conversation into discipleship. Jesus is now not just our Saviour, but he is also our Lord.

·       Serve (v17)

‘Follow me’ is immediately followed by ‘and I will make you fishers of men’. To follow Jesus means (as we saw) that we start to say and do as he does. And that means that we become part of his mission in all its forms. For these fishermen, that specifically meant telling others about him, and calling them to repentance and faith and to follow. For each of God’s people, there is a gifting of the Spirit that enables some activity in which we help Jesus and his mission. To follow is to serve.

This is when discipleship becomes service.

·       Grow

The above four verbs are the heart of the faith. However, we can usefully add a fifth verb that is implied by them – ‘grow’. The Christian’s goal is to grow to be more and more like Jesus (Eph 4:12-13, 15-16). This happens on the simple logic that, to the extent that we are like Jesus, we are truly and gloriously most human, for he most bears that image of God which is our created identity (Gen 1:26; Col 1:15).

There is to be an inevitable and organic growth such that the convert grows into the disciple who then grows into a servant. It’s not like a freeway with several exit points. Rather it is like stepping on a moving footway where one stage leads naturally to the next. It’s a denial of conversion not to grow to discipleship. And it’s a denial of discipleship not to grow to service. Growth to each stage, and within each stage, is all part of Christian identity.

From little things, big things grow as the seed of faith turns into followers who serve (Mat. 13:31-32).

Conversation with a dying man

I recently spoke with a man who is dying. Correction – every person I speak with is dying. As is the man in the mirror. However, this man knows he is dying and what he is likely to die from. In a matter of months, a strong and vigorous man has become terminal. A great day for him now is to walk to the end of the street and back, eat three times daily and have bowel motions. Soon enough even those days will be memories for him and then for his surviving family.

He is a Christian man. He has been of faith for many years and has given distinguished service over many years at high levels of church leadership.

He appreciates appreciation for his church service but, as he says, ‘we are saved by grace not works’ and ‘all that matters is that Christ died for me’.

He does not want to die yet and is not looking forward to the process of dying. However, he is sure of his destiny because he knows who holds it and who chose him before creation, brought him to faith, nurtured faith into discipleship and discipleship into service.

He is not afraid. Not angry. Nor despondent. Rather he is abounding in life. So much so that in speaking I was able to say, ‘for a dying man you sound very well.’ He does not expect the Lord to deliver him from death but has unshakeable confidence that He will deliver him through death.

And so, he has the sure and certain hope of which Scripture speaks (Heb 6:19). He does not brush his death aside with mindless platitudes, deny it, try to escape it with mindfulness, nor yield to despair. These medicines of unbelief hold no appeal, for the gospel is his tonic.

That is a living faith in a dying man.

Covid-19 and staying local for church

Covid-19 - staying local when it comes to church

As Covid-19 restrictions continue, most of us are doing virtual church. (This option is quite impossible for many majority-world Christians for whom the restrictions mean no church, but that is another story.)

We miss much. We miss the joy of seeing familiar faces in the flesh, exchanging hugs and handshakes, reading body language, singing together and sharing in the sacraments. We face the danger of being distracted zoombies as we have yet another enforced bout of screen time (or is that ‘scream time’).  It’s not the same and not as good as being there in the flesh.

However, there are also big opportunities as the world virtually opens before us. We can go to church anywhere that puts out a signal (or nowhere, if we want to break the habit of meeting together and not get caught).

Let’s face it – most of us can find a better preacher, better technology and better music if we prowl around the internet looking for a church more to our taste. There is no need to put up with the usual bunch of people and their mindless conversation, along with insipid church coffee and that preacher whose lines are familiar to us after years sitting under the same voice. And perhaps there is a place for visiting other churches as we seek more frequent rich feeding in these spiritually needy times.

However, there is a case for mainly staying local and continuing with the church we belong to. To me it’s a joy to see the pictures of our familiar church building appear to give a ‘before and after’ physical bracket to the virtual service – it’s a reminder of what was and yet will be.  Our pastor knows us and his introduction to the Sunday gathering connects into our lives in our local community. Familiar faces read the Bible and present music from our regular play list.  Each week a church member known to us is interviewed about how they are going in life and they then lead a pastoral prayer that reflects knowledge of our people, our church and its local activities and wider projects. The ministry of the word in the preaching of Scripture comes from a pastor who knows us and can explain and apply the Scripture into our lives.

Doubtless there’s a slicker presentation, more eloquent preaching and such like elsewhere on the web. However, those other churches are not there to pastor us locals. They won’t be there for us after Covid-19. They won’t make the regular phone calls that our church leadership are making to check on all members. Dropping into someone else’s virtual church is a bit like visiting another church when away from home for work or holidays. It’s better than not attending at all, but never the same as going to the church where we are pastored with ongoing knowledge and concern.

And that’s why I’m going to my local this Sunday.