27 Aug Pour a fresh cuppa…
…this could take awhile.
Last Saturday Phil & I were really really blessed at the Albury Men’s Convention. The whole conversation around “manhood” & it’s high value in Scripture & how it’s been devalued by our Western culture was quite challenging…maybe nothing surprising or new, but a renewed challenge that is needed…especially by me. I’d be excited to take a bigger group next year…That’s a conversation we can have later…BUT…I was sharing my excitement with a pastor who had not been able to attend & he noted that the church had often made mistakes in how it addressed & ministered to men. Since I’ve got a few rings in my tree trunk I suggested that ministry with men wasn’t our first or our worst mistake in the church’s history. “What do you think would be the ‘worst’,” he asked… Did I mention this could take awhile? I’m thinking BIG picture here…not Living Water specifically, but across the Church in the Western World (specifically the US & Australia as I’ve been part of it)
I have thought for a number of years that the worst mistake we’ve made as “church” is that we’ve started thinking about ourselves as salespeople not as evangelists. We talk to not-yet-Christians as if they were “potential customers” for our congregations & not as people living distant from Jesus & his abundant eternal life. We tell them about what our particular congregation “offers“ (or doesn’t offer) instead of what the gospel gives freely & Jesus’ clear call, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. But don’t begin until you count the cost…” (Luke 14:26-28a) We’ve become confused I think…& compare what congregation A offers that congregation B doesn’t…great music, big youth group, kid’s stuff…I knew a church in Dallas that “advertised” their single’s ministry. They were “the place to go” if you were spouse-shopping I guess. But the gospel is really a call to the death of me & my wants & felt needs so that Christ & his gifts can be brought to life in me for the good of others. Church is not a place I go “to get” but to be equipped to give.
It reminded me of my old mentor, Mike Yaconelli. He was a youth-worker turned pastor & toward the end of his life he lamented “No one does church anymore. Just plain old church. We’ve got kid’s church, youth church, family church, seeker church, traditional church, emerging church…and in California we’ve got someone telling us they’re ‘Xtreme Church.’ Whatever that is. But no one does just church where you all worship together & the kids make a mess that we all clean up later, & we learn together, & raise our babies together, & serve together, & grieve together when our brothers & sisters in Christ die in this life to live forever…just church!” He wasn’t wrong. I told a pastor I know I felt sad for him because he’d never done a funeral…no one in his church is old enough to have died yet. He was confused, but I reckon his flock won’t know what he’s really like until they grieve with him the death of one of their saints. There’s grace in shared tears. In all those “target market” churches, what we seem to be “selling” is “just-like-me church,” where everyone around me is just like me…same age, same life stage, same kinds of experiences…just like me.
But the New Testament reminds me that young Timothy seems to have learned the gospel at the feet of his mother & grandmother while they were being discipled by Paul (2 Timothy 1:5), and that it was older Barnabas who rehabilitated young John Mark on a missionary trip to Cyprus after John Mark had abandoned Barnabas & Paul on his first efforts & Paul wasn’t offering a second chance. It was the older Barnabas who taught the young soon-to-be gospel-writer perseverance, resilience, & stick-to-it-iveness. (Acts 15:36-39 & 2 Timothy 4:11) AND imagine Simon the Zealot & Matthew the tax collector walking alongside Jesus alongside each other. Simon the Zealot was committed to overthrowing Roman oppression but had to learn to love Matthew the tax collector whom Simon would have thought a traitor worthy of death…and Matthew had to learn to love Simon who he would at one time have called a terrorist.
This week a group of year 11 students from the Wagga Wagga Christian College will be accompanying Mary & me to Caloola Court for devotions. Imagine the joy of the residents having the hymns sung by generations sung by a 16-17 year old sitting next to them & holding the song book for them. Picture the shaping by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of those young men & women and the hope for the future they’ll provide to folks who may not have much earthly future left.
My point to my friend…and at the end of all these words…Our mistake is thinking of men (or women or youth or kids or singles or young adults) independently from the whole of the body of Christ, and segregating ourselves into “just-like-me” tribes. I need 90-year-old faith & 60-year marriages to remind me of what joys lie ahead as I learn to persevere in faith & faithfulness. I need 2-3-4-5 year old faith to help me learn to speak of God’s great love in clear simple ways. I need people struggling with their faith to remind me that following Jesus sometimes means storms raging against my small boat. I need others of whatever else year old faith to challenge me & call me to grow & never give in to the lazy sameness of the 21st century culture.
Speaking of challenges to grow…we’ve got them aplenty…
- Zoom Bible Study Catch-up
Friday 29th August 2025 @ 1:00 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89674789066 — Meeting ID: 896 7478 9066
- 31st August – Sunday – we continue our study of Joseph’s life…From Prison to Position. If you’re playing catch-up, or just not sure of the details, please read the whole story Genesis 37-50. It’s a gripping tale & may help you understand some more of what we might have to leave out on Sundays.
- 7th September – Giving Beyond Ourselves for AFES (The Campus Ministry at CSU) & Morning Tea. I’m reliably informed that’s also Father’s Day!
- Ladies Fellowship 11th September – 1 John 5:1-21
- There are a number of events for women in the pipeline over the next few months…
- Hope in A Hopeless World @ Wagga Baptist Church – Saturday 20th September $30…Talk to Leonie for details
- Wagga Women’s Prayer Retreat @ St Martin’s College CSU – Tuesday through Saturday 18th – 22nd November (details @ this link Wagga Retreat Brochure 2025.pdf )
- And…my mother turns 95 on Wednesday the 27th. That’s pretty wonderful. “Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is gained in a righteous life.” – Proverbs 16:31 Feel free to celebrate your own gray hair too…or what’s left of it! 😉
Look after yourself this week…
God bless every step of the way!
John
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