I’m having a crack at preparing some material for a community group that’s meeting through Lent, looking at being ‘good news people’, and I stumbled across this exercise in Tim Chester and Steve Timmis’ book, Everyday Church.

It’ll take you just a few minutes, but it’s an eye-opening and effective way to see the opportunities we already have to make the everyday & mundane more missional.

Firstly, think of all the activities that make up your normal routines. Make a list of these, no matter how ordinary they might seem.

Generally speaking, most of us probably have three sets of ‘rhythms’:

…(1) a daily routine (like travelling to work, eating meals, chores, walking the dog, playing with the children);

(2) a weekly routine (like grocery shopping, watching favourite TV shows, getting exercise);

and (3) a monthly routine (like gardening, getting a hair cut, going to the cinema).

You should have a long list.

Now here’s the genius. You ready? Ok, here we go:

For each one, consider whether you could do it with someone. 

I know, I know, I’ll say it again because it’s easy to miss: consider whether you could do it with someone.

And in particular, think whether you could add:

(1) A community component by involving another member of your Christian community;

(2) A missional component by involving someone who’s not a Christian;

(3) A gospel component by identifying opportunities to talk about Jesus.

Clearly not everything you do can be done with someone else. But this exercise reveals just how many opportunities you do have.

You might knock on a friend’s door as you walk the dog to see if they want to walk with you.

You might offer an elderly neighbour a ride when you drive to the supermarket.

You might meet a member of the Christian community for breakfast one morning a week or agree to ride on the same bus to work.

Instead of reading your Christian book in the canteen, you might take the opportunity to get to know your colleagues.

And here’s the brilliant bit about all this:

None of this is adding anything to your schedule, for these are all activities in which you are already engaged.

The only thing is that this is so straightforward, so totally possible, that’s it’s actually a little bit uncomfortable! It brings gospel intentionality into the everyday rhythms we all have, which perhaps we often prefer to keep as ‘our time’.

Give it a go! What do you think?

We’ve just moved up north to begin our new ministry role, and I was asked to share ‘my story’ as part of the Diocese of Carlisle’s new God for All initiative. Given some of my recent assignments at college, I wrapped my story around the theme of ‘grace’ and its ‘uncomfortable comfort’.

Here goes…

I was reading an article the other day that described those of us who’ve grown up in the 80’s or 90’s as ‘Generation Me’. It might not be the most flattering description, but, like most generalisations, there’s probably something in it! Apparently more than any other generation we have a much more heightened sense of ‘self’ and are likely to exhibit strong narcissistic tendencies.

We may not all think we’re going to be the next big thing on X-Factor, but like it or not, we are products of our time. As a 90’s kid myself, I can’t helping feeling that for all the opportunity and technology we’ve got at our fingertips, we can also suffer from something of an entitlement problem! It’s not that we think we’ve earned it; it’s that we think we’re worth it.

What’s this got to do with my story? Well, if I could sum up in one word what God has to say to those of us in this ‘entitlement generation’, then it’d be the same word that has been dominant throughout my own journey to faith. And that word is grace…

You can read the rest here.

If you want to read an excellent paper on Grace and contemporary culture, the essence of which lies behind much of my reflection above, then find yourself twenty minutes to digest this from my college principal!

Full-time theological education is a costly thing. Costly because it will often mean a geographical switch, including moving house and saying goodbye to much-loved friends and family. Costly because it will probably mean leaving behind the particular church you were involved with and at least pressing pause on the ministry opportunities you were part of there. Costly because it literally costs money, and at the end of the day someone’s got to foot that bill, whether it be a church organisation, supporters, or the individual concerned.

So, is it worth those costs?

As has been noted here, it seems there’s a bit of a trend at the moment for answering ‘no’. For a start, part-time, non-residential training is a whole lot cheaper. That means this issue is something the Church of England is particularly weighing up. But such ‘mixed-mode’ training also allows you to be part-time, perhaps working with a church for 3 or 4 days a week, which can seem like a benefit. It also allows you to remain in the same place, again, something that has plus-points. And obviously different people will have different circumstances, meaning that for some ‘mixed-mode’ forms are the only reasonable option. But does the mode of training impact upon its effectiveness? And as this helpful post on the CofE’s latest workings asks, how are we defining effectiveness anyway?

There’s also a trend of seeing one’s ‘time at college’ as not really about the training itself, and more just an opportunity to be involved in the ministry opportunities of the particular town or city the college happens to be in. I guess this is rooted in a scepticism or distrust of ‘theology’, but it also seems to smack a bit of arrogance and short-sightedness. Certainly I couldn’t imagine being ‘ready’ without the training I’m being given.

So given all this, why bother really investing in theological education?

Being about 80% of the way through a three year full-time spell at theological college, I’m already so glad this has been part of my training. I’m so glad that the Church of England generously funded me for two years, and I’m so glad that a bunch of friends and Trusts backed me from their own pockets so that I could stay for this third year.

Why? Well, I think the video below goes some way to explain and, in short, it’s because the end goal isn’t about me.

I’d spent two years on a church-based ministry training scheme (which was excellent) and three years working in a junior staff role for another church (again, a great experience and learning curve), but I’d still not swap these past three years, full-time at Oak Hill, for anything else. Being able to set time aside to think, to learn, to grow… to be formed, it has been a massive privilege.

But ultimately this privilege is not for my sake, there’s a much more worthy matter at heart: stewardship – seeking to be the best possible gift for the sake of the church…

You can read the accompanying document, featuring Don Carson, Tim Keller and others, here.