It's time to rest. Pick up your phone

On Saturday, I attended the Youthwork Summit in Manchester. The Youthwork Summit is a one day event that features many great youth workers and Christians speaking for just 10-15 minutes on a topic (very similar to the TED conferences in USA).

For me, the most inspiring and though provoking topic was on helping young people find rest in a hyper connected culture from Sarah Percival.

With all the new ways of internet usage, how do we encourage people to find the rest God gave us in the Bible (Shabbat)?

Should we put our phones down, turn our computers off, and hide from the internet?

No.

During her talk, Sarah challenged us that instead of telling our young people to put their phones away and switch them off, to ask them how we can use them as part of our rest.

She explained how she had done this with her youth group. They opened the Bible to see what it said about rest at Exodus 20:8-11

 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.” 

(NLT)

This passage demands 3 things from the Sabbath:

1.       Stop work

2.       Do it together

3.       Honour God.

There is no reason we can not do these 3 things on our phones.

Its about how we use them.

We need to get creative.

Sarah challenged us to take up our phones and explore Shabbat with our young people in this way. What new and exciting things may we discover about ourselves and God as we do?

There will still be moments when it is useful to switch our phones off, but have we missed something by ignoring the possibilities they present?

Share your ideas and take up the challenge of rest with your phone through the comments or the ALOVE Anglia facebook and twitter accounts.

Extravagant waste

I went to fill my car with petrol yesterday at the local Sainsburys petrol station. As normal, I presented my Nectar card to get my Nectar points.

I don’t know how much you know about ‘Nectar’ and Sainsburys, but when you swipe your Nectar card, you sometimes receive a voucher to use next time you visit the store which gives you extra points, or money off, etc.

Yesterday’s voucher promised me 200 bonus Nectar points if I spend more than £50 in Sainsburys by 7^th May.

Here are some facts for you:

·         I live alone
·         My average weekly shop costs less than £20
·         I’m away on The Big Adventure (Children’s Adventure camp ) this weekend
·         I start Live Below the Line on Tuesday (6^th May)

And yet, when I got the voucher, I immediately began thinking if I could possibly spend £50 before it ran out! It’s crazy! Never mind the fact I’m only meant to live off 10% of that next week for Live Below the Line.

And when I thought of that challenge, I was shocked at this behaviour.

How many people must spend more than they need to get extra ‘points’ or similar because they were given a voucher? 

How much additional ‘stuff’ do they buy that would otherwise not have been purchased? 

And how much of it ends up in the bin?

Although I have yet to start the Live Below the Line challenge, even signing up has made me reconsider my spending habits and realise how fortunate we are.

I do not need to spend £50 on a weekly shop, but I could manage it if I wanted to. I could spend it on clothes and games and chocolate and lots of other stuff I don’t need, and I could afford to do it too.

But there are 1.2 billion people who live on less than 10% of that.

God cares about each and every one of them.

And we can make a difference.

Once again, I ask you to join me for any 5 consecutive days before 30^th June and live below the line. You can sign up here and then search for ‘Anglia Division’ to join our team.

If you are unable to participate in the challenge, please donate here. Any donation, big or small, will make a difference.

Let's Dance

On Palm Sunday (13th April), the Anglia Youth Band led the meetings at Stowmarket Corps. This post contains the message I gave at the evening service.

The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted,

“Praise God!

Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hail to the King of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said:

“Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem.

Look, your King is coming,

    riding on a donkey’s colt.”

His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.

Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it. That was the reason so many went out to meet him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign.

John 12:12-18 (NLT)

Imagine Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. You’re heading to the city for the Passover. As you approach, you hear people shouting and singing, you see a crowd gathering along the road, waving palm leaves. You go over to investigate, and ask ‘What’s going on?’

“It’s Jesus!” someone replies. “Have you not heard of him? Have you not heard of all he’s done?! Only a few days ago he raised Lazarus from the dead – that guy over there! He’d been dead for FOUR DAYS! And this guy raised him! He must be the Messiah!”

How excited would that make you? You have been waiting centuries for the promised Messiah! Would you not also go and get Palm leaves and join with the crowd?

According to this passage in John, this is what happened at that first Palm Sunday. In verse 12, we read that ‘the news Jesus was on the way… swept through the city’, and verse 18 says ‘many went out to meet him because they had heard about this miraculous sign’ – which is referring to the resurrection of Lazarus. It is the good news of all Jesus has done that drew the crowds that day.

Most of the people in the crowd are unlikely to have had a personal experience of Jesus’ miracles, and yet they are there, cheering his arrival. Over the past 3 years, they must have heard so many stories, maybe even known someone who was at the feeding of the 5000, or one of his other miracles. They praised because someone had shared their good news.

How often is this still true today? Many people begin their journey towards God by hearing of what he has done for others, by hearing their personal experiences. They may never have experienced God in their own life yet, but they can get excited and be just as joyful as we are when they hear of the good things God is doing in our life.

By sharing our experiences of God, we are saying ‘Let’s dance’ to those around us. We’re inviting them to join in the experience themselves, and through rejoicing in our experience, they can come to experience God for themselves. When we talk of a dance, we don't just talk of physical dance and praise, but a dance is a relationship. As well as praising God, we are inviting those who do not know him into a relationship with him. 

And this isn’t just for those who don’t know God. Sharing our experiences and inviting each other to dance is just as important. It can encourage those of us who are downcast and remind us of how faithful God is.

When we dance in praise before God, he draws near to us, and he then begins to teach us how to dance his way, keeping in step with him. 

Community Living



Me in the Big Top



I’ve just got back from spending 5 days in Shepton Mallet at Momentum. Momentum is a Christian festival for those in their 20’s and 30’s and run by Soul Survivor. Thousands of 20 and 30 somethings gathered for worship, teaching, ministry, seminars, and social activities, and God met with us incredibly.

I’ve attended the Soul Survivor events before as a youth leader, but this was my first time at Momentum. It was fantastic to go and be able to soak in God at the end of what has been a great 13 months in role.

The theme that kept rising to the surface during the week was about doing life as a community. For many years, the culture we live in has focussed on individualistic needs.

Life is all about what I want. What I need. What others can do for me.

And the more we engage with social networking sites, plug in our headphones, and play on our phones, we are becoming more and more disengaged from the depth and benefits of good friendships and communities.

More and more people feel lonely, while according to their facebook they have hundreds of friends!

I’ve experienced this loneliness. Moving away to a new city where I knew no one left me feeling lonely for a long time.

My main support and community was still up north.

Fortunately, I have since found a good group of friends (who I went to Momentum with).

But life gets hard when you don’t have that community around you. And our corps/churches are the first place we should find this community. God’s plan is for us to be in community. God himself is even in community! If its good enough for God, it’s good enough for us! And it’s a command of Jesus:

34 “I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. 35 All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.”John 13:34-35 (NCV)

The Bible is full of verses about how we can love one another and the importance of building community. Just type ‘Bible verse’ and ‘community’ into google and see the results!
But how do we build community? What if our churches aren’t places we feel supported, but a place where no one truly knows us and we feel lonely?

Start by getting to know people in the congregation! Do you go out of your way to ask people in the corps how they are, and truly want to know? Do you know what their concerns are? What good things have happened recently? By starting conversations and taking genuine interest in each others lives we begin to build community. To all the young people that read this blog, if you don’t feel comfortable speaking to the adults just yet, start with each other! You may be surprised how much you discover about each other! Why not start by spending a few minutes at the start of your group by asking what you can pray for in each others lives, or what the best thing of their week has been?

As well as community in our churches, it’s good to develop support and community outside those places. The groups and clubs we attend are often crying out for a greater sense of community. Everyone can come and meet each week, but all we do and talk about is the activity we’re engaged in. We can attend for months, years even, without knowing what is happening in the person’s life who sits next to you. And they can know just as little about us! We can’t expect community to develop on its own.

Someone has to start.

By taking the first steps, engaging people in conversation that goes beyond the mundane, we can develop community. Or how about organising some time with the group outside the normal time?

And remember to pray. Through praying for our corps and other groups we are a part of, for the people within them, for the things they share with us when we engage them in conversation, we will start to develop community.