WEEK BEGINNING 29th April
Welcome to our BCBC blog, please enjoy the christian music videos down the right hand side, please use your right to reply and comment down towards the bottom. Use the culture watch links at the bottom and daily devotionals also a direct link to the CLC bookshop. As this blog progresses, we will add or take away as we find what is useful and what is not needed. I have not yet found how to close up the gaps between items, so scroll down to read all, and I will work on how to post the blog without the gaps??? Blessings, Martin.
Dear all what a wonderful blessed day we had on Saturday. I
have had a chance to read all of the cards we received and the comments in our
“Book Signing” from those who were present. Such wonderful expressions of grace
and encouragement from those who visited us from the Borough of Bexley and from
our new Borough of Greenwich, from the churches around us and wonderful
expressions of welcome from you all.
Thanks to all of you from Jose and myself for all the hard
work and effort, everyone was blessed and I was very proud of our new spiritual
home.
A Joke My friend told his
personal trainer that he really wanted to be able to do the splits. His sisters
could all do the splits, his mum, in her younger days, could do the splits and
he wanted to surprise his family with his ability in doing the splits. His
trainer asked him how flexible he was, and my friend replied “Well I can’t do
Tuesdays”
As we work through our present program on Sunday mornings of
“How God wants His church to be” the above joke highlights how a wrong response
can easily be given if you do not interpret the question correctly.
On Sunday the 29th “In God’s Plan” we explored:
1. GOD’S PLAN FOR HIS CHURCH INVOLVES A TRANSFORMED
MEMBERSHIP
2. GOD’S PLAN FOR HIS CHURCH INVOLVES A DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP
TO CHRIST
The church is built
on Christ.
Second, the church
is built by Christ
Third, the church
is successful only through the power of Jesus.
Therefore this coming Sunday we will look at “God’s Power”
through these three criteria
1.POWER RECEIVED
2. POWER APPLIED
3. POWER TRANSFERRED
In His power we will dig deep into the bible to understand
these topics so as to answer through the lens of scripture where I believe God
intends for us to begin so as to go forth together.
I watch a program on TV
called Grand Designs. Each program starts by the presenter Kevin Mcloud explaining the dreams and
visions of the people who will be the subject of this week’s show. They have a dream to build their house in that
location. Inevitably they run out of funds, or they come up against the
unexpected or they try to go it alone by cutting out a Project Manager or in
some cases a qualified builder. Here lies the drama, by cutting out those who
know best they start to fall behind the schedule, they mis-order materials,
they have to raise more money and we sit and watch the tensions rise, the
stress levels escalate and the tempers flare. However, every now and again, the
program shows those who only go the way of the experts. Those who go the way of
the experts seem to have an easier ride towards the finished building. This
week I watched an episode where the wife took a participating role. She was on
site the whole time, she worked alongside the experts, whilst hubby stayed in
the city and worked as an I.T. consultant to the banking world. In part of the
interview she admitted, even with the experts handling the construction work,
problems arose, and she said “We have to have a dynamic of becoming solutionists
and not to ponder greatly on the problems”
I used that term on Sunday in the preach. I like it, being solutionists
says everything about how my experience of outreach and evangelism always threw up problems, I have had experience
of those who give up in the face of problems, or they create the problems
before any project gets off of the ground. I have also been surrounded by those
who are solutionists, where the dynamic is “where there is a
problem there is a solution, where there is a problem where others give in
there is a chance to succeed. Others who know, what they are doing is of God,
and are willing to push on and make mistakes for God. Being a solutionist
is how evangelism and outreach should be approached in a practical
sense.
We have the “Great Designer” in an awesome God, we have our
foundation laid by His Son, our Lord Jesus the Christ and we have our Project
Manager in His Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity has been building New testament
Churches for nearly 2000 years, they are expert at building churches, bringing
people together in His name and saving souls. We will be working alongside the
experts, but we will always come up against problems, but we will become solutionists,
in the power of the Holy Trinity's strength power and wisdom we will not ponder on problems for too long.
Until June 3rd we will explore Gods “Grand
Design” for His church so as site managers we will all know what is expected of
us, how we will be resourced, and where to find peace and provision as we go
out in His mighty name, we have the foundation in Jesus, we have the project
manager in the Holy Spirit, let us just spend some time with the architects
plans, so as we know the building so very, very well.
IN GOD’S
POWER 6th May
IN GOD’S PURPOSE 13th
May
Youth led service
20th May
IN GOD’S PEACE 27th
May
IN GOD’S PROVISION
3rd June .
It has been requested, that I keep the RAC@BCBC posting within this blog for a couple of weeks, so scroll down to read or re-read.
Relevant, Robust, Revived.
Aware, Appreciate, Associate.
Church, Christian, Community.
Aware, Appreciate, Associate.
Church, Christian, Community.
The March 25th service was a great opportunity to share with you all the “RAC@BCBC” strategy. The strategy has an interesting story in itself. For about three years now, I have walked with “Relevant, Robust, Revived” calling it the “3 R’s” for the church, not knowing there was more to come. My experience with Street Pastors, showed me why God had revealed the first part of RAC to me as I could see it in action. Street Pastors is such a RELEVANT initiative for our times, serving and showing the community as well as the Christians that faith works, which in the process made some timid Christians “ROBUST” in their faith which in turn REVIVED not only the strength of the Christian and in turn their Churches but the admiration of the Civic and Statutory authorities along with the night scene public, and so we started School Pastors on the request of Police and Council.
The Church moved from a problem area of concern in the corridors of the decision makers in Bexley to one of looking at the church as a “Borough Asset”. Clearly this pointed the way for me to recognise that the “Jesus way” is the “Best way”, and you can hear Bart Simpson say “DOH!!”
Asking the Jesus way “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51) is, I believe, the way into the hearts of the community, and delivering what they need. Jose and I took a break, we got a nice deal in a nice hotel for a weekend. Whilst sitting in a nice peaceful conservatory reading “Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf, which is a book of theological exploration of identity, otherness and reconciliation, a book I was asked to read before going on to a BU ministers conference, that RAC hit me, and I wrote down the three “A’s” and the three “C’s” and there I had it, God given, God illustrated and God prompted. I shared it with Jose, I was so full in my explanation of “ RAC” that she asked how long I had been thinking about it, and I said, “it just came to me, sitting here, reading this book and drinking this coffee”, I explained it as though I had been working it through for years, and of course I had, but in His guidance and in His leading, without knowing, but now He explained it all to me in a moment! It was Jose who defined it “RAC, Gods breakdown service for the church” Clever girl.
When Jose said it, to me, it meant how God has broken it all down so it is easy to remember, easy to understand, easy to say, easy to follow, and I like “easy”. I like that old saying “K.I.S.S” (Keep it simple, Stupid) God knows me so well. It also showed me that God waited to show me the rest of RAC until there was somewhere to plant it, somewhere to seed RAC into a church, into His saints, into a community. We all now know He chose Blackheath and Charlton Baptist Church.
So there we have it , what I believe is our way forward together in RAC@BCBC. However, how do we find what the local community need? A community survey is one way. Another is to deal initially with issues which already divide and damage families. The 4 national problems are:
So there we have it , what I believe is our way forward together in RAC@BCBC. However, how do we find what the local community need? A community survey is one way. Another is to deal initially with issues which already divide and damage families. The 4 national problems are:
1. Debt,
2. Drug and Alcohol Abuse,
3. The Internet
4. Parenting Skills
2. Drug and Alcohol Abuse,
3. The Internet
4. Parenting Skills
Let us dream a little. What impact would BCBC have in our local community if they started to see their local church dealing with their issues as families of the 21st century. What impact would BCBC have if we sent an invitation to Mums and Daughters to come to BCBC, to hear where there is help for their daughters to make Sex, Drug and Alcohol free decisions in their life, to come to BCBC where gifted speakers, personal testimonies and give- aways, such as pamphlets, helpful web sites, useful help-lines all with one aim, equipping them to live a more fulfilled responsible life. What impact would BCBC have if we invited fathers and Sons along to “Young Men of 21st century” where we have corporate man explain how hard work and reputation pays off? Let them hear about “Data Mining” a whole new way companies look at the Internet to see what prospective employees have put out into the WorldWideWeb, about themselves, and see their personal photos on Face Book, or other social networks sites which gives them a better perspective of who this young man/women really are. This might compliment the interview of blow their chances of employment out of the water. The technology is out there to "mine" "Cloud sites" and data about anyone!! Companies are mushrooming to help companies choose who to employ. So pictures and comments made when a teenager can haunt you when you leave university, college or Sixth Form. Big Brother is here!
There is much we can do, all to show them we care and we are:
There is much we can do, all to show them we care and we are:
Your church for Your community" (YC4YC).
You will of course notice that I like initials, acrostics and catchy phrases. Mostly because they are easy to remember, but also it saves typing out whole titles all of the time.
So to clarify, we want to reach our local community and beyond, so they come to know BCBC as YC4YC through RAC@BCBC, (I have just saved three lines of typing and you all know what we are about)
The process for YC4YC is to become R’d, so as the community become A’d and together we will become closer by all being C’d All to His glory and all so as Jesus can meet this community and enter their lives. Alleluia!
The process for YC4YC is to become R’d, so as the community become A’d and together we will become closer by all being C’d All to His glory and all so as Jesus can meet this community and enter their lives. Alleluia!
TO PRAY FOR THIS WEEK:
Please Pray: For the £24,000 needed for immediate works on the building.
Please Pray: For the leadership meeting with Jeremy Lodge, who has shown us what needs to be done immediately and the works needed long term on our church building.
Please Pray For The Bluecoat School. They are reeling from the news that two of their pupils have been found guilty of causing the death of a student in Upper Wickham Lane Welling last year, one was guilty of murder and the other of manslaughter. Pray for all families involved, pray for the students who knew the boys as they come to terms with consequences of actions.
Please Pray for BCBC,s relationship with the school through Rev Liz Newman, School Chaplain. I had a very good meeting with Liz on 30th April and we have set plans to partner in some initiatives to have a more positive impact on the students self esteem and cmmunity involvement.
Please continue to Pray: As Jose and I prepare to move from our home to the manse. Please pray for Jose as she will be project manager for our move, nothing more than the move, she has her hands full with me, and pray that I will be a good assistant to Jose as she directs the action for throwing out stuff. Please pray for Jose as she chooses what we keep and what we throw away, as I am a hoarder and struggle with throwing anything away.
Please continue to Pray for Jose as she sends me to the dump and that I do not bring anything back from the dump, Lord give me strength and wisdom to unload our stuff!!!
Please continue to Pray for us as prepare to move. We have lived in Bexley all of our married lives, so far!
TO CONTACT MARTIN:
e mail: revmartinbcbc@gmail.com Tel: H:01322 430313 M:07941 092394
