Thoughts & opinion: 2006 archive

toddler god

by Kay Bowen on 06 December 2006

Last week I attended the kids workers team meeting for the 0-3 age group. Now, I am a beginner with this age group, having agreed to move from 3-5s to the 18 months to 3 and a somethings group to balance the level of experience in the different teams. I knew Hat and Judi were good, but they are awesome! Their whole team is bubbling over with imaginative ideas, love for the children, a positive attitude to change and to finding solutions rather than problems in all they do. Maybe this was a particularly good meeting, but I don't think so.  

Matt always says how good our kids work is, and I have to say I tend to immediately think: 'Mmm - how little he knows if that is what he thinks - the guy is crazy! - as I tend towards self criticism, so if I am reponsible for something then it will never be good enough...) although lately I have been feeling proud of our kids workers and what they do.  But after the meeting, I am so overawed with people. We do simply have the best team of kids workers on the planet! I left so excited to be working with these people who give so much and love so much, and the children in their care are getting such a positive experience of church that it has to be the best in the country, if not the world! I do not exaggerate!  

We chose our topics for next term and we are studying the life of Jesus from childhood to resurrection, including baptism, miracles, friends, last supper, crucifixion. How  good is that? These are babies, some of them not even 6 months, and we are telling them the great story right from the start. The number one teaching point for this age group seems to be ' God made you and loves you and you are special'. But to get this over within the great story of Jesus and all that goes before and after - wow!  But all of this would be hot air if it weren't for the kids workers, and indeed parents who show this in their lives, not just on Sunday mornings, but in every interaction with every child.  

I am so chuffed with all that God has done and is doing in the adults in our church, and the fruit of our lives is shown to some extent, probably far greater than we imagine, in the lives of these youngest in our community. So many of our adults are involved as kids work team (40 people now) and so many more as parent helpers and leaders who get to help out now and again. I am so glad it is not just me and a few other adults who are modeling Christ to these small ones, but every member of our church family. That way they get to experience a much broader and more balanced discipling than if it were just left to me and a few other crazies.

godly play

by Kay Bowen on 04 December 2006

After 18 months of experimenting with using Godly Play with our 3-5 age group, I am in a position now to chat about it in a reviewing kind of way. Realised a while back that Godly Play ( GP) is a big part of how we do church with children, and yet from this website you would not know that. So, here I am to right that wrong.  

I have been in the GP for 3 of the past 4 weeks, telling 2 stories myself, and being the doorkeeper while Libby was story teller. Already I have used peculiar terms so will stop right there! With the GP classroom, a lot of the work is done through setting up the sacred space for the children. So, the door keeper asks them to prepare to enter the room, helps them to listen and helps them with getting out their own equipment, tidying up their own stuff afterwards. This frees the story teller up to tell the story, and then to help children respond to the story and other stories.  

Bet that makes it a lot clearer!  I told the first 2 Advent stories  - the light of the prophets, and the light of the holy family. There is a lot of repetition in the Advent series, as you build up the story, so this week Lib did the prophets, holy family, shepherds, Magi and the Christ Child. The story is told using wooden plaques, simple nativity figurs and candles. There is not much movement, and no wondering at the end of the story. ( Most GP stories include some group wondering after the story is told.) Instead, the children go straight into their responses, which include using playdough, water colours, sticking and colouring, and working with the story, or other stories.  

Some fabulous response times - the desert box, containing sand, is popular, and has been used for volcanoes erupting and covering Bethlehem and the Christ child with sand, and Moses and Miriam making the journey to Bethlehem too, which is an interesting angle on the interactions between old and new testament. The 10 rules story has been popular, with the hearts with the rules to love others and love God being spread around the desert and collected up again in varying combinations. The children are really 'getting' that they can use the stories, and over half of them at any time areusing the stories-  one boy playing with the ark every week, the parables being popular, and one girls showing a new girl every story we have done this term, plus some more from last year.  The children's recall is incredible - the same words and gestures as the story teller uses. I am told by one mum that her children stroke pieces of fabric and and move lego people around, telling stories and avoiding eye contact with anyone, as one of their favourite play activities at home.  

A few weeks after we did creation, we had an amazing creation story board produced by a 5 year old boy who had magic gold coins featuring in the creation story. And why not? Creation is probably the most magical of magic things, so some gold coins would be in there somewhere. Two of the group were so bored and uninterested by 'old style' kids work, and have jsut been turned around by GP to using their creativity to respond to the story of God. I love that.  

I love how the children are engaged, how attentive they are to the story, how responsible they are for the room and tidying up their things  (and some of them are 3!), how gentle they are with each other and how little squabbling there is. I love how well the kids workers have taken on GP, and Libby's story telling was amazing today. I sometimes worry that for most of the kids workers, their primary model of GP is me, so they copy my mistakes, but Libby seems to have avoided that and has developed her own style and it works beautifully.  

We are planning some training with Lucy from Barnabas in January, and I hope many kids workers from the 7-10 age group will catch the GP bug - they intend to start using GP for the Lent stories. My own kids work adventure unfolds as I move out of 3-5s and into the toddlers. More about that in another rambling!

50p a day!

by Matt Hyam on 16 Nov 2006

We have just had Pastor Sam and his wife Laisha and elder son, Jeswin, staying with our church this last week. Sam leads several churches and runs three orphanages in Tamil Nadu, South India. Currently, they look after 125 kids.

When I say "look after", I am not talking about they are just not starving anymore. I mean, they are loved, cared for, educated, discipled and following Jesus with all of their hearts. In fact, they are some of the most amazing people I have ever met!

One of the main supporters of Sam's work recently pulled out of supporting him to the tune of £1300 per month. To put that in context, that is the support for 87 kids! It costs 50p a day for each person in the orphanage. 50p!

There are no government grants for his work. There are no reserve funds for this work. There is just us. Sam's brothers and sisters in the West who, whilst we have little to offer him in any other way, have money. So, we need to find some money. Lot's of it.

Well, actually, lots of us need to find a little bit of money because, whilst it may mean one less cappuccino for us, it is the difference between Sam continuing his ministry or literally having to turn some children out onto the streets or back to families who cannot really look after them at all.

So, I think that you know where I am going with this!

worship?

by Matt Hyam on 05 October 2006

I was at a conference recently and heard some great stuff from Steve Chalke on worship, that made me think!

Where did the Jews worship? The temple? Actually, they only met at the temple to celebrate three festivals each year. Jesus' family went to the temple ONCE a year (Luke 2:41ff). Did they only "worship" once a year? Hardly!

Well, Jews must worship at the synagogue then. The trouble with that is that synagogues only actually came into existence during or after the exile, so where did they worship before then?

The answer is that, for a Jew, worship takes place through all of life. The concept of a "time of worship" is laughable to a Jew - its ALL worship! And I am not just talking about the meetings but about all of life.

Steve recounted a story of him chatting with Jonathan Sachs - the Chief Rabbi for UK - telling him about some senior church leaders asking him about his sabbath practice. During the conversation, one of them asked him when they "did the worship". His response was "Disfunctional Christians!" It's ALL worship.

If the Jews don't have the concept of a "time of worship" then how come much of the church claims that its theology comes from the same place and we not only do hold this view but we actually build much of what we call "church" around this! Are we guilty of demoting worship to 20-40 minutes of songs, or even 1-2 hours of meetings, once a week rather than a total life of worship?

I wonder how much time, energy and money goes into that one meeting each week. I wonder what our language is regarding worship? What else do we refer to as "worship" - housework, washing up, eating together, work, loving lonely people, feeding hungry people, buying fair trade, acting in an environmentally responsible way...?

Hmmm.

intelligent church

by Matt Hyam on 21 Sept 2006

We went the the "Intelligent Church" conference at the Community Church this weekend with Steve Chalke as the speaker.

Personally, I am a big fan of his. First of all, he is willing to wrestle with questions that I think need wrestling with, and whilst people may disagree with his outworking or his answers, they must recognise that he is trying to do what is right. Too many of us are willing to settle for the status quo because it is easier. Easier is not necessarily good, though!

Secondly, he has given his life to serving the poor and the marginalised and has impacted thousands of lives in the process. He has earned the right to be heard. Jesus tells us to judge a tree by its fruit and not by its theological statements.

I think he can be a bit mischievous sometimes - he has a tendancy to throw out statements that provoke people - but I think he has thought through what he thinks very clearly.

The thing that I wonder is whether we are so used to being spoon-fed that when someone provokes us - such that we need to do the work ourselves - we don't like it. Stuart Murray Williams did something similar at the National Leaders' conference a couple of years ago. People were furious because he trashed the iea of tithing but did not elaborate on what he thought. He even said that we should go away and try to llook into it without prejudice but that was not really heard. If a group of leaders are nmot willing to study without prejudice to see what the Bible actually says then, Houston, we have a problem!

Maybe we need more provocation from speakers - if it provokes us to seek out answers and to know God better then all that is only a good thing.

I'm just trying to provoke! :o)

chasing our tails?

by Matt Hyam on 14 Sept 2006

A wealthy American was holidaying in Mexico. Each day he watched a local fisherman until after a few days he went to talk to him.

"What do you do with your days?" he asked.

"In the morning I fish and catch enough for us to eat. In the afternoon, I play with my children and in the evening I go to the bar with my wife and friends and we sing songs and laugh together"

The American was concerned for his new friend and so he decided to help him.

"Why don't you fish all day and then you can sell the fish that you do not need?" he said.

"Why would I do that?" questioned the very confused fisherman?

"Because then you would have more money and so you could save up and buy a bigger boat?"

"Why would I need a bigger boat?" asked the Mexican

The tourist was exasperated, "because you can catch more fish, earn more money and then by a second boat!"

The Mexican looked even more unsure.

"Then, " said the American, getting excited,"you can employ people, catch more fish and make enough money to eventually have a fleet of boats. Then you can set up a corporate headquarters somewhere in the USA and run your business from there and become very wealthy..."

At this point the Mexican interrupted, " but why would I want to do that?" he asked, still genuinely not seeing the American's point.

"Because," said the American, sitting back in his chair and smiling victoriously,"you will then have enough money to retire to a quiet village in Mexico, fish all morning, spend time with your family all afternoon and see your wife and friends every evening"

its a messed up world we live in...

by Matt Hyam on 02 Aug 2006

I've just watch the latest Nooma DVD. If you haven't seen any then sell whatever you need to sell to get them.

This one is called "Rich" and is about us (the inhabitants of the western world) being wealthy and the responsibility that God gives us with that wealth - to bless others, to be generous and to not allow it to become our god.

There is one quote on the film that has been running through my head over and over, ever since I saw it.

Experts estimate that, to provide food, water and basic nutrition to every single person in the world, it would cost around $20B a year. That is a lot of money.

... the same amount that Americans spend every year ON ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!

1 million people will not survive this week because of sickness, malnutrion and famine.

800 million will go to bed tonight having not eaten (300 million of them children)

75% of the world's population have no food at all, no money (even small change) and no clothes.

It is a messed up world that we live in.

Oh Lord, let your kingdom come...

addiction to meetings?

by Duncan House on 24 May 2006

I have just been listening to some teaching by Victor Lorenzo which I first heard at a small conference in March this year. He is from Argentina and had a large church there with thousands of believers and was part of the revival there seeing miracles and thousands of people being saved and healed and set free. That is before God sent him to England where he says it has been like torture to be here for five years! Feel free to ask me if you want to borrow the CD for a listen.

What struck me as I listened to his talk was how similar his message was to the process that God has taken us through in the last few years. He tells of how while he is waiting on the platform for his turn to speak that God begins to speak quietly to him. Three times God speaks to him, cutting his ego down to size and beginning to open his eyes to see that however big and powerful your meeting is on a Sunday for two hours, it is actually what happens on Monday to Saturday that really matters.

Here are a couple of quotes to give you a flavour,

“What is more important for the Kingdom of God, what the people do when they are in front of you (in a meeting) or when they are not in front of you?”

“You can be a master of the platform, but if you are not able to equip and release my people to be what they are called to be every day, then you are a failure.”

He also confesses that God led him to understand that in any meeting, even one with thousands of people and healings and miracles, the person who gets the most out of it is the person on the stage leading the meeting.

Makes you think eh?

vineyard national prayer network

by Matt Hyam on 18 May 2006

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to be invited to the "Vineyard National Prayer Network" weekend.  I really did not know what to expect and upon arrival I was even more nervous than I was before when I saw that the average age was probably 50...

...then I started to meet the people.  I cannot begin to tell you how humbled I was by the whole thing.  Most of those there seemed to have lives that were so soaked in Jesus in every way.  They all seemed to be living it out - ministering to the poor, devoting themselves to prayer, serving and serving and serving.  Many of them had known Jesus since before I was even born, and they just oozed Christ likeness!

As I looked around, I saw people who didn't have labels...they weren't "intercessors" (a word that is only ever applied to Jesus in the Bible), they weren't "prayer warriors", they weren't "watchmen" (a word used in the Bible of men who watched on the walls in defence of a city, but somehow has become common usage in charismatic circles).  They were just disciples, serving and loving Jesus and praying.  I like people like that.  No one was there because it was the cool thing to do.  No one was plugging the latest CD, no one was hyping anything up, no one was pursuing agendas.  These guys just got together because they wanted to encourage one another and be together and learn together.

I cannot remember the last time that I came away from a conference encouraged and envisioned and blessed like I was after this one.  Just hanging out with these guys was life-changing for me.  I will definitely be there next year with as many people as I can take!

Thank you Irene Taylor and all you other guys who have invested in this network and just kept going.  Please don't let anyone hijack it and make it into something to "attract" more people.  Please let it grow because of the network of prayers growing and not because you put on a great show.

a little life of jesus

by Kay Bowen on 24 April 2006

Following Matt's lead in using this place to do book reviews, here's one of mine:

A Little Life of Jesus  - for children who are learning about him

£4.99 pub Lion ISBN 0745948782

Despite the title sounding cheesily awful this is a good bible story book which I would suggest is for all of God's children, not just the little ones. Short stories and simple words, Jesus looks friendly in the illustrations without looking too freakishly different from the rest of the characters. The illustrations are beautiful ( my opinion, obviously) and it is small and paperback and 'normal'. It fits in with the other books on the shelf, not a 'spiritual' book to keep separate from the rest of life. I wish it came in a big book format for use in bigger groups. It even has a handy glossary at the back called 'special words in this book' which explains terms maybe unfamiliar to today's average 5 -7 year old - shepherd, tomb and God, for example. Which is a whole interesting subject in itself, but I will resist.

Kay xx

'Beyond Sacred Babysitting' to hearing from God

by Kay Bowen on 18 April 2006

Barnabas, the children's branch of Bible Reading Fellowship, always seem to be thinking the same way that I am - or maybe I am thinking the same way that they do! Whatever, there is a great feature article this month on their website by Alison Harris, who is one of their workers who is particularly involved with pre school aged children. Its called Beyond Sacred Babysitting and has lots of points to think about as we consider how to have children as an integral part of the body of Christ. They are at www.barnabasinchurches.org.uk, and its the feature of the month. There is tons of stuff to read and it is my number one favourite website to point all of our kids workers to if they ask me for ideas.

I wonder increasingly how much we, the adults, miss out on some of what God intends for the whole body when we don't include and expect the children to be in touch with him and him speaking to us all through children in prophecy, dreams, words and prayer. My understanding of so much of Jesus life, his words and his works, his death and his resurrection and his ongoing presence is most tested and whittled down to what really matters when a three year old asks me a question about God. And my faith is most encouraged and built up when I spend time with people who 'hear God' - no questions asked... and they tend to peak at about three too! 

velvet elvis

by Matt Hyam on 11 April 2006

Velvet Elvis.  You just have to read it!  What a great book.  My new favourite book ever, this week.  Easy to read, funny and just so good!  Dallas Willard made easy.  NT Wright made easy.  Some great questions to think about regarding our assumptions.  Some great teaching on 1st century Jewish life that opens up understanding of confusing statements in the New Testament. 

What can I say?  If you only read one book this year, read the Bible.  If you read two then make this the second

.

insecurity

by Matt Hyam on 08 April 2006

I guess that I am going through an insecure phase at the moment - so these thoughts are coming from that place I think.

I am reading "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell at the moment.  I totally recommend that you buy a copy - even if you have to sell one of your children to do so!  I love it.  I have loved the Nooma DVDs for a long time and this book is also exceptional.  Rob Bell seems to have been wrestling many of the same questions that we are.  It is so encouraging to hear (or read) someone else articulating their similar struggles.

I have to confess though, it is so easy to be caught up in feeling jealous.  If a guy who leads a church of 10,000 says something then people take notice.  If a guy with a little church in Southampton says the same thing, he's much easier to ignore.  That is a genuine confession.  It is wrong for me to feel that way and I am just being honest.  I think that I am struggling with the whole issue of credibility and, in many ways "fear of man" at the moment. 

I have recently begun to reconnect with other pastors within the UK Vineyard who I have not seen for a long time.  Since we last had time together, their churches have grown numerically, many have nice shiny offices or even buildings and here we are still plugging away with slightly more people than we had and barely enough money to survive the year.  I need to be very clear that I am in no way criticising those who do have all these things, merely expressing my insecurity.

One of my all-time favourite songs is James, "Sit Down".   There is a great line in it - "If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor!"  That's me.  I felt / feel like we doing what the Lord is telling us.  We have a congregation of genuine disciples who are trying to be radical in the way that they live - involved with the marginalised and reaching out to those around us.  I have seen many of these people's lives turn around over the last few years.  I have seen a depth in the inward and outward journeys of our people like never before.  I love our church.  Really love it.  This is my family.  These are my friends.  I am proud of them.  I boast about them all the time.

But there is not much tangible that I can point to and say, "look what we have achieved".  We don't have many "ministries" because we get involved in what is already happening.  A lot of those coming to Christ through our ministry are not in our church and some of them we never hear about or hear about months or even years later.  We don't put on a good show on a Sunday.  We don't have any assets except an increasingly battered transit van called "Trevor" and we sure don't have any money!  And so on... But none of that matters.  Should matter. 

I know that and it is what we build of eternal significance that actually matters.  And that is an issue of obedience.  I don't want a big church.  I don't want a building.  I don't want a long list of ministries that compete with existing stuff.  I just want to serve Jesus and equip and release others to do the same.  The thing is, I get distracted by shiny things and things that I can hold in my hands. 

If you see me doing that, remind me!

Pastors conference

by Matt Hyam on 10 Mar 2006

We've just come back from this year's Vineyard Churches National Leaders' Conference (try saying that when you've been up all night with a toddler with a temperature!)  I have to say at this point that I actually enjoyed a fair bit of it and was glad that I went.  Gordon Fee was great!  I particularly enjoyed him pointing out that "there is no place for tithing in Christianity" and that the only "rule" should be generosity.  I also liked him laying into us about the narrowness of our songs with a bit too much of an emphasis on "I want this from God".  There was something satisfying about it, especially after Stuart Murray had essentially said the same things three years ago.  Sounds to me like we should avoid outside speakers!

Anyway, it is great to hear all the stuff going on in other churches and the stuff that God is doing but it is very easy to come back feeling that everyone else is doing it really well except you!  Everyone else's church is growing more; everyone else is seeing people coming to Jesus so much more; everyone else is seeing so many more people healed.  Maybe they all are.

The thing that struck me, though, is that we are a group of struggling, failing believers, struggling and periodically failing at believing, but pushing on because we love Jesus.  We are just doing the best that we can.  We are just trying to do the right things and honestly trying to be in obedience in how we are church.  In the light of that how come we allow ourselves to think that because all these things are happening to others, that we have got it wrong.

We are just one part of one part of the body.  There is something far bigger at stake here.  There is a big story that we are part of.  Why is it easier to compete with each other than to co-work?  Perhaps it is just me (which is a real possibility).

I really want to hear the stories of God's working within all the great churches in our city or the other churches in our particular flavoured family and genuinely be excited and encouraged and not feel threatened.  This is not Liverpool vs. Man Utd!  This is the kingdom of God.  This is the transformation of the world. This is the goodies beating the baddies. 

Someone once said, "it is not enough for us to succeed but others must fail"!  Actually, I said that after Liverpool and Chelski were knocked out of the champion's league, but someone else may have said it first about something else!  This whole church thing should be the opposite.  It is not enough for us to succeed others must succeed as well!

So, I'm going to try to have that attitude now!

money

by Matt Hyam on 28 Feb 2006

For four weeks we have been learning together about "money".  The main reason for this has been to enable me to insert music files into our new version of PowerPoint.  So, we have been able to play a bit of Extreme, "Money, my personal saviour"; Spinal Tap, "Gimme Some Money"; Janis Joplin, "Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz" and Abba, "Money, Money, Money" (or "Nummy nummy nummy", as Reuben - my two year old son - says).

I am convinced that if we can just get that PowerPoint presentation perfect, the Lord will return!

Anyway, that's another story.  So, we have taught on money.  It has been a learning experience for me too.  And exciting.  I used to be really excited teaching on money because I really think it is a big deal in a culture where it really is the number one god! 

Rich Nathan, a Vineyard Pastor from Columbus, Ohio, says that the way we use our money is the key indicator of our true discipleship.

Discuss!

So, my point is that at the end of this we took an offering.  The understanding was that the money would be given away but I would not say to whom because I wanted people to give as a response to God as opposed to giving to something they felt was a worthy cause.  We are a church of maybe 120 adults, 10 adolescents and around 40 children.  The offering came to just over £9000.  I am challenging you.

However, that was not the best part.  The best part is that half of the offering is to go to those in need within our church and the rest to a Christian organisation working with the poor in Southampton.  I wanted to reflect the priorities shown by the church in Acts (2 and 4).  I have been in a position this week to write (or supervise the writing of) cheques to people in our church who are really struggling and it is SO GOOD! We have been able to give people enough money that it will actually make a significant difference to them. 

I like this game!

Surely it is more blessed to give than to receive!

Now, if I can just get the perfect Power Point presentation, we'll be there!

god is closer than you think

by Matt Hyam on 21 Feb 2006

I have just finished reading John Ortberg's book - "God is Closer than you Think".  What a great book!  I laughed out loud on several occasions whilst reading it on the train.  I found it inspiring, easy to read, honest, challenging and, as I mentioned, funny. 

I have read a few of his books now with  mixed thoughts.  On the whole, I have felt as though he repeats himself a lot, he repeats himself a lot!  (ha ha!).  He has a tendency to restate the same point in several different ways throughout each chapter, leaving me wondering whether the books could be a third of the length that they are!  I am a nuts and bolts kind of person - get to the point, that's me!  However, it should be said that a number of people love his books for precisely this reason - they find him restating things in different ways to be a helpful method of teaching.  Fair enough!

So, I didn't get on too well with "If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat", for two reasons.  One, as a water-skier, this seems fairly obvious to me; and two, because it did feel as though, once you've read the title then you don't actually need to read anymore.  Many. many others disagree with me!

It took me a long time to pick up any of his other books, because of this one, but I am VERY glad that I did.  I really liked "The Life You've Always Wanted" - it really does sum up Dallas Willard in a way that is understandable - something that I have always thought was important in teaching!  I wish that the title was a bit less "self" focussed, but apart from that, it was a really good book.

Next I read, "Everyone's Normal Till You Get to Know Them" and if "The Life..." was a 7/10, then this was an 8.5/10.  I really enjoyed it!

However, I would give "God is Closer..." 9/10.  I really, really enjoyed it - more than I have enjoyed a book for a long time.  I scribbled notes all over it and have mentally (and physically) prepared several talks from it already (and I only read it last week!)

So, for what it is worth.  Great book.  Give it a go!  I'm sure Amazon will give you a refund if you don't like it!

web guru

by Duncan House on 07 Feb 2006

I thought it only fitting that our first thought should be a nod to Dominic our web guru. He has designed and built this site in all its groovy cleverness and we salute him for his hardwork and craftsmanship, however, he cannot be blamed for any of the content.

If you have a problem and no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can HIRE (for money people, the man has to eat) Dominic Winsor.