Ambushed by God
Someone wrote in an email to me the other day a word of thanks for all the wonders of the gospel that I take such pleasure in teaching and conveying to them. I love the expression ‘the wonders of the gospel’; I make ample use of it because it captures something of the awesomeness of God’s work in Christ. The gospel is objectively beautiful, who Jesus is, what God did and does in Christ, redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness, righteousness, ah, it is all an absolute marvel and defies description. And we need to think on it until it changes our perception of reality and my job is to bring people to that point, not just happy in being saved, but aware of and deeply moved and changed by the nature of God and His purpose.
Yet in preaching all this, I cannot but wonder who benefits the most, my hearers or I? I do not generally ‘preach to myself’, as I have often heard preachers say, and might even say on occasion myself. As a rule Read more
A beautiful profession
I walked up to the ticket counter to ask directions to my hotel. Little did I know that I was about to be called to reflect on my chosen calling. The man behind the glass separation commented on my cross by saying ‘you are a believer aren’t you, I can tell from your cross’. Yes, I answered. He proceeded to tell me there was a church in the vicinity, a world famous cathedral. Then he wanted to know if I sang in church from time to time, ‘no’ I said ‘I am not a singer, I am a pastor’.
A few seconds of silence as he pondered the likelihood of this figure before him being a person of the cloth. Breaking his stunned silence, he remarked ‘it’s a beautiful profession’. Hm, thought I, I had never quite thought of it in such terms before. ‘You must meet a lot of people’ he said, ‘yes’, I replied, ‘but I am sure you meet more’, thinking of the thousands who buy train tickets every single day. How I would love to have all those show up in church.
He was not done. Read more
How do you do it?
Yet again someone asked me ‘how do you do it?’ ‘ do you ever get to sleep?’. Of course I do sleep, but I understand the question. In church people ask ‘how do you do it?’ at work ( I am bi-vocational) people ask ‘how do you do it?’. The inference is that it is too much for one person. But in actual fact though it is a lot of work, it is not too much, it is only a matter of shifting mindsets and adjusting our assumptions of how our life should be and what we are supposed to do with our time.
Yet I recognize that in the eyes of many what has now become natural to me would seem like a big deal, it did once in mine. But I cannot and I think those who work with me (who are also bi-vocational) cannot take any credit for any of it. It is just something that happens in you when God brands you and works on you, when God touches you. I watch the people around me and see how they begin to change as God Read more
Speaking life – with life
Reading Romans the other day it occurred to me that had the apostles penned the New Testament in the same tone in which we often preach it, it would not have survived two readings. Many a sermon is intoned in dry monotony borne of even drier scholarship. The scriptures were on the contrary penned with passion, with feeling; even the eminently theological and Christological dissertation in Romans carries zeal, fire, logic yes but overwhelming passion.
Indeed the epistle pulsates with the apostle’s passion for the marvel of redemption, the centrality of Christ and the astounding power of faith in Christ to effect salvation where the law despite its many provisions falls woefully short. He waxes forth on the subject of his own people the Jews and their position in God’s plan. He enjoins the church to right living borne of gratitude for the awesome work of the cross.
Logic, truth, heart, feeling, emotion, passion all combine in the epistles to portray a picture of people who felt deeply about the things of God; people who were absolutely convinced of the veracity of God’s truth in Christ, people who took radical stands for the gospel and who communicated it with all their vigour, energy, spirit, passion and being. And each letter carries that heat and that fire. Consequently, they must be preached as they were written, with logic, and with passion, fire, hope, joy, tears, with life; ‘the words of this life’ spoken with life.
Might I add, the same goes for any communication of the gospel. What God is, what God did in Christ utterly beggars description, so when His people speak of it, in any context, over dinner with friends, at work, out in the streets, how can it not be with the same passion, animation, joy with which we would have it preached from the pulpit? How you feel about and speak of Jesus will most likely be the catalyst for people’s interest before they get round to examining the content of the message. I pray for passion all the time, to be so overwhelmed by the beauty of the gospel that i will speak it as I ought.
Shalom!
Leadership, the future (part 2)
To read the first part of this article LEADERSHIP, THE FUTURE (CLICK HERE)
Part 2
3. – Today’s leader must be able to cope with the changes that science and technology are spreading, especially communications.
This is a big one for Christian leaders. We must adapt, adjust and integrate new technologies into our way of leading and doing ministry.
In terms of communication, the church embraced radio, television, in many quarters, it is embracing the internet, youtube, the ipod, blogging, videoblogging, webstreaming, twitter, facebook. This is key because ministry is about communication. Our communication tools must be finely tuned and honed to maximize available technology in presenting the gospel .
Yet questions invariably arise. Forms may change, but content must be preserved. The challenge is precisely that.
- How do we embrace change without watering down the gospel or stifling the work of the Spirit?
- When you stream your services online, how much self censorship is there, what gets said, and what does not get said?
- Are you tempted to bend over backward to use inclusive language, to gloss over the sharp edges of the gospel to avoid offending?
Leaders need to ask these questions. As it is, too many webstreamed services either look like gospel concerts or self help seminars.
Another aspect of communication is the rapid spread of ideas. As our world rapidly evolves, we must be abreast of the changes in mindset, in attitudes, some positive, some negative and be in a position to respond and provide an alternative discourse. The gospel is the answer to the human condition but to answer people’s questions, we must know what those questions are, know the underlying issues that will condition their response to our message.
Leadership, the future
The perennial question of leadership never fails to engage our hearts and our minds. The Wall Street Journal reports on a leadership seminar organized by Oxford University’s Said Business School in the Cabinet War Rooms to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s first government. In leadership, secular or spiritual, the same questions arise, what makes a good leader and are good leaders made or born?
The conference brought together 50 major leaders to reflect on leadership. The ideas mooted are not novel, yet edifying and worth attention. And more so now that leadership development has finally been recognized by the church as key to church growth and kingdom expansion, on par, almost, with prayer and evangelism.
In the next few blog entries, I shall be looking at some of the issues relating tof leadership and leaders that emerged from the forum and examining how they may apply to leadership in church and ministry.
The radical changes in our times now require a new form of leadership.
- ‘Today’s leader must Read more
AUTHOR
pastor bola olivia ogedengbe,
The Theophilus Company,
ABBA HOUSE, Paris,
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