simply christian

Remember when I used to do this religiously? Those were the days.

I’ve just started reading a book by Tom Wright called Simply Christian. I got two paragraphs into the introduction and had to stop and contemplate on it for the rest of the day. It was the following sentence that caught my eye;

“I have explored four areas of contemporary concern: the longing for justice, the quest for spirituality, the hunger for relationships, and the delight in beauty.

Wright goes on to suggest that none, on their own, can do anything more than enable us to deduce that the world is a strange and exciting place. Can I then assume that together they point to something beyond the world? Yes, I think I can.

I can’t help but think that Wright sums up, very well, the longing of all mankind and found myself wondering if that is what we offer people through our churches; a place to fight injustice, a place to explore spirituality, a place to find relationships, and a place where we can experience and delight in beauty? If that is the only thing that I get out of this book, it was worth picking up.

I also just finished up a book that Becca passed on called Killing Yourself to Live. It was written by Chuck Klosterman and is basically his narrative of driving across the U.S. seeking out the locations where different rock stars have died. In it he discusses past and present relationships and manages to compare each, and all of the circumstances surrounding them, to different albums, songs, and even lyrics from rock n’ roll. Very interesting and entertaining read.

I don’t ask for prayer much on this blog, but I will share one prayer request with you tonight. In recent months, things have finally begun to get pretty interesting at our project in Tottenham. Muslim parents have begun getting involved in different daytime activities, a Russian church planter has asked to use our facilities to start a Russian speaking church, and over 300 Polish people walked through our building this past Saturday afternoon, just to name a few. Sadly, however, we are well short on funding. Well short to say the least. So short, in fact, that we are actually having to discuss the very real possibility of closing our doors. We could really use your prayers right now. I’m not one to exaggerate the potential of a church plant. I’ve been a part of several church plants throughout the course of my life and ministry, and I think that I am very willing to admit when one isn’t working or, at the very least, isn’t showing a whole lot of promise. That is not the case with our project in Tottenham. While we have enjoyed support from the local school system and many local families since our start a little over two years ago, we are only now beginning to see a real influx from the community and many local agencies. We are beginning to talk about real programming opportunities with the local police. We have just started up English and computer classes for the local immigrant community. And we have found a new and very viable target population within the Polish who have recently started taking over our neighborhood. Now seems like an awful time to have to stop. Plus, on a more personal note, Jamie and I have really fallen in love with the ministry. So your prayers would be greatly appreciated. And, if you happen to be rich, donations wouldn’t be a bad thing either.