An early Saxon church. Will we see rival in our day?

In the 1980’s we saw an upsurge of faith that there was going to be a revival of Christianity in the nation. This seemed to be very closely linked with the preparation for Mission England, which was likely to be one of Billy Graham’s last visits. The rise of expectation certainly had results in new life being expressed in the church and people making commitments to Christian Discipleship.

However revival did not happen in the measure and way that was expected. Those of you who were around the church at that time may well remember the prophecies about a gigantic wave of revival blessing that would hit this nation. People would become Christians because of the conviction that would result from these moves of the Holy Spirit.

In the 1990’s expectation was beginning to wane and then came what was called the Toronto Blessing. Whilst many people were blessed and their spiritual life deepened, it also caused division and mistrust between those who ‘had’ it and those who saw it as ‘wacky’.

Only in some areas did this phenomena reach beyond the borders of church. Apart from the Pensacola Revival there was very little effect on evangelism. I do appreciate that this is a generalisation but it certainly was not quite the revival that we envisioned in the 1980’s.

In this post-Toronto period, what is the Spirit saying to the Churches? Can we see the glimmer of a revival appearing on the horizon, and can we discover the passion and expectation to experience it again?

Like Elijah I see a cloud the size of a person’s hand appearing on the horizon. Look and listen, discover it and pursue it and prepare yourself for what is to come. If we are to see revival we need to take note of the following.

• We need to be patient and persistent in our prayers. Remember Abraham and Sarah had to wait many years before they received the child they had been promised.
• Pray for people in the churches to rediscover a passion for prayer and that he will raise up more intercessors.
• The nature of faith is that we are not put off by the negative circumstances that we see around us but rather focus on the vision of what we are praying for. If we are praying for revival then we need to keep that in mind.

When we look around the nation there seems to be much in the way of encouragement. There is an array of Christian organisations and prayer groups. Some of the churches particularly in the south have grown quite large. However we do not seem to be influencing society, which is becoming more secular and anti-Christian. Also many of the laws being passed are anti-Christian and standards of morality are being undermined.

We need to ask ourselves what is the prophetic word to the church in this nation, and can we still hear the still small voice of the spirit speaking in our hearts?

I believe that God is telling us to pray like we have never prayed before. All revivals are born in prayer and if we are to see our nation healed I believe the Spirit would prompt us to rediscover the roots of spiritual power. Before the Welsh revivals many people gathered together for prayer and pleaded for God’s blessing. The nature of this prayer was one of heart-felt anguish.

Let us reflect for a moment on the ministry of Jesus. He was very much a man of action. He was a healer and a teacher and travelled around from place to place. The gospels reveal to us the source of his power. In Mark’s gospel we read that before he chose the disciples he went up into the hills to pray. Behind his ministry lay the secret life of prayer.

However the art of prayer goes beyond the ability to express ourselves to God. It is the fruit of a life lived in his presence. Remind yourself during the day that God is with you and enjoy relating to him as a friend.When we do this other people begin to notice and sense Gods presence within us.

Some time ago the British Isles has been covered with a cloud of volcanic ash and this brought the aeroplanes to a standstill. I am not suggesting that God has created this, but many of us feel that there is a spiritual cloud over this nation that prevents the church from taking off and doing the greater things that Jesus promised.

What is it that caused this spiritual cloud of volcanic ash? In the same way that ‘system clutter’ causes a computer to slow down, so lives lived carelessly have caused ‘system clutter’ in the spiritual realms. It is always good to examine ourselves and repent of anything wrong we have done. If we do this we will live more fruitful lives.

It is important that we rediscover out passion for prayer and I have a vision to see individuals, twos, threes, groups and churches devoting themselves to praying for revival. I have a hunch that the next wave of the Spirit is going to be a prayer revival. A release in prayer gives birth to prayer; and more prayer releases a further increase in prayer, in which every wave also bears fruit in practical ministry terms.

I am not saying that we don’t need leaders and people who are prepared to serve God in practical ways, but at this moment in time we all need to set time aside to seek the Lord in prayer.

It is easy to think that we have heard it before – and we probably have – but we can always be persistent. It is said that many people fail before they finally set up a successful business and just because we are disappointed once it doesn’t mean that it will always be the same.

The Lord loves a persistent prayer so let us pray a revival into being. This is an aim worth pursuing.

The article says that evangelists at these camps manipulate young minds by “wild oration” that aims to wear down the resistance of the audience.This it claims culminates in the centre point of such meetings: the altar call. Note the sensational use of language used in this article. I think it verges on being a wild oration itself!

The writer also says “After having their emotions softened, hypnotic music typically sounds out in subdued lighting as youngsters are urged to come to the front and give their lives to Christ. None of any of this is fair to teens: young people have a right to choose their religious beliefs without being subjected to strategies that emotionally exploit them.”

I certainly think it is important that Christian ministries respect the right of every individual to choose their own faith and beliefs and refrain from using heavy arguments in order to bolster up their position. God respects the freewill of every individual and so should we. However these accusations in my opinion are greatly exaggerated. I have attended a number of camps in the past and have not seen manipulation of this kind. The article fails to draw on any research or any experience on the part of the writer.

Also I detect beneath the surface of this type of article a desire to impose a secular viewpoint upon people with the fervour of any evangelist. There is a strong anti-supernatural bias that expresses itself in scepticism regarding the possibility of divine healing. Also it is easy to reject the doctrine of blessings and cursing but this way of thinking is readily taken for granted in other parts of the world. The article seems to assume that the humanistic, secular mind-set of western society is the gauge by which we judge the truth. However if our thinking is to be objective we need to be able to look at the other person’s point of view and do justice to the other person’s point of view. Many of the statements based in this article seemed to be based on presumption and ignorance.

Is the secular humanist mind-set the pillar of truth and does it have a clean record on human rights? I am not saying that all secular humanists are responsible but we have only to look at the history of the 20th century with its wars and revolutions to see that it has no claim to the moral high ground which this type of article seems to assume. The revolutions in Russia and China and the millions who died in Stalin’s purges were all driven by a secular humanist world view. Also the two world wars were not the result of religion, but were rather motivated by fear, politics and greed. Religion is not the cause of wars although sometimes people have committed atrocities under its guise.

In a polarized world we can all point the finger at those who think differently but if we are to live together harmoniously we need to firstly examine our own faults and be prepared to debate respectfully with others. Also we need to discern our presuppositions and seek to build relationships.

This week David Cameron expressed the view that the recent outbursts of violence have been the result of moral decay and many have suggested that we need to teach the young about right and wrong. Sceptics are quick to point out the perceived faults of the Christian Church but miss the positive influence it has had on society. The abolition of the slave trade, education for all, and respect for the sanctity of human life all have their roots in the Christian tradition. Christianity also offers hope for the future in that it provides a moral framework for people to live by in contrast to the moral decay described above. Many people’s lives have been changed as a result of becoming a Christian and often they have experienced deliverance from a life of crime and addiction. This is better than anything the world has to offer. Why knock it?

Read the article

The question I want to pose is whether competition is necessary for personal motivation. Is it competition rather than love the makes the world go round?

I think it is important that we make a distinction between serious competition and good sportsmanship. There is nothing wrong with playing a game to win but it is also necessary to learn to lose with dignity. Perhaps something I need to learn when I am playing chess! Sometimes football teams give a bad example by acting like prima donnas and even crying when they lose.

It would be very difficult to have a society where there was no competition at all. There are always winners and losers at every job interview and we deceive ourselves if we think this is not the case. However there is an aggressive type of competitiveness where colleagues step on each other’s toes and this is being encouraged as a means of motivating us to achieve.

The Christian world is not immune and competition is often encouraged even in our colleges and ministries. However aggressive competition is based on ‘me asserting myself over somebody else’ and this is not an ethic of the Kingdom of God. Aggressive competition was a feature of the Roman Empire and Jesus turned this attitude on its head – for example, guests should choose a lowliest seat, not promoting themselves to the place of honour, (Luke 14 v 7) and that the greatest in the Kingdom of God were to be the servant of all. (Matthew 23 v 11)

Jesus taught that a person needed to be born again and transformed into a someone who loves God and other people. This passion to serve God and to love others should be a key to self-motivation. True we are to love ourselves, but this should be held in check by our responsibility to God and others.

I attended a Church of England school, and we were taught that it was our duty to help others and make a selfless contribution to society. A sense of responsibility was encouraged, that we should be motivated by altruism. In recent years, competition has taken over as the chief source of motivation, based on getting ‘what I want’.

A key biblical teaching is that we are all made in the image of God (see Genesis 1) and according to Pauline teaching there is no slave or free in Christ. In other words egalitarianism is the underlying philosophy in the Bible. That is not to say that some people won’t do better than others when it comes to creating wealth or being endowed with talents but everybody is equally important and we should always seek to encourage everybody to fulfil the potential that they have. This is something that needs to be applied in our schools, colleges and even theological institutions.

Is there any place for competition, and how do we understand Paul’s imagery on competing in a race, which he borrowed from the competitive world of the Greek games? What does Paul mean when he says, “I press on towards the goal”? The race referred to here is not a race against others but rather a race to win the prize and achieve the best we can for God. Paul isn’t saying that we should compete with him to be an apostle but rather whatever our calling we should strive to be the best that we can to please God and to help others. When these aims become our overriding passion we will discover that we can all do great things.

For more articles on the topic of motivation – See my other Blog http://karllongworth.com

However a closer look at the bible suggests that there is a female side to the nature of God. The Bible tells us that mankind was made in the image of God and that he created them both male and female. A thoughtful interpretation of these verses suggests that maleness and femininity both express aspects of the nature of God that together we should reflect the nature of God.

In the past men have seen themselves as superior and this has expressed itself in the domination of women. At the other end of the spectrum feminists have sometimes done the same. The resulting battle of the sexes has encouraged both sides to emphasise their distinctions and miss the point that male and female differences are meant to complement each another. It is in the coming together of men and women in the Church that we can reflect a fuller expression of the nature of God. Galatians 3v28 says that there is no male or female in Christ Jesus. We are all equal before God.

There are more metaphors in scripture that allude to the feminine side of God than we realise. We read in the Bible that the ‘Spirit of God hovered over the waters’. (In the Hebrew it suggests in a feminine manner). There are other examples of God behaving in a feminine way. Jesus as son of God wept over Jerusalem as a mother would weep over her child. He also used the metaphor of a mother hen gathering her chicks.

Also
• God is portrayed in the bible as one who gives birth – Isaiah 44v2 almost portrays God as a mother.
• God cares for his people and nurtures them
• God ‘is tender and compassionate’
• God cares for the weak and oppressed

These are just some aspects of God’s nature that are considered to be traditionally feminine. However that does not mean that they can’t be found in men.

The truth is that we are meant to learn from each other and together express the nature of God, rather than seeking to develop and express our distinctions, or our superiority. It doesn’t mean that we can never have a women’s or men’s meeting in church but if we do we must always have a high view of the other sex and avoid stereotyping.

Biblical commands are nearly always gender inclusive. True there are some that reflect the culture of the times such as women being encouraged to be silent in church, but the majority of instructions in the New Testament are to be followed by both men and women. We often think of assertiveness and and confrontation as masculine character traits but when we look at some of the women in the Bible they were equally tough as any of the men. Mary the mother of Jesus was prepared to suffer false accusations in order to fulfil her mission of bearing a child. Women were present at the crucifixion when the men kept their distance. In the Acts of the Apostles we read of Priscilla being active in the Lord’s service, and many of the early Christian women were martyred. They had to be tough along with the men. In the same way men are encouraged to exercise the fruit of the Holy Spirit, including gentleness just as much as women.

It is important that our lives and beliefs reflect the inclusive nature of the scripture. The bible is God’s chosen way of challenging some of our most cherished views and assumptions and we need to look at what the scripture is actually saying and bring our thinking in line with its teaching. When we look beneath the surface feminism is indeed biblical – in the sense that equality is biblical. It reflects the heart of God towards all people – both women and men.

On one website I read that ‘nice people’ pull back from confrontation, give a weak handshake and prefer quiche to good red meat! Where on earth do they get this viewpoint from? It is certainly not what I understand about niceness. Personally I have known a number of people I would consider as ‘nice’ in that they have always wanted the best for others but they have been anything but soft.One of these people was a leader in the church I attend. He worked tirelessly for the Lord, by trade was a manual worker, and cared for others even when he was in considerable pain with cancer. This sort of caring is hardly weak and he was certainly no soft touch despite his ‘niceness’.

It may come as a surprise to some that niceness in fact can be very costly. Recently I have read about a number of voluntary workers who have gone to other countries to help people in need and have been shot, assassinated and even tortured. Nobody can dispute that these people are nice but their niceness was very costly.

Many Christians are familiar with the story of Jim Elliot and the group of missionaries that went to Ecuador in order to convert the indigenous people. They were murdered by the tribe’s people, and yet their wives went out to show love and concern for them. Surely these people were ‘nice’ and far beyond, but it was a niceness tempered with steel, not some weak and soppy virtue.

I have heard people say that being nice is not one of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. However if we seek goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and loving kindness etc. surely niceness involves all these things! The question we need to ask is whether being nice is contrary to an assertive approach or confrontation with another person or group of people. In other words do we have to be soft in order to be nice? Surely you cannot be truly nice unless you are prepared to confront injustice, and stand up for your own rights or the rights of other people – whatever the cost. What counts is the attitude behind it. Does it seek the good of the other person and is it motivated by love?.

I was just in the process of writing this blog when I discovered a book in a local shop called ‘The Power of Nice’. It shows you how to use kindness to achieve in the business world. Let’s face it – who supports a business where the staff are not nice? The author also quotes an example of a new employee who arrived in his office. Every day he greeted colleagues with a friendly smile and personal respect, and his happy approach transformed the atmosphere in the whole office. Everybody appreciates people being nice.

As it happens, the main reason we started to attend our present church, was because we were made to feel so welcome, and everyone was so friendly and nice! It was a nice place to be, surrounded by nice people. Niceness builds churches!

But maybe as Christians we are called to not only be nice, but to go much, much further. If a person is following Jesus Christ and seeking to live out the fruits of the Holy Spirit then yes, he or she is nice but is also called to transcend it. Being nice is a required basic biblical principle and rather than avoiding it we should go for it with passion and determination. God doesn’t just want us to be nice but he wants us to be more than nice – he wants us to be people who love God and love others, and all that involved in that – even including niceness!

Recently people have challenged the so-called ‘feminisation of the church’ brought about by the growing influence of women. They say that men don’t come to church because we sing love songs to Jesus and value ‘feminine’ virtues such as love, faithfulness and peace. Also I heard someone mimic so-called ‘feminised’ men who do office jobs and not ‘real men’s’ work. Apparently a ‘real man’ is somebody who likes sport, does DIY, and has a somewhat aggressive attitude. I wish all this was exaggerated, but I have heard it from speakers, in magazines and on various websites.

This is an alarming misunderstanding of the nature of God and the people he has created. It fails to relate the gospel to the nature of the modern world. It also fails to address the issue of why many men don’t go to church. It is ultimately an attempt to put back the clock and it betrays a reluctance to move forward and meet the needs of today’s society.

For years Christianity has played down and suppressed the role of women and the recent changes have gone somewhere towards redressing the balance. No wonder so many men are throwing their teddies out of the pram at the suggestion! Women played an important part in the early Christian community and it is thought by many theologians that they were then side-lined by men. Throughout history the church has interpreted Christianity from a male perspective and women were regarded by many (including Matthew Henry) as second class citizens.

What about the arguments regarding the culture of the church? Some of these arguments sound plausible till we start thinking more deeply. How many men who don’t come to church actually know that we sometimes sing love songs to Jesus? And are the differences between male and female characteristics as clear cut as they would like to imagine? Do all men like football and all women go gooey over babies? Of course not – we are all different! I have recently seen an advert for a beer firm claiming it sponsors ‘real men’s TV’. However what are the qualities that define a real man? Sometimes it takes courage to go against popular culture – as is expressed in the comment, ‘Are you man enough to wear pink?’ Some of our best-loved celebrities are not always traditional male stereotypes – particularly in the realm of art and culture. Even in science we can be forgiven for thinking that Einstein was a geek!

How does all this ‘pseudo-machismo’ make the man feel who is ridiculed for having a more feminine tone of voice, or just happens to like more sedentary pursuits like reading? Isn’t he now alienated? Or perhaps we only want to fill the church with a certain style of man – the ones who can repair the plumbing or fix the roof, not the ones who can write poetry or sing love songs to Jesus? Isn’t this just as exclusive?

Recently I read a story about a Christian Men’s group. They locked themselves inside a room to discuss the feminisation of the church. (Why locked? were they frightened of their wives, or of other opinions?) They came to the conclusion that there was nothing worse than being ‘a nice man’. Virtues like goodness, gentleness, self-control and turning the other cheek were quoted as being feminine and that Christians were becoming soft due to the influence of women. But hold on a minute! The last time I read the Bible, these ethics were listed as fruit of the Holy Spirit, and as such, should be sought after by all Christian believers, regardless of gender. Jesus himself was the one who instructed his disciples to turn the other cheek. Are they suggesting he was feminised???

When we look at the Bible we see that God loves variety and chooses to use many different types of people. On the one hand we could see the apostle Paul as a fairly typical male. He was determined, focused and sometimes even pig-headed. On the other hand we see the gentleness of a man like Barnabas who the Bible describes as an encourager. Perhaps he too was feminised! It might be noted, too, that it was the women who stayed with Jesus at the crucifixion when the men ran away. Toughness is required of all believers, irrespective of gender, particularly in times and seasons of hardship and persecution.

I do wonder how some of these ‘real men’ would cope if they actually found themselves lost in a jungle, or washed up on a desert island! I doubt if many 21st century city dwellers would survive that well, however much they love football! The truth is that sex stereotyping binds people and puts them into boxes. We are different because God loves diversity. We should be free to be ourselves.

The sad thing is that this debate still fails to address the issue of how to encourage men into church and into the Christian faith. Yes we do need to reach out to men who have a macho view of life – but not just them. We need to appreciate the diversity of maleness in the church and encourage and equip men to reach out to others with whom they can relate and communicate. No one personality type is perfect but we can all learn from each other. Also, we must preach a gospel that involves repentance – and some aspects of the macho life, such as the repression of women, need to be repented of! Furthermore, we cannot change the scriptures to court popularity with stereotypical males, or any other sector of society for that matter. Whatever background or world view we come from, we have to be prepared to bring our thinking and understanding of life in line with the ethics of God’s Kingdom, and under his rule.

Please feel free to add your comments to this debate. Whether you agree or not, please show respect for people with other opinions.