Against the tide, slideshare version. 050214

Against The TideHow to take people with you.

John 17:15I’m not asking that you take them out of the

worldBut that you guard them from the Evil One.They are no more defined by the worldThan I am defined by the world.Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;Your word is consecrating truth.In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,I give them a mission in the world.

Introduction:

First Involvement in CEE

When I first got involved with CEE via Dr Michael Smith and Dr Howard I thought I could take a lot of people with me and went around the UK talking about Christian Education to a great many multi-denominational audiences.

I was happy on the one count

no one asked me my qualifications even though the meeting was often peppered with head masters and teachers, I had my answer prepared but never had to use it.  I was going to boast about my colouring competition certificate for road safety

I was disappointed howeverand the impression I got from those many 'Christian' audiences was that, if the choice for their children was one of going to university or knowing God, then university won every time.

So for me, ‘taking peoplewith me’ is not a very easy process.

Desertions and successes

I find some solace in the fact that all of Jesus’ disciples, at one stage, ran away.  

For the path we are called to is not an easy one.

It is topsy-turvy in terms of values to the values of this world.

The ValuesDo good to those who are using you badly

Love your enemiesBe kind to those who hurt you.

 And so on.

SuccessThere are those too, and I take great encouragement

from them.Paul... Still with us running the schoolWe have just started a new school in the North of Sri

Lanka and the new head of the school was on our training with Bridget earlier in the year, she brought me a photo and said do you know who this is  - I said yes its me, she said not you, you daft thing, the one you are holding, the baby was her she now heads up our new school. So yes, we can take encouragement from such happenings, and there are many.

The Point – Against the Tide – Citizens of another KingdomWho are we?To what are we called?

What should be number one in our lives?

' seek first the Kingdom’

The Kingdom is not the church and the church is not the kingdom.

The Kingdom was there always

before the church

It is the job of the individual and the church to seek The Kingdom first.

The Kingdom is not something we receive when we die.

The Kingdom is reachable right now to you and me.

To pull down into our time, space, world.

Luke 10:9“When you enter a town and are

received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’

Jesus was always pulling down Kingdom, ‘your sins are forgiven you’, ‘rise up and walk’, 'the kingdom of God is amongst you’.

The KingdomGod has left us here to seek his

kingdom.What does the kingdom look like?RightnessPeaceJusticeWholenessIn your right Mind – right thinking

So My Point is...I want to keep looking for the KingdomI want to find people who will be Kingdom PeopleI think that we need sometimes to compel them

to come to the party much like the Lord did when he threw a party and someone had bought a cow others had got married and still others  had bought a field that needed

looking at Do fields look so different? I don't know I am from

the city.

By the Way we are often seeking the Church rather than the Kingdom. This quote from Howard Snyder is a useful summary:The challenge is therefore to be kingdom-minded. “The

church gets into trouble whenever it thinks it is in the church business rather than the Kingdom business. In the church business, people are concerned with church activities, religious behaviour and spiritual things. In the Kingdom business, people are concerned with Kingdom activities, all human behaviour and everything God has made, visible and invisible. Church people think about how to get people into the church, kingdom people think about how to get the kingdom into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church, Kingdom people work to see the church change the world!”

Someone has also said, “The Kingdom is a dynamic greater than the church. If you pursue the church you won’t find the Kingdom, but if you pursue the Kingdom you will find the church.” Simon Markham

There are lots of 'God fearing’ people out there, who maybe do not know Jesus but would follow him if only they did.... Denomination took all that I had and were supposed to be my

brothers and sisters. Couple of stories on Muslims Muslim and Hindu contract ripped up released me . Muslim Imam and Jesus is my Lord and saviour Last week wedding of Muslim friend... sat me next to the leader of

the local mosque women in one room men in the other.  He said to me this is not Islam this is culture, not my culture but I don’t come from their county..

I asked him so tell me about Allah, well he said  I need to tell you I often don’t tell people I am a Muslim because that puts me in a box, but he said when you really talk about God that sends a shiver down my spine and I want to know him.....

I often would not tell people I am a Christian as I don’t want to fit in their box,

God does not fit in a box yours or anyone else’s. Sri Lanka. box story

When you seek the Kingdom you change things...We need to change thingsOur culturesTo do that we need to get involved to

understand - hsbc -in but not off...What paper do you read?Change the culture of the people you

are with and then they will come with you .. hopefully not just some of the way but all of the way.

To change the culture – PoliticsEducationalMedia advertising

Arts entertainment.Business

These are the cultural areas we need to engage

We need to understand the culture

we need to engage the culture –

Get our hands dirty...

Sometimes it means being misunderstood

You are a Kingdom Person – The kingdom is there for you to pull down

Sometimes though you might feel like my Alien Friend

The Race to the EndWe are in a raceThe race is not to be the fastest but to

be the reliable consistent sustaining one2 Thessalonians 3:13Amplified Bible (AMP)13 And as for you, brethren, do not

become weary or lose heart in doing right [but continue in well-doing without weakening].

Against The TideCEE Educators Conference

November 2013Adrian L Hawkes