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Tuesday, June 4, 1968: the California presidential primary. As day breaks Robert Kennedy arrives at the Ambassador Hotel; he’ll campaign, then speak to supporters at midnight. To capture the texture of the late 1960s, we see vignettes at the hotel: a couple marries so he can avoid Vietnam, kitchen staff discuss race and baseball, a man cheats on his wife, another is fired for racism, a retired hotel doorman plays chess in the lobby with an old friend, a campaign strategist’s wife needs a pair of black shoes, two campaign staff trip on LSD, a lounge singer is on the downhill slide and turns to alcohol.
Through it all, we see and hear Robert Kennedy calling for a better society and a better nation.
Two weeks ago TCH South View watched ‘Bobby’ and afterwards had a short discussion about it. And what did the film present to us? Read the rest of this entry »
Just read this from a prominent and well respected evangelical leader, whom I have personally benefitted from many times…
“Now as churches grow they cross a point of viability… this is the point when they can pay for themselves… here [in the UK] [it] might be £60-70 000. This is the point at which you can afford to pay a minister, run a church building/hall, minister’s accomodation and some secreterial help.”
Do churches really need to reach this point to be ‘viable’? Will we really be able to plant the churches we need to plant, especially in impoverished areas, if we take this line?
Was this what the apostle Paul had in mind when he planted churches and wanted to see them become ‘viable’?
Writing on the principle of ‘church is an extended family’ (see 1 Tim 3:14-15) Tim Chester and Steve Timmis note regarding our difficulty with living this out in our churches;
“Perhaps the problem is our image of the ideal family: father, mother, 2.4 children, mortgage and a Mondeo. Complete, self-contained and – all too often – self-absorbed. The problem with ‘family-first’ comes when our notion of family is too narrow. Families in Israel were very different. They spanned generations and they included slaves. They offered immigrants a place of belonging. And their boundaries were blurred: clan, tribe, even the nation itself could be viewed as a family. And that is what church is to be like: inter-generational and inclusive; a place of belonging and identity; both local and global.”
(Taken from The Gospel-centred Church p. 73)
If there are any of my South African friends reading this, especially Sihle, I’d really value your comments with regard to your context. From what Sihle describes the context of Soweto sounds much more like that of Israel with an identity of wider family. How does 1 Timothy 3:14-15 work out in that context? How does it encourage things in your culture/challenge things in the culture?
This is a quote from Tim Chester’s blog. I thought I’d include it here because it’s an interesting and helpful ‘outsider’ view on the planting I’m involved in with Steve Timmis…
“I was chatting to Steve Timmis yesterday about the church he leads. Unlike most of the churches in the Crowded House network, it meets in a building. It is planting out three household churches this year – the second this coming Sunday. At the same time it keeps on growing and it is growing mainly through people inviting their unbelieving friends. This growth is great, but presents its own headaches. The Crowded House is committed to growing churches by planting churches rather than creating large congregations. So this growth means we are always trying to find leaders so churches can be planted. Steve has developed a group of leaders and structure in which they can be supported so three congregations can be planted. But already he is having to think from where the next leaders will come. Maybe, I thought, we should give up and live with the fact that this congregation is going to be large. But, even as a look of horror spread of Steve’s face, I realised that church planting and missional church must go together. This church is growing and people are inviting friends precisely because it has a commitment to continual church planting.
I[t] struck [me] that one of the links between the two is that if you are not committed to church planting then you have already said ‘No’ to significant change. And that signals, or perhaps even creates, a church culture in which mission is not the number one priority. You have already decided to maintain the status quo. And a maintenance mentality will always dampen mission. Mission requires us to live with change; to live on the edge.”
Here’s a moving piece by John Piper…
Last night we had the pleasure of hearing from Sihle Mooi who is from Soweto, South Africa. He’s returning next week to plant a church in Soweto – a vital work in a place where there are few, if any Bible believing churches. He has a big heart and a deep voice! check out when Sihle taught us a Zulu song, or as Steve Timmis put it… the Night TCH South View murdered Zulu culture… a little harsh I thought!
