Where There’s Blayze

What does it mean to be a disciple of God? What does it mean to give over your life to Christ? What does that do to your life? For those of you who may read those questions and hope to see a conclusive answer within this blog entry, then I am sorry to say that you will be dissapointed. After studying at Cliff for three years I have come to learn that these things do not have simple answers, and although there are umbrella answers that can be applied to these questions, the reality of them will differ depending on the individual. Having said that, I do believe that the body of Church (in my opinion) does not reflect critically enough on these questions and instead allow themselves to be taken in by the postmodern mindview of the day. I believe this can be seen through how the established Church has and has not adapted in the last one hundred years. I cant honestly say that I feel I know any better, but I do feel as individuals we need to be changing how we look at ourselves and our place in the wider community. It is this kind of thought process that has led me to question my role as pioneer worker and reflect on how I should be doing more for the Church moving forward. As always this is my own personal thought process for the last month and the conclusions I have begun to draw from it.

We supposedly live in an age of tolerance and acceptance within britain and to a large extent the western world. This to a degree is absolutely correct, in Britain we are arguably accepting of members of other faiths and also encourage individualism. Despite this, I cant help but feel that if your opinion contradicts one of the more recent and modern world beliefs then you are immediatley branded a bigot and full of hate. This naturally forces people to flock to a certain way of thinking and pressures those of a contrasting belief to either remain silent on the matter or simply assimilate to the more modern belief. I would chatagerize myself as a conservative Christian. I imagine now that as some people read this they are worried by what might come next and are even subconciuosly judging what beliefs I may hold. Dont worry, I dont blame you. The stigma that seems to go hand in hand with holding a more traditional belief on certain topical issues is very present in our community and seems to now be a normal reaction. I personally belive in the supremacy of Scripture and that it is the living word of God. This means that I believe that the bible is completely true and that as Christians we should look to the Bible as a foundation of how we are to live our lives. I also believe that if the modern worldview on any topic is not supported in the Bible then it is not correct. Of course, things are not always that black and white. Some things we come into contact with on a daily basis are unique to the time period and in those situations we should once again delve into our Bibles for guidance on how to respond to those events and decisions, to  the extent that if we were questioned on our decision or beliefs we could show a biblical reasoning behind it. I also believe this takes a great element of study to fully appreciate what the Bible says as a whole. Just because I believe all of the Bible is true and the living word of God does not mean that all of it applies to us today. In Leviticus 19:19 it says, “‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” Now on further study we can see that in the time that this was written those who wore two kinds of materials would develop a terrible rash and possible skin disease. This shows not only that what is written in Leviticus 19:19 is true, because it was true when it was written, but that it no longer applies to us today as we are more advanced and can ensure healthy skin even if we wear two kinds of material. I hold a more traditional viewpoint on gay marriage and the trasgender debate and personally believe that it is not what God intended (Leviticus 18:20, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:27, 1Corinthians 6:9, 1Timothy 1:10). I can study the Bible and see consistant mentioning of this in the Old Testament books and the New with nothing to lead me to believe that this was only relevant for the time that it was written. I have heard many argue that this is in the Bible simply because of the backward thinking of the time and it was mans influence on the Bible and not Gods that prompted these references. But  surely if we are to believe that the parts of the Bible are not Gods beliefs but simply mans beleifs then how can we trust anything that the Bible teaches? How can we be sure of what was mans belief and what was Gods? Surely that decision is left to the reader who could suggest that anything that did not coincide with his/her own personal belief was mans influence on scriptures and not Gods. To put it in perspective, a murderer could then read the Bible and look at the commandment ‘Thou shalt not murder’ (Exodus 20:13)and believe that this was mans influence and not Gods. The Bible becomes completely subjective and no longer a book of divine truth. I have heard people argue that because Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:37) that this must mean we should simply accept all and not comment on their lifestyle choices.This comment I half agree with, we should absolutely accept everyone in the name of Christ and love them without judgement and condemnation, but this does not mean that we must condone their lifestyle. Once again to put this in perspective we would not reject a murderer from our Church and simply tell them that God and the Church are not for them, but that does not mean we condone what they have done. Now I appreciate that there will be those out there who hold a completely different viewpoint to me, and that is up to them,  and I will not think any less of them for their viewpoint but rather enjoy the possibility of discussing it with them. We are all in this together looking for what we believe is Gods will, if this is the case then why should we become angry and offended by certain biblical topics. I am perplexed as to why this traditional, biblical belief is branded as bigotted and even rejected by some of the more established Churchs?

It is not enough to look to these hot topics of the Church and allow those debates to take centre stage as we should all be looking to institute a lifestyle of our own that coincides with the teachings of scripture. If we broaden that argumant then beyond that of the LGBT community and into the discussion of discipleship then that is something that challenges me a lot more. Since becoming a Christian I have felt God tell me time and time again that to follow Him requires discipline. The discipline to take everything in my life to God in prayer, the discipline to speak up when I hear Him prompt me, the discipline to remain silent when I cannot be sure that my words will reflect Him. I find this practice very difficult, I will often look back on my day and wonder if I truly represented Christ in my actions and in my words on that day. This discipline takes many forms. For me its getting up early every day to read my Bible and dedicate a bit of time to worship. I cant say that I am perfect and must confess to sleeping in on more than one occasion, but I find that if I do not start my day in prayer and worship then my attitude that day is all off. If I begin my day by commiting myself to God then I feel like he is far more present in my thoughts that day and that I am more focussed on Him. If I sleep in it is quite the opposite. I lounge about, I forget to pray at all in the day and my thoughts are not with Him but rather in more worldly matters. Our history is littered with great followers of Christ who have adopted the discipline of waking up early to commit themselves to God. John Wesley would wake up every day at 5am. If you are someone who is reading this and knows that you yourself sleep in and dont start your day with prayer, then I would strongly recommend that you start. I am very confident that you will notice a differance in your walk with God. This in itself is only one side of the coin, it is not enough to discipline oursleves into prayer and Biblical study on a daily basis (although it is a briliant thing to do) because we need to put that prayer and study into action. In James 2:17 it says, ‘So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’ This means putting that study into practice, diciplining yourself to not just pray once a day, but rather pray without ceasing (1Thessalonians 5:17), taking everything to God and allowing God to speak to you throughout the day so that you truly can enact His will. This is what we should all be diciplining ourselves to do on a daily basis and holding each other accountable when we dont. As a Church many feel that they cannot call someone out on their spiritual walk and on their theology. This is simply not true, Paul openly states in Galatians 6:1, ‘Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.’ This means that we should approach those in the Church who we feel are not doing what is right, but it should be done out of love and care. This is how we must conduct ourselves in debating topical issues such as the LGBT debate, not with anger and name calling, but rather a shared desire for the will of God to be made known and a correct theology. This is shown in Proverbs 15:1 where it says, ‘A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.’

These thoughts that I have been expressing here are not simply the culmanation of random thoughts being expressed in an needless rant, but rather a challenge to me in my current position. The first stage of my work was very much to get an appreciation of the Church and wider community so that I may understand the history of what has happened and the shared vision for the future whilst being aware of what is available outside the Church walls. I am happy to say that this has, to a large extent, been done and that I now feel quite at home in this Church family and community with an appreciation of where it has been and where it hopes to be. The challenge now is to identify where the Church is either weak or failing and turn that into its strengths. In many respects this is a difficult task, as Denby bottles Church and Contagious on a whole are a fantastic Church and youth group. There is a wide sense of envy from the rest of the circuit who wish to emulate much of what is happening at Denby. Having said this there is always room for improvement and I think the greatest area in which we can improve as a Church and as a youth group is by putting a greater emphasis on discipleship. The example offered to us in the Bible is that we disciple people so that they might go on to disciple others and then you have a growing network of people going out and discipling the nations. For a Church that has a vision to be a hub for the local community they must ensure that they themselves are prepared for what that means. It means being able to set an example to all those you come into contact with about what it means to be a follower of Christ and how that impacts your life. It means being in tune with God that He may speak through you in situations both inside and outside of the Church walls. It means building up a knowledge of scripture so that when you are quizzed on your faith, you can respond with confidence. All of this starts with prayer, you are only as good as your prayer life. Once the Church has established this, there will be a firm foundation of growing leaders which means we can become far more outward facing, taking to the streets, going to local pubs and cafe’s and representing our faith to those outside our Church walls. This is what God has been challenging me with and I am aware that this can only come about through conversations which will be designed to challenge what is considered the norm. The norm of how we pray, how we lead our groups and how we view our theology. This is a prospect that does fill me with a level of fear. In my time at Cliff college there was always a theological debate of some form going on and invariably it would end in people becoming offended and decending into name calling. It is probably not a suprise that the majority of these debates were centred around the LGBT debate and tended  to end with one side being silenced because its beliefs offended others. The LGBT debate should never take centre stage in our lives as it is, in the grand scheme of things, not the most important thing to trouble ourselves with, but it is an example of how people can become offended and upset when social norm is challenged. God recently gave me two words which were ‘direction’ and ‘push’. I believe this is because God wants me to point the Church in the direction of Discipling others and learning how to better hear God and to push that agenda, even if it means challenging the norm. I am currently in prayer that God will grant me the wisdom I need to do this. That it may be done in love and compassion for my brothers and sisters in Christ. We have a Contagious meeting coming up in January to discuss the direction of Contagious, we have a new group being formed that will look into the tough questons posed to Christians and we are even implementing accountability groups to help people to constantly delve deeper into their faith and walks with God. We are a Church that is on fire and has a vision. We have the potential to be a great movement that incurs rivival.

I have spoken quite a bit about tolerance for opposing beliefs and challenges within this entry, I do so out of a place of excitement and fear. Excitement for the potential future and fear for how many Church’s have a tendancy to shoot someone down for holding an opposing belief. I am not claiming to be divinely correct in all of my theology, but rather someone who seeks to live a life commited to God and his word. If someone has an opposing viewpoint that can be backed up by scripture then I not only welcome it, but openly desire it. Iron sharpens iron and if any part of my theology or Christian journey is not in line with God, then I want it to be corrected. It is with this desire of constantly looking forward and delving more into God that we can ensure that we not become lukewarm disciples.