Normal Christianity
On Saturday I attended the Sound the Trumpet prayer event at the NEC in Birmingham.
There were a lot of good things in the day and what I am about to say is not really about the event because the idea being put forward is one that is constantly reworked in one form or another in various contexts.
During the afternoon session reference was made to an initiative being launched in 2008, which seeks to mobilise churches across the UK to engage in acts of kindness to neighbours, to get out on the streets and to get involved and do something in our communities in the way of witness and service. The speakers were passionate and sincere but I was overwhelmed with a sense of sadness.
Why?
Because what they were suggesting should be a special campaign is surely what should be normal everyday Christianity. On a DVD that I received on the day, mention was made of a wonderful move of God that took place in one of the large cities in the UK when the kind of thing they were suggesting was done there. This move of God was that young people drafted into an area spent a whole ten days serving the community. I am not doubting that what they did had an impact but I was reminded of some words of Catherine Booth when talking about missionary work in 1890,
"I can remember a sort of inward pity for what I thought then the small expectation of the church.....I can remember how disappointed I felt at the comparatively small results which seem to give satisfaction."
Isn't serving our community what every Christian should do normally if they have the Spirit of God in them every day, in every town and city?
Watchman Nee wrote a whole book on the subject. He says, "What is the normal Christian life? It is something very different from the life of the average Christian.......... The apostle Paul gives us his own definition of the Christian life in Galatians 2:20 "It is no longer I, but Christ." Here he is not stating something special or peculiar- a high level of Christianity. He is, we believe, presenting God's normal for a Christian, which can be summarized in the words, "I live no longer, but Christ live his life in me."
My prayer tonight is, "O God make me a normal Christian not an average one."
God bless
Carol
On Saturday I attended the Sound the Trumpet prayer event at the NEC in Birmingham.
There were a lot of good things in the day and what I am about to say is not really about the event because the idea being put forward is one that is constantly reworked in one form or another in various contexts.
During the afternoon session reference was made to an initiative being launched in 2008, which seeks to mobilise churches across the UK to engage in acts of kindness to neighbours, to get out on the streets and to get involved and do something in our communities in the way of witness and service. The speakers were passionate and sincere but I was overwhelmed with a sense of sadness.
Why?
Because what they were suggesting should be a special campaign is surely what should be normal everyday Christianity. On a DVD that I received on the day, mention was made of a wonderful move of God that took place in one of the large cities in the UK when the kind of thing they were suggesting was done there. This move of God was that young people drafted into an area spent a whole ten days serving the community. I am not doubting that what they did had an impact but I was reminded of some words of Catherine Booth when talking about missionary work in 1890,
"I can remember a sort of inward pity for what I thought then the small expectation of the church.....I can remember how disappointed I felt at the comparatively small results which seem to give satisfaction."
Isn't serving our community what every Christian should do normally if they have the Spirit of God in them every day, in every town and city?
Watchman Nee wrote a whole book on the subject. He says, "What is the normal Christian life? It is something very different from the life of the average Christian.......... The apostle Paul gives us his own definition of the Christian life in Galatians 2:20 "It is no longer I, but Christ." Here he is not stating something special or peculiar- a high level of Christianity. He is, we believe, presenting God's normal for a Christian, which can be summarized in the words, "I live no longer, but Christ live his life in me."
My prayer tonight is, "O God make me a normal Christian not an average one."
God bless
Carol
posted by Rehoboth at
11:15 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home