Caricatures

Over the years we've had several caricatures of family members painted or sketched. Before Tam and I were married, we had individual sketches done--playing softball with one hitting the ball to be caught by the other. A few years ago, while in Atlanta, the kids were the subject as they made fun of each other. Finally, I presented this one to Tam for Christmas.

The odd and amazing thing about caricatures is that they both resemble and don't resemble the real thing! Usually, body parts, such as the head, are way out of proportion to the others.

Currently, we're asking the question "Who is this Jesus?" One of our DHVC (www.dickensheathchurch.org.uk) number has written 5 monologues of people who are trying to make sense of Jesus, both before the cross (Palm Sunday) and after the cross and resurrection (Easter Sunday). Chris did a great job in writing them, while he and Sarah, Bernard, Gloria, and Caleb did a great job of presenting them. My job was to tie them all together, and I did that at the end by showing our family caricatures.

The point being, of course, that people need to be encouraged to think about their view of Jesus. Often, it's the case that people have a caricature of Jesus in mind, and accept or reject that caricature. We wouldn't think it fair to accept or reject a caricature of people we meet each day, why should we do so with Jesus?

The Celtic Way

I'm preparing for my last class of the Missions History topic I'm teaching for the MA in Missional Leadership degree offered by Together in Mission and is accredited through the University of Wales. I teach this topic and the Basic Church Planting topic, when it's offered locally, and on occasion, a little further afield (Birmingham Christian College and north London, 2 different venues, last month). When I took the class with Tim Doty at Northwest Christian College, now over 20 years ago, it was called 'The History of the Expansion of the World Christian Movement.'

Part of the topic has to do with what it would take for a movement to be fostered, such that people come to love, trust, and follow Jesus, and share that naturally and contagiously with others. In the class, we look briefly at the Celtic and Roman models of church. So I was intrigued today when I came across a review of Hunter's recent(ish) book in He@lthyChurch.mag.co.uk, where the reviewer highlights the different model the Celts used as compared to the Romans in their Christian mission outreach. He cites Hunter's view that the Roman model stresses:

Presentation ---> Decision ---> Fellowship

whereas the Celtic model stresses:

Fellowship ---> Ministry & Conversations ---> Belief ---> Invitation to Commitment

I have to say that I really like the approach of the the second, and I think it fits well culturally in the Western world; in fact, I would say it's the crying need of the Western world to see church done this way!

The problem is, the institutional church only knows the Roman model. It will either take a turnaround in most existing churches to foster the kind of church which follows the Celtic model, or the planting of many new churches where this kind of life is experienced and people are then persuaded that Jesus is a leader that can be trusted.

What's the Next Step?

We often talk at DHVC about people being on a spiritual journey. One thing we're about is helping people think about where they are on their spiritual journey, and helping them take the next step. Over the weekend Tammy and I had over a dozen people round the house, at 3 different times, to reflect together about this.

It was great having our friends here sharing and praying about how each in their own way has come along in his or her love for Jesus. Tam and I are so moved by God's goodness and what we see Him doing in these DHVCers! We can see our prayers being answered, that each will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to move forward, completely confident that Jesus is a leader who can be trusted. And that as each does so, others will see Jesus can be trusted too by their manner of life.

This is consistent with our church theme of 'Steps of Faith' for the year, as Paul writes, 'We live by faith, not by sight.' 2 Corinthians 5.7, NIV.

I kneel before the Father. . . [and] pray that you. . . may have power. . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. . . . Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3.14-21, NIV