Moulded by him

‘God did not make others as I would have made them. God did not give them to me so that I could control them, but so that I might find the Creator by means of them.  Now other people, in the freedom with which they were created, become an occasion for me to rejoice, whereas before they were only a nuisance and trouble for me. God does not want to mould others into image that seems good to me, that is, into my own image’

Dietrich Bonhoeffer quoted in ‘The way of the dragon or the way of the lamb’, p. 117

Silent but moving forward

Sorry I have not blogged and I am sure the two readers I have have long since departed.

1.  I have just bought ‘Heretics and believers’ by Peter Marshall. 

2. Mary Kissell, who is part of our church, has just written ‘Before the days draw in’. I am loving it and it’s a wonderful potted history of a life of ministry. It’s also an account of the Charismatic Movement from the early ‘60’s. Superb. 

3. I have been reminded of Watchman Nee’s book called ‘Spiritual Authority’ recommended to me at a conference I attended in Tacoma over a decade ago. I bought it but never read it. 21 reviews and 4.5 stars on Amazon. 

4. A bunch of church leader pals and I have committed to pray together monthly for the next 7 years for the Revival of this land. Granted, those committed to this are small in number currently but there is something brewing I pray. We met today. Sweet time. 

5. I watched and read about George Carey and Peter Ball and it made me so angry having read this Guardian article. Lost for words. 

6. Peterson is selling out the O2 night. He is a voice for our time. 

7. I look at the saints we are gathering at Focus and what God has done our chruch makes me cry.

8. If you don’t have a mentor/ friend as a leader then get one. I wouldn’t be here without mine. 

9. I told a pal to read all three books Eugene Peterson wrote in critique of ‘CEO’ as pastor.

There is a biblical fact that there are no successful churches. There are , instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor's responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades'

Working the Angles, p.2  

10. I love curry.