Skyfall

“The name is Bond, James Bond”. Bond is back and Skyfall is, I think, the best script we’ve ever had. Obviously, that’s only my opinion, but I’ve been watching James Bond films all my film going life, beginning with the annual trip with my dad from, From Russia with Love, onwards – I think that was a double-header with Dr. No.

The thing, which appealed to me in Skyfall, in particular, was the fact we have a Bond for our own time, not simply a modernised version from Ian Fleming’s day. There’s no doubt this film plumbs the deepest psychological depths of any Bond film and sidesteps the macho stereotypes usually drawn to 007 like a magnet. Bond is real, which means flawed. He’s past his prime, which means there’s some inner conflict seldom previously even glimpsed. There’s a lot here for any Christian leader to reflect on and much to offer. That’s not to suggest everything is worth trying to emulate, as Maggie reminded me, when driving out the car park afterwards!

Another interesting facet, with Skyfall, is the mirroring of our culture (not that this hasn't been done with Bond before) with the post-modern tension between tradition and individualism presented between Bond and arch villain, Silva. Again, much to think about.

Apart from all that, there were some great performances, a terrific bike chase and a few surprises. 

Christian DNA Groups hits the web!

Pretty excited to hear my Christian DNA groups book is now available via the BUGB website:

http://www.baptist.org.uk/store-discipleship.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=247&category_id=14&keyword=dna  

Christian DNA GroupsNew to the Online Store, this resource written by Nigel Coles (West of England Baptist Association, Team Leader/Regional Minister) seeks to encourage discipleship, engagement and authenticity.  Priced at just £6.00, click here to place your order.

God sees diamonds

I was in Koln last week for the Eurochurch.net conference. Always a fascinating gathering of diverse and creative people with a heart for Europe and church planting in common. Gerard Kelly shared something, but I was also brought into contact with this poem he wrote previously. Having repeated the phrase 'if it doesn't kill you, it does you good' to myself many times this year, I'm finding Gerard's 'God sees diamonds' a much healthier and kingdom perspective - sorry to miss you to say 'thank you' Gerard, but this has been an immense blessing ....

(apologies for changing the spelling in the last line of the first verse!!)

We believe… 
…every human being 
has a worth worth seeing
Every name is a sound worth saying
Your potential a prayer worth praying
You see coles - God sees diamonds

We believe in the grace 
Of the gifts God gives
His breath in everything that lives
Greater gifts to be discovered
Deep in you, disguised, dust-covered
You see coal - God sees diamonds

We see traces of truth
In the yearnings of youth
God’s image in imagination
We crave a community 
that will honour audacity 
And cherish the dreams of its children
You see coal - God sees diamonds

We see God seeking
A servant generation
Kindness as the kindling
To Kick-start transformation
Love as liberation
Of a captive creation
We are digging 
for the diamonds God sees

written by Gerard Kelly

Big Hearted in WEBA

We've just had The Big Hearted Tour with Chris Duffett pass through the WEBA region and I believe shall be all the better for it.
Chris - apologies for the photo, but I forgot I had my camera, until nearly too late, but it's probably your best side!
Those of you who know Chris will not be surprised he's manage to help a number of people overcome their fear of the 'e' word. One thing we need to work out, however, is how we can encourage more people to engage with the agenda Chris is bringing to our attention. That is, the desperate need for Christians to engage other people, in such a way and with such an appeal (what Ray Brown, when at Spurgeon's used  to describe as 'winsomeness') that they ask us the questions.
Chris has also, rightly, rebuked me - 'what's happened to your blog?' I'm not sure whether it's the encouragement someone's missing it, or something else, which has provoked me into blogging today, despite a remaining overfull inbox, but thank you Chris.

One thing I've been aware of for a long time, is the fact we don't know what to do with evangelists. Hopefully, BUGB will get full marks for making one BUGB President, but if this becomes merely a nod in the right direction, then Chris' Presidency will be in danger of becoming tokenism of the worst kind. Obviously, at least to me, we cannot dump the responsibility for this on Chris' shoulders, so we need to work out how we can better equip more people in our churches as 'e-Christians'. 

-  If Ephesians 4 is, first and foremost, a local church text then it's reasonable to expect a good percentage, of any church, to be primarily gifted in evangelism. Some have suggested 10%, but I'd go for 20% - on the basis five times 20% equals 100%!

-  The response to Chris' Ministry is people who feel they are not primarily gifted in such a way, discover they can do it. So, shouldn't we (local Ministers in particular at this point) nurture far more people to believe they can act evangelistically, even if they are not primarily evangelists?

Whatever, we do, let's do something to rescue evangelism for the local church.

Christian DNA groups.

Well, I now have 996 copies of "Christian DNA Groups" in boxes in my study. At long last, it's printed and arrived. 

Essentially, it's a book to be used, rather than simply read. Aimed at groups of three people meeting regularly around the words of Jesus, I'm hoping it'll be used to deepen Christian, or Missional, DNA.

My understanding of what this is comes from Jesus telling us, in what we call the great commandment, all the law and prophets hangs on: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind” (D for discipleship). 
“Love your neighbour” (N for eNgagement). 
“ As yourself” (A for authenticity). 

For individuals, a DNA group will help you make the difference God is calling you to make. 
For Church leaders, I believe it will be a useful framework to work with and they can work alongside, or replace existing small groups.
I'm hoping as many of the 1000 copies will be taken up by WEBA Churches, but I'm looking to roll these out over a wider area in due course, so if anybody wants to try them, or wants more details, let me know, via nigcoles@tiscali.co.uk
They're £7 for an individual copy, or £18 for three (£6 a copy), or £90 for eighteen (£5 a copy).

Back to life .... and a new future?

I've been on holiday, not for the whole of August, but a blogging holiday. No clever sabbatical idea - simply life has been way too hectic, at a time of year I count on things slowing down.
However, it's September again and the traditional start tot he church annual cycle is upon us.
There's a lot I could say, but too adverts today:

If you're anywhere near Weston-super-Mare 26th-28th September, why not pop in and hear Nigel Wright? It's not often we have someone of Nigel's calibre among us for three nights running and speaking about  'The Christian Mission in 2012'. The only thing i'm annoyed about is I can only make one evening.

The details I have are:

Weston Bible Week 2012.

"A wideness in God's mercy, an exposition of the book of Jonah"

Dr Nigel Wright, Principal of Spurgeon's College, who will be speaking about: 

'The Christian Mission in 2012'.

7.30pm each evening - 26th, 27th, 28th September 

at Bristol Road Baptist Church, 

Weston-super-Mare, 

BS23 2QS.

Secondly, we are calling our Baptist Churches within BUGB, to prayer this coming Sunday.

Please join us, as we make some key decisions soon, which might potentially, at least, enhance the potential of us becoming more movement than institution again.

Here are some of my prayers, if anyone is short!

Lord, may our decision-making be directed by your Spirit and be in line with your kingdom purposes.

Lord, may we have the courage to make the right decisions for the right reasons.

Lord, may we see more of the potential of your future and focus less on the narrowness of our present.

Lord, may we grasp how big, how vast, how wonderful you are and know your grace is always enough.

Lord, may we know who you are calling us to be and what you are calling to do, as a result, whether we have enough money, or not.

Of course, I'd be grateful for prayer - for myself, the Regional and National staff who are potentially affected by budget decisions and our WEBA Trustees (because we need to respond to various challenges and questions in a short space of time).

The Olympic flame burns brightly!

Well, it's hard to find time to blog during the Olympics - as if there's not enough work to do, in any case, there's also wall to wall Olympics - I love it.
It's been a great week - two days off up to London. The three day event show jumping in Greenwich Park on tuesday and in the Olympic Stadium tomorrow!

It struck me, whilst watching the medal ceremony, on tuesday (this is one of my 'I was there' photos), I had the mobile number of an Olympic medalist on my phone - more a friend of one of my children, than me, however.
Remember the five handshakes from anybody on the planet idea? Well, it means I must easily be that close for every single Olympic athlete, as you would be, if you stop and think about it. That's one reason why all the conversations about networking, movement, viral communication, social networking, etc. are so vital. It also means what people need most is a friend who knows Jesus.
Today, we had an Association Team Leaders day together. I drove back down the M5 with renewed hope for our Baptist futures. I suggested we re-ran the lighting of the Olympic flame at the next BU Assembly - great imagery and symbolism and we might even set something alight!