Coffee Theology

One thing utterly puzzles me on The Apprentice - how do they get ready in 20 minutes, having been woken up in the middle of the night?  I never look as coiffed and immaculately dressed as the Apprentice candidates, even when I've had a normal amount of dressing time.  Seriously, do you want to wear three-inch heels when you'll be running all over London trying to sell boxes of candles? Interestingly, this week [SPOILER ALERT] there's an Apprentice first, when a candidate effectively fires herself.  Lindsay didn't do very well this week, and when accused of not doing well, she agreed.  She made no arguments; she mounted no defence.  She just agreed that she wasn't up to it and said she shouldn't be in the process.  I admire anyone who's willing to be that honest.  I imagine it was a relief. But the real question this week is... Who pays £35 for a scented candle?  Seriously???

"My absolute worst nightmare is getting to age 40 with a 50 grand salary and a four-year-old Toyota. It's just not going to happen".  - Robert Goodwin Gosh, Robert, that really would be awful, wouldn't it?  But, you know, even if the worst happens, there are things you could do.  Sell the Toyota and buy a bicycle.  Give away £37,500 a year and live on the minimum wage.  Even if you are cursed with riches, you don't need to let them drag you down.

Last year I conducted some research for my final year dissertation at college.  I wanted to find out whether people coming to Christian faith today saw themselves as sinners in need of forgiveness from God, or whether other factors were more significant in their faith journey.  The message of forgiveness is often seen to be at the heart of the Christian faith; evangelical Christians in particular emphasise the fact that 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God'.  The cross of Jesus Christ removes our sin and leaves us free to commune with the God who loves us. This script, so familiar to those from a particular stream of Christian spirituality, doesn't always make much sense to those who have never been to church, however.   As an evangelist I wonder: who am I to tell people that they're guilty and need to ask for forgiveness from God?  If they don't feel guilty, why should they ask to be forgiven?  Is it my duty as a Christian evangelist to make...

In chapter 10 of 'The Pioneer Gift', Andrea Campanale reflects on the impact of a theology of shame on the community of spiritual seekers with whom she ministers.  In her words: ' I have observed that the concept of sin is largely irrelevant.  However, the people to whom I minister often have chronic feelings of unworthiness and a massive fear of rejection because they believe themselves to be basically unacceptable in some fundamental yet indefinable sense.  I have... sought to understand what the hope is Christians have that can free people from these crippling notions of self-loathing.' Rather than a distressing affliction of the women in her community, however, Andrea argues that chronic shame is widespread in western, post-industrialised societies.  Many of us fail to live up to our 'ideal selves' - the self we would like to be or feel that we should be - and live in constant fear of being 'found out' and permanently diminished in the eyes of those ...

In the introduction to 'The Pioneer Gift', Jonny Baker, the founder and leader of the Pioneer course at CMS, considers the problem of defining 'pioneer'.  This definition is taken from the Fresh Expressions website: A pioneer minister is someone who has the necessary vision and gifts to be a missionary entrepreneur: with the capacity to form and lead fresh expressions and new forms of church appropriate to a particular culture. 'Fresh Expressions' is the name given in the Church of England to new ways of being church, and the term arose out of the Mission-Shaped Church report of 2004.  The report was an Anglican-Methodist collaboration which sought to describe and reflect upon 'fresh expressions of church' which had popped up around the UK.   It's available online as a free download and is definitely worth a read.  One of the conclusions of the report was that 'pioneer ministers' should be recognised, trained and released to take the gospel o...

  Is pioneering a gift or a curse?  Are pioneers a gift to the church or a royal pain in the backside (or both)?  What on earth is meant by 'pioneer' anyway? 'The Pioneer Gift' is a new book written by teachers, students and friends of the Pioneer course run by CMS (Church Mission Society).  CMS is an Anglican mission agency based in Oxford; 'pioneer' is the name given in the Church of England to those called to some form of Christian ministry, which may or may not be ordained ministry, whom God has called to do things differently.  I've had the opportunity to audit several modules on the course as part of my ministerial training and to get to know pioneers whose experiences and questions resonate with my own as a Baptist evangelist.  And they've let me collaborate with them on this book!   'The Pioneer Gift' is published by Canterbury Press and is available on Amazon.  I'll be blogging about the various topics covered in the book in the comi...

I've just had a week's holiday, and holidays always involve a stack of (mostly trashy) books.  After the latest highly enjoyable but pretty brainless Dan Brown novel, I started on 'The Storyteller' by Jodi Picoult.  It's about the Holocaust, so it's pretty grim, and includes a long narrative from the point of view of the heroine's Jewish grandmother, a survivor of Auschwitz.  It was the ending of the novel, set in the present day, which really shocked me, however - SPOILER ALERT - if you want to read this novel, look away now. The novel's present day heroine, Sage, befriends Josef, a retired German teacher in his 90s.  Josef is a a much-loved local character who has served his community well and has many friends.  Knowing that Sage is from a Jewish family, Josef tells her his terrible secret - during the war, he was a member of the SS who served in Auschwitz.  He does not feel that he deserves the long life he has had and wants Sage to help him die. In t...