Are you single? Middle-aged or older? A follower of Jesus? Then there is a great call before you – and me. A call to be singularly attractive!
No, this is not an invitation to invest in some cosmetic surgery. Nor am I giving you a good excuse to purchase some great new clothes, make-up or anything else that makes you look 10 years younger. It’s rather that there is an exciting invitation in the pages of Scripture encouraging us to show others how to live well for Christ as a single person.
You see, the Bible encourages older members of the congregation to be role models to others. Older women to younger women. Older men to younger men (Titus 2:1-8). And just as older married couples have an invaluable role in showing younger people what a privilege it is to be married. So older single people have an enormous role in showing others what a privilege it is to be single. Doing so is an essential part of equipping the next generation to grow up rejoicing in God whether He has given them the gift of marriage or the gift of singleness (1 Corinthians 7).
Now I don’t wish to be glib. There are, of course, challenges associated with being an older single person. It is inevitable that we sometimes think about relationships past and wonder ‘what if …’. There can be pain associated with not having the opportunity to have children. There are moments of loneliness. And in a relationship-obsessed culture it can be hard to refocus our minds on gospel truth rather than conventional wisdom (Romans 12:2). But there are joys and privileges too – not least the extra flexibility to be involved in a whole host of ministries. And if we genuinely believe God is sovereign and loving; if we truly accept that the Bible is correct when it says that singleness is good, then we need to show that in the way we live. And we need to deliberately flee from the temptation to become the next Bridget Jones (full of desperation for a partner), or Miss Havisham (full of the bitterness of relationship lost).
It isn’t an easy call. But it is a clear call. A call to be singularly attractive for Christ in our churches today.
At Sorted last year, Andrew Cowan from St Helen's, Bishopsgate, gave some great hints on how to write Christian songs. So helpful, in fact, we thought we’d share them on our blog! Andrew writes …
Colossians 3:16-17 tells us that our singing is meant to help the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we sing to each other as well as to God … so how do we write songs to help us do that? Here are four big principles and a few random bonus tips that I am finding helpful at the moment. Songs need to be:
Here are a few more tips in no particular order:
So let’s get writing, and don’t forget to pray… we need God’s help both to understand his word and express it clearly!
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4 v 4).... continue reading
Just got off the phone with a minister in a small village in the north-west of England. He wanted to know what's coming up in future issues of Explore—so he can take it into account in deciding his preaching series for next year.
Why? Because when he was an overseas missionary, he realised that the best way to encourage daily quiet times was for a church to do them together. By which he meant, fit the sermon series in with them. Encourage people to talk about them. Start eldership meetings with them. Get church workers to talk about what they found encouraging and challenging in them.
In other words: do quiet times, together.
I'd not thought of this before. It seems a great idea to me. Has anyone tried it in their church, or something similar? Can anyone think of drawbacks that I've not thought of? Why don't churches do it?
And if any church would like to know what's coming up in Explore, just let us know!
Just got back from a wonderful holiday with the family, which we have been planning for the last two years. It was a long road trip punctuated by several "mini-holidays" of a few days each - on a beach, in a city, by a lake.
We pondered how we might read the Bible together as a family, and came up with a cunning plan. Some older Christians I know are in the habit of reading a chapter of Proverbs every day - there are 31 chapters - one for each day of the month. So we took up this approach for our daily dose of God's Word.
We passed the Bible around the car (actually - the ESV on my iPhone) and looked at the chapter corresponding to the day of the month. Then each of us - me, my wife, my three daughters - chose the verse that particularly struck us. We encouraged each other to say why it was interesting, to illustrate it, and to apply it.
Result?
A refreshing change of approach to family Bible reading. Sometimes they chose a verse because the picture it painted was just funny:
"An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones." (12 v 4). (Prompting much hilarity and discussion about Mum and Dad's marriage - but also some insights for them about what to look for in a marriage partner).
Sometimes they chose a verse because it reflected a real situation they faced:
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (16 v 18). Much talk of teachers at school that they thought fitted this category.
One thing I did need to keep doing, was to bring us back to the source of true wisdom from 1v7 - "the fear of the Lord is the beginning (or source) of true wisdom." Sometimes it is easy to read the proverbs out of this, the central context of the book as a whole. It is not just worldly wisdom, but describes how we should live under the loving rule of a sovereign God.
Benefits?
Sometimes it was a bust - particularly, when one of us got distracted into inventing an increasingly preposterous story to illustrate the verse. But mostly it was enjoyable, and turned into a good conversation. And it marked a change. Before, our Bible times had mostly been about Mum or Dad teaching and explaining - or answering questions that were posed. Now we were loving the fact that our girls were cutting their teeth on preaching God's word to us - explaining, illustrating, applying - rolling the words of God around in our minds as the miles of tarmac rolled under us.
So you’re moving house. Off to college or uni. The time has come to join a new church family. You’ve been on the ‘net and printed out a list of congregations and got some recommendations from trusted friends. But what next? Once you’re in a strange church building how do you discern whether it will be a good place to settle?
Here are eight quick questions to help:
Of course, there’s no such thing as a perfect local church and it is unrealistic to expect that every congregation will do everything well. But if you answer most of the above with a ‘yes’ then the church is definitely one to visit again!
My church is small. In our under-18s work we have 6 children aged 1 to 14. One has special needs. And with our current resources we have no choice but to teach them together. It’s not an uncommon scenario. Many churches do it. And if you’re in one of them you’ll know how frustrating it is not to be able to teach in age-specific groups and how hard it is to help groups like this grow.
We tend to fall into some common traps:
But on our good days, we remember that there are better ways to teach multi-age groups. And here are 4 tips to help us:
We all want our churches to be places where people feel at home. But in the busy-ness of the average Sunday morning it’s all too easy to let newcomers wander in and out without any meaningful interaction taking place. So here are our top 5 tips to help you welcome visitors to your congregation:
Irrational bosses can be the bane of our lives: Their demands, unrealistic and their attitudes, abhorrent. Those of us who have to endure them all too often go home from work seething or depressed and, to our shame, end up indulging in a spot of revenge-fantasy. So it’s no surprise that the latest Hollywood offering, Horrible Bosses has found a certain resonance with many. Extreme it may be but there’s something deeply appealing about its basic plot: wreaking revenge on those who make 9-6 an utter nightmare!
Now, before I go on, it would be wise to emphasise that my current bosses are absolutely wonderful! But many of us don’t have that privilege. So how should Christians respond when we find ourselves working for horrible bosses?
According to 1 Peter 2:13-25, by respecting them!
Peter wasn’t being a first century sadist. Rather he was someone who saw beyond the daily grind of the working week to the most important calling of any believer – the calling to be like Christ.
He reasons that suffering for doing wrong is getting what we deserve. Suffering at work when we don’t deserve it – and enduring that suffering in ways that are mindful of Jesus, with no hint of retaliation – is something that both displays and develops godliness.
That is not to say that we should be doormats. We have more freedom than many 1st century servants and so if something in our workplace is seriously awry then it is right we use that freedom help solve those problems. But always in a framework of respect … never out of a desire to see our boss “get what they deserve”.
Respecting an unreasonable boss is not an easy path. There will certainly be days when we need the prayerful support and encouragement of wise friends … But we are followers of a saviour who took the most difficult path. Becoming like him was never going to be easy!
Neither Christ alone as man nor the Father alone as God could be our substitute. Only God in Christ, God the Father's own and only Son made man, could take our place. 
