In who do you trust?

Trust is something on my mind today. Possibly because we're in a time of expectation and preparation. We are waiting for the fulfilment of Christ's promise to return to earth. A season, celebrating the hope we have in Christ. A season that celebrates the fulfilment of God's promise of a saviour, and who one day will return. That season is Advent.

Trust and hope have a close relationship. I like to think that I trust everyone unless I have a reason not to. That's a brave thing to do, but the alternative is to fear everyone else's actions, and I don't like the idea of doing that. The problem comes when we have reason not to trust any longer. When we have lost that hope in something, or someone.

I've never ruled anyone out in my life as untrustworthy, but I have had reason to lose trust in people. The difficult thing is coming to terms with their actions and moving on. That's where forgiveness comes into the equation.

Sometimes, things might look different to what they did before, but we must be prepared to forgive, so we can achieve that inner peace. A healing.

We all, I presume, have experienced people in our lives who have let us down, and led us to lose hope in general humanity. I too, only a while ago, was painfully let down by a close friend who wrote untruthful things behind my back and tried to cover them up when I approached them face to face. Today, they still don't realise I know the full extent of what they wrote about me. But regardless, I needed to forgive. A situation that forced an end, but also a beginning.

Without doubt, their actions hurt. My trust for them was knocked. My hope in them faded. It crushes you even more when you thought there was a relationship of sincere trust but realise there obviously wasn't.

God's hope in them has not disappeared, and so my hope should also not disappear. To do that would be doing an injustice to God, because of the hope He has in me. That is why He sent Jesus to die for us. He still has hope in us because He loves us. That includes you too! Even though we fail, His hope and love never does. If He can have hope in me even though I fail Him all the time, then the least I can do is have hope in others, because God does!

I've recently realised there are lots of hurting people in the world. And when we notice other people's hurt, it touches us and stirs the compassion within our hearts. We feel their hurt too. We want to help heal and restore. A majority of hurt comes from being let down by others, or when unexplainable, we blame a greater being(s).

I've got to my remind myself, that my trust should be purely in the One who has never let me down, never hurt me and never been deceitful towards me. My trust should be only in the One that loves me unconditionally and whose love never fails.

What would we be capable of if we lived knowing God's faithfulness, compared to relying on human weakness to see us through? Amazing thought! Why not trust in the One who has never failed you, and see where He leads you to?

If you've failed someone, the hardest but most honourable thing to do is say "sorry". If you feel that someone has failed you, remember especially this season, that the greatest has come and will come again. We live surrounded by human failure but also live with a love that will never leave us. Jesus. He who has already healed and restored us by his dying on the cross for me and you.

In God do I trust! Do you?

Youth Cafe "Appalling"?

In the busyness of yesterday’s Youth Café preparation at Beverley Minster, I experienced something that occurs quite often, but this time I thought “I’ll write about it”…

I was approached by a lovely & polite lady who was later joined by her equally nice husband. We were actively involved in putting the final stages to the Youth Café setup. “You’re not having a disco in here are you?” I knew what was probably going to follow, so I immediately replied “Yes we are! There is going to be 250+ young people here tonight! Isn’t it great!?” As I spoke these words, her eyes sank, “It’s appalling!” she replied.

She then went on to say that she was a traditionalist, and I responded “So am I” which confused her slightly. Sunday evening in Beverley Minster, the choir will sing Faure’s Requiem Mass, and I said I shall indeed be present. I don’t think anyone can use the title of being a traditionalist to excuse embracing change, particularly when there are kingdom needs to be met.

I asked “Why do you think the Youth Café is appalling?” and she said “It’ll be loud, disrespectful and irreverent.” So I challenged her thinking and asked “Do you think Jesus will be more concerned about the noise or more interested in presenting church and faith in a culturally relevant way?” Her answer was ‘the noise’.

I can see how trends, fashion and routines soon become traditions and accepted practices. Particularly in churches, if you do something once, it is soon considered a tradition. This is all very well, but it doesn’t mean we should be shy about reviewing things, and we should feel confident to challenge ways when necessary.

If you go back to medieval times, it would have been quite common for the nave of churches to be a very community orientated space which might have included, market stalls, and live animals running around the place. It was probably quite a loud, boisterous, but generally a pleasant atmosphere. It didn’t seem to be an issue then. Can you see where I’m going with this?

And then a couple of hundred years later, in came hats. Ladies always wore hats, which were perfectly acceptable, but now seem to have almost disappeared. A tradition that came and then went.

Both of the examples above were largely due to culture and the dynamics of society at the time. Today we face a church that is growing older, becoming greyer and dying smaller. As a Youth Minister, I am fully aware of traditions and the sensitivities that come with them, but I’ve got to take the call of Christ seriously. This means, that sometimes the mentality of “this is how it’s done or should be done” needs to be challenged.

Some wonder why church attendance is falling yet not all are willing to use our buildings, resources and gifts, to make church a place where young people feel welcome, safe, happy, and above all loved. Beverley Minster Youth Café attracts 250-300 young people on a regular basis partly because we have recognised a local need for youth provision; but I believe it’s simply because God has richly blessed the event. The event breaks down so many stereotypes young people have of church. It doesn’t have to be all hymns, boring and posh words you don’t understand. I’m not saying any of the previous is bad, or saying the Youth Café replaces the concept of church because it doesn’t and shouldn’t (that’s what we have a midweek Youth Service for). What it does, is give young people a fantastic first impression, of what a church community can be like and what it has to offer! The Youth Café offers young people an event they are culturally related to, and gives the church an opportunity to engage and be relevant to large numbers at a time.

I often get asked how we continue to regularly connect with the 250-300 that come to an event maybe only eight times a year. We’re constantly committed to working on it, and have a programme of youth ministry that we believe fits where everyone is at. But ultimately, however cliché it may sound, that’s up to God! But I’m proud to think that in 15-25 years’ time, when today’s generation have children, they can say to them “my experience of church was cool!” and they’ll be maybe more open and comfortable with the idea of taking their children to church.

I’m pretty sure Jesus was there last night partying, and has been over the last five years which has seen approximately 10000 young people pass through its doors. In the unlikely event that He wasn’t, then I admit I’ve totally got it wrong, and so have many others who share the Youth Café vision, and I’ll happily await my fate.

We agreed to disagree.

Are you in Solitary Confinement?

I know (as someone who attends church on a Sunday) that Christians can tend to moan about particular aspects of its leadership, general running & management. I admit, sometimes this includes me. I always try to say to myself "if you've got a problem, then do something about it. You've highlighted an issue - deal with it!" It's maybe easier said than done, but let’s face it - as my Bible reading said this morning - we are "all members of the body of Christ". Rom 12. We cannot rely on other people to sort the world's problems out - it’s down to us and that includes me and you. We’re not alone don’t forget.

They're my words of introduction...

I heard Phil Togwell from 24/7 speak last night, and he said something that related to my recent frustrations. When someone is contagiously ill - we stick them into solitary confinement. When lots of people are contagiously ill - we stick them together into solitary confinement. We don't want the disease spreading.

Can this be like Church? I love Church. I love the community. The family. The people. Our faith. I sometimes feel I have no life, other than Church. Many weeks, I invest every spare hour into church. And I love it. But…

I've realised this can sometimes be dangerous. We can sometimes look after 'ourselves' - the church so much, that we forget and neglect people who aren’t yet believers. Is it that 'we' the church are in solitary confinement?

The difference is, we don't have a disease or something that we don't want spreading. We've got something that is too good to keep to ourselves. The good news doesn't just belong to me and you. It is meant to be shared amongst everyone.

Let's break down the doors of solitary confinement. Let's break out into our communities, our towns our cities. Make the power of Jesus become infectious. We have divine authority to infect all people of all nations. Matt 28. Let Jesus, through us, grip people like He gripped you and me.

It’s not all about the building, the Sunday, the church coffee morning. Ultimately, it’s about spreading the message, the news, that Jesus is the world’s saviour. Break out. What ever it takes. Do it!