come on you 20's

It's been a while since my last post, truth be told, I'm in a slump & have been for the month of April. There's more confusion in my life than is healthy for a control freak(!!), but I'm asking questions, talking with friends & believe Renewal will be along shortly (any1 for a diagram)!

Looking back over my weekly journal, it's clear that I enjoy blogging & that it's good for my soul & development (it forces me to clarify my beliefs in certain areas).

Looking back at my drafts, it's clear that I started something a week or so ago that would have been an angry rant at the younger generations, wrapped up in the lyrics to 'I kissed a girl' by Katy Perry - not my style.

I may, in time, still blog around those lyrics. I am most certainly going to blog about the younger generation, starting now.

I am passionate about people development & often find myself considering those younger than me. I've had several occasions even during my 'slump' month when those in their mid 20's have been foremost in my mind

1. During a time of refurbing the main hall at Christian Centre Nottingham (CCN) & to help out my friends on the PA team, I found myself up scaffolding wiring speakers & the like (heights aren't my thing). My mind free to roam, it was quick to rehearse the list of phenomenal 'kids' currently knocking around CCN!
2. I sat with a 23 year old recently who has the call of God on their life, believes they are to lead a church even in the short term, but is 'begging' to be developed. Their plea pained me
3. I then sat with the CEO of a leading book publishing house & we found ourselves talking about the power to be harnessed from within this (20's) generational decade - I was again at my mental list (as 1.) of CCN powerhouses

At the same time, I am reminded of something that has burned in me for a while around the biblical importance of the age 30. Off the top of my head, I can come up with the following list of 'players' that the bible says came to actual prominence at 30

• Joseph
• King Saul
• King David
• Ezekiel
• Jesus
• John the Baptist (30 maybe 31 given he was 6 months older than Jesus)

There may be more (OT priests for a start), but I suspect that list alone proves my point. I am absolutely not saying that our 20's are merely a stepping stone ('biding time') & I don't know what it is about the age of 30, but my spirit aligns with scripture in telling me it's a key age. I also resonate with the verse in Ecc 11:9 (MSG)

You who are young, make the most of your youth.
Relish your youthful vigor.
Follow the impulses of your heart.
If something looks good to you, pursue it.
But know also that not just anything goes;
You have to answer to God for every last bit of it.

As we've established, I am blessed (largely thro' my CCN existence) to observe a multitude of brilliant twenty-somethings, with massive gift, character to match & who are on fire for God. We (CCN) have an internship programme that gets better & stronger every year. What we don't yet have is the Leadership Development (LD) 'programme' alongside & on top - it's something we talk about, something we want, but something that (for various reasons) we don't yet have.

I feel like I have enough on my plate right now & yet the content of this post is so much more than words - it has me in pieces such that I feel unable to park at least playing a part in it. I don't know exactly what 'it' looks like as yet - truth be told, I don't know what a LD programme should look like. For now, whilst working on the rest, I prefer to consider the absolute necessity of character development from the twenty-somethings & visible modeling from the other parties.

In all my blogs to date, I haven't generated any 'comments' despite making it as easy as I know how - that's been fine. Now I am asking for comments, about this post: how twenty-somethings feel, how they can be helped, what they want & anything else you want to discuss on the topic...I'm switching to listening mode.

Yours - the one determined to play his part

Jonathan

PS I get that some comments (thoughts) might be personal, I'm open to 'private' conversations either in person or via email, Twitter or the like

PPS For the record, I'm also open to LD for those older than twenty-something, but that wasn't my purpose here

any1 for a diagram

In a previous post (epiphany & equations), I ran through an equation I find useful in understanding & making change.

Today for a diagram which plays a similar role in both my own life & my desire to walk with others (it comes from work by Claes Janssen under the title 'Four Rooms of Change').

The theory goes that you start in the top right hand box (Renewal) & move round anti-clockwise at varying speeds, dependent on person & 'topic'.

• Renewal - all is well, but you are mindful of the need to stay on top of your game, reviewing & asking questions accordingly
• Contentment - here all is still well, but you have become complacent
• Denial - the wheels are coming off, but you don't 'see' it
• Confusion - you realise & embrace that things are a mess, but don't know what to do or where to go next

I've had various conversations around this diagram, with different 'takes' from different people. A couple of my thoughts on it...

I find the most dangerous box...denial. We have all seen people (& organisations) spend prolonged periods of time here, I myself spent over a decade of my stockbroking years telling my loved ones my busyness was just a season!

My favourite box is...confusion. It is here that one tends to find...

• A dissatisfaction with the status quo (epiphany & equations (again))
• People willing to embrace questions, even the potentially painful ones
• It is also out of times of confusion that breakthrough often comes

Ultimately, my point here is not to argue the specifics of interpretation but to spell out a process I have used on dozens of occasions to shed light on people & organisations alike. Feel free to carry on using it in your environments.

That said & done, it wouldn't be right to not consider what insights & next steps could be brought out for each of us in our journey to Christlikeness.

Q: is there an area in life where you are in denial? If you don't think there is, ask a trusted friend to make sure!

Q: for any areas where you are confused, who is helping you work through this? Who in your life is good at probing questions?

The recurring theme in these two questions is the role that others can play in our lives. I couldn't overstate my need for the handful of people who know me, put up with me & are helping me to become all God calls me to be.

Maybe more of that on another occasion. That's me for now, I'm off to book a coffee with a mate

Jonathan

category 4 - the poor you will always have with you

If I move on from my last post within 'LovingGodLovingPeople', please don't assume I have my love deficiency issues nailed - I don't.

I do, however, have a desire to get some thoughts down about the 'poor' (category 4 in reading between John's lines). To be clear from the outset, I reckon, given the Beatitudes, you could make just about anybody 'poor' - for now, I'm talking about materially poor.

Let me illustrate from Isaiah 58:6-9 (Message)

This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
   to break the chains of injustice,
   get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
   free the oppressed, cancel debts. 

What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
   sharing your food with the hungry,
   inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
   putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
   being available to your own families. 

Do this and the lights will turn on,
   and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
   The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
   You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am'.

Our stance at the Christian Centre Nottingham (CCN) is that everybody who considers themselves a follower of Christ should be intentionally serving the poor (STP) in some way, shape or form...regularly with both time & money.

I have the privilege of working with 58i, the STP ministry of CCN, set up with Isaiah 58 as a motivating scripture to facilitate people serving the poor. The ministry is full of great people, from CEO right thro' to the volunteers, making a real difference in people's lives by knowing them.

Tony Campolo came & spoke for us on one of our STP vision days. He said many fascinating & challenging things that day (he also dropped the 'f' word twice which was priceless). My lasting memory, however, is this quote "If you say you care about the poor...you'll know some of their names".

Q: How are you doing on knowing some poor?

I have already referenced Andy Stanley in a previous blog (around the concept of tensions to be managed). He came up with something else that caused me to pause for thought in one of his recent Leadership podcasts, "do for one, what you would wish you could do for everyone". He talked about a depth of relationship which may well be long term & require time as well as money.

Q: What are you doing for one?

Returning to Isaiah 58, I love the clarity of the verses, I also love the seeming cause & effect. It starts with the things God is "interested in seeing you do"...

1. sharing your food with the hungry
2. inviting the homeless poor into your homes
3. putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad
4. being available to your own families

It goes on to spell out the results of us acting like this, though to be clear, I'm not suggesting we 'do' the 4 to get the 6...

1. Do this and the lights will turn on
2. and your lives will turn around at once
3. Your righteousness will pave your way
4. The God of glory will secure your passage
5. Then when you pray, God will answer
6. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am

There are so many places one could go from there, including a suggestion that if we aren't holding up our end, God can't answer "when you pray", but I'm proposing to leave all that with you.

My final thought is around STP within, "being available to your own families". This idea is supported elsewhere, notably Galatians 6, you might even suggest this is the first aspect to address before moving on. We sometimes struggle with the idea of being seeker friendly & reaching the lost. If we were truly a community of people who looked out for & after one another, I have a suspicion the lost would find us.

Enough for now - yours in HIm

Jonathan

reading between John's lines

I can't quite believe it, but I'm about to hit LoveGodLovePeople again. Rest assured, it's not that I'm stale or myopic, just unable to escape this theme in my meditations & hence seeking to be true to that 'in print'. That said, it's sufficiently reoccuring to warrant it's own category, now created with three previous posts reclassified.

During a sharing time in CCN staff a couple of months ago, I did a version (with help from a flip chart) of backwards mirror of loving people. During that time, I went further than in my post, referencing

1. those that know us & love us
2. those that know us but don't love us
3. those we don't yet know at all &
4. those we don't yet know at all who are ' poor'

In blogging (including lessons from the littles & let's get to scripture), I haven't gone to the 'extremes' - concentrating on category 1, flirting with the thought of the less lovable (category 2) & ignoring the rest. Today I'm going to start to address that gap, it will take my a few posts!

The latest prompt came from reading John 13 - the section where Jesus washes the feet of His disciples. We aren't told that He washed Judas' feet, but since he is named as being there both before & after, I'm going to assume his participation.

I have a tendency to sometimes read the bible at a bit of a pace, something I'm keen to rectify. When I take more time & consider the context, I often find myself with extra thoughts to ponder...Jesus knew what Judas was up to (every bit of it) & He washed his feet! Take a minute - for Jesus to be washing anyone's feet was strange & culturally incorrect, but Judas was

• the fella who ran their money & was bent with it
• the chap He'd spent three years pouring His life into who was about to betray Him
• the bloke whom Satan had firmly in his grip (v.2) & was about to enter (v.27)

Jesus chose to love through serving. I've already confessed to finding it difficult to even love some of the people I do know, even when they love me. Now I have to get my head round loving people who know me yet don't love me...do me a favour.

The next step would be to consider one of the final two categories (the unknown & the poor) - truth is I'd love to rush on & whilst massively challenged by our need to work with & love the 'poor', I'd be letting myself off the hook by doing that.

So, here I sit & ponder my attitude & the state of some relationships. Am I dissatisfied enough (ref epiphany & equations), to actually do something about it? I hope so & I guess we'll find out.

Yours - signed up for the long haul

Jonathan