Living It

Where it Started -  Living It Everyone has their own experiences, develops their own worldview and values. Some things we learn from others thinking and some we develop as we read, learn, experience and live in this world God created. This is a blog about what I have learned and how I am practically living out my faith in my community. The banner of my blog is an attempt to say where my foundation and ethos and values lie. I am a Christian. I think I started this blog over 17 years ago now (I haven't checked). This blog is about the different parts of me, my learning and development and even how my beliefs and values may have changed as life has happened. The joys, the challenges, the disappointments and the victories. If that is the purpose of this blog - it would be a really sad state of affairs if years later, nothing had changed. It would be really sad if I was stubbornly stomping my feet and digging in refusing to consider new scientific research, acknowledging mistakes and re...

What do you see in the image above? Which images do you see first? Two faces or a Goblet? Can you see each image clearly or is one harder to see than the other? Do you see all or part of the picture? We can be so busy with what is important to us that we don't see the whole picture. Sometimes we only see what we want to see and we forget to stand back for a wider glimpse. So many things are open to interpretation and who knows sometimes you may see something that is not even there. How then do you understand and interpret things correctly. If people start at different starting points you may not see the same thing at all. There has to be understanding. My profession as a community learning development practitioner is often a misunderstood profession.  You have probably heard the saying about whether it is better to give a man a fish to eat or teach him to fish? In other words giving a man a fish can teach him to be dependent whilst teaching him to fish g...

If you have read any of my other posts, you will know that one of my passions is demonstrating a biblical worldview. As a secular trained community worker, I realise that my university opted out from spiritual development aspects, sitting very firmly on the fence for fear of been accused of any bias or discrimination. I can see however, how we can use community work skills in mission. For years churches and other Christian organisations have perhaps been lacking in practice. Within increasing legislation that has been less of the case within recent years. It is however always a fine balance being Christian community work/mission/outreach. If we are not careful you can easily let the Kingdom values slip down in priority....and before you know it you are a slightly better off secular project. As Christians we should not only be reflective practitioners but we should always be seeking. When we started our community team 4 years ago we served for 6- 12 months. We built up relationship ...

How can we have a better grasp of a Biblical worldview? We humans like to compartmentalize things. We like our boxes and security. Having a Biblical worldview however, for me crosses over in both personal and professional practice. Why? Personally, it is only by taking time with God that we can deepen or understanding of God and that naturally out flows in how we live (or it should) Professionally, there are many concepts of what community is. Many people believe that community and community spirit is dead. In my experience that is largely from people who consider community to be geographic in its nature. I believe that community is indeed alive and well, since there are many forms of community. (See a detailed explanation on infed website. ) We like to have a firm grasp on things and so often we put God in a box. I can learn so much from my daughter. She has grown up with or grace before dinner and its natural to her. Inviting a friend to an Christian event, or for a picnic makes no...

I have recently been in a bit of a dialogue with people that follow Sunday papers with regard mission. The question was posed "Why are we rubbish at it?" I have made some comments about being in it for the long haul and sometimes its our mindset to mission that is a barrier. Our mission is to share God's love and ultimately see people experience and have a life changing encounter with God. There were those in the discussion that seemed to favour direct evangelism, after all there should be a question of urgency in our Gospel message. I see the value in any approach. I have been aware however that timing is vital. We do have to ask God what to do. There have been times where a team has asked to come and when we prayed about it we felt it was a "No". I have also seen teams sweep in and out of a village or town claiming x number of conversions, with little or no thought about follow up and discipleship....and sadly few people have managed to link in with a local...

Most of us at one time or another have engaged in a conversation at some point where the notion of community has come up. We have all heard statements like "It was not like that in our day", "We have lost our community spirit". The notion of neighbours talking over the fence and watching out for each other is regarded as nostalgia, since our lifestyles are more fast paced and individualistic. Perhaps my first question then is "What does the term community mean to you?" I am not going to go into a long detailed explanation of the varying concepts of community in this blog. Further reading on this can be done here http://www.infed.org/community/community.htm In short the term community can relate to a geographic place or neighbourhood , a community of interest e.g . a church community or sport or hobby group. The third notion of community comes from communion. Communion can have deep profound attachments such as an encounter with God or it can equally hav...