The Crowded House has Buddhist approval

13 November 2008 — Tim Chester

I’m not sure what to make of this.

One of the women in our congregation works as a care assistant to a woman with a disability. She was talking with this woman and the woman’s cleaner, both of whom are Buddhists. They were asking her about why she came to Sheffield. She told them about coming to learn about church planting and about what our church we as like. The cleaner asked her what her church was called so she told her. ‘I thought it might be,’ the cleaner replied. ‘I was at a Buddhist retreat weekend recently and the trainer commended The Crowded House as a model. They said The Crowded House were good at creating community.’

I’m not sure whether the imprimatur of Buddhists is a blessing or not! I guess a good reputation with unbelievers is positive, but I suspect some of our more conservative friends might take this as confirmation of their worst fears. So let me relate another story …

Eight of us sat round the table on Tuesday. A pretty disparate group of people. My family. A teenage girl. A woman on disability allowance. A young man who works in a supermarket. A pregnant woman whose husband was away on business in London. It was beautiful. We ate a simple meal together, talked, laughed, shared our news, encouraged one another. And we broke bread together. As we did so I was struck again how this kind of community cannot be created by human effort or human vision. The Buddhists are wasting their time if they think The Crowded House is any kind of model that can be copied. This kind of community is created by the body and blood of Jesus. ‘We, though we are many, are one body because we all partake of the one loaf.’ It is the death of Jesus that brings together such disparate people and makes us family.

Posted in Community, Cross, Lord's Supper, News. 7 Comments »

New TCH Statement of Faith

11 November 2008 — Tim Chester

In The Crowded House we’ve recently written a new statement of faith. We’ve tried to write it in a more narrative form with a minimum amount of theological jargon and with some passion. Here it is …

We are a people longing eagerly for the future

We are waiting the arrival of a new heaven and earth, which God will bring about through his transforming power. A day is coming when Christ will come again to establish his reign of justice and freedom. He will create the home of righteousness which his people crave, banishing forever sin, Satan and de ath.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Faith, News. 5 Comments »

Why not the Trinity?

11 November 2008 — Tim Chester

Last week I attended one day of the Fulwood Conference here in Sheffield. The stand out talk for me was Gavin McGrath on John Owen’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It was a great introduction with some very suggestive (if brief) contemporary application - especially on the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. His two talks are available for free download here and here.

It got me thinking. I’ve written a book on prayer and I often get asked to speak on prayer. I’ve written a book on social involvement and I often get asked to speak on social involvement. I’ve written a book on busyness and I often get asked to speak on busyness. I’ve written a book on missional church and I often get asked to speak on missional church. I’ve just written a book on sanctification and already I’m being asked to speak on sanctification.

I’ve also written a book on the Trinity, but no-one has ever asked me to speak on the Trinity.

Why is this?

Actually while we’re on the subject … Why is my book on the Trinity the only one to be going out of print?

The irony is that of all the topics above the Trinity is the one on which I would most like to be asked to speak! Indeed I often find ways of speaking on it even if I’m asked to speak on something else. If I’m asked to give on prayer then I nearly always end up talking about the Trinity.

I also think it’s the most practical of all those topics.

My book Delighting in the Trinity is available in the USA from Kregel, but is now out of print in the UK. I have some copies available for sale in the UK at £6 each including packing and postage (discounts for multiple orders).

Posted in Books, God, Trinity. 26 Comments »

Creating communities of grace

9 November 2008 — Tim Chester

Here’s my final post based on my talk on ‘Communities of Grace’ to the Evangelists Conference.

How can we create communities of grace? Let me suggest seven ideas:

(1) Make the connections

We need to teach grace. We need to often speak, pray and sing of the cross. But we also need to make connections with people. Plenty of people believe in justification by faith for the final day, but doubt justification by faith for the next. On a Monday morning in the workplace they are still trying to prove themselves, to find identity in their achievements. We need to paint a picture for people; to show them what grace in action looks like; to fuel their imaginations, tell stories.

(2) Welcome the mess

Welcome messy communities. Welcome messy people. Obviously you’ll want them to change, to become more like Jesus, to be set free from their slaveries. But don’t make your welcome dependent on change. Don’t suppress conflict. Don’t hide problems.

(3) Stop pretending

Don’t hide your own problems. You’ll need to exercise some discretion. Let everyone know you struggle. Let some people know what you struggle with. A break through moment in our context was when I confessed long-standing sin to a small prayer meeting. I didn’t do it to create a break-through moment, but that was the outcome. Other people suddenly felt able to confess their sin and it has led to a time of change and accountability throughout the community.

(4) Stop performing

Don’t put on a show. Don’t push people to perform, to produce results, to get it right all the time. Give people permission to fail. We’ve realised that polished Bible studies and articulate prayers disenfranchise semi-literate people.

(5) Eat and drink with broken people

The Son of Man who receives all authority in Daniel 7 comes eating and drinking (Luke 7:34). Jesus eats and drinks with sinners. It’s a powerful expression of community. We think we are enacting grace if we work among the poor, if we serve them. But we are only half way there. It is not really grace because we still act from a position of superiority. We think we are humble when we serve. But we have missed the dynamic that is going on. What we really proclaim is that we are able and you are unable. I can do something for you, but you can do nothing for me. Think how different the dynamic is when we sit and eat with someone. We meet as equals. We share together. We behave as friends. We affirm one another and enjoy one another.

(6) Give people time to change

I think there are some tensions and questions here, but we need to give people time to change. How long did it take for you to become perfectly like Jesus? Of course, you’re still changing. There are some sins we’re prepared to work on over a lifetime, but there are others where we demand instant change. Why is this? The answer, of course, is that we want them to become respectable. We don’t want a messy community. So we say, ‘You’re saved by faith, but to become part of the church (e.g. to be baptised) you need to change your life.’ So which is it? Are we saved by works or are we saved by works?

(7) Focus on the heart

What’s your agenda for change? All too often we focus on behaviour. We can list the behaviours we would like someone to stop or start. But Jesus says our behaviour comes from the heart (Mark 7:20-23). Our focus needs to be on the heart. Our job is to help people love God and treasure Christ. In Philippians 1 Paul says the aim of his ministry among them is their joy (1:25-26). He wants them to find joy in Christ – only then will people turn from the pleasures of sin. I do need to describe a life that pleases God. But my job is not to go round telling people to reform their lives or change their behaviour. My job is help people find joy in Christ.

Posted in Church Planting, Community, Grace, Pastoral Care. 8 Comments »

Training couples to minister as couples: can you help?

8 November 2008 — Tim Chester

We’re been thinking for a while about how we can train married couples as couples to do ministry together as a couple. This was reinforced by the visit to us of Robert Banks in which he highlighted the way Aquila and Priscilla worked together as a married couple.

But where to turn? Does anyone know of any resources for training couples to minister together? I don’t mean material on marriage - we’ll cover that, but we have plenty of material on married life. I’m interested in resources on partnering in ministry, supporting one another in ministry, using your home for ministry and so on.  

I recognise that, while some couples may have a shared ministry, other couples may have distinct ministries so the focus for them will be on mutual support and identifying opportunities for overlap. 

Any suggestions?

Posted in Marriage & S exuality. 5 Comments »

Robert Banks

7 November 2008 — Tim Chester


Last month Robert and Linda Banks spent the weekend with us which was a great privilege. Robert’s book Paul’s Idea of Community has been a big influence on The Crowded House. But actually the book that most influenced me was his short, fictional account of a Roman visiting an early church gathering called Going to Church in the First Century. Another big influence was his book All the Business of Life which I think has now be republished as Redeeming the Routines: Bringing Theology to Life.

Robert led a seminar for us on the New Testament household churches. Here are my top ‘take away’ ideas.

1. We don’t know much about what the churches did when they gathered. But it seems the thing they always did was eat together. (One of my top ideas for my next writing project is a reflection on meals and hospitality.)

2. We did a case study of Aquila and Priscilla. One notable thing is that they are always mentioned together. It seems they ministry together. So in the Edge Network we’ve begun thinking about how we might train couples together to do ministry together or to support one another in ministry.

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Posted in Books, Church Planting, Mission, Total Church. 2 Comments »

Great bargains on NICOT and NICNT commentaries

5 November 2008 — Tim Chester

Amazon appear to be having a sale on the generally excellent NICOT and NICNT commentary series. Some are at silly prices. For example V. P. Hamilton’s commentaries on Genesis are £1.99 each for 540 and 733 pages!

UPDATE: It seems Amazon got their pricing wrong and are now cancelling orders.

Posted in Books. 19 Comments »

How communities of performance impede mission

4 November 2008 — Tim Chester

How do communities of performance impede mission?

Communities of Performance Communities of Grace
talk about grace, but communicate legalism people can see grace in action
unbelievers can’t imagine themselves as Christians unbelievers feel like they can belong
don’t attract broken people attract broken people
the world is seen as threatening and ‘other’ people are loved as fellow-sinners in need of grace
conversion is superficial (people are called to respectable behaviour) conversion is radical (people are called to transformed affections)
people are secretly hurting people are open about their problems
people see faith and repentance as actions that took place at conversion people see faith and repentance as daily activities
the gospel is for unbelievers the gospel is for both unbelievers and believers
Posted in Church Planting, Community, Grace. 3 Comments »

How about ‘Ordinary Heroes’?

3 November 2008 — Tim Chester

For those of you not (like me) bored with the saga of choosing the title of my next book, here’s the latest suggestion: Ordinary Heroes: Living the Cross and Resurrection.

It picks up an idea in the conclusion. The three people so far who’ve read the conclusion have all cried! I’m not saying anything more about its content at this stage - you’ll have to wait for the book.

Writing the conclusion crystallized for me one of the things I’m trying to do in the book. I want to write a hard-hitting call to radical discipleship. But I also want to say that living the cross and resurrection is not just for missionaries and martyrs, but for ordinary Christians. It picks up one of what I think is the key themes of Total Church, namely the idea of ordinary people living ordinary lives with gospel intentionality. This is radical Christianity for ordinary people in the context of ordinary life.

‘Ordinary Heroes’ is also a paradoxical statement which many of you were keen on in the comments you gave to the previous posts of this topic.

Posted in Books, Discipleship. 13 Comments »

Communities of Performance Verses Communities of Grace

2 November 2008 — Tim Chester

More from my talk to the Evangelist’s Conference.

Is your community a community of performance or a community of grace? Try these diagnostic tests …

Communities of Performance Communities of Grace
the leaders appear sorted the leaders are vulnerable
the community appears respectable the community is messy
meetings must be a polished performance meetings are just one part of community life
identity is found in ministry identity is found in Christ
failure is devastating failure is disappointing, but not devastating
actions are driven by duty actions are driven by joy
conflict is suppressed or ignored conflict is addressed in the open
the focus is on orthodoxy and behaviour (allowing people to think they’re sorted) the focus is on the affections of the heart (with a strong view of sin and grace)

In performance-oriented churches people pretend to be okay because their standing within the church depends on it. A ‘sorted’ person is seen as the standard or the norm, and anyone who is struggling is seen as sub-standard or sub-Christian. In this kind of environment to acknowledge that you’re struggling with sin is difficult and distressing.

But this is the opposite of grace. Grace acknowledges that we are all sinners, we are all messed up people, all struggling, all doubting at a functional level. But grace also affirms that in Christ we all belong, all make the grade, all are welcome, all are Christians (there are no lesser Christians).

Imagine such a church for a moment. Here is Andrew: he sometimes uses po rn because he struggles to find refuge in God. Here’s Pauline: she sometimes has panic attacks because she struggles to believe in the care of her heavenly Father. Here’s Abdul: he sometimes looses his temper because he struggles to believe that God is in control. Here’s Georgina: she sometimes has bouts of depression because she struggles to believe God’s grace. When they come together they accept one another and celebrate God’s grace towards each other. They rejoice that they are all children of God through the work of Christ. And they remind one another of the truths each of them needs to keep going and to change. It’s a community of grace, a community of hope, a community of change.

Posted in Church Planting, Community, Grace. 9 Comments »
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