New Life Brighton - Hot, Cold, Lukewarm? #1

Dear brothers and sisters,

Point 1 - Our situation

As a church, you will now be aware, we are in a ‘sticky’ situation to say the least. If all continues as things are, the church will close in less than six months because we will have run out of money.

Point 2 - Jesus is with us

However, there is every reason to believe the Lord is, absolutely, 100% with us … 

• Conversions
• A genuine sense of His presence during Sunday services
• Additions to the church (Bob and Lou, Most recently Mary (if she continues with us - for our encouragement, she text me the Sunday before last saying … “Hello Pastor, I am going to London today so will not be at Church. I had an amazing time last Sunday. Stay blessed.”)) 
• A will from other churches to support us. Eg, I got an email from Jon Hobbs at Grace Community Church, telling us how encouraged they were to hear most recently about how the Lord has worked, and that they will be increasing their support of us from next Sept from 2k to 3k per year, and that they may be able to do more as they grow, but cannot commit to more at the present time. The subtext here is, “we believe God is with you, we recognise the huge value of NLC and we are rooting for you and want to do what we can to help!”
• Two members from Grace Church have also volunteered to serve us when John Gillespie comes. Again, a tangible expression of God being with us.

More could be said - the point is, Jesus unquestionably loves us and values our church. He has no desire to close us down at all. He has plans and a future for us without doubt. 

Therefore … with all that follows, please take hold of, and do not let go of the unshakeable truth, Jesus is with us, is for us and has a glorious future for us.

Point 3 - Money is not our problem

However, we have every reason to believe that Jesus is not in a flap because he doesn’t have any money left for us. If Jesus cannot raise the funds we need to save the church - He really is not much of a Saviour - in fact, if that were the case - He is no Saviour! Money may be Hi mechanism for closing us, but it is not the reason.

Point 4 - ‘Something’ needs to change.

Therefore, we have good reason to believe that, if we do run out of money, it is because Jesus has chosen to shut us down. He wasn’t trying to save us because He thinks we are worthwhile but couldn’t. Jesus does not fail - ever. We can all see Jesus’ proverbial writing on the wall, in our plain sight which reads, “You have 5-6 months, and if ‘something’ does not change, I will shut you down”. That much we know.

Perhaps the ‘something’ that changes is, a sudden influx of external financial donors that meets our financial deficit. That would certainly cause the writing on the wall to disappear. Or perhaps the ‘something’ that changes is something to do with our church - perhaps we just need to change our strategy? Or perhaps the ‘something’ is that there is an Achan in the church (Joshua 7), and the ‘something’ that changes is that the ‘Achan' repents, or the Lord exposes their sin so that we put them out of the church. Or perhaps the ‘something’ that changes is something about us as a church - a lukewarmness is changed to a ‘hotness’.

The question for us is, “What is the ‘something’ that needs to change?” If nothing changes, we will close. Is the ‘something’, something to do with us as a church or is it something else? 

Facing the Unthinkable

It is highly likely that New Life Church will die within the next six months. It is likely, but it is not a foregone conclusion. 

It is really important that as you read below, you adopt a humble, non-defensive attitude. Please remember - the Lord holds leaders and teachers in the church more accountable - so I will be diligently going through this myself. Our aim is that, if the Lord has something against us - that He would show us and bring us to repentance and the church be saved and more alive than ever. There is no other motivation, no condemnation, no finger pointing, but a deep concern for our little church. I want us to be a tough, loving, faithful, faith-filled and humble little church - that grows.

The church is in a critical state. It is running out of money. However, as I have said before I repeat - if the church dies, it is not because Jesus couldn't get any more money for us. What kind of a Lord and Saviour would that make Him? Whatever the reason - we must all be settled in our mind - money may be the Lord's mechanism for closing the church - it is definitely not the reason.

Secondly, we must be clear, if the church dies - it is the Lord who has closed it. Jesus created the church, He sustains the church. If He determines the church will continue - the gates of hell cannot stand against it. If He chooses to close it - no-one can keep it open. 

Churches close because of intense persecution (In Syria churches have been obliterated). But that is not our problem. Churches close because populations move away. We are surrounded by 10,000 people - that is certainly not our problem.

The only other reasons for closure the Lord gives in the scriptures are significant faults within the church. 

There may be other reasons for church closure other than a fault in the church - but if there are - the Lord has not revealed them to us. 

Therefore, we must face the unthinkable. It is possible that I, Julian are the Achan in the camp (Joshua 7-9). If I am, I really want to know and repent. Maybe you are. Or maybe we all, to some degree are. We must face the unthinkable. I could be the reason - part of the reason the church is closing". Only if we humble ourselves and genuinely accept the possibility (that only pride would prevent) that we are the problem,  can we receive from the Lord, repent and be restored.

Please prayerfully consider Jesus words to churches threatened with closure below, asking the Lord to show you if it applies to you or us as a church.

Revelation 2

4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Jesus has much to praise the church in Ephesus for, but for all their good - and there is much good - it is sunk by thier loss of love. And this is as much about love for brothers and sisters within the local church as for God Himself.

Consider - do you love your brothers and sisters more now than ever before? If your answer is 'yes', then answer this ... How is that love expressed in your words, your time and your money, your actions? Get concrete about this. Love is active. If you answer 'no', then will you repent?

Do you think the church has grown in love? The Lord's problem with the Church in Ephesus was not with one or two individuals - but with many in the church - so that the church was characterised by a growing coldness of heart toward God and each other. Is this the case for us? What do you think?

Revelation 3

2 I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

Imagine I interviewed people who know of our church - people you know and I know, from outside of our church and asked -"what is New Life Church like? Is it a good church? What is good about them? What is not so good?" What do you think their answers would be? That is our reputation. But now imagine I interviewed God and asked Him what He thinks of us. Do you think his report would match our reputation? The question here is, are we a fake church. Look good to others - but God sees something different?

What about for yourself. What do you think others in the church think of you? Do you have a reputation for being spiritually alive? What would the report of others say about you? Your integrity, your love for God and others, your diligence, your sacrificial love etc? Imagine I then interview God about you - would His report match your reputation? 

Do you / we as a church. need to 'wake up!" Do we need to 'repent of deadness' and strengthen what remains?'

Revelation 3

15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 

Do you think that in reality, you are luke warm as a Christian? Or are you on fire for God? What would your spouse say about you? What do you think others would think you are most passionate about? Would they need to think about it? Is it possible they could get it wrong? Or would they answer in a heartbeat "they are passionate about Jesus and His church". 

What about the Church - do you think we are / have been lukewarm? If the church is lukewarm, that is because the members are lukewarm. Do we need to repent?

Please be prayerful about this. If we all conclude that we can have a clear conscience before the Lord, then we have self-examined ourselves, trusting the Spirit to convict us and bring us to repentance. Then we can move on. If after self-examination we conclude we need to repent - then we can do that - and move on in confident faith. But we must not leave this out.

Remember also, the Lord loves us with an everlasting love. The Lord wrote to the churches in Revelation because of His great love for them. As we consider them for ourselves, we must keep in mind His great love for us. Jesus is rooting for our church!

Thank you all so much for your grace and willingness to face the unthinkable.

Spiritual Gifts 101 #1

Spiritual Gifts #1

During our Sunday gathering (Church) one of our leaders, Grenville preached on the gifts of the Spirit. The sermon was followed by an opportunity for people to respond - and people did respond. It was encouraging to see people wanting to encourage one another! There seemed to be a recognition that we all ought to use our gifts for the common good more than we do.

However, this is fairly new territory for us, and there is a great deal of confusion surrounding spiritual gifts - hence, I decided to do a series of blogs on the subject to help bring clarity. There are two important elements to consider ...

1) The main thrust, emphasis and teaching of the Bible on the subject

2) How the local church handles and manages those things practically.

For example, the Bible teaches that prophecy must be weighed and tested - but it does not tell us how. There for, that we must weigh and test prophecy is clear, but we as a local church must work out 'how' to do that. It is for leadership to decide under God what the 'house rule' (The way we do things) are to be. We will get to (2) above in a future blog.

What are Spiritual Gifts?

Spiritual gifts are given specifically by the Holy Spirit to a Christian so that the Christian can more effectively serve the church by building up believers. However, it is important from the outset to bring into focus natural gifts. Natural gifts are gifts we have naturally - that is, gifts we had before we were Christians. God wants us to use those gifts to build up the church too.

Spiritual vs Natural gifts

The term 'spiritual' has an air of superiority about it compared with 'natural'. People often think spiritual gifts are superior to natural gifts. However, that is not true. In fact, there is clear overlap. Consider the gifts listed in the following verse ...

Romans 12

7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Are those gifts spiritual or natural? The answer is, they could be either. There are many unbelievers who are naturally servant-hearted. I have an aunt who is not a Christian, but she loves to have people in her home, she will spend a whole day cooking in prep. Then she loves to treat people really well. She is naturally gifted with a servant heart and hospitality. The same is true for all the other gifts. eg, you may remember particularly gifted school teachers. They may have been gifted teachers or leaders and encouragers.

If those people become Christians, they can then use those gifts in God's strength, empowered by the Spirit for God's purposes. Like King David who transferred His skills as a shepherd protecting his flock from lions and bears to slaying Goliath for God!

On the other hand, they can all be spiritual gifts. An unbeliever may not be a natural leader, but then after conversion, he finds a passion, fire and desire to see a church make progress, as he gives himself to the task he finds he is able to enthuse and lead others. His is a spiritual gift of leadership. The same can be said for all those other gifts.

However, it is important to underline that, when we speak of spiritual gifts and natural gifts, we don't mean 'spiritual' gifts and 'unspiritual' gifts. We simply mean, one is given post-conversion by God's spirit, the other is given naturally from birth, and we naturally begin exercising it as we grow. But notice, the difference and emphasis, is on the giver and the time of giving of the gift. One is of the spirit and is given subsequent to faith, the other is given by God before we come to faith, but in practice, they may be exactly the same. A spiritual gift, is a gift given specifically by the Spirit to a Christian to build up the church. 

Then there are spiritual gifts that are exclusive to Christians. Eg, prophecy, tongues and faith (in Jesus).

But the distinctions between natural, spiritual and exclusively Christian gifts are not important. What is important is that they are all used in the strength of God for the edification of the church.

Objection

If it is true that natural gifts are as important as spiritual gifts, why does Paul exhort us 'eagerly desire the spiritual gifts' (1 Corinthians 14:1). 'Spiritual gifts' are in addition to our natural gifts. We already have all our natural gifts - there is no need to desire or ask for what we already have - but spiritual gifts are gifts we don't naturally have, so we should desire them as they will help us build up the church - in addition to the gifts we already have. 

Some important bullet points ... 

 • All spiritual gifts are given for the edification of the church and its members

 • Edification means, building up, strengthening, encouraging (encourage means ‘to give courage / strength to’), for the good of the church (the common good, 1 Corinthians 12:7) and God’s purposes.

 • The lists of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 1:6-8, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4:10,11 are not at all exhaustive, they are examples of the more obvious, spiritual / common gifts. The Lord can give any gift he chooses.

 • The ‘gifts’ are in fact, expressions of God’s grace, given to us, that we might express that grace to others. (1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.)

The Corinthian Trap

We read more about spiritual gifts in Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 12-14) than anywhere else. But the reason is because the church at Corinth was abusing the gifts. Paul writes to instruct and correct, their abuse. The church in Corinth was mad on tongues. To them, it seems to have been a badge of honour they used to show off how spiritual they are.

To correct this abuse Paul tells them that, in fact, tongues are the least of the gifts. This was a direct punch on the nose of their boasting. So they are not so spiritual after all! Paul tells them that the person who prophesies is greater because prophecy builds others up rather than just self. In other words, prophecy is about serving others. It is not a status symbol. 

Another possible motive of Paul's may be that a person with the gift of tongues can speak in tongues at will, but a person cannot authentically prophesy at will. If they would pursue prophecy, the church would be built up and there would not be such an over-use of the gift. It is sad then, that some people pursue prophecy because they want to be great! Their real motive is not to prophesy to build up the church, but to prophecy to build up their own status for their own pleasure! They want to be someone important. This is a wrong motive. 

James 4 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

The result of such a motive will be a 'no' from God at best, worse, inauthentic and carnal prophesying, at worst - outright false prophesying.

The important thing to learn from all this is to be humble. Be a genuine servant. Always seek the good of others. If you are already a servant and so humbly serving others, to build them up, and praying about how you can serve more effectively to do even more people, even more good, then ask God to give gifts to help you help others - He is likely to say ‘yes'.

The most important thing

So remember, God has already given you gifts, natural ones - use them. You don't need to worry about what they are or if you can name them - that is not important. What is important is to give yourself fully as a servant, serving to build others up in love. 

As a servant, wouldn't you love to be able to serve your brothers and sisters even more effectively? Then ask God for the necessary gifts to do so. But watch out for that wretched pride, remember, gifts are not given by God to catapult us to celebrity status. Crush that desire under foot. Ask God to help you repent if that motive keeps creeping into your praying. It may help to repent if you keep telling yourself, "That motive, of pride, is destroying my chances of serving God more effectively". 

So in conclusion, first be a servant, then ask God to help you serve by giving you the  necessary gifts required for the common good of the church.

To Brexit or Remain, That is the Question

So I thought I’d do a blog on ‘Remain’ or ‘Brexit’. I admit I am no expert, but I do know bogus arguments when I see them - and I see them on both sides. Right now I lean toward Brexit and if forced to vote now, that is where I'd very reluctantly make my mark.

Since I am not an expert, I'd appreciate factual corrections and invalid arguments being pointed out. Also, if you have a contrary perspective - share it. But let's please avoid the smoke and screens that seem to prevail - I hope I have not been guilty of that!

1) Ad-hominem arguments

In the first place, we must push aside the ad-hominem arguments. An ad-hominem argument is one that attempts to win an argument by personally attacking the opposition. So, an ad-hominem argument might go like this … 

Nigel Farage and Donald Trump are racist - so don’t join them, vote ‘Remain’.

The question is not if certain people are racist or not, but are their arguments valid or not. Even if Farage is racist - a vote to Brexit need not be racist at all, and a vote to Brexit need not mean joining Nigel Farage. If we followed that logic, we better hope there are no racists, or paedophiles, or rapists who are voting to remain - as that would make all the ‘remainers’ rapists, paedophiles and racists. 

2) The Immigration fallacy

A Brexit vote need not be about anti-immigration at all. But is about filtering who can and cannot enter the country. We can Brexit, and if we want, we can have open borders too - that would be up to us to decide. We can let in as many people as we want. Since we are a democracy, if Farage was Prime Minister (Which is not going to happen) and all our fears about him proved true - guess what, we can vote him out. 

The problem is the argument seems to go like this … 

Brexit: Vote out, then we can control our Boarders and decide who can and cannot come in.

Remain: But we need immigration, immigration is good for the country and its economy.

Brexit: But we can still have immigration, just controlled.

Remain: But we need immigration. Immigrants are good for the economy…

You can see what happens - the Remains don’t seem to listen to the Brexits. They seem to think we either have completely open borders within the EU or completely closed borders outside the EU.

The question for the Remains to answer is this: Accepting that we need immigration and that immigration is, on the whole, good for the country and economy; Is every single immigrant that comes into the country good for the country and its economy? Surely the answer is ‘no’. Brexit, many are, most probably are but certainly not all. Brexit enables us to simply say ‘no’ to those who are not good for the country and its economy.

3) The Economy

The fact is, all the so-called experts agree, we are financially better off in Europe. I think if as a country we continue as we are, the elites are probably right. I say ‘probably’ because they may be wrong too. The fat is, nobody knows. But on balance, I reckon the elites are right. But, that would be our fault - not for Brexiting, but for not sorting out our industries and education etc. Britain needs  to concentrate educationally on things like engineering instead of some of the plethora of social sciences. I am not saying they should all be stopped - but the emphasis seriously needs to change. 

If as a country we fail to create, innovate, produce and manufacture things - we have nothing substantial to trade with. This is why Germany is so strong. The make things and sell them. We rely on services, e.g. financial services. This is good but we depend too much on it which may be good for the country as a country - but not good for the average Joe.  When we say that Financial Services are good for the country - by ‘country’, we, in fact, mean the elite within the country.

4) Germany - The Powerhouse of Europe

Now this is not a criticism, but an observation. But it seems to me that what Germany attempted and failed in, in WW2, to rule all of Europe, they are now achieving through an ever-closer EU. Now don’t misunderstand me - this is not a comparison with Nazi Germany at all - Germany is, on the whole, a forward thinking, democratic nation. But they are, without a doubt, the powerhouse of Europe, and the EU strengthens their position toward being the undisputed ruler of Europe. Their influence on the EU is out of all proportion to the size of the country - and this seems to me to be wrong.

5) ‘Remain’ and Change the EU from the inside.

This argument makes a lot of sense on the surface. It is true that if we leave, we will still be affected by various EU rules and regulations regarding trading etc, but being out of the EU, we will have no say about those rules and regulations. If we remain, we can campaign to bring about change.

For me, this really is the big issue. Although at the moment I will probably vote Brexit, I would much prefer to remain in an EU that is much better. Now it seems to me that everyone on both sides of the debate admits the EU is significantly flawed and really needs to change. So I take that as a given. The problem is, I have absolutely no faith whatsoever that a vote to ‘Remain’ will lead to any change at all. 

If David Cameron was unable to negotiate anything at all of any significance with the threat of us leaving as an incentive, then if we vote to remain, the EU will know we are in for good, and will be totally de-incentivised to change. 

6) The EU will give us a good deal even if we Brexit.

I cannot see that it is in the EU’s interest to give Britain a good deal on a Brexit. If they do, they would be signalling to all the other EU countries that they too can leave and still have good deals. I imagine the French will start to get itchy feet and demand a referendum. I’d have thought the EU will need to make an example of us. Of course, they are not going to say that. But from their perspective that would make sense - or others will get itchy feet.

7) If we leave, Scotland will leave

This may be the case. I hope not. We really would be ‘Little Britain’. I think they probably would go for another referendum. If they do have another referendum and leave the UK and join the EU, they would still work very closely with us - that is for sure, as it would still be in both our interests. However, Britain would possibly be a little better off financially as Britain would no longer be subsidising Scotland. On the other hand, they would certainly wait a while before going for a referendum. If the UK fairs better financially out - I think Scotland will stick with us, if we enter another recession - they will likely vote out. I just hope they give it a good five years to let the dust settle first.

Conclusion

For me, it is a really tough decision. Culturally, I love Europe. I love the idea that I can just go there anytime I please. I love the idea of retiring in Spain! I really do. But since I am not remotely persuaded that by remaining within the EU we can change it, then for the sake of a much greater value - Democracy, I think I will take my chances and vote Brexit. I am not 100% though. 

In the end, I will vote with a clear conscience and trust the Lord’s sovereignty, being thankful that my allegiance is not to the United Kingdom or the EU, but with a much better Kingdom to come - praise God for the certainty of that. 

The Truth about Halloween

What is Halloween reallyall  about?

Halloween Brightens up the long dark winter

To many people Halloween is just a bit of fun. The winter is a long, dark and cold season. Imagine there was no Guy Fawkes night with bonfire and fireworks, no Halloween with parties, dressing up, trick or treat, no Christmas with family get-togethers, feasts and celebration - imagine how dull and dreary winter would be. It would be horrible!

Halloween is one of the three main winter celebrations that brightens our winter and makes it far more bearable. 

But isn’t it evil?

For most people, probably for you it really is just a fun time. There is nothing sinister about it at all. Maybe a few kids go too far with their 'tricks', maybe some people wake up the next morning hung over, but that is usually as bad as it gets.

But Halloween trivialises evil. If evil is little red devils with goat feet and pitched forks, then evil doesn't really exist right? Wrong!

We would be naive to imagine there is nothing sinister about it at all. The truth is, some people do have a morbid side. A fascination with death and evil. Halloween feeds that morbidity with horror movies. Horror movies are sinister, they entertain using the most horrible, sick, disgusting and evil ideas and images they can concoct, and the more evil and graphic - the better!  Why do people find it entertaining seeing others getting torn to pieces and horrifically tortured or eaten alive etc? Without pressing the point too hard, I think it is fair to say, there is at least something sinister about that.

Then there are those who really are evil. The truth is, whatever terrible, sick and evil act you can imagine - if it is possible, somebody somewhere is probably doing it. Then there is the general evil in the world. A suicide bomber blows himself and other up! A nation rises up against another in war. This is evil - mass, mass murder! Satan loves that stuff. Evil really exists, we live in a broken, messed up, mad world that is crying out for salvation from evil - but rather than face up to evil, we trivialise it.

Now for the Surprise

Having said all that, the surprising thing is that Halloween is in fact a Christian Celebration, like Guy Fawkes and Christmas.

Now there may be a few druids out there who would argue: “Actually Halloween was originally an ancient celtic festival Samhain”. But the truth is nobody today celebrates Samhain (maybe a few tree-huggers in Lewes), we celebrate HALLOWEEN'.

Halloween comes from ‘Hallows Eve’. You can easily see the similarity. Hallows Eve was celebrated by Christians long, long before Samhain. So what is “Hallows Eve”? Well we know what ‘Eve’ means. Think ‘Christmas Eve’. Christmas Eve is the evening before Christmas Day. Eve means ‘The evening before’. So Hallows Eve is ‘The Evening before Hallows Day”.

So what is ‘Hallows Day?’ Hallows means ‘Saints’. Hallows Eve, or Halloween is the night before ‘Hallows Day’ or ‘All Saints Day’. Many churches around the country, especially Anglican churches still celebrate ‘All Saints Day’. 

‘Saints’ are Christians. All Saints Day is the day that Christians celebrate their champion Jesus’s victory over all the powers of hell, darkness and evil. 

So the Bible tells us concerning Jesus …

15 And having disarmed the [evil] powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2). 

Christians used to celebrate this event by dressing their children up to make a mockery of the devil and His demons. It was a way of saying, “We have no fear of you at all, you are powerless”. It was a time to mock and scorn the powers of darkness and celebrate the victory of Jesus, not a celebration of evil. It was an expression of faith that, no matter how dark the world gets, the day will drive the night away, one day, forever, and all because of Jesus.

Hallows Eve is the night before that celebration. It was believed that the night before All Saints Day, the powers of evil would do their worst knowing that the coming day would drive them and their darkness away.

Darkness must always give way to light!

Sadly, Christianity is as real to people today as Halloween. However, just as there is real evil in the world, so Jesus really has defeated the powers of evil. Jesus really does set people free and brings true light to their dark world. In the darkness - without Jesus people are lost in life, many people feel this ‘lostness’, not knowing who they really are or why they exist or what is the point of it all. But nobody needs to be lost. This Halloween could become not only a time for fun and parties, but a time when Jesus the Light of the world comes into your life to bring light to your world. 

Wanna know more? Inbox me.

Gap Year Internships - why you should encourage them!

GAP YEAR Internships

Young people in our churches face an enormous challenge when they finish college and head off to uni. Many churches and parents lament the fact that when their young people leave Home and church for uni, they also leave the Church and God for the world! The story is so common it is tragic.

But it is hardly surprising. Uni is a very hostile environment for a young Christian. Both Brighton and Sussex university boast a great, 24/7 party life in the city with cheap booze, alternative lifestyles and total acceptance - literally, anything goes! The slogan of Sussex uni is ‘Be Still and Know’. They have deliberately left off ‘That I am God’. Sussex uni was one of the first universities to be built on secular humanist values.

Think about it, we take a teenager who has lived at home all their life, been part of a stable Christian family and church, with friends and family within the church where they get lots of support and encouragement in their faith, we then thrust them out, away from just about every bit of support they have ever known, into a totally strange environment, with strangers all around them, with no restraints except their own will - and the environment is friendly in just about every way except one - it is totally, completely and openly hostile to their christian faith. That is not an exaggeration. 

Of course they are desperate to make friends - and you don’t make friends by being a wet blanket. The only way to make friends is to fit in, be one of them, go out with them - just be like everyone else - or be isolated. (Of course their is the CU - but these vary in quality from year to year and are not the local church.)

Then, they secretly seek out a church on Sunday where they find a welcome, but everything is different there. Not many people their age if any. It is another place where they feel awkward and don’t really fit in. The difference between church and uni, is that church is one awkward place they don’t have to go to.

University life is hard enough to adjust to; new people, new classes and learning, a whole new city. To have to go church hunting and try to fit in there too, on top of everything else can just be too much.

It is no wonder our young people go off the rails - we hardly give them a chance, it really is sink or swim, and for far, far too many it is sink!

Brothers and sister, we cannot afford to keep throwing our sheep to the wolves without preparation and protection! Is there anything we can do to help?

Gap-Year Internships on Site

I believe it basic common sense to encourage every 'student to be', to first go to the city of their university and spend a year as an intern with a local church.

This has great advantages.

1. It serves the city they will go to and benefit from.
2. It provides a  strong theological foundation for the student.
3. It give them an opportunity to really focus on God and getting deep roots down into a local church.
4. It give them a head start in getting to know the city and the culture.
5. It enables them to establish strong, gospel relationships with christian friends and church family that will help them through the coming years.

The five points above also mean the student will be more influential than their peers when they start. They will feel more confident and will not have to start searching for a local church when they arrive. As they begin uni, they will have a church family and key friends and mentors who can help them navigate the gauntlet of temptation that university life throws up.

These are some of the reasons we at New Life Brighton offer a Gap Year internship for those planning to study in Brighton. We believe it is basic wisdom to do so. If you know anyone thinking about studying in Brighton, why not encourage them to first do an internship with us? While you’re at it, work on making it part of your church culture that students seek out Gap Year internships in the relevant city.

To find out more, contact me: jrebera.nlc@gmail.com

What kind of God Allows Suffering #2

In my last blog I introduced this subject, you should read the one first if you haven't already. In this blog we begin to see God's perspective on this world. We could not know God's perspective, but He has revealed it in the Bible so that we can know and understand. The Bible reveals the following ... 

1) God created a good world. In Genesis 1, we are told five times that God created this world GOOD. That means, He is responsible for creating a GOOD world and NOT a war-torn, famished, polluted, broken, disease-ridden, messed up, chaotic world of pain and misery. There was none of that in the world He created, nothing in it to spoil it. No sickness, suffering, disease, disaster or death, no human wickedness, no injustice, no pain - just good - that is the world God created. If we are going to complain about the Christian God - then we cannot attribute the creation of a messed up world to Him - that is not the God of the Bible. He created a good world.

2) God created the first ever human couple, Adam and Eve. Their life (like ours) came from God and was sustained by Him. He provided for them a beautiful, harmonious and pristine world to live in and it was only good in every way. He literally provided everything for them!

3) Now this next bit people often don’t like, but it has to be said because it is just true. That is, because He created everything Himself, including Adam and Eve, He rightfully owns everything. He owned Adam and Eve. In fact, since we were all "In Adam", God rightfully owns you and me too. We are not our own, we did not make ourselves. Back to Adam and Eve ... And because He owned them, He had every right to give them His law - and He did. The law was, 

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 

(Genesis 2:16,17)

4) This law was not hard to keep. The fruit from just one tree in the whole world was forbidden. They had everything else. God made everything, He is perfectly right to reserve anything He makes for Himself, since it is His in the first place, He is not obliged to give us absolutely everything and it is unreasonable and ungrateful to expect everything. But anyway, God never gave that rule for nothing. 

5) In giving this rule or law, God did a number of important things.

a) God exercised His authority. God is God! We should obey Him simply because He is the Authority. Our godless, modern thinking hates authority. The idea that we should obey someone just because of who they are strikes at the our prideful hearts. “Give me one good reason why I should obey you!” we say. God’s answer is simple, “Because I Am GOD!”. The Bible tells us that by His word He created the heavens and the earth. Imagine the power of His word. That we would dare defy, reject and rebel against Him would be laughable if it was not so dangerous. We should obey, simply because God has spoken.

b) This rule was necessary for Adam and Eve’s humanity. The fact that God gave them a command, meant that they had a choice about obeying God or not. We have that choice today. There are two reasons parents want their own children to obey them. 

(1) Because parents love their children. The rules parents give are to keep their beloved children safe and for their ultimate flourishing. 

(2) Parents want children to obey them, because the obedience of a child to a parent is an expression of trust in the parent. That is to say, the child obeys because the child loves the parent. Imagine your child only obeyed you because they had no other option. The very fact that they can go against you but choose not to, speaks of their love and appreciation of you. They freely choose you.

That is what God’s law enabled Adam and Eve to do.

5) He gave them the choice of living in that pristine world under His rule and authority, or they could reject His authority. But to reject God’s authority is to reject God Himself, because He is ultimate authority. 

To reject His authority is to take control of our own lives with ourselves as the highest authority. We become God’s of our own lives - the Bible calls this idolatry. We cannot do that without taking control of God’s world too - because, we carry out our defiance and rebellion by doing what we want in His world and with His world - as if it is ours to do as we please. 

The problem here is, though we (human kind) want to act like we are gods, we are not. The truth is, we cannot govern and control this world with justice and in harmony. We cannot sustain it or hold it together. Our limited power, wisdom and understanding means we are ignorant of how to govern this world and our universe. That is why we have so completely trashed it. That is why there is so much human misery. The world is falling apart and so are we. 

It is a strange thing but, this world is in desperate need of God to intervene, yet still mankind denies and rejects Him. No wonder the Martyrs in the book of Revelation cry out … “How long O Lord, How long?” 

Part 3 to follow soon.