Paul Beasley-Murray on Salty Christians

Paul Beasley-Murray, ‘Salty Christians’, Ministry Today 3 (1995).

Okay, I think the title might make a bit too much of the reference in Matthew 5:13, but this is a terrific article (from a paper first presented to a Baptist Assembly Seminar at Bridlington, on 27 April 1994) which resonates with many of our concerns here at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Beasley-Murray lists some of the ways we keep the salt in the salt cellar, essentially keeping people in the religious ghetto of the church – by our preaching, our teaching on stewarship, the activities we lay on and expect people to attend, our concept of mission, and because the ‘close identification of many a ministerial ego with many a church has created a psychological need to emphasise the church over the kingdom’.

Then, more positively, he writes about ‘mobilising salty Christians’ – through preaching and teaching, in the leading of public worship, in decision-making meetings, in Bible studies, in support groups for particular occupational groups, in running a stewardship campaign with a difference, in running church membership classes differently, and in giving people time to live in the real world.

Lots and lots of practical wisdom, much of which still bears repeating.

Location, Location, Location - Tracy Cotterell

Tracy was recently asked to write an article for the CPAS Church Leadership magazine and they have given us permission to reproduce the article here.
CL73 p6-7

Tracy Cotterell - CPAS Leadership Insights

Tracy Cotterell, LICC's Chief Operating Officer was recently interviewed by James Lawrence from the leadership organisation CPAS. The interview explored discipleship, leadership and the significance of high-quality tea-brewing! 

CPAS has made this interview available as a free podcast which you can listen to or download here.

The Evangelisation of the UK: LICC/Imagine Research (3 of 3)

This is the third in a series summarising the findings of LICC Imagine research 2003-2010. In this post we look at research conducted amongst leaders identifying the key issues they are facing as they look to equip the people for mission. Read the first and second posts.

Leadership toward Evangelisation
Connected to the question of the equipping of the people, explored in the last post, is the question of the equipping of the leaders, those who release the people into evangelism. A number of issues emerged from What the Leaders Said (2004) a consultation event with 150 Christian leaders, the Spring Harvest Apprentice ’09 survey (2009) and the Imagine Pilot Project (2007-10).

Overall, it is clear that: 1) leaders are struggling as much, if not in some cases more than, as their congregations to discover a way of living that manifests the difference the gospel can make, 2) the ‘pastor’-centric model of church actively mitigates against an equipping for mission (the role of leaders is limited to that of care-provider rather than equipper), 3) there is a perceived tension between the demands of keeping the church running and releasing members into life.

William Diehl - Seven Suggestions for Pastors

I've recently been reading William E. Diehl's book Ministry in Daily Life: A Practical Guide for Congregations (New York: Alban, 1996). Diehl worked as a management consultant and became a key figure in the workplace and ministry in daily life movement in America during the 80s/90s. He wrote prolifically in this period, even producing a book called Thank God It's Monday! (good title for a book!). Most of Diehl's books are now out of print but you can still find them if you search on Amazon.

The book Ministry in Daily Life is an important one for us as it tells the story of how the congregation of which Diehl was a part, the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in Emmaus, Pennsylvania made the transition to supporting its members for ministry in the places they spent the majority of their time. (For those of you interested in seeing how sustainable this work of culture shift is over the long term, it is well worth checking out the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit website to see what has become of that work today.)

Graham Cray - Discerning Leadership

In a warmly received event, Bishop Graham Cray launched the new leadership series of Grove booklets at LICC last week, speaking on Discerning Leadership: Co-operating with the Spirit of God.

You can listen to and download Bishop Graham's talk and the following panel discussion here. Download the accompanying PowerPoint slide set here.

Order a copy of the booklet from the Grove Books website.

This event was hosted in partnership with CPAS.

Connecting Sunday With Monday

Dave Gooderidge, minister at Lymington Baptist for the past 10 years, has been seeking to create a whole-life disciplemaking culture in his church. Here he shares something of their experiences...

The conviction that God is interested in the whole of life was rooted into me primarily as a student under Mark Greene at London School of Theology. So as a minister, the Sunday has always connected with Monday. I didn’t know anything different!

I think this is crucial to our understanding of the church. There is a big thing in the Baptist understanding of church about ‘walking together in ways known and ways to be made known; watching over and being watched over,’ what that means is, if we are going to grow as whole-life disciples we need to band together. We need to watch over and look out for one another and ask questions, about how you are getting on with your boss, for example, creating mutual care and accountability.

Changing the Culture

In this article, Alasdair Macleod, shares his thoughts on disciplemaking and his involvement with the Imagine Project. Alasdair is now the Senior Minister at Billericay Baptist Church, however, until a few months ago he was leader of Bushey Baptist Church which was part of the first Imagine pilot project. This article was previously published in the Baptist Times 'Crossing Places' Special Edition published 30th April 2010.

We are all longing to see the church in the UK grow. All too often we place the emphasis on adding converts to our churches without adding depth. Yet for growth to be sustained we must equip believers to live well for Christ in their frontlines of mission. This vision has been recognised by the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC) in their Imagine report, “The UK will never be reached until we create open, authentic, learning and praying communities that are focussed on making whole-life disciples who live and share the Gospel wherever they relate to people in their daily lives.”

EVENT: Graham Cray on Discerning Leadership

Grove Books are launching a new Leadership series at LICC on 8th June, 6:15-8:30pm. Bishop Graham Cray, who has written the first booklet of the series, will be speaking on Discerning Leadership: Co-operating with the Spirit of God.

Tickets are £7 (£5 for concessions) including refreshments and a copy of the first booklet. Bookings of 4 from one church get an additional place free.

To book your place call LICC on 020 7399 9555. More information is available here.