Against Music*

Greg Gilbert is not against contemporary praise and worship, but in this excellent article he puts his finger on something that many believers have fallen prey to without realising it.

"I wonder if the whole “excellence in praise and worship music” phenomenon we’ve seen over the past few years–for all the good it’s done–hasn’t also had some less-than-desirable effects on young Christians. I wonder if it hasn’t created a generation of functional mystics who gauge their relationship with God by emotional experience rather than the objective reality of redemption." Read the whole article

Greg Gilbert is senior pastoral assistant at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

Children's Ministry Leadership Course

The next Children's Ministry Leadership Course (CMLC) in Kilchzimmer, Switzerland will take place (D.V.) from 26th September – 18th December 2009 with two classes for English and German speakers. We praise God for the 33 students who have registered:

• For the English class, we have 13 students, representing Ireland (North and South), USA, Germany, Tanzania, South Korea, Slovakia & Britain.
  
• For the German class, we have 20 students from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
  

Pray for the current group of students who will be graduating tomorrow (Friday), that they will be obedient to follow God's leading in their lives and that He would use them mightly to see more children in Europe (and beyond) being transformed with the Gospel. Pray too for a good start to the Autumn CMLC on 26 September.
To find out more about this course click here.

Walking in the Swiss alps

(Click photo for full-size image)
The Swiss Alps are spectacular to look at but they are also very dangerous for the inexperienced walker. That's why I was really excited for the opportunity at the weekend to join a Swiss mountain-guide and seven others (in total 6 Swiss and 2 Irish men) for a challenging walk in the Alps. After a 3 hour walk on Friday evening, we spent the night in a Guest House (nearest town Göschenen). On Saturday we began at 07.00 hrs and reached the Vorälphütte around 09.00 hrs.
(Just one of many restaurant/B&Bs in remote mountainous locations which offer shelter, food and B&B. On a long tour it is possible to go from hut to hut and stay in the high mountains)
It had snowed overnight and over 2000m high there was several centimetres of snow, making the route more treacherous than usual. We were wearing a harness and safety rope which we used when crossing several steep slopes. These could be hooked into the safety lines which are installed into the rock.We also had to negotiate 50 metres of ladders down a sheer rock face and we were able to cross the new 90m long rope bridge, the Salbitbrücke. This was a special experience, not only because it only opened this summer but because our mountain-guide was actually the man behind building the bridge and the landlord of the Salbithütte.
(See photos of the bridge construction)

Around 19.00 hrs we were back at the car with very heavy legs and great memories of a wonderful tour.

Let the nations be glad

I have just finished reading the revised and expanded edition of a contemporary mission classic – John Piper's, Let the nations be glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions (First published in 1994 and revised in 2003. Inter-varsity press)
Piper asks the hard questions about why we do missions. He asks if it is possible to be saved by any other means than through Christ. He then argues, quite convincingly, using scripture, that it is not possible. This leaves us with two realities: 1) People who die without Christ will go to hell; and 2) it is our mission to make Christ known among the nations so that people will be saved from eternal punishment and become worshipers of God rather than of themselves and things.
"Saving faith means receiving Christ as your treasure, not just as a deliverer from pain. It is possible to claim faith in Christ as merely a rescuer from hell. Such faith saves no one. [...] Until your soul has a thirst for Christ as the bread of life and living water, you will use Christ for what your soul thirsts after. Many people who claim to have saving faith simply use Christ to get what they really want, which is not Christ but his gifts (escape from hell, peace of mind, health of body, a better marriage, a social network, etc.). We are saved by coming to Christ not only as our deliverer but also as our treasure–coming for all that God is for us in Jesus."

This is not a book to read with the television going in the background. It demands the full attention of an engaged mind and heart. I found myself stopping on occasions to 'come up for air' and to contemplate the reality of what I had just read and given my assent to.
For me, I found particularly helpful his dealing with the questions of what is meant by going to 'the nations' and what it means for a country or a people group to be classified as 'reached'. I am bothered when mission organizations draw up their maps of the world and colour-in whole countries they are 'reaching' when in reality there may be only one worker, most of the churches in the country may never have heard of the mission and no significant ministry has been established. We must resist the temptation in missions to exaggerate in order to impress. Our reports should be acurate and not missleading. They should also be careful to acknowledge the work of indigenous churches and other organisations and avoid giving the impression that they (or we) are the only poeple doing any worthwhile Gospel work.
"In spite of the fact that every nation of the world has been penetrated with the gospel, four out of five non-Christians are still cut off from the gospel because the barriers are cultural and linguistic, not geographic." Quoting Ralph D. Winter he writes: "Why is this fact not more widely known? I'm afraid that all our exultation about the fact that every country of the world has been penetrated has allowed many to suppose that every culture has by now been penetrated. [...]"

This book must surely be essential reading for Christian missionaries, pastors and Christian leaders.

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Slovakian Annual CEF Conference

I have just returned from taking part in the annual CEF conference in Slovakia. Around 100 people of all ages were in attendance for all or part of the 4 day programme. I had a couple of seminars each day on Youth Challenge related subjects. This was particularly appropriate as it tied in with the launch of the JYC manual, 'God Says' in Slovakian.
It was a particular privilege to share the pulpit with Czeslaw Bassara who was the main Bible teacher. After the conference I accompanied Josef and Lubica to visit the CEF camp centre, the National Office, their home and a half day visit of the centre of Bratislava.

Visiting Geneva

During our holiday we spent 2 days in Geneva, Switzerland (a drive of around 3 hours from our home). We have never really had a look around the city before and as this is the 500th anniversary of the birth of the most influential man ever to live in the city, we took the opportunity to visit the sites associated with John Calvin. It was very special to be able to visit these locations and to remember one who was so influential in continuing what Luther and others had begun. His pulpit was central to his ministry in Geneva, for it was here that he brought the people away from the traditions of Rome and back to the Word of God. It was here that he brought comfort and hope to Genevan's and others who were seeking refuge from increasing persecution in France and other European countries.
What made his ministry distinctive was his Bible-based, Christ-centered, and life-changing systematic, verse-by-verse exposition of the scriptures both through preaching and in writing, particularly his magnum opus, Institutes of the Christian Religion.
It was a personal joy for me as a father to explain the significance of these things to my sons as we sat under that great pulpit in St. Pierre Cathedral. I was so glad that they were interested as I simply explained to them "that we should be very thankful to God for the Pastor who preached here, because he told the people that what the Bible said was more important than anything else and that as a result of his preaching, the same message went out across Europe and the world".
It was also a unique experience to visit the Reformation Wall in the Le parc des Bastions and to look upon the 5 m-tall statues of Calvinism's 4 main proponents: Theodore Beza (1519 – 1605), John Calvin (1509 – 1564), William Farel (1489 – 1565) and John Knox (c.1513 – 1572).
We also visited the International Museum of the Reformation and the special exhibition they are hosting entitled, A day in the life of John Calvin.
It's not cheap to stay in Geneva, so we took the cheapest option, a tent in a nearby-campsite! An added bonus was the free travel passes that every guest staying in the City receives. This gives free use of buses, boats, trains and trams, so we were able to get around the city without the hassle of driving and looking for a parking space.

Armenia - Day 7

It was hard to say goodbye last night to this lovely group of students. They were a joy to teach and I was blessed to spend a week with them. They are overflowing with questions and they have an almost inexhaustibly appetite for learning in order to be equipped to minister to the children and teens of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Iran.
Classes continue until the 26 August 2009 when they will complete the first ever 12 week CMLC in Armenia. Some will go back to a children's ministry in their own church, others will be applying to CEF. Pray for God to raise up new workers out of this group and that they will be able to raise the necessary support. Praise God that we are also provisionally planning a JYC Instructor Course for January 2011.

Armenia - Day 6

Tomorrow is my last day in Armenia so I was glad for the opportunity following my classes today to spend the afternoon with Terenik and Hasmik getting various things in Yerevan. Below are some of the photographs of things that you can see about the city. For example it is very common at this time of year on almost every main street to see sellers of water melons. These are often piled up in rows or displayed on specially made shelves. Fruit and vegetables, soft drinks, eggs and coffee (ground while you wait) can also be purchased.
To a westerner as a passenger in a car, there seem to be near misses at almost every junction but amazingly we always seem to make it - just!

Armenia - Day 5

The Manoukians came today to visit the CMLC and meet the students. It is a dream come true for them, after pioneering the work here in 1991 to live to see the moment, 18 years later, when Armenia has its own 'leadership training institute'. It was a pleasure to have them present while teaching and also to have lunch with them.

Last night I was continuing to read in John Piper's book, Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions. I read something on prayer that I found very challenging and well worth sharing:

“Prayer is the walkie-talkie of the church on the battlefield of the world in the service of the Word. It is not a domestic intercom to increase the temporal comforts of the saints. It malfunctions in the hands of soldiers who have gone AWOL. It is for those on active duty. And in their hands it proves the supremacy of God in the pursuit of the nations. When missions moves forward by prayer, it magnifies the power of God. When it moves by human management, it magnifies man.”