Baby First Aid

Today I went on a baby and child first aid course.
It was really helpful!

It was 6 hours long and run by the British Red Cross. I wasn't sure who else would be there today, but it was just a bunch of ordinary people. Two sets of grandparents with childcare duties; two parents; a woman with a messy play business and another pregnant lady.

It was really helpful that the content of the course was taught for all learning styles - there was power point, videos, card games, demonstrations and lots of trying it out yourself. How else does one learn how to put on a bandage or give CPR without trying it out?

I loved the course and would recommend it to anyone, however it made me ask the question, 'why on earth is this an opt-in skill?' It seems ridiculous that the government hasn't made learning first aid a compulsory part of school education, or a compulsory thing for all employers to get their employees trained in. I really think first aid courses should be free for the general public and subsidized by the government. Everyone should have to practice giving CPR on a mannequin.

It only takes a few hours to be taught comprehensively how to administer first aid for a whole range of life threatening and serious situations. When so much is at stake why do we think it's ok for some people to think it's not their responsibility to know what to do? Surely we have an ethical responsibility to each other to be first aid trained. Surely it would benefit the NHS and therefore the government if as a society we were prepared and equipped to help save lives?

Until that day comes however, book yourself on a first aid course. It's only £45, but, invaluable.

Wonder Woman Must Die

I've been reading a book recently called 'Ordinary Mum, Extraordinary Mission'. It sounds a bit cheesy, but I've found it really helpful for preparing me for the changes ahead.

I'm very excited about us having our first baby. As my tummy gets bigger and the baby gets squirmier, it all begins to feel very imminent! There are so many things to be excited about.  It's so brilliant that Scott and I are going to get the privilege of bringing this little one up - I can't wait to get to know him/her. What will they look like? What will their likes/ dislikes/ opinions/ interests/ skills be? In what ways will they be like me? How will they be like Scott? There is so much potential and life in this little wriggly one. I'm so excited about all the special times ahead, the baby's first smile, peek-a-boo, the belly laughs, sticky fingers, their first prayer and all their questions about 'why?'

I've also had some time to think about what life will look like for me as a mother. While I've felt for some time that I wanted to be a full-time mum, I've always felt committed to the idea that I won't really be 'staying at home'. I have wanted to be out and about, getting to know other mum's in the community, blessing the neighbours around us, spending time with Scott's family, investing in relationships at church, doing some theological study, reading the bible with students, and of course sharing the gospel with people I meet along the way. In my mind's eye, the house will be tidy-ish, meals would be prepared for Scott and others coming home, and the baby will be cooing happily for all to dote on.

Now all these things are good things to aspire to. I do want to make the most of the amazing opportunities that having a cute baby give you. However, reading this book has helped me to see what a self-centred and self-reliant vision I've had of parenting.

In some ways, I'm afraid of losing my identity as a UCCF staff worker. It can be easy to find your identity in your work - and for me, the thought of not being in paid employment and of not doing 'Christian Ministry' is a bit scary. The thought of the 'glamour' of staff work coming to an end has resulted in me subconsciously trying to build a new identity on the basis of successful motherhood.

This is what Anna-France Williams says, "When I began writing this book, my idea of what a missional mum looked like was Wonder Woman, soaring around the planet rescuing troubled souls, kids in tow, changing bag slung over one shoulder, cape flying, wearing a freshly applied coat of sheer red lipstick. That was who I aspired to be. I had picked up the idea that mums who could 'do it all' and 'have it all' (running projects, groups, volunteering, baking, preparing endless creative activities for toddlers, earning money, having regular deep chats about God with strangers) were the ones who were truly bathing in the glory of God's favour and obeying the Great Commission in Matthew 28."

As the book goes on, it becomes apparent that the authors, Anna France-Williams and Joy French, have been humbled by the reality of actual parenting! The reality, it seems, is that your deep and meaningful conversations are often cut short due to a need of your child - running to stop them throwing themselves off a piece of furniture, or stop them hitting another child, or to kiss them better when they've grazed their knee. The reality is also that parenting is tiring work, and so however good the intentions of doing evening things - community projects, church meetings, even having people round for a meal - is often a battle of the will, because all you want to do is snuggle up with a book and a bar of chocolate! Also, parenting makes you realise that rather than having the natural ability and resources to serve everyone else's needs - you often really need help yourself in order to keep sane, rested and eating properly. In fact, being real about struggles in parenting can be a much better way of deepening friendships with believers and non-Christians rather than trying to give the impression that you are coping brilliantly.

So the book has been a really helpful corrective for me. I have a bit of a Messiah complex, and trying to be super mum - looking after baby, husband, and all those other needy souls out there, would absolutely play to my selfish pride. It's liberating to know that I'm justified by God's grace and have nothing to prove to my heavenly father. My identity isn't primarily in my employment (or lack thereof), or my marital status, or in how I spend my time - my identity is in Christ. I couldn't possibly be more loved by the Father then I currently am in Christ. So this frees me up to enjoy basking in his love for me, and serve others out of a place of security. Praise the Lord that my identity is found in his son and not my performance.

Questioning Evangelism

Hello again, after a long time of not blogging. I think I'm going to give it a try again...

The title is slightly misleading, I'm not going to chat about the importance of asking thought-provoking questions in evangelism (although this is great approach as I'm sure Randy Newman's 'Questioning Evangelism' book lays out). But rather my continuing questioning about how we 'do' evangelism.

It was really interesting to read my blog post from a couple of years ago. I still really agree that we should share the gospel out of a real sense of God's love for us personally. When we are thrilled by the gospel and feel secure in the knowledge that because we are united to Christ, the Father is utterly besotted with us, our evangelism will be warm, winsome, compelling and will sound like fantastic news! We won't share out of guilt or shame, but out of love for God and the person we are speaking to.

However, I feel like the Spirit has been challenging me recently about the content of the actual message that I've been sharing. I'm all for sharing the gospel creatively and not feeling like we need to stick to one particular gospel outline in order to explain the gospel. I definitely think that we can use a whole host of biblical imagery to explain the gospel - law-breaking/forgiveness from the judge; idolatry/ rescue from the creator; adultery/ reunion with the gracious husband; rebellion/ reconciliation with the loving father; leprosy/ restoration and cleanness from the healer, the list goes on... I don't think we need to limit ourselves to one way of explaining the gospel to feel like we've done it faithfully. I don't think that we need to talk about judgement lots in order for it to qualify as a genuinely evangelistic conversation/ talk. I don't even think we need to explain everything in one sitting, or really comprehensively, or at that very moment ask someone to respond to Jesus in faith and repentance for evangelism to be happening. But with all these caveats, I still have been challenged...

The Spirit has really challenged me about not just about the appealing, wonderful, heart-warming nature of the gospel - the perks, if you like of coming to Jesus. 'Come to Jesus, he really is brilliant! And knowing him will definitely bring joy and blessing now and for eternity. In fact your heart was created to know him.' But also the absolute necessity of the gospel.

The reality is judgement is real and deserved because we are sinful. People need to trust in Jesus' work on the cross in order to be saved. This is a critical part of the gospel to explain clearly. How can someone have a crisis moment where they turn to Jesus for salvation unless they are under no pretensions as to their current predicament?

My brother and his wife became Christians last week at Word Alive. It was the most wonderful thing ever and I'm so thankful to the Lord!

We had the great joy as a family of being involved in their journey to faith - my husband being able to answer some of their difficult questions, myself being able to give a couple of talks at the 'Just Looking' course for seekers, and my parents being able to pray with them as Jeanne gave her life to Christ. What a privilege!

However what the whole experience revealed to me was how difficult and painful I found presenting certain truths to them. It was hard to tell them about our sinfulness, Christ's undeserved death on the cross for us and God's eternal judgement for those who don't accept Jesus.

However they needed to see their necessity for Jesus, and not just that - it was so clear that the Spirit was at work in them bringing them to faith, when they responded positively to what was being said. That 'it makes sense' that we are sinful and deserve punishment, but amazing that Jesus pays it for us! It was amazing seeing the gospel message - the offensive gospel message, actually bringing conviction for sin, followed by faith and repentance, not offence and rejection. The gospel is the stench of death to some and the aroma of life to others - I really feel like I saw that firsthand last week.

So where does this leave me now?
Well I still feel committed to gentle, compassionate, winsome and creative gospel presentations - but the content does need, as a vital part of the process, to clearly present people's absolute need for Jesus, and the consequence of rejecting his offer of salvation.

What I found helpful in sharing the hard stuff of the gospel, was telling my brother and sister-in-law that I was really nervous about sharing this stuff with them, and that I personally find some of these things difficult to accept at times. I think that helped them - in fact my brother (pre-becoming a Christian) said that he understood how hard it must have been for us as a family to believe this stuff with him not being a Christian - then he gave his life to Jesus that night.

Praise the Lord that he uses our stumbling words and fearful efforts to bring people to himself. I don't suppose we need to have a sorted and super polished approach to evangelism in order to be used by God - and that's probably the whole point.

2 Corinthians 4:1-7

 4 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeingthe light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Amazing Adoption

This is amazing! I've just read this, and I think it sums up much better than I did, what I was trying to say last time!

It is taken from the book 'Reclaiming Adoption'. This bit is written by Dan Cruver


''Few things hinder action within the Christian life
more than being unsure of God’s love for us personally.
Returning for a moment to the story of the prodigals, in
Children of the Living God, Sinclair Ferguson sheds a
particular kind of light on the prodigal son who left home.
As he was returning to his father, the prodigal planned to
say that he was no longer worthy to be called a son, which
was certainly true. Convinced that, in the depth of his
rebellion and rejection of the father, he had lost all hope of
receiving the father’s love, he intended to offer himself as
a slave, hoping merely to survive. Little does the prodigal
know, however, that his father eagerly awaits his return.

Ferguson sees something in the prodigal’s thinking
that parallels how we as Christians often think of God
and his fatherly love for us:

'Jesus was underlining the fact that—despite
assumptions to the contrary—the reality of the love
of God for us is often the last thing in the world to
dawn upon us. As we fix our eyes upon ourselves,
our past failures, our present guilt, it seems impossible
to us that the Father could love us. Many Christians
go through much of their life with the prodigal’s
suspicion. Their concentration is upon their sin and
failure; all their thoughts are introspective.'

When the prodigal son says, “I will arise and go to
my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy
to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired
servants’” (Luke 15:18-19), he is thinking in terms of
wages earned rather than extravagant love and grace
received. It’s as if he is thinking, “I ended up in the far
country by squandering my father’s wealth, so maybe I
can earn my way back into his house.”

When we as believers relate to God the Father as this
prodigal son relates to his father, we are slow to return to
God after we sin. We don’t anticipate—let alone expect—
his fatherly embrace. And when we do return to him,
we think of him primarily as our master and not our
Father. As a result, real Christian joy is absent, passionate
Christian living is lacking, and Christian mission is
severely hindered.

Christians who doubt God’s love for them will
not mobilize for mission. Unless we know the Father
delights in us even as he delights in Jesus, we will lack the
emotional capital necessary to resist complacency and
actively engage in missional living. The only people who
can truly turn their eyes outward in mission are those
who knowingly live within and enjoy the loving gaze of
their heavenly Father.

I believe that a biblical understanding of God’s
Fatherhood will cause us to be better able to look outside
ourselves in service to others. If we are not confident
of his love, our eyes will turn inward, and our primary
concerns will be our needs, our lack, our disappointment,
rather than the needs of those around us. As a result,
we’ll be afraid to take risks or do the hard things even
if they are necessary. Or we will do the externals of
missional living as an attempt to earn God’s acceptance or
to keep him and our fellow-Christians off our backs. We
will relate to him as if we are wage-earners rather than as
his dearly beloved children, the ones in whom he delights.

The logic of wage-earning does not flow out of the of
the gospel of grace. The gospel is joyful news because it
speaks to us of the Father’s love that has come to us freely
in Jesus Christ.''  

What kind of gospel are we sharing?

I’m becoming more and more convinced that our perception of God really effects our evangelism. So if I’m serving/ witnessing out of a sense of obligation and duty, or if I’m trying to justify myself through my performance, then my understanding of God is far too weak. Most likely, I’m afraid of God.

On reflection,  think that last year I served God out of a sense of obligation. This can be a particular challenge when you have a particular role or title. Last year, when  I was evang sec for Queen’s CU, I wasn’t motivated by grace and I didn’t try and motivate people to share the gospel because of grace. My understanding of the gospel was that Jesus died for my sins, to secure my forgiveness. I may have assented to other truths of the gospel, but at a heart level, this was pretty much all I thought the gospel was about.

Now the knowledge of this led to me several unhelpful conclusions (this is far more crude than I actually thought and felt at the time – we are complex people, and we often only realise the error of our theological understanding once we come out of that period of time. We can know correct doctrine, but at a heart level be believing something entirely different).  

Firstly, I really wasn’t convinced that God could love me. Why would God love a wretched sinner like me? And if God did love me, then surely he couldn’t like me very much. I was part of the cause for the death of his son. To be honest, I didn’t like me at all, imagine doing that to Jesus!

This year, I’ve received lots of teaching to rectify this misunderstanding.  Fundamentally, that this understanding of God is deficient of Christ. It polarises the trinity, it sees Christ as a reluctant sacrifice, it sees forgiveness as the sum total of salvation, it shows sinful introspection and an ironic sense of self importance.

Secondly, I felt a huge sense of obligation to pay God back. I realised that I was saved through Christ’s work alone, but that now I needed to work hard to keep being accepted by God. I was driven by guilt. I used to think to myself and probably say to other people(!) ‘look what Christ has done for us, even dying for us on the cross, how possibly can we be too lazy or disinterested to tell people the gospel? People are perishing, and here we are, keeping the message to ourselves.’

Lots was wrong here! I don’t think I really got my head around what justification by grace actually means! I got confused between justification and living in response to God’s forgiveness and acceptance. I felt like my standing before God was dependent on my performance – feeling elated when things when well, and despairing when things were going badly. No doubt, this fearfulness of God in my heart would have been translated into my evangelism, which could easily sound like ‘you need to escape!’ Rather than ‘come to Christ, he’s wonderful.’

For me to believe that when I first put my faith in Jesus, I at that moment, received forgiveness, acceptance, the very righteousness of Christ(!), the certain hope of eternity with God in the new creation, the very presence of God living inside of me, adoption as a daughter of the Father, a sister of Christ, an heir to the kingdom, and every spiritual blessing in Jesus; and to suggest that Christ was absolutely thrilled to do it out of intense love for his bride, that he is utterly devoted to us and that he didn’t want to stay in eternal relationship with his Father unless we could enter into it and enjoy it too, would have seemed utterly audacious and perhaps even heretical! And yet this is the gospel! Thanks to our older brother and saviour who has shared absolutely everything he has with us, by uniting himself to us in a unbreakable bond of love and compassion.

Now I’m more and more convinced that if our perception of Christ in God is deficient, and we are living legalistic lives, then our gospel presentations will come across the following way: God is ruler, we have broken his rules, God is rightfully angry at our sin, but Jesus has died to rescue us from sin, if we believe in him then we can be forgiven for our rule-breaking.

This is part of the gospel.

But it isn’t the whole gospel.

We want people to become followers of Jesus don’t we? Then we need to expose what Jesus our God is like. Do our friends know how intriguing Jesus is? Do they know that he called himself the prince of peace and yet he threw furniture down the temple stairs? Do they know that Jesus claimed to be the son of God, but was always accused of not being religious enough?

Do they know that Jesus turned social conventions on their head, by befriending tax collectors and prostitutes? Or that Jesus is the loving, compassionate, offensive, controversial, radical, selfless, authoritative, irresistible, crucified and risen saviour? Do they know that even though they sick and broken and insecure, that Christ came exactly to take upon himself all of their brokenness? Do they know how good the gospel is, and how good we believe it is? Have we ever called them to ‘come to Christ?’ Jesus isn’t the means to an end – he is our end goal.

I really think that our wrong perceptions of God will translate into a narrow explanation of the gospel. But what a warm gospel we have to share, and in what a warm and compassionate manner will we share it, when our heart are won again and again by the outstanding beauty of our saviour?!

http://www.theologynetwork.org/christian-beliefs/jesus-christ/how-glorious-is-jesus-christ-the-heart-of-christ.htm

I’d really recommend that you listen to this. Be amazed again at how Christ feels about you! Isn’t this a gospel that you long to share?