iGod

Storehouse – offering more than a can of food

A number of years ago I fell for this girl. She was beautiful, bright and played the cello, but she also had something else that made her attractive, well at least to me. It was an unselfish desire to do something for others in desperate need.

I don’t mean simply giving money to an appeal that comes through the front door or handing in half-worn out clothes to a charity shop, but actively doing something.

And that was how I got involved.  She and I became part of an ambitious homeless project called the King’s Table, which was started by a couple of London Vineyard churches to provide food and clothing to the down-and-outs in central London.

After a church service cars loaded up with large vats of hot food, along with a rusty white transit van full of boxes and clothing rails crammed full of donated items, left for the Embankment, off the Strand. We spent two hours giving away the stuff, as well as befriending and praying for people’s needs.

On my first visit I was staggered to find a queue of over 100 people waiting. Quite honestly, I felt more than just a little out of my comfort zone.

The team leader of The King’s Table, gave me a simple, idiot-proof task. “Andrew, can you collect the ticket numbers? They need to hand them in before they can get food. Got it?”

Got it! What could be simpler? However, it was not long before there was “an incident”. A young man came up with a friend and said, “My mate ‘as just been stabbed, Whatcha gonna do about it? The bloke who done it is over there.” He duly pointed to this moody older man to make his unequivocal point. I really wish he hadn’t.

As I looked down I saw a dirty, shaking hand clutching a wound through a blood-soaked t-shirt. I stole a glance to the older man just an uncomfortable 30 yards away.

“Well, what are you going to do about it?” The lad now glaring at me awaiting a firm and resolute response.

“Do about it? Mate, I just collect the tickets!” Actually, I just thought that.

Eventually I muttered something utterly pathetic. “Oh dear, that does look bad. Dear oh dear. Goodness! I, er, well, goodness!” I caught the eye of one of the team. I must have had a look of abject desperation and uselessness because he rushed across and immediately stepped in. The boy was mercifully taken away to safety by an ambulance and the older man arrested. I heard later that he made a full recovery.

It’s not easy reaching out to people with extreme needs. Often they are the unlovable and undoubtedly some of us are emotionally equipped to help more than others. However, for the Christian it is part of what we are called to do, to show the same compassion of Christ. In fact, Jesus talked about how the poor will always be with us, so it demands a compassionate human response.

Homelessness often comes with mental illness and gut-wrenching stories of broken families, sexual abuse and bullying. Sadly for some drug abuse and alcohol problems are never far behind. For me, that first day with the King’s Table changed me forever. My heart was simply broken.

It is one of the reasons I was keen that Stour Valley Vineyard Church made the value of compassion a central part of its local vision.

Our social programme, Storehouse, has now been going for five years. We have provided hundreds of food bags to those in direst need. They include items such as, pasta, rice, cereal, tinned vegetables and meat, tea, UHT milk, as well as essential toiletries. These are then thoughtfully put together to suit maybe a single mum and their baby, or a teenager who is “sofa-surfing” or someone sleeping rough in a tent. It comes with no judgment or strings attached, just a lot of love.  

On Sunday mornings at the Delphi Centre food and household items appear at our Storehouse collection point from members of our church, along with valuable midweek donations from a couple of other local partners.

But it is one thing to give a hand out and another to give a hand up. We have recently assisted someone with a background of drug addiction and prison to move on to start a degree and a new life for himself. Something he could never have imagined once upon a time. 

We also provide a free three-week Money Management course for those who struggle with their finances and slip into debt. No-one at our church gets paid for doing this. It just comes with the satisfaction that today maybe someone’s life might have just got a little better.

The problem is the need is growing, which sadly reflects the national picture. And as the need grows we want to do more through Storehouse. If you are an organisation, church, school or individual we’d like to invite you to help. Could you support Storehouse with a financial gift or donate a couple of cans a week? If so, why not drop a line to our team or ring 07973 710905.

By the way, I married the girl. And grateful I am too.

ASD

Stour Valley Vineyard is a contemporary church with traditional beliefs. It meets on Sundays 10.30 am at the Delphi Centre, Newton Road, Sudbury (apart from the first Sunday of the month).

How are we doing at doing good?

I have often found myself prefixing four simple yet powerful words to a sentence when trying to get our children to behave or to do something. You know the ones: “If you are good I will take you to the toy shop.” “If you are good I’ll let you have a friend round.” “If you are good you can stay up longer.” And so on.

Of course, there are different understandings of what it is to be good. You might have heard, “Sarah’s mum lets her do that.” Or “Grandpa says it’s okay?” Instant conflict!

I suspect being good or doing good matters to most of us. Sometimes it is out of vanity. At other times we are simply moved by compassion to make a situation better and in the process we feel good too. To encourage us more, scientific research shows that we have improved mental health when we do something for others - it takes our mind off our own woes.

One thing is for sure, doing good definitely does not just belong in the domain of churches, faith groups or charities. Many companies, too, are encouraged to have social ambitions alongside their commercial goals. Just look around at your local supermarkets and you’ll see what I mean. However, this is nothing new.

Back in the Eighteenth century Josiah Wedgewood, the celebrated pottery maker, gave affordable housing for his workers. He also trained them in an age of wide-scale illiteracy. Wedgewood, also the grandfather of Charles Darwin, provided adequate food supply for his staff and went on to build one of the first so-called company towns. Extraordinary achievements in themselves, but he went further.

He eventually became part of an international campaign that would help to see black slavery abolished. Wedgewood was part of a Quaker-led initiative that had as its advertising slogan “Am I not a man and a brother?” He engraved these emotive words with an image of a slave in chains kneeling and praying for mercy. It was a sentiment that caught the imagination among both the religious and the secularists campaigners of the day.

Josiah Wedgewood made the message into fashionable jewelry for well-to-do ladies. It contrasted greatly with the religious upper classes who at that time only stood in prayer as it would be demeaning to do otherwise.

Today many commentators talk about having a social footprint. We are faced with the challenge of leaving either a positive or negative mark on society.

None of us are as good as we would like to be. We have all done things that we know we should not have done, and possibly even feel guilt-ridden about. Is there any hope for us?

I find my own encouragement in the words of the famous hymn Amazing Grace, written by ex-slave trader John Newton: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound / That saved a wretch like me. / I once was lost but now am found / Was blind, but now I see.”

Goodness comes, even from the word alone, from God. In Jesus we see the perfection of all that is good and worthy. This kind of goodness is holy. I know that I shall never be as good as I would like to be, but by God’s grace and mercy, I am working on it. Like Newton, I can also find forgiveness when I screw up. Meanwhile, keeping close to God in prayer is the thing that helps keep it real for me.

How are you doing at doing good?

ASD

Me and the Prostitute

When I was a young man I met a prostitute. No, not in that sense.

It was in the late Eighties and I had just started working in London’s glittering West End for an ad agency. Everything was new and I was still trying to get to grips with my pocket-sized London A-Z.

Thinking I would take a short cut through some back streets to get to the tube quicker I found myself going down this dimly-lit grubby street. It had been raining and so I had one of those black city-type long rolled up umbrellas. Well, I was trying to make an impression.

Walking fast I caught sight of a heavily made up girl leaning on a door way smoking a cigarette, half-bathed in red light. She was wearing, well not very much to be honest, but what she was wearing was in leopard skin print. But what really struck me were her long black suede boots. They seemed to go half way up her body. I remember thinking what an absolute picture she looked and began considering the kind of person she must be.   

Well, I lost my concentration and managed somehow get my “man about town” umbrella caught in one of my shoelaces. I began to run uncontrollably towards this lady trying to stop myself from tumbling over – but, alas, too late. I ended up slumped awkwardly face down in a puddle by her thigh length black suede boots.

I felt this hand reach down and grab mine and pull me up to my feet. My briefcase and its contents were scattered unceremoniously across the street. Not good.

“Are you alright? Can I do anything? Do you need any help? I looked up with utter embarrassment and saw something unexpected - kindness. Not for the first time that evening I had been caught unaware and wrong-footed.

I have learnt over the years, thanks to this chance encounter with a sex worker, that kindness is what makes us human. There is much in society that tries to demean its virtue and label it as the act of church-goers, do-gooders or weak people.

The Roman philosopher and emperor Marcus Aurelius declared that “kindness was mankind’s greatest delight”, but humanist thinkers such as Voltaire saw it as a weakness and argued that there was nothing in it for the individual. He vehemently disagreed with the Christian virtue of “love your neighbour as yourself.”

Nowadays this Enlightenment thinking has gone deep into our society to make us naturally suspicious of any kindly behaviour. It is often dismissed by clever people as being sentimental or moralistic.

Some say that we are only kind to each other to get something out of it for ourselves.  Maybe, but for the Christian our motivations are different. We live not for ourselves but for the pleasure of God. Again, not a popular concept in a secular individualist society. Yet in that place, personal fulfillment and life purpose has a chance to go deeper than if we just live for our own ends.

Admittedly there is vulnerability in doing acts of kindness, but it is a risk we take. We learn to take on board “the greatest commandment” given by Jesus: “love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.” And along with that, “love your neighbour as yourself.”

Now it may seem a foolish thing to believe in today’s culture but, hey, seeing today’s society as it is, I think I’ll take my chances and be a kind fool for Christ and see where it takes me.

ASD

Sweeping change

Well, what an interesting time we are having as a nation. If you are from the US looking in you may well be wondering what on earth had gone on or for that matter gone wrong. 

This week I spent time with two financial guys. One whose business it is to advise the football world on buying and selling clubs and the other to advise normal people, like me, how best to invest their hard earned money to aim for a half decent retirement, among other things. The latter tells me that he has seen 20% of value has been wiped off the Footsie 100 in less than two months. Not a good time if you are looking to cash in your pension. It is something, as we have seen Stateside, that politicans seem unable to influence or affect the outcome.

And if that is not enough we have had the erruptions on the streets of our beloved country. After the peaceful demonstration over the death of Mark Duggan last weekend the term rioters has been quickly replaced with Looters. Yet, some politicians such as the Mayor of London tell us that Britian is not broken. At this point that remark feels very English and stiff-upper lipped. Others might say it is just sheer denial.

Social network platforms such as Twitter and Blackberry Messenger Service have been criticised for fanning the flames of angst-ridden teenagers. But actually, surprisingly, I have come out in support of Twitter and other social platforms. As much as they have been used for bad they have also been redeemed for good.

The community has struck back - with a broom in its hand. It has drawn communities together, black, white, young and old, not seen for a long time. Now no communtiy leader or church leaders seems to know exactly what the Conservatives mean by 'The Big Society', but something has happened without too much involvement from the politicians themselves. This, perhaps, could be described as a great example of their philosophy. Dunno.

A friend of mine who runs a young peoples' charity in South East London is plain exhausted with the constant round of meetings with police, politicians and local organisations, but as a Christian leader in the community he has been encouraging supporters to do acts of kindness.

For instance, I heard how one police station in SouthEast London had had delivered to them a load of cookies to their exhausted and emotionally tired officers. With all the recent bashing the police got from politicans the public alternatively has shown their solidarity with their local bobbies. I cannot stress that these expressions of love are equally important as any rushed through law or government initiative.

if you are near a police station that has been on the frontline, maybe this is something that your church could organise to do.

The church, at its best, shows compassion through practical outward signs of invisible grace. For as James said, "faith without works is dead." We stand with all, we cry with all, we shout justice for all. This is God's love in action.

This is the outward-focused church at is best. It is not idle, a talking shop, inward-looking or obsessed with evangelism programmes or simply going deeper with God with discipleship courses. It is loving, generous, kind and sacrifical. It loves without terms and conditions.

Meanwhile, on a more mundane note, our church is about to own a football team, but not sure we will be using the services of my city banker friend. Apparently there is no money in it for him. Ah well, that's the fickle world of football.

ASD

 

 

 

 

Easter Great Big Giveaway

We had a fantastic reaction to the hot cross buns giveaway this morning. We warmed up 500 of the beautiful little things and gave them away to grateful Saturday shoppers.  Great conversations. Very proud of church.

ASD

Christians volunteer more than others - Survey

In the spirit of, you could say, the Big Society, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport have pulled together some interesting statistics on volunteering. They show how Christians consistently volunteer more than others.

The data is based on opinion polling, and although the question wasn't asked in 2009, it is clear that every year it has been asked for the past six years Christians shown higher levels of volunteering that others.

BRIN point out that this is in line with other studies, including the British Social Attitudes Survey and the Citizenship Survey.

It has been mooted that perhaps part of the reason why Christian motivation is figure high is because the [traditional] Church has a greying older demographic, which therefore tends to be more community-spirited per se.

Undoubtedly there is more than an element of truth that when you retire you will have more time to volunteer than someone bringing up a young family, working all hours under the sun to provide for them. However, I want to throw some doubt over that conclusion.

In my own tribe, the Vineyard movement, our demographic is much younger, which inevitably has to do with being a young movement. Yet I have to say almost all of our regulars are involved in a voluntary ministry in church life, which, if you think about it is pretty impressive. Well, I am impressed!

This is because we see volunteering as 'serving', as it falls out of our relational worship with God. Our giving of our time is an important and central manifestation of our sacrificial offering to God. It is an act of thanksgiving. It is so much more more than being community-spirited. In short, the two are inseparable in the Kingdom of God. 

Deut 4:6 says that emphatically that we are to love God and love others. Volunteering is a outward response to an invisible grace.

Therefore, as it is impossible to separate serving the community to serving the Lord, maybe we should argue more confidently that our motivation has more going for it than merely being down to an ageing benevolent congregation.

ASD

 

Faith, like coffee, should be real to be enjoyed

Once in a while I get teased about my Facebook profile picture because I am told that I am drinking the longest cup of coffee in history. The shot was taken by my wife while we were in Prague for a long weekend three years ago. And what great coffee it was too. (Mind you, the European Medieval environment probably helped.)

I remember jokingly telling a close friend of mine, now my Area Pastor, that the only way I would ever leave West London and go into the country would be if there was a certain coffee shop there. So when I visited Sudbury, South Suffolk after having had more than a strong prompt by the Lord to go there, I discovered to my shock and delight a Caffe Nero had just opened. Awesome.

My wife and I just sat at a corner table in this newly furnished place profoundly silent. Though she had tears in her eyes. I should hasten to add it was not so much the coffee itself, though not one to detract from the experience, but because we felt, along with some other significant confirmations, somehow rewarded for obeying The One leading us.

Now, hear me clear, I am not so vain to think that cafe was opened just for us. As if. However, faith lived out in real experience makes for a much more enjoyable life. And through it we find some wonderful unexpected joys along the way - if we will just step out and take God at his word.

James, the brother of Jesus, writes in his pastoral letter to the early church that "faith and works" together is the only way to go, otherwise faith it is a complete dead-end and an utter waste of life's time (I paraphrase here). Faith has consequences - whether it brings suffering or pleasure.

Sometimes it will lead, probably more often than not to hardship. But even in hardship there is joy. I experienced that last weekend when with our friends Jason and Michelle Scott at Dungannon Vineyard.

As I looked down from the old military observation post on a town about the the size of Sudbury, I saw the main square, much similar to our own. I was told that over the years it has been the site of several car bomb explosions.

The town's mood is depressed. People have little money with few prospects. The long-hoped-for regeneration programme has all but come to a grinding halt. The social housing programme has been scraped due to lack of cash. On top of all that its history of religion-infused politics and vioence continues to have its impact on families' lives and emotional well-being.

In short, there is no place for a 'huddle and cuddle' pietistic Christian experience here.

And yet, in the midst of it all, I find a vibrant and beautiful expression of church which greets you with a warm smile and hot coffee.

It's work in the community is simply and profoundly moving. It does not take sides with anyone, but the poor and hard-pressed. I came away feeling that more than ever Northern Ireland, and the rest of us, need to confront the religiosity and judgmentalism that often tries to pass itself off as 'faith'.

Following Jesus cannot just be monastic, devotional or a matter of words. As James says so well (again, paraphrasing), it thrives best when lived out in a practical, community-based, real-life experience.

Accept no imitations.

ASD

 

A soft touch or generous? You choose.

I have three instances recently where it has been suggested that either I or my church could be accused of being a soft touch.

I guess it it is understandable, but misplaced. Firstly I have to say how impacted I was twenty odd years ago by John Wimber's famous dictum " I am a fool for Christ, whose fool are you?" That way of thinking really turned my world upside down as a young Christian, and still does today.

The truth is it is not in anyone's nature to want to be anyone's fool, but some of the side-effects of not making yourself vulnerable is that it makes you hard, defensive and and self-interested. These aren't very endearing qualities for a church trying to be outward-focused and relevant to the community.

In our church we run a compassion ministry called Storehouse. Part of that ministry is a food bank where referred people can come and grab a bag of food to help them through a tough time when the system isn't there for them.  We work with a number of local partners, including social services. However, it was suggested recently by one of our referral partners that some people were taking food from us when they didn't really need it. It really bothered them.

Another person thought if we let someone have something for free it might be more of a hindrance than a help because they might just be bad with finances and never learn the value of anything.

I was reminded this week of the story in John 5:1-6 where Jesus ministers at Bethesda. The place itself means House of Kindness. Jesus asks the disabled woman, "Do you want to get well?"  What a question!

No I mean what a question. What a brilliant thing to ask. He could have just simply said, "Be healed".

If you ask any of the guys we help if they want their situation to change, you will generally be met with "yes". But ever so often we meet people who don't. Sometimes for the drug addict, they are actually happy having a habit because it has it's routine for them and comes with a like-minded group of friends. I suspect for the crippled woman, she had her routine as well, going down to the pool every day, along with all the other disabled people. I suspect they had quite a little community going.

So I am happy to be seen as a soft touch, because actually I know how easily I can become mean-spirited, given the right situation.

We accept that it means that some people who come to us for help, really don't want anything more than a bag of food. Meanwhile, others are desperate for change.

We know that to be generous to people and be a place that is kind to the unloved comes with a price. Usually that price is our personal pride and self-interest.

For that reason, I'd rather be a chump for Christ than a judge for Jesus.

ASD

  

Kindness at Christmas

I have been in Pret a Manger this lunchtime buying their redoubtable Christmas sandwich. Apart from being a great festive munch the sandwich will also mean a donation being made to Crisis, the homeless charity. A charitable thing, indeed!

However, while waiting to be served I saw their poster on the wall which said how they give free food and vans to the homeless. However, they were quick to say that it was not because they were "nice" people, but because they hate good food going to waste at the end of the day. I don't know about you, but this kind of sends out mixed messages to me.

it is funny how being "nice" is a somewhat out of vogue virtue. The adage goes if people are being nice to you they want something. It is a cynical view and not totally unfounded.

Recently a well known atheist entertainer suggested that Christians are "kind" to manipulate people's feelings, to lull them into their net of deception. At least, that is the gist of one of his myopic arguments. Sad, really.

Of course, as marketing techniques go, the offer of something apparently "free" only to "pay later" is a well tried and tested way to acquire business. It's giving with "terms and conditions".

As someone who loves doing acts of random kindness for people, I have to be honest and say I get very little out if it in the sense of seeing huge amounts of people added to the church.  I enjoy bringing some happiness into someone's life, but If I was doing it to be manipulative you would have to say I am not doing it very well!

However, I am trying to show Jesus, The Jesus who loves with no strings attached. Not the fundraising Jesus for a leaky roof or the TV evangelist Jesus who wants you to ring in with your credit card details. That's not my Jesus. God save us!

Have I got an agenda? You bet!

It is to show people that there is a God that loves them without a set of terms and conditions or a "buy now, pay later" scheme.  My God is the God of freewill, not a God of trickery, manipulation or illusion that looks to beguile the innocent and vulnerable. My God doesn't need gimmicks or to entertain to get your attention.

Being kind is different to being "nice".  "Nice" is twee and arguably skin-deep.

Kindness cares. Kindness costs. Kindness is compassion. It is also often a forgotten fruit of the Spirit.

Kindness is no kitten.

ASD

Why X Factor has the Ah! Factor

Unless you have been on holiday in a remote part of the world where electricity is still an aspiration, it will not have escaped your attention that  X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing are back on our screens.

Much like last year my family and I have become full goggle-eyed X Factor addicts, even though my disdain for TV in general continues to grow weekly. But I do have to concur, it is the best escapist TV around - and in more ways than one.

I hear from a friend who knows how the X Factor producers work that the best way for your act to be seen by millions of people on national TV and YouTube is: a) be able to sing and b) have a sob story ready. Being talented and from a stable middle-class simply doesn’t cut it.

I have lost count how many times we have been introduced to a single mum wanting to re-kick start her life with a new career in music.

Last year you may remember we had Daniel who lost his wife to a terminal disease and sang at the audition in memory of her. The hardiest of us were caught out dabbing our moist eyes on the sofa.  However, the show painfully never allowed us to forget for one minute his loss and subsequently the media turned on him, accusing poor Daniel of using his wife’s memory to manipulate the judges’ decision. It felt quite uncomfortable.

There is a new film out this week called Fish Tank. It is the story of a girl  called Mia living on a rough council estate who is socially trapped. She drinks heavily and has problems with her mum’s choice of boyfriends. All she wants to do is become a professional dancer and find a way to escape the ‘fish tank’ that is her life. She goes for an audition only to find out that they want lap-dancers, not street dancers. Your heart sinks for her. It is not a happy film and has no Disney ending.

I wonder if the attraction of X Factor is that it is a people’s show. It gives hope that anyone of any social background has the chance to escape a unhappy and desperate life. It is the ultimate rags-to-riches TV show. No wonder the Americans love it.  The huge queues seem to bear witness to this theory.

Sometimes the naked desperation in people’s faces of wanting to be loved is almost too painful to watch. Surely some of them must know they can’t sing for toffee before they go on. Why doesn’t a friend stop them?

You have to also ask: what it is that drives people to risk making a public fool of themselves?

This may explain why X Factor has a higher viewership than BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, which follows ‘D List’ celebrities that have already had their own fair share of fame and fortune, regardless of what they have done with it.

A teacher friend of mine in our church said recently that she asked her class of teenagers what they wanted to be when they grew up. More than one of them said “to be famous”.

It is easy to be cynical and dismissive of this response, but knowing something of the challenging school she teaches in the answer is not as shallow as you might first think. If you had your mother's boyfriend hitting you what would be your ideal situation?

Youngsters are more disconnected, confused, mixed-up than ever before. With the erosion of community life, and the cheapening of the currency of long-term loving relationships it is not hard to see how teenage depression has become a national phenomenon. They simply want a way out!

In my limited experience I do not see the same aspiration to be famous from children from happy homes who are blessed to have a mother and father. I am not sure either this is always to do with social hardship. Life can be living hell coming from a broken privileged background too. Sometimes it has very little to do with money.

As a Christian I wonder what the best response might be. At the moment I sit on my sofa on a Saturday night and shed a tear over some stranger's story. I know I have to do more. I must. Jesus’ words about “loving your neighbour” have never been more pertinent.

ASD