Finding Opportunities To Feast On God.

One thing's for sure: the last seven weeks have been more hectic than I thought they'd be. The transition from student to 'regular working person' is a marked one for anybody. But I suspect the way my time is divided up between two jobs (and the nature of one of those jobs) makes it particularly challenging.

One thing I've learnt so far: you need to fight to devote time to the things which matter to you. Fight for time with God. Fight for time to read, for time to blog, socialise, rest, and to do the most important thing, not the most urgent thing. Even within the two days a week I have for Life Church I'm learning to constantly look for opportunities to appropriately involve others and to delegate. It's even a challenge to find times to feast on God, despite the nature of a lot of my work!

You know, I'm not sure I could handle the pressures of handling the business of the church alongside everything else without everything God taught me on Frontier Project (now FP-Impact). Or without what he taught me through leading a large student work whilst a full-time student. It's funny how God deliberately leads you on a certain path, and though we often have no idea what he is up to, we later see glorious glimpses of wisdom in how he has led us.

Anyway, the pace of life is balanced out by a few lifesavers - these regular appointments in the diary are so welcome! Yes, in some ways they make life more hectic (you end up with the same amount of work to do and less time to do it in) but it is so worth it!

Wessex leaders' gatherings.
The Newfrontiers Wessex Region is one of the reasons I was so excited to be 'coming home'. The men who lead it are excellent, many of them good friends, and once a month leaders from the 17 different churches get together to socialise, pray, worship and hear vision for the future. Ten there are other 'sub-regional' gatherings where we gather in smaller groups at a separate gathering once a month or so. Both gatherings are amazing times to be together and bring one another on - I certainly feel myself being beckoned on to a new depth of relationship with God every time I meet with them!

Prayer & Fasting
As I approach this week's prayer and fasting I'm well aware of my need to get away, be with others facing similar circumstances and get before God. I love being with friends in Newfrontiers and I'm particularly looking forward to seeing some Sheffield friends this week. I'm normally in the church office Wednesday-Thursday, so I've only had to take one day's leave from my other job to get there, which isn't bad. I'm looking forward to seeing Peterborough Community Church's new facility too (I couldn't make the last Prayer and Fasting - a little thing called a dissertation got in the way! So this will be my first time at the new venue). I expect Sarah D will want to bring us a full blog-update on what happened (you know you want to Sarah D) so I will leave it to her.

So, between now and next Monday there are two Sundays at Life Church, two days as an engineer, two at Prayer & Fasting and one in the church office. A bit different to normal, but boy, do I need it!

Student Work By Non-Students

One of the greatest leadership opportunities I've ever had was to lead City Church Sheffield's work with students. At the time, I myself was still a student. Fast-forward to now: I'm in an equally exciting season being involved with the 18:20s work at Life Church Southampton. And although term is really only just kicking off, it seems like leading a student work as a non-student is completely different to leading it as a student.

The one big advantage I can think of, of leading a student work (or society) as a full-time student is this:

You're 'just like us'

You have coursework, deadlines, revision, exams, cheap food and scummy students houses, just like the people you're leading. And that is a real advantage. It means when you're exhorting people to do something, they know not only that you've 'been there', but that you 'are there'. You're not just telling people people what to do, you're showing them what to do in a way you simply couldn't hope for as a non-student.

It totally undermines the 'student card' (the tendency many students have to make excuses for lack of zeal/lack of discipline/lack of money/lack of time-keeping/lack of work by using the infamous one-liner "I'm a student, so..."). I really hate the student card. It's a fast-track ticket to guilt-free laziness, when the only route to guilt-free anything should be grace, not the 'student card' (and even then we are not to let 'grace abound' by continuing in sin!). I do think I had more leverage to combat it when I was a student and aiming to be counter-cultural in that way. I could challenge students on it because I was living differently.

It's interesting that despite his extraordinary leadership exploits which set him apart from the people, Elijah is described as a man 'just like us'. We need leaders who are 'just like us'. So I am fully supportive of the idea of student leadership, whether that's in the Unions' societies or in the local churches.

I always thought I'd find student work easier once I was no longer a student. So far the opposite seems to be true. But that doesn't mean that those who aren't students have nothing to offer the world of student work - far from it. I love to see inter-generational one-anothering going on (probably the most Biblical sort out there). And the idea of homogeneous church just antagonises me (by the way, some people assume if you believe students should give themselves primarily to church rather than CU, that you believe in homogeneous church - I've never met anyone for whom this would be true). We are made for cross-cultural community which is outward-looking. It's inclusive of everyone, which means non-students definitely have a part to play.

I have a feeling that as Life Church's 18:20s progresses I'll see more and more of the benefits of non-student leaders alongside the students leaders. But the shift of going from one to another is something quite interesting to experience.

The Grace Of Giving

It's been interesting watching who's been logging onto this blog over the last few week - it would appear that a number of students have been looking for an answer to the question' should I tithe my student loan?'

I do wonder how many Christian students are pondering this question as they begin university courses across the country. Don't get me wrong, I haven't seen an explosion in hit-levels, but there a noticeable number who have found my article looking at whether God requires us to tithe, or give, out of a loan.

The question about whether tithing still applies has been brought up since I've been back in Southampton. Wheras in my previous circumstances, most people around me in the church I was part of would have said a resounding "no!", I think more people in Life Church would say that it does. The irony from my point of view is that both probably believe the same thing (though one group may have understood grace in a different way than the other). Both groups probably give in a similar way too. The tithe (along with all of the Old Covenant) was only ever a shadow of the New Covenant, where we are invited to give fully of everything we have, just as we have fully and freely received. It would seem a little warped then, for us to revert to the shadow and treat that as the norm for our giving. As Terry Virgo puts it, why go back to your old husband, when you now have an infinitely better husband?

Giving is most certainly a grace to us, and we have experienced that grace here as we held a Gift Day the other Sunday. Our Sunday morning meeting equipment was donated or lent to us when we started Life Church, and is now either a bit ropey or has been returned to its owner. So we put the need before the church, and with one week's notice, received triple the amount we were praying prviately for as a team (including Gift Aid). God has been so gracious with us and giving to Him is certainly a grace!

As I administrate my way through church life it is fascinating to have a close-up view of the church's finances - most of all it points to the fact that God is Lord of all, and that the way He has planned for His church to operate is that the grace we have inwardly experienced, we show outwardly. And one of the key outward ways of reflecting this grace is through giving money! I'm keen that above all, nobody feels under compulsion to give, and I hope that no one in Life Church ever will. But I do hope we remain keen to operate over-and-above the compulsory, set-by-the-law tithe and abound with generosity as a reflection of His grace, and for the extension of His Kingdom.