Its been 6 weeks since I was at a match the last home game in the league was the game against Motherwell on the 21st of September.That's longer than a close season and far to long a gap .The SPL are a joke and cannot seem to figure out that teams can play ate home one week and away another simple instead we have to many home and away games one after another leading to long periods when you don't get to go to matches.

This does not matter to those who run the game because they are free loaders but for supporters who go to away games it is even more important having to go to a few away games on the bounce means spending more over a shorter period.

Anyway I will be glad to get back to having a normal Saturday afternoon .

It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that under all the study and reading a theme is coming out of this course.That theme is that whatever is done it must be with the ultimate aim of empowering people to make more choices.Emporing them to take more control over what goes on in there own lives and in the life of there community.

Giving people the power to think about what they want to achieve and not what can be done for them.Enabling people to have the capacity to make choices .Choices that can change there lives for ever.These choices are not about money alone but they are about how we relate to money .The ability to be part of what is going on instead of a spectator.
Recently a friend of mine went to Nepal where she lived in a community where there was a building programme going on.The community was to get a new community centre.All the materials were delivered and had to be carried by hand to where the building was to take place.The people of the community helped with this every day as well as doing there own jobs.

When the community centre in my community was being built if this was the plan nothing would have been built.The people Helped to drive the project forward and secure funding but there was still an expectation of everything being done for them.I think this is what must change.

45 today!!!

Its raining blowing a gale and cold outside.Another year older and finding it harder to get up in the mornings.What a great birthday.

Went out with some friends and family last night and had a great time got some beautufull gifts mostly clothing I think my kids might be trying to tell me someting.

Maybe an explanation is needed for my previous post.I tend to rant a bit about subjects that are important to me.

The reasons for being passionate about "lay leaders"are not just because I have been one for nearly 20 years but because I believe the ordained leadership system we have now can be an obstacle in church life,not church growth but church life.

Church leaders are in a class of there own in the churchland world.They are the elite the upper class they hold the power .This is not to say that all church leaders want or desire this status although clearly a minority do.In order to be part of this elite it means having been educated to degree level in most cases which will be above that of the average church member especially in inner city areas.It also means taking spiritual responsibility for the church members ,again this is not always what is desired but it is nearly always the outcome.It means attending leadership gathering of which there are many ,these are almost always exclusively for leaders.It also means the delivering of the preach/sermon on a Sunday a time when the whole church will listen to one person give there interpretation of Jesus and scripture.None of the above activities are negative in themselves but together they lead to leaders being seen as elite.

When all of this is put together it can only result in one thing.Leaders are in a different class to the rest of us.

Now there are some advantages to having full time leaders and they include having someone available to do pastoral duties having time to spend with God being able to put 100% into new projects.But even these can end up with some negative results.

Church leadership is a very difficult job and I do not wish to criticise them as people but I do wish to challenge the system that makes the job so difficult.

I believe that there is a need for some people to be in full time positions within the church.But I think there work should be the work of church planting and encouraging new local leaders for those church's.This I believe is the NT model shown to us in the life of Paul and the some of the other apostles.The church in the west has stopped growing because it has largely been unable to see past its own door step and has adopted local church models instead of city or state models.Sectarianism has played a large part in this because it divides the church everywhere and what we have ended up with is a lot of small expressions of the body which want to look after there own needs.The church in general has lost the idea of mission to its own city or community and largely thinks of mission as a foreign affair.We have ended up being self serving and the best answer to that is to have a full time leader who can look after "our needs".

The biblical model is one of "the church" giving support to mission that leads to the planting of churches which leads to the raising up of new leaders a growth cycle that is natural and not programmed.If those in full time leadership were free to give there time and energy to this we might have a much healthier church where lay leaders did not have to leave a church to start there own.

I thought about the movie Copland where Sly Stallone plays a small town sheriff who is not to bright and deaf in one ear.His town is full of the big city cops all whom seem to be doing great but underneath the facade they are all corrupt in some way.

Sometime I feel a bit like Sly a small timer not to smart and mostly ignored by the real cops,he constantly feels like he is on the outside and has no power to challenge these city boys.In the movie he plays a great part of the guy who just takes whatever is given to him and tries not to rock the boat.He doesn't want to rock the boat because he feels what he thinks and what he believes doesnt really matter.

Churchland can be a bit like that hopefully not as cruel.But not being a "full time leader" not being "in the know"can leave you feeling like an outsider in your own town, can leave you feeling like you want to say something but it will only sound dumb.Churchland is a place where those big boys get to stay and the rest are left feeling less than useful.Churchland is a cruel town at times where even although you belong and you are part of the same community you are left feeling like an outsider.

In the end Sly takes on the big boys he decides its time to stand up for himself and show everybody who he really is.He is not slick he does not know everything but he knows what is right and what is wrong this proves to be much more valuable than anything the big boys have and there corruption is exposed.

Churchland can have the same effect on those not on the inside it can leave them feeling like they are not in the know that they are not smart or don't have what it takes.Those not in full time leadership are somehow not equal to those who are.The same value is not placed on them and they feel excluded.It may be that this is a bit of a crude comparison but watching the movie again left me thinking about these things.I bet those in the movie never thought it would be interpreted in this way

This week we will meet with those who may become part of our board of directors.It is very important that we get the right people on the board we need people who at this early stage are willing to put in some work to get the project established.
We will be looking for people who can help us with administration with funding and with setting the vision.At this stage its important that we think about where we place our project for funding .many funders will not allow us to introduce the gospel so we have to think about what the alternatives are .
We have great opportunities to bless the people in our community but we must make sure that we don't compromise just for the sake of money.On the other hand without money we will not last very long as we only have enough for about nine months at a push.So please pray for us that we find the right way ahead.

I visited my son Luke school this week to speak with his teachers about his school work.Luke is 14 and is now in 3rd year at high school.He attends the same school that I went to as a kid and as I went there I thought about my time at school.

I hated high school and used all of my creative powers to find ways not to attend.I spent so much time and energy avoiding being educated I should have been given an A grade for it.The funny thing is that before I went to high school I was always in the top 1-3 pupils in my primary school.So it was nothing to do with being stupid but everything to do with attitude and friendships.It feels like the education system can only think about academic studies and has no place for those who show no interest in them.When it comes time to leave school kids must be prepared for the real world schools did not take that into account and the system stopped teachers with the imagination to help people like me from doing so.

I'm happy to say that has changed somewhat but they could still "do better" a phrase often found on my reports.

Luke is a smart boy and his teachers feel he is doing well at school but could "do better".I find it difficult not to say anything to them when they use this phrase but I resist for my sons sake.I don't want to make his life any more difficult as teachers can become bullies as well as other kids.

Luke will be able to go to college or university if he is pushed my problem is I don't know if pushing him is what I should do as a parent encourage him yes but make him miserable by being pushy I don't think I can do that.I know many guys who left school at the same time as me and they have went on to make a good ,life despite the lack of academic qualifications.School does no teach you to be a money maker or provider for your family life gives you the chance and then you have to take them.These guys that have made it are a great inspiration to me and I think schools could do better than have some people like them as role models/mentors to show young people how to make the most of the opportunity's that came there way.If kids don't show an interest in academic study why not give them the opportunity to see how people start there own business and build it up from nothing and make something that looks after them and there family.No harm to teachers but I don't remember one of them who inspired me.Then again maybe I WAS DIFFICULT

Its been more years than I car to think about since some of thought about having a place in the centre of the community a place we could use to bless people a place that would not be seen as church.Overt he last few years the place has been ours but we have taken a while to get to this stage where it can be open every day.

And now at last I feel like it has begun.As we prayed together the other night I could feel a great sense of excitement and a great challenge .I know God is going to use what we are doing to bless people and I know that people are going to get to see who he is and what he looks like.As we begin to work out our plan of action and think about how we will minister to the community its important we stay true to who God id calling us to be and what he wants us to look like its vital that with all that needs to be done we don't lose sight of Jesus.

There is a plan and its starting to take shape and I think that's good but I know its how we make people feel and how we engage with there story that will make the difference .I want them to get the sent of Jesus to be able to encounter him themselves and to see what church should look like a new model .Its about our ability to love and serve as Jesus did that's where the rubber hits the road.There are many details to be looked after but I know we will work our way through them but please pray for us to stay faithful to the dream God gave us but also that we would be able to adjust when he needs us too .

OPEN DOOR A PLACE TO BE YOURSELF.