Bill Cahusac

Chris Moyles on Church

Well worth a look- it's good to remember that we have the privilege of sharing the best news in the world, and that people want to hear good news.

The best of Soul in the City '09 (Tollington)

It's been a fantastic week. So much so that I didn't get round to uploading the last few days of our Soul in the City week.

God has done some amazing things this week, and all of us who were involved feel deeply privileged to have been a small part in what He continues to do in Tollington.

With that in mind, here is a short video of best bits from all 5 days. Our hope is that as you watch all that God did it will inspire you to both seek him and also to get out there are go for it with Him in your own context. 

(NB: The video may take a few moments to load as it is presented in high definition)

(The best of Soul in the City '09 (Tollington) from Bill Cahusac on Vimeo.

Soul in the City '09 - Day 3

Soul in the City '09 - Day 2

Soul in the City '09 - Day 2 from Bill Cahusac on Vimeo.

Soul in the City '09 - Day 1

Day 1 of Tollington Parish's Soul in the City is over- bring on tomorrow!!!

The Big Church Day Out

We could hear them still singing on the main stage as we left, and although bed time had long since come and gone our children were still awake and soaking up the atmosphere.

As I drove the family home I reflected on the smiles on the faces of the one hundred and fifty members of the Tollington Parish.

I thought about the children in our church who had never left London before looking wide eyed at the vast expanse of green, parents taking their sons and daughters on the Ferris wheel for the first time, the young people worshiping, the "aunties" (our elder Nigerian ladies) holding hands with the twenty somethings and dancing to the music. Of a day where there really was something for everyone. 

A day where we joined thousands of others and celebrated all that is good about God.

Just before he fell asleep one of my children asked if heaven would be like The Big Church Day out.

That summed it up perfectly.

You've got mail.....

My inbox didn't know what had hit it. And that was just in the first few days. 

Maybe I'm more naive than I thought, but I had no idea that posting a message of support on her blog would provoke such an unpleasant response. 

It was the vitriol of the messages that took me aback. 

And in a very small way I got a taste of what she must have been on the receiving end of for the last two and a half years.

There were notes from people saying things that for the sake of decency can't be repeated here. Then there were anonymous e-mails from people who felt the need to tell me things about her they thought I should know that she was apparently keeping secret. 

And they were just from people in "the family of faith".

I won't even bother with the e-mails or messages from people I can only assume still work in her former industry who do not like the stand she is making.

All of us did things in our lives prior to turning to Christ that are a source of regret and shame- Bono put it far better than I could when he said "If you saw my heart you would spit in my face," but most of us hope that as we walk with him we can leave them behind. 

So imagine what it must be like for Crissy Moran, the former porn star who gave her life back to Christ in November 2006. I hadn't heard of her until I read an interview with her in Christianity Today. Her's is an incredible story of grace, of the mercy of God. 

On the one hand I'm sure (if my e-mail inbox is anything to go by) that there are people in her former industry who continue to be deeply unhappy about her conversion and her detailing the reality of the sex industry, and on the other are people who feel the need to rub her face in her past. On one side are people who use it as a weapon against her and on the other people who use it to condemn her. 

I hugely admire the courage it must take her not to hide her past. To confront what she was involved in and be honest about it. To deal with the fact that her past is accessible to anyone who wants to find it. To let God use her story to reach other women trapped in that world. 

In a world where people constantly want to airbrush out the parts of their lives that they would rather forget, her willingness to be real, to use her experience as a testimony of the God who came to seek and save those who are lost, who loves us so much that he gave his son for us, inspires me. 

There are times when If I'm honest I can feel reluctant to share my faith with people. Her stand has challenged me to be more courageous. 

And this time my inbox is ready.

 

 

 

All that you can't leave behind

He hadn't been at our church long when he asked if we could meet.
"This just isn't how I imagined it would be" he sobbed into his coffee,
"However hard I try I feel my past being thrown back in my face."

The real tragedy was that the condemnation weighing him down wasn't so much a metaphysical experience- no, the ones ready to stone him had been his family of faith .

A community of faith who found it hard to let him move forward. To leave the past where it belonged. In the past.

He hadn't broken any laws of the land, he'd made some bad choices in his personal life. He knew what he'd done was wrong. He'd come to the foot of the cross, confessed it, known the freedom that forgiveness brings and joined his local church.

It struck me as I listened to him that while God consigns our past to history, sometimes there are those who find it harder to forgive and forget.
The worst part- the only thing he had done was be honest about his life before he had known Jesus.

It seemed to me to be so contrary to the character of God.
Who forgives.
Who heals.
Who says in him we are new creations.

Who says that as far as the east is from the west so far has me moved our sins from us.

Who has been waiting for us to come home, and when he sees us in the distance runs to meet us.

Who throws his arms around us and kisses us.

Who celebrates.

Stop (in the name of love)

Sometimes I need to stop. To down arms. 

To breathe. 

To enjoy the view from the top of the hill.  

To have the fire stoked again. 

Some people need time to switch off- to not just stop physically, but also mentally and emotionally. For years I thought that I was that kind of person. Don't get me wrong, I need the physical rest, and I crave long periods of quality time with my family- and in my family's case, they need me to give them my all during vacation times. 

It was only as I drove back to Tollington last night that I reflected on how much I had needed the time- not to stop, but to go. 

To go back to the parish in my minds-eye. 

To imagine what would could be. 

To see a community transformed by the love of God. To dare to dream what we could be doing in the next twelve months. To see the faces of people I haven't even met yet worshipping the God they have come to know through an outreach initiative we haven't thought of yet. 

I don't want you think I spent my entire holiday thinking about work- I didn't think about work at all. I just allowed God to stir me as I stepped into a time away. 

It made me think of the verse in the Song of Songs "I slept but my heart was awake." (5:2)

It's not that I am an out of control activist who can't ever stop. I love stopping.

It's when I stop that I start to go.

 

trans:mission

ad:mission

Sometimes I think a church with a passion for mission can get it wrong. When it does it needs to say so and explain why. A church can so emphasize a particular aspect of mission that the unintended subliminal message that is sent out is that other forms of mission are not as important. 

What this does is create a culture where people of vision often feel disempowered. They love Jesus, they love telling people about him, but they feel that their contribution might be pushed to a side because it doesn't fit into the bigger vision of a church. Over time new ideas can dry up. 

This leads to frustration. People with God given vision and talent who want to use it aren't. 

This can never be good. 

inter:mission

Churches need to take the time to seek out the dumanists. My boss is excellent at that. He is a heat seeker for emerging and future leaders. Seeking out people of vision, releasing them, equipping them, affirming them and encouraging them to yield themselves to God as they step out. 

co:mission

We need to give mission back to the church rather than defining it. As we do that we will see extraordinary things begin to happen. Mission won't just be something we talk about as an institution, it will be something we own. something we do.

Something we live.