The end is nigh

It's in the news all the time and my lectures keep telling me that we are all going to die!! If it's not global warming it's Bird flu or another disease or a lack of water or lack of food or insects or a meteor or the old favourite of nuclear war. Looking at the evidence it's all rather damning: the end is nigh; life as we know it is coming to an end....

The other day I was talking to my mate about a program which was looking at a Religions response (or the lack of it) to global warming. Although I didn't see it he mentioned his surprise, and that of the program makers, that "Religion" hasn't jumped on the Global Warming bandwagon saying " Look the earth is coming to an end, repent and be saved". I agreed with him, it seems strange that the more outspoken people, both Christians and those from other religions, haven't mentioned anything about it; seems to go against the stereotype.

Its a subject which I haven't really thought about before: are all these problems pointing towards Jesus second coming? After thinking about it I have to conclude that, since God controls the weather and is all powerful, then, this must be part of his plan. Therefore, yes, if the world is going to change as dramatically as scientists suggest then all these environmental problems could very much tie into Jesus' return! We do though need to remember that through history people have been claiming Jesus is coming "soon" yet God says that we won't know until it happens! Thankfully it's not something which I worry about :) Anyone got any views?


On a different note, I think the fact people haven't mentioned global warming as a sign of the end is a clear indication that Christianity is now so scared to mention what we believe (that those who don't follow have Jesus as there saviour will live eternity without him, hell). Whereas in past centuries an answer was found from the bible and published for the whole world to see! In the 21st century it's politically incorrect to say such things and it seems religion is too worried to mention "Maybe this is God" let alone "Jesus is coming", it breaks my heart and while of course I don't mean people should go about scare mongering about Global Warming and start breaking the law this is just one example of a general trend not to stand up for things.

When the Life of Brian came out 30-40 years ago there was a massive fuss kicked up. That was over a film (which personally I have no problem with) yet now when it comes to much more important issues; like religious freedoms, gay rights and blasphemy (lyrics in songs, for examples) we seem scared even to use our right of free speech to oppose such things!

I've just started reading Acts (a book from the bible) and the difference between the Church then and now is amazing. While of course there any many fearless men and woman in the Christian Church today people like Stephen, John and Peter (just for starters) really show many of us up. I'm just as bad as anyone else and I think that it's because I'm too worried about what other people think. This feeling, though, isn't something which I alone suffer from; do we worry that that if we annoy people God's message won't get through? or is that just an excuse not to talk about our faith? If we take a look at almost all biblical character then we would see how it should be done: Do what God says and not to worry if what you do annoys people because we are here to please God, not others (That doesn't mean going out of our way to annoy others because we are called to love others as ourselves yet).

Christianity needs people to start standing up and proclaiming God "in the temple" like the early church or else we will fall!



On a lighter note I hope you'll enjoy this clip from Mock The Week (episode 2 series 4). A couple of the things this blog is about are loosely related to some of their jokes. BE WARNED this show is on after the watershed; there is a little bit of none politically correct jokes and language:

Mock The Week is fast becoming one of my favourite shows on TV. Please follow this let alone link to see the rest of the episode

Crusaders/Urban Saints

After 100 years The Crusaders Union felt it was time to change the name to a less offensive one. Here is an article from the Times about it. Due to constitutional rules the name of the organisation will still be "The Crusaders Union" but will just run under the new name. Scottish Crusaders, though, is different! This is because it is a part of the overall Crusaders Union and this means a vote has to be taken to change from "Scottish Crusaders". I apologise if that is all a bit confusing!

Anyway, there is a meeting on Saturday afternoon to discuss and vote on what to do; all "leaders" are able to vote. Some people are really keen about the new name but it seems that there was little or no discussion about the change. This has left some annoyed and others are against the whole name as they think its silly!

There seems to be a huge chance of division and trench lines being dug over this. There is a great need for prayer!!!

Bible Study

There is a group of four of us young guys who have been meeting on Friday's for a few months now. It's been fantastic as we all grow closer together and trusting each other more. Tonight was particularly good as we continued opened up and became more accountable. We all are growing in faith and relying on each other. I personally was so encouraging! Praise God

Deflated:

I blogged last month (here) about an event which the Crusader group was planning to hold. Earlier this week we (leader) found out that we wouldn't be able to put inflatables ie. sumo wrestling, bounce castle etc inside Pollokshields Church. This came as quite a shock because we have been planning an event for a few months now in which we hoped to encourage young people to come along to our group. The main attraction was the inflatable games and we where all set for February 3rd (a little later than my blog mentioned). We had just got everything in place last monday when the caretaker of the Church mentioned that he wasn't sure if we would be allowed to put the things in the hall like that which we all found quite surprising. When we then phoned up the Church leader and where told that we defiantly wouldn't be allowed.

There seems to be no reasons given to why they have made the rule and the person who we are renting from is sending his risk assessment to the Church to see if they will reconsider so there is hope. It has come as quite a shock and at a very bad time as we need to publicise and look for more volunteers. It seems that the 3rd atleast is out of question.

This is all very disheartening after so much effort has been put in. I find myself becoming angry at my stereotype of the Church we are using despite personally never dealing with them. Also one is left wondering if it is a good idea to continue down this road, doing the old "is this Gods plan??" thing. Maybe God his bringing this season to an end and we are just too stubborn to listen. Yet I wonder if this is just a stumbling block which we will have to overcome, with God's help. Your prayers would be very much appreciated

Crusader Event!

Tomorrow the leaders of Crusaders are meeting to discuss a couple of things. Firstly to sort out if we are going to follow the national organisation and change our name from "Crusaders" to "Urban Saints". This is obviously quite an important decision to make and it would be brill if you praying types could pray for us.

Our main reason for meeting is to plan for an outreach event in the new year. Over the past years our numbers have fallen to around 4 or 5 older secondary kids each week. This is due to mostly a lack of leaders and therefore a lack of resource. This makes planning an exciting program harder and last year meant that we often had to cancel an evening. With this lack of consistency a lot more of the younger people have stopped coming. Also advertising to younger, primary, kids has been rather non-existent again because of a lack of people.


The idea is to (on a Saturday afternoon) have inflatables and sumo suits etc. in the church hall where we meet. We also want games and other interesting things going on and hope to have lots of 8-12 year old's having fun and getting them interested in coming along on Monday nights. Then on the regular Mondays have a fast moving, engaging program and an atmosphere which they feel comfortable in.


There are a number of problems though:

• We will need to publicise the event well

Sadly in the past the primary schools have been very resistant to us coming in and talking probably because Pollockshields has large majority of Muslim and Seekers in the area which are resistant to Christianity.

• More support and leaders

The local Churches seem to have little or no youngsters in and there seems little ambition from the churches to improve the situation, they all seem doom and gloom about it! Also one of our female leaders has left. So now the group is run by my dad (John), Louise (19), Craig (19 & non-christian) and myself (18). While of course younger leaders is great, there is much responsibility still placed on John, also Louise (being the only female) needs to turn up every week so that girls can come.

• What to do with the existing older primary Kids

We have a small number of older kids whom probably don't want to join in with the younger guys.

These things seem to be limiting us and when planning for the afternoon and the program for the new year there seem so many problems, difficulties and at times it seems impossible. There there is no point moaning though because I completely trust that God has a plan! The victory IS the Lords and he WILL prevail. So could you pray that when we, the leaders, meet tomorrow that we would open ourselves to Gods wonders and not limit him because then we will see miracles.

As I said, we will need one off volunteers for the "Event" but we desperately need more leaders for us to see the group grow again; especially females. Crusaders is a non-denominational Christian youth group for 8-16 year olds. We run on a Moday night from 7-8:30pm at Pollockshields Church and run a games based program. The aim is to teach young people about God in an engaging way! If your interested in being a volunteer then please email me and I'll get back to you!! I have no doubt God WILL provide the children and the volunteers for he is God. He WILL make all these things possible.

Delirious?

Alan (brother) bought "Now Is the Time: Live at Willow Creek DVD/CD" on Saturday. After going to see them in Glasgow I wrote this about them but after much more listening (They are on at the moment) I have to say they are starting to grow on me!

There are a number of songs which have good chorus', easy to sing long to and with some good solo's. The singer sounds very Bono from U2ish at times which is slightly irritating though his lyrics are powerful. Thank God for the gifts he's given them!!

Here is a taste of there new music with "Now is the Time": (which they wrote with Matt Redman)

Weekend

This weekend a large number (12) St Silasers and members of the St Silas Football team are heading to Bradford for a Conference. It is an all men's conference and funnily enough I have little-no idea what I signed up for. We will be leaving on Friday during the day and spending the weekend done there.Please look at my friend Darren Darlows blog for some information!

6 of the 12 are non-Christians so could you pray for them. The Church and conference is large, thousands. Also it is evangelical (that word so doesn't mean what it used to) aka charismatic which they (and I) may find a little intimidating! This is such an amazing opportunity to share with them the gospel and show them Christan love. So please pray that the holy spirit would work in them and us as we witness to them! Also on a personal note I pray that I might learn much from the weekend and god would just blow away all the difficulties I've been struggling with.

Darren says he will keep his blog updated over the weekend so check there in the next couple of days if your interested.