BH Bulletin - Wednesday 29 July 2020

Thought for the Day by Alex Forrest
​(Voluntary Staff Worker)

​Matthew 23
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to".

The other day one of my friends posted a link to an Instagram account called ‘Leaving Christianity’. Had a little browse as to what it was and saw it was a page dedicated to helping people who have left the church and abandoned their faith, throw off many of their supposedly ‘unhelpful traits and beliefs’, they may have picked up from spending time within the church. Its agenda is definitely on the very liberal side of Christianity, if not all-out anti-Christian. Every day the page posts statements claiming that the way churches do things is outdated, backward, and at worst, mentally damaging. My first reaction wasn’t one of anger, or feeling insulted. I simply felt sorrow that such a page even exists with 4,000 followers who clearly find it helpful to them.

I think people’s reasons for being part of that group split across two categories. Some are thinking about ‘Leaving Christianity’ due to being sick of living a lie. People who decided to leave the church as they were really only there for community, or to keep up appearances, and weren’t part of the church for the purpose of worshipping God and who have finally had enough of the pretence. Others have probably felt driven to leave Christianity by internal problems within the church; a mixture of hypocrisy, abuse of power, and dodgy leadership.
The former we can see almost as a pruning process. If the people in the church didn’t really believe what they said they believed and have decided to step away, although it’s still horrendously sad, it can be good for the church. The latter is evidence of our failings as Christians, more specifically Christian leaders, in our ministry. This very much links in with the bulletin thought that I did last week. Hypocrisy and showmanship in our leadership is so damaging, not just for us in the context of Matt 6:1-4, but also for others, in context of Matt 23:13. People will be put off church and Christianity if our ministry is false and performative, and the doors of Heaven will be shut in their face, in a slightly hyperbolic manner.
We all need to make sure our public ministry is humble and sincere. Verse 11 & 12 are the perfect instruction to our lives. Every moment that we live, we live for Christ, and if we want to live for Christ, we are to be servants. We need to make sure we are exalting only God and not ourselves in our lives as servants to Him. Everything we do is to be done in humble service for each other, and ultimately for Christ.

In my readings and studies on Christian leadership recently, one of the big things I’ve learned is we can never be too careful. Being genuine in our Christian ministry involves being very careful in how we live our lives. If we are to present to others a version of ourselves as a willing and humble servant, ready to submit to God’s authority at all turns, we’d best make sure our day-to-day lives can back that up. We’d best make sure that we actually do live lives that bring glory to God as best we can, in both our public and private lives. If we do that, hopefully we shall see less people ‘Leaving Christianity”.
​Alex

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​Click here for the Frith's
​Quarterly Report of the
El Alfarero Association, Bolivia 

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​​Sunday 2 August 9.00am Service. Booking now open.

​Booking is open for next Sunday's service at Bishop Hannington. There has already been a good response but there are still plenty of places available. All are welcome so please sign in.
You can book your place by either using MyChurchsuite, the website or if you don’t have internet access you can ring the office.  You will need to book a place for everyone in your group that is coming including anyone under 18.

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