A few thoughts

I came across an ad in a major local media outlet for a church in our area doing a special series of services in September.  I want to say this gently, but clearly, for I was troubled by the way this was done and I want to make my observations about this.

The ad had sharp graphics (alright now!) and was very noticable, it was well designed and stood out.  No problem with that at all, I love excellence being accomplished by the saints.  What bothered me was the content of the ad itself.  You can tell when a church or ministry's promotional effort has been infiltrated by worldly marketing schemes.  The world tells companies to differentiate themselves by "one-upping" themselves against their competitors.  (You see where this is going, don't you?)  This ad was dripping with that very spirit (small s) with an emphasis on what they do that other churches/ministry don't.  To parade yourself publicly in this manner is wrong.  Hear me clearly on this: there is nothing wrong with advertising to communicate what you are doing and to invite people to partcipate and explore being part of such an endeavor and community.  But to treat other parts of the Body of Christ as competitors can truly be called wrong.  It feeds pride and puts the wrong emphasis in the lives of those who are joining to that work.

I don't know leaders at that church so I hesistate to approach them, but I can sincerly say I wept this morning over this.  It troubled me that much and, more importantly, it grieves the Spirit (who is a Person) who is building the Church of Jesus Christ.  We are to prefer one another, even to the extent of having godly ambition for others in their service of Jesus.  To do well, to thrive in seeing healthy marriages and family emerge and participate in the worship of God and in His harvest in our cities.  This could have been done so much better, and today we are the lesser for not having done so.

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.   -Ephesians 4:1-6

Story behind "God of this city"

Image by Guanlong via Flickr

There's a prophetic song thats been sung through the Body of Christ called "God of this city", published by an Irish worship band called Bluetree.  I'll put their account of how they began using this song to prophesy while on a ministry trip in Thailand, playing at a bar in the part of town that is the epicenter of sex slave trafficing in that nation.  I'll also link to the youtube video showing them in that bar, and then link to Chris Tomlin's video of the song.  Here is Bluetree's story:

Nov 2006, Bluetree are heading out to Pattaya Thailand to participate in an event arranged by Belfast missionaries living in Pattaya, Thailand called Pattaya Praise. We've no expectation of the event; we were just looking for an opportunity to serve somehow.

We didn't know much about it before we left, but Pattaya is a dark place. It's a small seaside town notorious for it's sex trade. Throughout our time there we heard countless stories of girls who are bought from their parents for a price, sold to the sex industry at ages as young as 5 years old. Arriving in Pattaya the spiritual climate seems to change, it's hard to define, but there is a very tangible change. On the bus journey in we'd been our usual cheery selves, but entering Pattaya at 10am and turning on to a street lined by girls ready for business, the bus became very quiet. We're in total shock. It's a sunny day but it's incredible how dark it feels.

'Walking street' we learn is the epicentre of the sex trade in Pattaya, it's about a mile long and at night springs to life with neon signs. Thai people are generally conservative in their dress sense -- it's generally considered provocative to bare your shoulders. But on their street the girls are wearing very little, and offering anything you can imagine for a price. It's easy to look around with human eyes, see the depravity and get angry. You see older men walking hand-in-hand with young girls -- as a daddy, that's hard to take in. It's easy to get angry, it's easy to judge -- but that's not our job, so we grit our teeth.

We were in Pattaya to be part of a praise event not far from this street, the soul purpose of which was to worship and show God's light in a dark place. We wanted to play more than the scheduled slots while we were there, so we found out that one of the bar owners would let us play a worship set in her bar on the proviso that we brought as many from the missions team who would buy coke-a-cola all night. We walk in to the bar which is about the middle of walking street, girls are lined up on the stairs waiting for business. We get set up, we're really nervous and quite uncomfortable but we kick in to a familiar beat of worship and soon it's ok. God starts to speak and we started to move in to this spontaneous song. The truth is when you worship in a place, you start to see God's heart for that place. What would God say to a place like this?

Amidst the depravity God say's, I'm the God of this City, I'm the King of these people and Greater Thing are Yet to Come, Greater Things are Still to be Done HERE. The song wasn't written before that night, but we came out of the bar having worshipped with the song that is now the title track of our album -- God of this City (Greater things). The song isn't just for Pattaya -- it's for your city, and it's true. By faith we must expect that greater things are still to be done. 

Did you hear?

Word of the day

Wake up, America! Wake up!

Chinese evangelist released!

From Voice of the Martyrs:

Here is the latest news regarding Pastor Bike and we want to thank all of you for signing our petition!

We just received word from Pastor "Bike" that he has been released from Chinese custody. Pastor Bike was in good spirits and extended thanks to all those who prayed and were willing to sign the petition for his release. He believed this petition drive was part of the reason the officials released him along with his wife and co-worker.

We will still deliver a printed copy of all the signatures collected to the Chinese embassy next week, along with a THANK YOU LETTER to express appreciation for the release of our Christian brothers and sister. Continue to add your voice, and encourage your friends, so that we can let the Chinese government know how many Christians care about persecution in China.

We will have a full update next week.

Praise God for answered prayer!

--The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association

Have a great Labor day!