MSC News

4th September 2017

Reacting to Change

Ben Askew MSC News change, discipleship, Jesus, Rejoice

I woke one day last week to an article on the Today programme on Radio 4 about the Edinburgh fringe festival. They were discussing the one line joke of the year. For once this was not won by Tim Vine but by Ken Cheng. The joke is, “I’m not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change”

As we move into the Autumn it is clear that it is going to be a season of great change for us with Mark moving on, Ben’s curacy inevitably coming to an end and also Sarah’s move to Durham. I guess that there is something in all of us that finds change unsettling. In general I really like change and see it as positive, however over the last few weeks I found myself being unsettled by the changes we are facing. Personally we have even more change as Naomi leaves home at the start of September to start the New Wine Discipleship Year in York.

I’ve been really grateful for the time that we’ve spent at New Wine United and Inspire. It has been helpful to have some time with God away from Kairos. He’s been reminding me just how reliant we are on Him, His Presence, His Spirit to live out our calling to be disciples. To be followers of Jesus, to be those who spend time with Him, who become more like Him and who do what He does.

Towards the end of his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul writes “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7)

As I’ve reflected on these verses I think there are some important principles for us over the coming weeks. Let’s rejoice in our relationship with Jesus; for the works he has done in our lives and the works he is about to do. Let’s decide not to be anxious but to pray in every situation. Finally, at the start of this season we can decide that in every situation we face we will give thanks to Jesus who is Lord over all.

During the coming weeks there will be gathered opportunities to give thanks, rejoice and pray. Key amongst these are our launch (3 to 6 September) and central gathering on 3 September, the community of practice on 29 and 30 September and the feast on 15 October. The UP on 24 September will be an opportunity to worship and pray together Please prioritise these times as we journey together.

Chris Watson

when-you-enter-a-house-first-say-peace-to-this-house-if-someone-who-promotes-peace-is-there-your-peace-will-rest-on-them

17th November 2016

Peace to This House – By Chris Watson

Ben Askew MSC News evangelism, Mission, people of peace

I’m now a few weeks into my new role, leading MSC development at Kairos. It has obviously not been the start to the new role I’d expected. Nevertheless, it is great to be working with a team of other leaders who are committed to living out the Kairos vision and values. I have been struck several times by the encouragement we have received from others to press on with the vision of making disciples who make disciples in a community of communities. It has been good to see how we have done this in both our gathered and scattered modes of meeting over the last few weeks.

One of the ways in which we live out being disciples who make disciples is looking out for our people of peace; those who welcome us, appear willing to share life with us and are open to the Kingdom. These are the people that Jesus encouraged His disciples to spend time with. When Jesus sends his disciples out to the surrounding towns, part of his instructions are, “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.”( Luke 10:5-7). In the same way Jesus is willing to let people go who are not ready to hear what he has to say or to follow him. This is clear in the way in which Jesus allows the rich young ruler to walk away. (Mark 10:17-27).

We all have connections with different people, sometimes we find it difficult to know which of these are our people of peace and to move on from natural to spiritual conversations. However, doing this will often help us to discover if someone is in fact a person of peace. A couple of Sundays back we saw our Christmas publicity for the first time – the cards look fabulous if you haven’t seen one yet, there are plenty at the resource base so do grab some. They are a way to invite people into our Christmas activities, but I think they can also be used to help us to move our conversations on from the natural to spiritual level. I know this is how we plan to use them within the context of LINKS and I would encourage you to do the same in your context. I’m praying for some significant conversations over the next few weeks that enable us to identify our people of peace and encourage them to make steps into a discipleship journey.

26th September 2016

Be Strong and Wait – Kairos MSC News

Ben Askew MSC News faithful, Kairos Community, leadership

Over the summer we have been praying & waiting on God together for a number of things. One of those things has been asking God what He is going to do with the Blaze leadership and we are thankful that new team members are beginning to emerge and that we are beginning to see new members join, it’s an exciting time for them and we will see what continues to develop. The other thing you’ll be aware of is that Allsorts ended with a celebration BBQ in July and we have been waiting to see what new vision God gives. The news is there are 2 new MSCs starting as well as ideas and vision for another 3 – wow! We have also seen the beginning of Liberty – a new MSC reaching out to the marginalised. God seems to be in the process of multiplying our MSCs which is amazing!

It’s all very exciting especially as we really haven’t done a lot to bring these things into being. As a leadership team we have just trusted God, listened to what He’s been saying and had conversations with people around our favourite questions ‘What is God saying & what are you going to do about it?’

Where do you need to trust and wait on God for your MSC right now? It may be you are looking for the next stage of development if you’ve been going a while. It may be that you are just beginning and it all feels a little vulnerable and you’re not quite sure whether people will actually turn up. Here’s one thing I’ve been thinking about this week…let’s be people who lead with the spiritual authority we’ve been given and assume that people want to be involved and invited, that God is working in people’s lives and that He is working towards the vision He’s given you. Let’s be people who are confident in what God’s called us to and who are people who just trust Him as we do what He asks us to.

Have a great week! Helen

19th September 2016

Lion or Donkey

Ben Askew MSC News Confidence, donkey, lion, obedience

Last week as we worshiped, read the bible and prayed each day at Resource Base I sensed God speaking about deception and obedience to his word.

At one point Andy Wilson shared a reflection on Genesis 3 and challenged us to discern where in our lives deception might be happening as he spoke I was reminded of two things.

Firstly what Henri Nouwen said in relation to prayer: “A life without a quiet centre easily becomes delusional.” Spending time with others in prayer connects me with Jesus the way, truth and life. I am earthed in him and the delusions of grandeur, control, self-salvation are exposed as lies. I am drawn to the quiet centre and there I find rest for my soul.

Secondly I was reminded of a strange reading that we had the day before. 1 Kings 13 is the story of how a prophet brings God’s condemning word against a bad King, Jeroboam. The prophet has been told by God to not eat or drink (presumably on his way home) or return home the same way. Then this prophet is tricked by another prophet (probably jealous) into eating and drinking. Our prophet-hero then gets killed by a lion – God’s judgement on his disobedience and the naughty prophet finds his corpse lying on the road with the lion and the donkey he was riding on standing by. Interestingly verse 28 presents a kind of tableau picturing a corpse on the ground and a lion and a donkey standing beside it with the comment “The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey”.

The story is sad, disturbing, upsetting and profoundly prophetic. As I have read it I find myself seeing a few things in it.

1) Watch out lest we become people who cause others to fall (in Genesis 3 terms – I can be the serpent!) I bet the naughty prophet wouldn’t have tricked the good prophet if he had known the consequences. We need to guard our hearts against deception not only by others, but ourselves. As Nouwen pointed out – we are prone to being delusional. Let’s grow in self-awareness.

2) If God has called you to do something (given you his ‘word’) then obedience to it has to be all the way to the end of that assignment. This means you need to watch out for temptation and deception that can come from unexpected sources. I think this is vital for us: follow through the assignment God has given you – if you are part of a mission shaped community, starting one, hearing God’s call – then follow through.

3) The prophetic tableau in this story of the corpse, lion and donkey communicates two choices that are presented to us as we follow through God’s word. You can be like the donkey, obstinate, proud trusting in your own way, making your own decisions (and ending up like the corpse). Or you can be like the lion (representing the lion of Judah) trusting in God’s word. I choose trust. I want to be a lion not a donkey! You?

Mark

19th September 2016

How do you lead an MSC? Up In Out!

Ben Askew MSC News discipleship, leadership, Up In Out

Have you seen our latest video? Chris and Kathryn tell us about the Links story:

As we’ve talked with some of the new leaders over the summer the question that’s come up a couple of times is “what shall we do together?” The answer is quite simple – when you get together do Up, In and Out. As you get your rhythm going, as you try to live out your kingdom calling, simply make sure that when you get together there are regular rhythms that help you build relationship – UP to God, IN with each other and OUT to the world. You could do all three in one time together (eg. eat together and share stories of your week – In, worship, read the bible and pray together – Up, plan a way each of your community could bless someone around you in the following week – Out). You could also focus on a particular direction in different gatherings (as Chris and Kathryn mention in the Links video above).

Perhaps your community is re-booting after the summer and you are wondering what to do. Perhaps you are thinking about getting a new community going and aren’t sure how to start. Simply make sure you have a good mix of Up, In and Out together.

What do you think? We’d love to hear back from you. Why leave a comment and tell us what your current Up, In and Out pattern is or tell us a story about an Up, an In or an Out activity that worked really well.

Ben

28th July 2016

What I’ve learned about – leadership

Ben Askew MSC News leadership, rest, Wait

The first, and maybe obvious thing I have noted more over recent times, is that everyone has an opinion on leadership, whether it be politics, sport, community or church, everyone has an opinion on what a leader should be, and even more what they should do.

Expectation is often a key influence upon any leader, but the challenge/question is, where does that expectation come from? People’s expectations are often different from God’s, but do we make space/time to hear god’s voice and hear his expectations above others?

When we look at the incident where Jesus was with Mary and Martha, Luke 10.38 to end, Martha reacted out of her own perspective, where Mary was putting herself at the feet and listening to Jesus.

Leadership is often about having the ability not to react, to stop, have a sense of peace, listen and then respond. Responding is different to reacting.

Our Kairos questions are always what is God saying and what is our response, because God wants a response and not a reaction.

Summer can be that time where we have space to stop, reflect, gain some peace, and listen, enabling us to move to a place of response.

So let’s be people who don’t react simply out of what they see, as Martha did, but people who respond out of all that God is saying to us, and demonstrate a leadership model that the world could certainly do with right now.

by AndyWilson. You can read more of Andy’s thoughts on the Roll The Rock site.

22nd July 2016

What I’ve learned about – handling times of change

Ben Askew MSC News change, circle, repent and believe

It’s a bit of a cliche to say that change is a constant, but it is true. Change is not a Church thing, a Kairos thing, or a mission thing. Change is part of life. Having said that, there do seem to be seasons where the rate of change quickens, for some of us and our MSCs this is one of those moments.

Some of us tend to see change as exciting, an opportunity for adventure. Others of us will see it more in terms of a threat or a loss. In truth, most changes are a bit of both.

So how do we handle times of change well as leaders? Well, change creates a kairos moment and we have the opportunity to respond through repentance and belief.

Here are four things I’ve realised I do, and where I think they fit on the learning circle.

Observe – Look Back

Dan H reminded those of us at 9am prayers yesterday morning to remember the good things God has done in the past (you can read more of his thoughts on this here). Joshua had the people of Israel place 12 stones by the Jordan to remind them of God’s goodness. What has He done in your MSC that you can look back at and gain courage for the new season?

We’ve led several MSCs (I think our current score is 7) in different places over the years. None of them were perfect (looking back involves learning from mistakes), some of them ended messily, but in each there was fruit, growth and discipleship. As we think about change and movement in our lives I’m finding that remembering those communities and the friends who were part of them has been very encouraging.

Reflect – Wait

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7

When change hits it can be so easy to go into default modes of panic, fix or fret. Resist these and wait. Take the time to listen to God, to reflect and pray.

Waiting doesn’t need to be passive, it can be about asking God – what about this? It can be quite active (think about a waiter). Waiting can involve seeking – looking for where God is and listening carefully to discern what He is saying.

Discuss and Account – Connect

Change can lead people to be isolated, especially if they don’t really like or understand what is going on. When an MSC changes that can lead some to drop off the radar.

Make sure you connect with others, make sure you keep your connection with God. Keep an eye out for each other.

Plan and Act – Decide

Too much change can be bewildering; which way do we go, how do we respond? As I’ve thought about some of the changes we are facing as a family I found it easy to get stuck, to worry so much about the right decision that I don’t do anything.

So often the stories of change in the bible involve an encouragement to choose. Think about Joshua asking the people who they will serve before he dies (Joshua 23), or Jesus commissioning the disciples at the end of Matthew. There are decisions to be made and things to do. Encourage one another to make confident decisions for discipleship and for God.

24th June 2016

What I’ve learned about: God’s Pruning Work

Ben Askew MSC News discipleship, John 15, loss, pruning

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-2,5

John 15 might be familiar to you. The picture is of Jesus the gardener who comes to prune off branches – both those that bear fruit and those that do not. Things don’t always grow in God’s Kingdom. We shouldn’t expect that the things of God will just keep on getting bigger and better – it’s not biblical!

In fact Jesus taught the opposite, that there are seasons of growth, and we should also expect that there will be seasons of pruning. This can feel like failure to us – and we don’t like to fail, we don’t like the things we lead to be seen to be shrinking or in decline. It’s tempting to ask the question ‘what’s gone wrong?’ and then try to come up with a reason that takes the blame off us, or try to fix the ‘problem’ in some way, striving and pushing to keep things going when what we’re actually doing is going against what God is wanting to do – it’s exhausting!

We need to remember that it’s quite normal for God to bring things to a close, for Him to ‘prune’ us and the things we lead, and to lead us into a place of ‘abiding’ in Him (John 15:4-7). Every good gardener prunes plants because they know the truth of ‘so that they will bear even more fruit’ in the next season.

I recently had a picture for someone whilst praying; it was of a sheep being sheared, of having its thick winter coat removed for the summer season. Sheep don’t need their thick coat in the summer, and the shepherd removes the fleece so that the sheep is more comfortable and so they don’t get maggots laying eggs on them. It’s a kind of pruning for sheep and it’s necessary – imagine a sheep who was never sheared!

What feels to you like it’s failing right now, or at least is less fruitful and harder work than it used to be? Is God pruning you? If so that’s good news! Because Jesus’ promise is that He prunes in order that there might be more fruit in the future. Our best response is to draw close to Jesus, to spend time coming near to Him, to ‘eat’ with Him and others, listen and obey, and trust that at the right time He will bring new things and growth again.

The word that God has given me for this time is from Psalm 27:14 ‘Wait for the Lord; Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.’ I am trying to keep reminding myself of what God has said every time I’m tempted to rush ahead in my own strength right now.

The Father is the gardener! We can trust Him. We need not rely on ourselves and our own abilities.

Want to think about pruning a bit more? To read an excellent blog article on embracing pruning click here.

Helen

20th May 2016

How to help your People of Peace grow

Ben Askew MSC News evangelism, Kairos Community, Mission

By Ben

You’ve probably heard us talk about “People of Peace.” People who like you, want to hang out with you and are open to and interested in learning how to follow Jesus from you. Jesus talks about them in Luke 10.

Hopefully you have a person of peace – someone you can identify who is responding to you in that way.

How do you help them grow in their discipleship? There are some simple principles – pray for them, look for ways to bless them, invite them to the things that your MSC is doing, and make the most of opportunities to share stories of what God is doing in your life. Sometimes you do need a bit more of a plan though. Here is a great little story from Clive and Ruth about what they did:

“A friend of ours had said she wanted to find out more about the Christian faith. We thought that Alphawould be great since it provides solid teaching combined with plenty of space for questions and discussion.

Kairos wasn’t scheduled to run an Alpha course in the near future, so we decided to run it at home. In practice, you can download all the talks and guides from the Alpha website.

Running it at home made it easier to fit in with family schedules and meant we could easily rearrange so our friend didn’t miss out. Holding it in our home gave it a more informal atmosphere and we able to build a deeper understanding with our friend than would have been the case in a larger group. Conversely, it did mean that the dynamic of being part of a group was missing. Also the sessions on the Holy Spirit were run over a few weeks and so didn’t have the same intensity as an away day.

Overall, it was a really good time and it was so encouraging to see our friend’s faith grow and her understanding develop of who God is and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The recent start of Discovery Bible Studies with our friend has been a natural progression.”

You don’t have to do Alpha (although it is brilliant and increasingly easy to use with their new films). Some people in Ohana tried inviting some friends along to a Parenting Course that has just finished; this built stronger relationships and has left people wanting to join in with the main activity of the MSC. I know some communities made plans on Saturday to try out the Storyformed Way.

Remember: the harvest is plentiful! This isn’t about finding the right thing its about doing something and trusting that God will bless it and use it – he’s even more keen than you are that your friends get to know him!

Want to hear some more about the person God is calling you to reach? Watch this great video from Caesar Kalinowski.

9th May 2016

Thy Kingdom Come

Ben Askew MSC News prayer, Thy Kingdom Come

Next week all sorts of different churches will be responding to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York’s call to pray “Thy Kingdom Come.”

The Archbishops are inviting us to pray for confidence and joy in sharing our faith. Watch the Archbishop of Canterbury explian the idea here:

We want to join in with this wave of prayer! The Lord has been speaking to us about letting him draw our attention back up to him and this week provides a great opporunity to respond.

As usual there will be prayer at 9am and 12noon at the Kairos resource base Monday – Thursday, open to all. We will also be praying as individuals and communities during the week.

To help you pray we’ll be sending out a daily text at 12noon. You could also use these prayer_cards (pdf file, some folding required). Earlier this week Sarah H recorded a short piano improvisation. She says “I played this one lunchtime then looked outside and could see the trees blowing slightly and made me think of the gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit.” Feel free to download this and use it.

As you pray remember the phrases Mark wrote about last week. Wait for Him, Empty Me, Fill Us. May this week be a time that we experience a filling with God’s power as we faithfully wait together.

We will gather at the end of the week on Pentecost Sunday (15/05) for the Up at 7pm. We anticipate this being a powerful time of encounter with God. Do join us there!

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