You and God, God and You?
27/10/11 14:42
I recently did a series of teaching/preaching slots for an 11-14year-olds weekend away with my Church. Here are the slides that summarised a lot of what I was doing. Seasoned Youthworkers will spot that it is a fairly simple Gospel outline. I include them here because they might be of use to someone out there. Get in touch if you want to use them. Click to enlarge.
1: You and god. The lower case g is deliberate. I was asking a few questions about what our genuine thoughts are - separate from parent views etc. How do we picture the idea of a divine being?
2. God and you! I then turned the tables and posed the thought that if God is in fact real, our ideas are less important than His. What does He make of us? That is the real crucial question - a bit like John Blanchard posing ‘Does God believe in Atheists?’.
3. We then did a massive group session involving reflecting on what makes us who we are, what our current gifts and blessings are, plus how we view the future. What do we hope for?
4. I then rehearsed the amazing Gospel big storyline: firstly that God has given us everything but we have shut him out. We are a bit like insurgent rebels.
But also we are victims in some measure. We live with the ‘virus’ effects of sin and often suffer in a dark and broken world.
What does God really think of us? He knew that we wouldn’t stand a chance at the judgement and sent Jesus to gently rescue us from hostage hostilities while also dealing with our rebellious track record.
The cross of Christ is the decisive master stroke, the special move, the ultimate in rescue activity.
5. We can now begin to reconsider our vision of a life in the future with God living in us and us in Him. Through Jesus there is the most wonderful opportunity for a life of fulness and hope.
1: You and god. The lower case g is deliberate. I was asking a few questions about what our genuine thoughts are - separate from parent views etc. How do we picture the idea of a divine being?
2. God and you! I then turned the tables and posed the thought that if God is in fact real, our ideas are less important than His. What does He make of us? That is the real crucial question - a bit like John Blanchard posing ‘Does God believe in Atheists?’.
3. We then did a massive group session involving reflecting on what makes us who we are, what our current gifts and blessings are, plus how we view the future. What do we hope for?
4. I then rehearsed the amazing Gospel big storyline: firstly that God has given us everything but we have shut him out. We are a bit like insurgent rebels.
But also we are victims in some measure. We live with the ‘virus’ effects of sin and often suffer in a dark and broken world.
What does God really think of us? He knew that we wouldn’t stand a chance at the judgement and sent Jesus to gently rescue us from hostage hostilities while also dealing with our rebellious track record.
The cross of Christ is the decisive master stroke, the special move, the ultimate in rescue activity.
5. We can now begin to reconsider our vision of a life in the future with God living in us and us in Him. Through Jesus there is the most wonderful opportunity for a life of fulness and hope.
Reserved Seats
27/10/11 10:19
Church Growth Illustrations
13/07/11 21:04
Some general illustrations to illustrate some strategic thoughts on church growth.
LWH14 The Voice of the Father
07/04/11 17:09
From the Long Walk Home blog:
"I fear being overlooked and I worry why more people don’t appreciate the profoundness of my ideas. How Jesus managed to resist the temptation of pride I do not know. I think it’s got something to do with the voice of his Father declaring his love over him."
Angel&Boy
02/01/11 14:45
I started playing around with my iPhone and doing a bit of a mashup with a few different apps until I came up with an alternative cartooning/illustration style over the holidays¹. Here is the result. Don't worry that it makes little sense - it sort of fits into the obscure wordless cartoon thing I have been into for a while now.
The story is kind of about someone finding faith when the other person shares the Gospel story with them.²
¹more details of my experi-mentalism can be found on the scrapbook site here.
²yes I used/borrowed the icons for the most recent epiloguetv cartoon about Wikileaks.
The story is kind of about someone finding faith when the other person shares the Gospel story with them.²
¹more details of my experi-mentalism can be found on the scrapbook site here.
²yes I used/borrowed the icons for the most recent epiloguetv cartoon about Wikileaks.
Happy New Year: The Jesus Comic!
01/01/10 07:49
What a fab way to start the new year. After two years of work, this was released onto the iPhone/iTouch app store:
Some blurb from a recent e-newsletter:
Jason Ramasami is an RE teacher who wants to make the Bible memorable and accessible to students who may have little or no interest in following the Christian faith. Two years ago he embarked on the ambitious project of creating a wordless comic of the main events of Jesus' life for visual learners.
Somewhere along the line the project developed further into an iPhone/iPod Touch app that was approved in December for worldwide distribution.
The Jesus Comic (which is easily searchable in iTunes) is a 150 page comic that moves through 12 chapters and is intended as a discussion kick-starter - not a replacement for the Bible. So far feedback has been very positive -
"This comic is really inspiring; the first genuinely fresh retelling of the good news about Jesus that I have seen in ages. It manages to be faithful to the original text, yet visually creative at the same time. Required viewing!"
"It provoked discussion with my wife, our son and daughter. They spotted some stuff that I didn't and I spotted some that they didn't. This was fun!”
The accompanying website gives some further guidance on interpreting the bigger Bible narrative, but the main idea isn't to be a digital tract but an intriguing and fresh way of reflecting on the life of Jesus.
Jason is asking people to have a look and to recommend/rate it if they enjoy what they experience.
More info website:
http://www.thejesuscomic.com
App store link for the full version:
http://www.iTunes.com/apps/jesuscomic
App store link for the free sampler version:
http://www.iTunes.com/apps/jesuscomicnativity
Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Jesus-Comic/222779070030?ref=nf
Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/theJesusComic
Some blurb from a recent e-newsletter:
Jason Ramasami is an RE teacher who wants to make the Bible memorable and accessible to students who may have little or no interest in following the Christian faith. Two years ago he embarked on the ambitious project of creating a wordless comic of the main events of Jesus' life for visual learners.
Somewhere along the line the project developed further into an iPhone/iPod Touch app that was approved in December for worldwide distribution.
The Jesus Comic (which is easily searchable in iTunes) is a 150 page comic that moves through 12 chapters and is intended as a discussion kick-starter - not a replacement for the Bible. So far feedback has been very positive -
"This comic is really inspiring; the first genuinely fresh retelling of the good news about Jesus that I have seen in ages. It manages to be faithful to the original text, yet visually creative at the same time. Required viewing!"
"It provoked discussion with my wife, our son and daughter. They spotted some stuff that I didn't and I spotted some that they didn't. This was fun!”
The accompanying website gives some further guidance on interpreting the bigger Bible narrative, but the main idea isn't to be a digital tract but an intriguing and fresh way of reflecting on the life of Jesus.
Jason is asking people to have a look and to recommend/rate it if they enjoy what they experience.
More info website:
http://www.thejesuscomic.com
App store link for the full version:
http://www.iTunes.com/apps/jesuscomic
App store link for the free sampler version:
http://www.iTunes.com/apps/jesuscomicnativity
Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Jesus-Comic/222779070030?ref=nf
Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/theJesusComic
EN26 Bird Flu
01/11/05 13:51
The Bible epilogue text can be found here and here and again here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Avian Flu had become a hot topic in the news and I wanted to do a simple connection with what the Bible refers to as 'sin'.
'What's the worst that could happen' is from the Doctor Pepper adverts that had been showing. Usually some person would say it and then the worst thing would literally happen - TV coverage of their trousers falling down or something worse. Very funny. Tony Waghorn was very helpful in assisting me on refining this one.
The 'Long Lost Lorne Roaders' refers to Kathy and Alexa who went out on a limb a few years ago to show me what a pig I can be. Good friends aren't just about flattery, and any progress as a christian needs caring people who can help point out your flaws in a compassionate manner.
On a sort-of related point, I once did the dance from 'Seven Brides' in the shared student kitchen we had in Leicester and our landlady (called Mrs Tossar) had to come and get the handle glued back on the cooker after I'd accidently kicked it off during my choreographed frenzy...