Man-flu

I've got, what my wife calls "man-flu!" I feel dreadful - headache, blocked up nose, chesty cough and I can produce flem all the colours of the rainbow (well there have to be some compensations!)

Of course, it is just a bad cold - a virus. Someone told me that there are around 200 cold viruses in circulation in the UK at any one time. Once you have had one you have life-time immunity from it. Still - I think it's flu...

A fellow evangelist once put forward to me the concept that religion should not be taught in schools, and schools should not, by and large, have 'christian' assemblies. His theory ran that RE (or RS) and in particular, Christianity, is so poorly taught, or at least, presents such a wimpy, soft at the edges version of Christian faith, that it effectively innoculates much of the population against future contact with the real thing!

I always disagreed with him, feeling that UK law continues to give us a real opportunity to take the Good News about Jesus into our schools. I for one, am still involved in doing this, having had 2 opportunities already this week. (Follow the link to see one way some in Manchester are reaching real kids) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LWjLf0rfvz4

However - he may have had a point. Our churches (I generalise of course) continue to suffer with a distinct absence of men. "Women and children first" was the cry when the titanic went down, and with a continuing lack of male leadership, switched on fathers, and loving faithful husbands in many churches, some of them will soon go the way of the Titanic too.

What kind of man are you? What kind am I? If non-christian men look at me will they see a real man, or the 'gentle Jesus meek and mild' kind of guy that they may have been innoculated against? If we are going to reach men we must be deliberate about it. Great kids and womens ministries are fantastic (as a Father of 3 young daughters I am involved in both), but mens work will not happen by accident. Men must be pursued, confronted, engaged, deliberately targetted and attracted. Our churches must be man-friendly!

To coin a phrase "Real men followed Jesus - they still do."

Baby P

Some things make me feel sick.

This weekend I dont know if it was something I ate, or someone I touched. Whatever it was, I was contaminated and spent most of Saturday night and all day Sunday on, over or under the toilet!

Last week, what made me feel sick was the rash of stories about children being abused by parents or their friends here in the UK. "Baby P" as the story has been known, involved the brutalisation and systematic abuse of a little boy at the hands of his mother and, in particular, her boyfriend. Of course, what has made the whole thing worse was the fact that the child was under the watch of the local authority children's services, and ultimately the wrong decisions were made, which led to baby p's death.

Getting involved in such cases and situations can be both frightening and costly. Often, as the church, we want to help, but feel we can do so little.

The alternative to doing something is, however, doing nothing. If such abuse makes you feel sick, then the only righteous response is to get involved. "If salt loses its saltiness it is only good to be thrown on the fire" said Jesus. In other words, either I make a difference where I am, because I get involved, or I am good for nothing!

Our church has recently taken a step of faith to appoint a Family worker. The needs are huge, and perhaps you may ask "what difference can one make?" I have been overwhelmed by the support of the local schools and others to give support and training for our new worker. I am hopeful that we can make a huge impact in the community where we live. Salt needs to be applied to bring healing and savour to a broken and desperate world.

Maybe we wont make a huge difference, but then again, the alternative to doing someting is to do nothing.