new word alive

60 seconds - Paula Harris
Paula Harris works for Avenue Community Church
in Leicester and is leading a seminar track on how
to make small bible study groups great.
How long have you been in gospel ministry?
I worked in student ministry with UCCF for 4 years
as a Christian Union Staff Worker from 2003-2007.
I’ve been working for Avenue Community Church
since that time. My job at Avenue involves a lot of
training in all kinds of areas – seminars on, for
example, evangelism as a way of life, relationships,
Bible handling, 121. It also takes me further a field
to speaking at conferences on all sorts of things –
women teaching each other, looking at pastoral
care and image and self esteem.
Tell us about what you’ll be doing this week at
NWA?
A track on small groups called Small is Beautiful.
We’ll be exploring the importance of small groups
and living and working with each other, spurring
each other on. Ideally, small groups would be
communities for change in each other’s lives.
What’s been the best experience of being part of
a church small group?
The best experience for me was when I was
widowed in my 20s and having a small group of
people rallying around and caring for me. They
gave me money to pay for a funeral, they were
there at the end of the phone, people remembering
anniversaries and birthdays and really little things
are really big in feeling loved and cared for.
Give us your top tips for a great small group.
People willing to be involved in people’s lives,
openness and honesty, sharing hospitality, and
admonishing and encouraging each other from
God’s Word. I don’t think you can change and grow
more like Jesus unless you’re willing to be open to
people admonishing you and encouraging you –
this obviously demands a level of vulnerability.
What do you think are the opportunities for
gospeling one another in small groups?
They’re immense aren’t they because it’s life-on-life
– you’re living life together, sharing each other’s
joys and sorrows.
Where does NWA fit into your church ministry?
A small group coming together on a conference like
this would be great – you need energising some
times, don’t you? And you always come away
revitalized and encouraged from big conferences
like NWA and you return inspired and driven to put
these things into practice into the week by week life
of small groups.
What kind of person should come to your training track?
The seminar track is for anyone who leads a small
group and anyone who attends – because in a small
group we’re all in it together and we’re all there to
encourage each other. The first day we’re going to
be exploring these things more and the second we’ll
be getting really creative in how you can apply the
bible with each other, but doing it different kinds of
ways – film boards, case studies….all sorts!
Small is beautiful will be taking place on Wednesday &
Thursday 3.45pm in Haven Reception
new word alive
Daily Briefing ‐ Tuesday, 12th April
NWA is a refreshing time away
from the everyday
Isn't it amazing how quickly we develop routines?
Have you got yours planned out?! Now it's Tuesday,
you may have settled in to the morning Bible
Readings, decided on your doctrine tracks and
seminars and nominated those in your groups to
queue for coffee before the rush! We are creatures of
habit, indeed.
Yet before the habits become too familiar, I wonder
whether today we consider how incredible this time
away is.
After hours
Tim Chester, Beach Club
Tuesday, 10.15pm
Tim Chester is the director of the Porterbrook
Institute (porterbrookinstitute. org) and a leader in
The Crowded House. Tim is a wide and deep
thinker. Come and quiz him or just listen in. If you
would like to ask Tim a question in advance please
hand in your written question to New Word Alive
customer services.
Steph Macleod, Show Bar
Tuesday, 10.15pm
Steph is a talented singer/songwriter who exudes
the reality of Christ in his music. Think John Martyn,
Ray Lamontage and add some Scottishness to the
sound and you are presented with the earthy sound
of Steph Macleod
Thank you!
A big thank you to Rael Mason for his fabulous
piece on Abraham performed in the evening
celebrations last night. If you’d like to see more of
his work visit:
www.youtube.com/user/raelini?feature=mhum He
is also willing to perform at evangelistic open mic
nights at church and CU events. Email
[email protected] for more information.
You see, it's not everyday that your voices are joined
with thousands of others to sing of the glory of
Christ; it's not everyday that you leave a Christian
meeting and can be on the beach in minutes; it's not
everyday that you can play crazy golf with people
from CU or church you've not had chance to get to
know before; nor every day that your children can be
inspired by hosts of other youth; it's certainly not
everyday you get to play in a lunchtime football
tournament; nor everyday that there’s time to talk
and really grapple with the impact of what we’ve
heard together.
So, after a week you may be pleased to get home,
but how great to be away from the everyday!
Jodi Hinds, NWA Student Team
Notices
Pastoral Team
If you would like to meet with a member of the
pastoral team please make an appointment at the
NWA customer services.
Follow NWA on Twitter
Clive Parnell is going to be tweeting during the
event for After Hours. twitter.com/#!/NewWordAlive
Tuesday Tweetup for tweeters and bloggers
Anyone who's talking about #nwa2011 online or is
interested in online communities. 8.30pm at
Starbucks. Contact Peter Bowyer at @peterbowyer
for more info.
Lunchtime slots
What is gospel ministry and is it for me?
Marquee 1, Tuesday, 1pm – 1.45pm
A talk and opportunity to ask questions, for anyone
considering the possibility of full-time gospel
ministry. Hosted by Adrian Reynolds.
Youth workers
Marquee 3, Tuesday, 1pm – 1.45pm
If you are involved in youth work come and meet
others doing the same. Hear ideas and encouragements and learn how we can help one another.
Hosted by Dave Fenton.
Using sport in evangelism
Haven Reception, Tuesday, 1pm – 1.45pm
Sport can be a great way to make contact with
people and bring an opportunity to share the
gospel. Hear ideas, discuss and ask questions with
representatives from Christians In Sport.
Church leaders at NWA
Haven Reception, Wednesday, 1pm – 1.45pm
If you are a church leader come and tell us how New
Word Alive can serve your church in the future.
Hosted by Hugh Palmer.
Playing with consecrated joy Jason Clarke
A day in the life of New Word Alive reveals a
curious mix - people who are serious about the
word, seriously enjoying the world too.
In the morning there is joy as the scriptures are
open (children, youth, adults) and in the afternoon
there is fun and relaxation with friends (an
energetic football match with the opposition, a
much pleaded for swim with the children, a quiet
coffee with friends). And yet I suspect many of us
feel that the morning is the ‘spiritual’ bit and the
afternoon is the self indulgent ‘unspiritual’ bit, the
bit that fills a few gaps between the more important parts of the conference.
To ease the tension most of us will think hard
about the ‘why?’ of what we do in the morning and
try not to think at all about the ‘why?’ of what we
do in the afternoon. Yet the Bible repeatedly
affirms the goodness of creation, as Paul puts it,
“Everything created by God is good, and nothing is
to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by God’s word and by
prayer” (1 Tim.4:4). The very word that we study in
the mornings declares the world we enjoy in the
afternoons to be good, and it’s important to
recognise that the scriptures affirm this even
though this creation is marred by sin and facing
God’s judgment.
You see the gospel is not an abstract message to
rescue tragically embodied souls. The Bible begins
with creation and ends with new creation, God
doesn’t abandon a sin condemned world he
renews it, and as Paul points out, if anyone is in
Christ he is a new creation. Salvation actually
remakes us, and though we are we are destined for
the new creation we are still living in, and should
receive with thanksgiving, this good God-given,
God sanctified creation too. So a coffee with a
friend, a football match with the opposition, a
swim with the kids – it counts, it matters, it’s good
because the gospel makes me more human not
less.
In one of his novels Wendell Berry writes of
preachers who thunder their creation denying
rhetoric from their pulpits, sermons that seem
wise and spiritual but actually deny something
fundamental in God’s word.
“The people who heard those sermons loved
good crops, good gardens, good livestock and
work…; they loved flowers and the shade of
trees, and laughter and music; some of them
could make a fair speech on the pleasures of a
good drink of water or a patch of wild raspberries. While the wickedness of the flesh was
preached from the pulpit, the young husbands
and wives and courting couples sat thigh to
thigh, full of yearning and joy, and the old
people thought of the beauty of the children.
And when the church was over they would go
home to heavenly dinners of fried chicken, it
might be, and creamed new potatoes
and……cherry pie and sweet milk…. And the
preacher and his family would always be
invited to eat with somebody and they would
always go, and the preacher, having just
foresworn on behalf of everybody the joys of
the flesh, would eat with unconsecrated relish.”
Of course it is true, this creation is often a valley of
tears, sorrows storm billows often (and inevitably)
blow. In grief we often wonder whether we could
ever enjoy anything in this sad and difficult world
again. And yet even in sorrow, there is often, as
C.S.Lewis pointed out, “a few moments of happy
love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting
with our friends, a bathe or a football match”.
Sorrow is the Lord’s severe mercy to remind us
that it is the new creation and not this creation
that is our ultimate destination. “Our Father
refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant
inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them
for home”.
It is also true that time is short and we are to be
wise stewards of our time and gifts. There is no
getting around the reality that following Christ is
(or at least ought to be) costly: as Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him
come die”. A theology of play and relaxation can
be an excuse for sinful self indulgence and
laziness, idols we fashion to excuse wholehearted
and costly service of the Lord. But as ever, the
solution to one error is not to embrace another.
The human heart will always be tempted to take
good things and make them ultimate things, it
doesn’t mean that the good things that God has
created should be rejected, which is why we can
delight in the word in the morning and we can
play with consecrated joy in the afternoon!
Jason is the Director of Training for UCCF: The
Christian Unions. He is also a Trustee of New Word
Alive.
Books
Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to
Every Nation
Operation World is the definitive global prayer
guide that will help focus your heart and life
towards God’s passion for His glory among all
nations. With well over 1 million copies of past
versions being sold, this all new 7th edition has
been completely updated and revised by Jason
Mandryk and his team and covers the entire
populated world.
Killing Fields, Living Fields, Don Cormack
The Cambodian Church was first planted among
the rice farmers of North-West Cambodia in the
mid-1920s. Growth was slow and painful. This
work tells the story through the lives and testimonies of a handful of strategic Christians.
Generous Justice, Tim Keller
Tim Keller explores a life of justice empowered by
an experience of grace: a generous, gracious
justice. Here is a book for believers who find the
Bible a trustworthy guide, as well as those who
suspect that Christianity is a regressive influence in
the world.
The Tender Heart, Richard Sibbes
Richard Sibbes always sought to get under the
superficial layer of his listener’s behaviors and
deals with their hearts. In The Tender Heart, he
explains that those who are tender hearted do not
simply desire salvation; they desire the Lord of
salvation himself. Only when a person is brought
to love the Lord with heart-felt sincerity will they
begin to hate their sin truly instead of merely
dreading the thought of God’s punishment of it.
NWA offering 2 – Speke Baptist
Last year NWA made a generous gift that has been
used to help provide a large drop-in café facility
that will serve as the entry point and hub to the
whole centre. The Noah’s Ark centre, when
opened, will provide opportunity to multiply word
ministry whilst engaging with real issues in a
needy community. Ambitions for future projects
include projects like a youth drop-in centre,
recovery