My one true culinary accomplishment is scrambled eggs. I am, given a microwave, a Pyrex bowl, a fork and the ingredients, dare I say it, a master of the art.
This ability was honed over years of cooking Sunday breakfast for hungry children. The resulting repast needs to be fluffy, moderately moist, well seasoned and topped off with black pepper. But the cooking time and the proportions of constituents must be just right.
Mistimed outreach
And church is similar. The essential ingredients are worship and prayer, fellowship and nurture, evangelism and service. But it is possible to get them out of balance, miscalculate and make it tasteless and chewy. With the UK in a desperate condition spiritually, are we in danger of overcooking and mistiming outreach? The ‘seeker-friendly service’ approach to Sundays isn’t a NT concept as far as I can see. And the church itself gets burnt. Although, of course, outsiders are welcome, church is for the church and for God.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …