What would you like me to ask you?

 What would you like me to ask you?

Steve Legg Launching Christianity Explored. UVBC 17/10/12

This may sound like a strange question but it's one that has had me musing over and thinking about for the last 48 hours.

Christianity explored started on Wednesday and my opening question to the 27 people present was,
'If you could ask God one question, and you knew it would be answered, what would it be?'
Some very good questions were raised with many centred on suffering and love, How can a God of love allow suffering, that sort of thing. Most of us who have experienced pain and loss in one form or another have struggled with this question and I'm pleased to say that it will be addressed as we work through our seven week Christianity Explored course.

But this question to God, 'What would you like me to ask you?' has stayed with me.

People that pray can often fall into the trap of praying requests or demands to God. Our faith and belief system if greatly affected by God's response or perhaps I should say our perception of God through God's response to our requests.

We can also approach God with the great questions of life- the 'Why' questions: 'Why doesn't God do this?', 'Why does God allow that?'  Here we wrestle with our understanding of God and our understanding of the Bible and we are often confronted with our own misunderstanding.

In Kendall Payne's beautiful song, 'Aslan', she captured the best answer I've ever heard to these questions:

'He won't say the words you wish that he would
 He don't do the deeds you know that He could
He won't think the thoughts you think He should
But He is good, He is good'

(As an aside this is one of my favourite songs that always brings a tear to my eye, I remember our worship leader Libby James singing it one morning service at Upton Vale)

But what does God want me to ask him?

A rich young man asked Jesus the question once, 'What do I need to do to get eternal life?'
He didn't like the answer he got. But maybe this is the type of question God wants us to ask him, and we run the risk that we may not like the answer either.
'How can I be closer to you?'
'How can I live a life that pleases you?'
'What do you want me to do?'

I challenged our church to always be asking God, 'What are you doing today God and how can I be involved?'

I'm going to mull over this one for a bit longer and I hope I have a good response for the next Christianity Explored evening. Next week its half term and I expect I'll be asking Mairi and the children their response as we enjoy our holiday cottage together.

I'm going to post this on face book and see what responses I get-  I'll post the comments on my blog when I'm back from holiday.

Christianity Explored is an informal  seven week course exploring the Christian faith.
We meet Wednesday evenings from 19:30 -21:00 in the Lymington Room at Upton Vale Baptist Church.
Our next session is on Wednesday 07 November and we will be exploring, 'Who is Jesus?'
Why not come along - you'd be very welcome.

Moldova Mission Day 10 Monday 15 October

Moldova Blog Monday 15 October

Well this is it. The Mission is over, our time in Moldova has come to an end – all we have to do is come home. However in Moldova it’s never as simple as that. The rains in the night had made it impossible to get a vehicle up to Nina’s house. What a sight it must have been  the six  of us carrying our bags and suitcases down muddy slopes slipping and sliding, scaring the geese and chickens all to the sound of dogs barking at us as we slowly made our way down the hill.

We had a quick visit to the new Chicani church centre an old shop being converted into a multi purpose church community centre in the centre of town. At the moment though its little more than a messy building site yet the ideas and possibilities are bursting out of every brick .

Next was a final debrief with Mark and Mari and then the journey home began.  Mark’s VW transporter has been having steering problems and was not fit for the journey which meant we made the 2 hour trip to Chisnau in 2 cars. 

Lunch was at the incredibly unlikely  brand new shopping mall ‘Mall-Dova’  Whilst walking around this modern shiny new shopping centre boasting world famous brand names, the contrast between the capital and Brinza could not have been stronger. If you were to just visit Chisnau you would experience a modernizing pleasant European city, however I think to truly visit Moldova you need to see places like Brinza, Gotesti or Chicani – that’s how most Moldovans live – the real Moldova.

 

A quick goodbye to Mark, check in and flight to Vienna and were on our way home. Amazingly we managed to make the 15 minute flight transfer only to find that our London connection was 15 mins late.

What thoughts rolled through our minds during the two hours back to London and the four hours from London to Torquay. We were missing our families yes but also sad to be leaving Moldova. It felt like a different 8 people were coming home.

We gave a lot  through the week but received even more and learned a great deal from the Brinza church and our Moldovan friends.  There’s something so special being amongst people who in material terms have so little yet our so spiritually rich. The Brinza church doesn’t seem to let details such as lack of money or resources stop it from initiating new outreach and mission programmes and providing for social and pastoral care for the community around them. God clearly does provide.

We also learned a great deal about submission and in particularly submitting to the host culture. So it seems odd to us that the men and women sit separately and the women cover their heads in a service. But that’s the culture and we are guests there, it was not for us to challenge them especially when there were far more important things going on.   

Churches like Brinza believe that Christians really should stand out and make a difference – this seems to fly right in the face of our ‘ Christians are normal people’ approach that risks leaving any distinctiveness at all. In Moldova  Christians don’t drink or smoke and after a week we began to understand why after hearing story after story of lives being wrecked by alcohol fueled violence of men who had nothing else in life.

I believe we have all seem God and work in us and around us this week – I pray that all 8 of us will be able to hold on to those memories and keep them close to us as we return to the normality of Torquay life.

I can’t speak for the others on this one but for me there is something so special and unique about the Eastern European Evangelical church, the window of opportunity is open and while this is so pastors like vasile in Brinza, Mark in Gotesti and even Endri in Tirana, Albania are being raised up to meet the opportunity.

We said our goodbyes at 11:30 pm at the bus stops on Lymington Road as we all returned to our homes and families pleased to be home and yet………

Graham

Moldova Mission Day 9 Sunday 14 October

Moldova Blog Sunday 14 October

  

Plans change in Moldova and the simplest plans are often the most complicated to execute.

Take Sunday Morning for example –The service in Brinza starts at 10:00 am, it’s a one hour drive from Chicani to Brinza, we all had things to get ready before the service and needed at least 30 minutes to do so. The six of us at Nina’s were ready to be collected at 8:30 (Even Ellie was up and dressed!) when the call came we’d be collected at 8:45.  At 9:00 while we were still at the road side waiting – we started to get a little anxious.

 

The good news was Mark was well and recovered and was to be our driver for the day.  Mari his wife was also joining him, they are such a great couple and the thought of spending the day with them cheered us all.

It’s amazing how things change in a week,  whereas the hour long journey used to be new and interesting; strange and exciting – now it seemed perfectly normal and natural to us all. The disused factories, flat landscape to the Romanian border, yellow gas pipes around the houses and beautifully painted green and blue fences were all familiar to us now.

As we pulled up to the church in Brinza some of the local children ran around the bus to greet us, Pastor Vasille was on the step to welcome us and the service was almost ready to start. The ladies quickly put their skirts and headscarves on and we were ready to roll.

The morning service was quite different to the week night mission evenings. The choir sat behind the pastor and led the church with harmonious gusto. For me an absolute highlight was the service starting with a song I last heard sung in Albania. In Albanian the song is ‘Do të japim lavdi dhe nder’ which in English means something like ‘We will give glory and honour’  I’m told its originally an English song but I’ve never heard it sung in English. How special to now hear the same song in Romanian.

 

Kostan the youth leader led the service all under the watchful eye of Pastor Vasille. Tim shared his testimony, it’s been amazing to see how Tim has honed his testimony from telling his life story – to talking about God in his life – ask Tim if you want to know more about this. Pete commented to Tim as he sat down ‘That was amazing’!

I had been told at the start of the week that the Pastor in the group must preach on the Sunday- luckily for this service I had come prepared and shared a message based on the armour of God- encouraging the church to fight back against the lies and deception and corruption that seems to have infiltrated into so much of Moldovan culture. 

Following the service Pastor Vasille invited myself Pete & Tim to meet with his team of leaders to talk about how the partnership between Upton Vale and Brinza could develop. Moldovan men can appear quite serious and dour at time so it was lovely to see a room full of such men break into broad smiles and laughter as we dreamt dreams and shared visions of the future.  It was music to our ears to hear that they would love another UV team to visit next year – just try stopping us.

 

Following lunch we were invited round to Pastor Vasile’s house for an afternoon visit. He is an incredibly humble man living in a two room old house with his wife and three boys (baby no 4 is on its way soon)  We learned that Vasille had pretty much brought himself up on his own after the death of his Mother when he was in his teens. His home is built in the old way – mud and straw plastered over , warm in winter and cool in the summer but these buildings only last 30 years or so. Vasile’s home is reaching its age limit so a new breeze block building is going up next door for them.  We all sat around and on their bed for this visit whilst being served huge portions of chocolate cream cake.

The evening mission meeting was incredible. We were invited to sing and chose two songs that the Moldovans knew well.  As we sang the chorus to ‘Everybody needs compassion’ the youth started to join in Romanian. When we sang ‘Our God is awesome God’ the whole church joined in and we enjoyed a wonderful few minutes of worship together – different voices, tongues and languages coming together – an amazing moment of unifying praise to God.

 

Glens’ testimony was so powerful and moving we could almost visibly see it connecting with the women in the meeting. Straight after the meeting a large number the women  of the church stayed for a meeting with Glens and Cathy. 

While this was going on Ailsa, Tim and myself slipped off to take a look at the river Prut which marks the border with Romania.  It’s pretty sobering standing on one side of the narrow river and realising it’s a different country just a few yards away.  What stops the Moldovans from simply wading across to a new life in Romania?

After our final meal (yes I know – more food)It was the sad time for goodbyes and farewells. Pastor Vasille summed it up well when he said ‘Just as we are getting to know you all , you’re leaving’  echoing a sentiment we all shared. Goodbye’s are always difficult especially with a church like Brinza who had become very dear to us all over the week together. No one was in a hurry to get in the cars to drive back to Chicani but alas the mission was over and it was time to leave.

After a quiet hour’s drive back and a walk up the muddy hill to Nina’s we all sat around the room sharing so many good memories of the week together; So many highs, so many challenges, so many joys, so many jokes.  We’d been pushed to the limits of our abilities and realised again and again the truth that in our weakness we discover God’s strength.

One word summed up how we felt as we sat around the room after such a great mission week: ‘Flat’.

Graham

Moldova Mission Day 8 Saturday 13 October

 Moldova Blog Saturday 13 October

After our breakfast of toast and cereal we headed to Karis Pizza to start prep work for the day and to meet the other team members. It had rained during the night so after sliding down the hill we were all a couple of inches taller due to mud and sand stuck on our shoes! So after a very nice pizza dinner we headed off in the van to Brinza. Ailsa and myself were looking forward to meeting the Brinza youth but unfortunately were told that it hadn’t been arranged so we would be going out on visits to the outlying parts of the village. 

 I headed off in the pastors 1980,s audi which was a real state but perfectly in tune with the roads we were traveling. I must confess that I felt I had nothing in me to give as we approached the house, and after being only allowed into the courtyard my Christian goodwill was being fast eroded. 

There were 8 children who were very grubby and in ill fitting clothes in the house and this truly made me sad. We had a general question and answer but I felt no inspiration, just the sense of desperation in the place. It was only when a boy who seemed to be about 6 but was in fact 12 said that he had a dog and he was very proud that he walked him every morning. I was able to tell about my dog and the time that I felt God met me when I was walking him. This led on smoothly to more testimony and of course sweets. But when we left I felt sure that I wouldn’t see them again.

A very funny moment happened in the car when Igor the translator commented that my that pronunciation of  letters was very poor and then started to correct my grammar. I must confess he wuz prob correct m8.

We got back to the church and later I started playing Frisbee with the kids as they arrived at the church as I had all week. To my amazement the mum and 2 of the kids arrived, all scrubbed up and obviously having made a real effort. It was one of the high lights of the week to welcome them and see the smiles appearing……

 

That evening we had 36 kids at the mission which was really brilliant, we made crosses and did some paper weaving. The 2 most troublesome boys did the best work and Ailsa and I were really proud of them.  

 Mat

Graham and the team allowed me to preach at the Brinza Church today in the mission service, when we first talked about it at the start of the week it did seem like a great idea but as today arrived I was getting nervous, Graham helped me a lot, we stayed in the church whilst the rest of the team went on their house visits. 

After a lot of pacing up and down by Graham and half a dozen screwed up pages of paper I had a sermon prepared. The team prayed for me before the service started, I am still not used to being prayed for but I felt so much better it’s a great feeling when the team are behind you, but knowing that God is there puts you at ease. Cathy gave her testimony and the choir sang, it was now my turn, I walked up to the front of the church look out at all the people looking at me and started

”Today I want to talk about the True Identity of Jesus” ……….. I felt completely at ease again and was ready to carry on, I don’t remember much of what I said if the truth be known,  but again Graham's reassuring smile and nod was enough, I sat down and prayed that I had reached the hearts of at least one person, that they would want to know God. 

 

Vasille the pastor asked should anyone want to be prayed for and want to know God come to the front of the church after the service, we had 4 people come to the front two of them were teenage boys that Cathy, Pete and I went to see the day before, Graham prayed for them both I was so pleased that the mission team had played a part in the boys repenting, the two Marias also wanted prayer and again Graham  Prayed for them both. We all felt great that night but we were all tired and wanted our beds, Mr Schumacher, our white van man took a slower approach back to Nina’s house which was gratefully received buy all!!!

Another day over big day tomorrow,  we are all starting to feel the busy days of the week catching up but God will see us through……………………

Tim

Moldova Mission Day 7 Friday 12 October The Mission continues

Moldova Mission Team Blog – Friday 12 October

Today started slowly but there was no way that we could have known the roller coaster adventure that was soon to follow.   A casual stroll could have ended in terror as Ellie and Cathy narrowly escaped being arrested by an officious border patrol officer as they tried to cross a railway line near the Romanian border. Their passports were demanded and could have been confiscated but thankfully they had left them safely back at Nina’s.

Our lunch time meal of locally caught carp and Moldovan cheese pie began with the usual banter and joking around the table but the laughter soon faded as Graham began choking on a cheeky carp bone.Thanks to the medical care of Ailsa and the practical skills of Matt administering pears and bread and water the bone was dislodged eventually and normal service resumed.

Mark McCormick needed a day at home today as he was suffering with a virus and needed the day in bed after nearly passing out the night before. In his place he sent a driver from Brinza to transport us around.  The van was smaller than Marks which meant we had 4 of us crammed into 3 seats.  Moldovan roads are potholed and bumpy even at a cautious speed but our driver seemed determined to break a speed record threw caution to the wind with the bumps and ruts, he seemed ok but the rest of us left the van feeling very bruised and battered.

But despite dicing with death it’s been a great day of mission and evangelism with the church in Brinza.

The team split three ways  as usual; Ailsa and Matt were poised to give another sterling performance with the children until a rather severe Moldovan Mary Poppins turned up to take the lessons. Matt resolutely stood his ground and said ‘no’ until she carried on and took the lesson – as she was being paid to be there.

Pete, Tim & Cathy went to visit Virolella – a church member who had invited her friends over meet the team. During their time there they listened to one lady tell her story; her father was an Orthodox Church leader in Chisinau however when joined a Baptist church in Cahul her Father thought he had failed as a father and a leader because she had left the church.  Despite this because she has God in her life and has been baptised in Brinza she is happy and pleased to be in such a great church. Tim used this great opportunity to share his testimony and speak of the grace of God in his life. The usual array of refreshments and cakes followed.

Graham, Glenys and Ellie went on two ‘evangelistic ‘visits to two very poor families on the outskirts of Brinza. We were supplied with aid bags of oil and rice and pasta to help these families albeit in a small way. Anna was sharing with us how hard life is looking after her ill elderly mother along with her ill alcoholic husband.  Anna had such sad eyes and we later discovered that when her husband is up and active he regular beats her – a sad side of life out here that we are hearing about all too frequently.

 Back at base our evening meal consisted of the most divine stuffed peppers and vine leaves – good fuel for the evening to come.

Matt and Ailsa had 42 kids with them in their evening youth programme, telling the story of Saul becoming Paul through making bead key rings and necklaces. 

In the main church meeting the church was full although we never quite know who is a regular member and who is a visitor.  The team were invited to ‘bless’ the meeting with a song- we chose ’10,000 reasons’ which went down well with the Brinza youth.  Matt shared his testimony and Graham preached a challenging message about coming home to God.

We just have two days of the mission left and time feels short, we’re looking forward to being home but Brinza has become very dear to all of us and will stay with us for a long time. The team have gelled together well this week, wonderful to see just how well 8 very different people can get on and enjoy being with each other. Alongside the serious stuff – we’ve had a laugh too... the sign of a good mission week.  

Tomorrow (Saturday) looks like another exciting day; More visits, time with the Brinza youth group and then Tim’s preaching debut in the evening mission meeting.

Graham