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A Father’s Heart
This weekend there was a profile in the Guardian online about a father sharing his experiences of when his son, then 2 years old was abducted. This man came home after work one day to find his wife and son gone. He soon discovered that his wife had taken their son to Thailand, had subsequently ditched her phone and all forwarding addresses - effectively disappearing.
 The lengths that the father went to were extraordinary - borrowing up to £40,000 to pay for investigators and detectives as well as lawyers to fight his case, but when that didn’t work he gave up his job, travelled to the other side of the world and stopped at nothing until he found his son again.
His story was so moving not just because it demonstrates the all consuming love a parent has for their child but because it reminded me that I have a heavenly Father in God who moved heaven and earth to save me, who never gave up on me or assumed me too far lost, to whom nothing was too large an obstacle or too great a price.
What an amazing example of the Father’s heart and what ridiculous, incredible, crazy-looking love that He would care enough to come and find me where I was and remind me that He loves me!
In our society today it’s so easy to forget that there is someone who would love us so much that they would literally die for us, or even more incredible, send their only Son to die for us – yet I’m reminded this weekend that that’s exactly what God did, and I can’t think of a more incredible and moving expression of the Father’s heart than that.
Liz Yongo 06/02/2012
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International Relations
I've always found it exciting to hear about the church in places away from home. I especially enjoy following our Church Pastor, Jeremy Simpkins, on Twitter as he travels around nationally and internationally.
My work recently sent me off to the Netherlands and I felt this would be a great opportunity to emulate something I've often envied. Fortunately there is a church in Utrecht which belongs to the same family as us called De Schuilplaats (The Shelter) so I went over and imposed myself on their hospitality and prayer meeting for an evening.
Utrecht is a city not far from Amsterdam. It has a beautiful historic centre, built around a particularly pretty large church, or it might be a small cathedral. I've not checked my facts. The surrounding suburban sprawl is much like you would find in any European city. But with more canals. My principle contact was with a really friendly helpful guy called Marten who also invited my around for a meal. It was a delicious meal and we quickly got on to comparing our respective churches. Marten is a local police man and it was very helpful for me to understand the challenges the city, and the church, faced. Our churches also share an international spectrum of congregation. As their services are in Dutch he has helped develop a system of translating the service. We are both very mobile churches too and we swapped plenty of stories about hefting PA equipment around. De Schuilplaats also has an exciting Friday evening meeting with many unchurched visitors who they are working into.
After the wonderful meal with Marten, his wife Linda and their nine month old daughter, Martin took me to the prayer meeting at a local school where we opened up and I helped put out the chairs. Jeremy never mentions if he puts out the chairs at the places he goes but then I'm much more of the amicable idiot next to his international apostle.
Marten helpfully translated as the leader spoke about grace and evangelism from Romans 8 and they all extended a warm welcome. I will treasure for a long time that unique sense of enjoying the presence of God among a family of believers. I've never met them before and our paths may not cross again in this lifetime. And yet we are eternally joined together in one body as we delight in our Saviour King Jesus.
Leon Robinson 02/02/2012
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Don't be a David Cameron Christian
Those of you who read the news may well remember some comments made by David Cameron before Christmas. The Prime Minister described himself as a “committed” but only “vaguely practising” Christian who was “full of doubts” around theological issues.
If you're expecting any political commentary at this moment, you'll be sorely disappointed. Instead I was struck by these comments and begun to think what a “committed” yet only “vaguely practising” Christian looked like.
 I suspect many people would call themselves “vaguely practising” Christians. The “vaguely practising” being that they attend church at Easter and Christmas. Attending a church meeting on Sunday does not make you a 'practising' Christian though, not even vaguely. More subtly, many people within the church would call themselves “committed”, but are in truth only “vaguely practising” as they confuse attendance to church with a commitment to Jesus.
How do you measure your Christian faith? Is it by how often you attend church? Or is it by how deep your relationship with the risen Jesus is, and how much that relationship is growing? Do you equate “commitment” to simply “attendance” on a Sunday and are in fact missing out on the full riches of living a radical life for Jesus?
A trap that can befall many people, especially students, is to simply attend a church on Sunday during term time. This is not “commitment”. Deciding to be counter cultural and get up early on a Sunday to go to church is not enough. For many going to church is nothing less than a box ticking exercise rather than something that enables you to become part of a church family. This only truly happens outside of Sunday meetings. That takes real commitment.
Perhaps like David Cameron, you are riddled with doubts about theological issues. Don't shy from confronting them. Open the bible and ask God to speak to you. Speak to your friends or leaders in your church. Ask them to help.
If your doubts are such that they cause you to ask big questions, then you should take the opportunity to delve deeper into the claims of Christianity. As C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
Andrew Kenyon 11/01/2012
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A New Year – A Fresh Start?
Manchester was awash with New Year fever this year. Everyone seemed to have a plan for seeing in the New Year – often a very expensive, over priced plan! Text messages, e mails, tweets and Facebook updates were flying back and forth wishing everyone a Happy New Year.
New Year is heralded as a great beacon of hope giving everyone an opportunity to start again; washing away the old and bringing in the new… And yet… correct me if I’m wrong… Has anything changed? The economy hasn’t sprung into life and the Euro Zone is still faltering. The streets of Manchester have not given up their homeless for a brighter future. New jobs for the unemployed are not growing on trees. The sick have not become well with the ticking over of the calendar from 2011 into 2012. Broken marriages and fractured relationships still face the same challenges that loomed large in December 2011.
 Is a New Year really such a powerful catalyst for change and progress that it warrants such widespread celebration and jubilation?
When I was 18 I became a Christian. Developing a relationship with Jesus was an absolute revolution that changed everything! I came to understand my past against the backdrop of God’s creation and his faithfulness to his people. My weaknesses are no longer all consuming and painfully limiting as God’s grace has become sufficient for me. God’s affirmation releases me from constant striving to achieve and be accepted My future stretches out into eternity with confidence and assurance that Jesus is leading me home.
I could give you so many examples but there just isn’t the space here… Just let me tell you though that Christ Central Church begins a new Alpha course in January for anyone interested in living life to the full. Alpha is a low-pressure, fun and informative course. It is a place to relax, share your thoughts and explore the meaning of life. The course is designed primarily for people who don't go to church, but are interested in the Christian faith.
You can sign up right here on our website or ask someone to contact you with more information. If you’re not local to Manchester you can find an Alpha course near you at: http://uk-england.alpha.org/
Finding out about Jesus just might be the fresh start you are looking for.
David Atkinson 04/01/2012
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