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Welcome to the Articles page of the Inspiration section of the Activate website. Here we hope to provide you with useful stories and articles to inspire you and share with you ideas from other Activate readers. Add your articles here
Dangerous Women
I would like to introduce you to my Dangerous woman ...
“For those who need to forget the God they do not believe in and meet the God who believes in them.”
We prayed this awesome prayer at a service I was at recently. The service was rather more formal than I’m used to or even prefer. In fact the prayer happened at a time when if thoughts were made public you’d have seen “What am I doing here?!” scrolling across my forehead! It’s a good job God can handle my cynicism because just at a moment like that, out jumped this amazing sentence. I love it because it encapsulates my passion for sharing the good news of Jesus and banishing the misconceptions that so easily abound about Him. And I love it because it’s so affirming.
The return to religion
Yesterday a Telegraph journalist printed a very interesting article on the resurgence of the church in Britain during the last five years. Bucking the downward trend of the last fifty years, many Christian denominations have noted an increase in regular attenders. Is this a response to the financial worries and insecurities of the recession? Or maybe the churches have been getting it right in welcoming those who are spiritually searching?
Happy New Year 2012
How do you feel as you face a new year? Is it a time of optimism and hope for you? Or are there anxious times ahead? For those of us in the Activate team we are looking forward to 2012. We would love to have full, lively events and be busy speaking and supporting training and outreach events throughout the year. But, these plans are in the hands of God and we wait to seek His will. It is a historic Olympic year for our country and with the riots and economic climate behind us, we hope and pray for better days ahead.
'We are a Christian country and we shouldn't be afraid to say so'.
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A media debate was launched this week when the Prime Minister, David Cameron, gave a speech that talked specifically of the value of the Bible, the Christian foundation of Britian and the important role of the Church of England. He was valuing, in particular, the King James Bible and the speech was given in honour of the 400th anniversary of the breakthough translation. The speech was the headline story on the BBc for a few hours and provoked a positive response from other religious leaders, Christian and Muslim as well as a predictable negative response from Richard Dawkins.
Forgive and Forget?
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This past weekend I have felt extremely challenged to deal with some personal failings. Like most of you, I have friends and family. And where there are people, there are misunderstandings, tensions and fall outs. Over a period of two days I have had to deal with two instances where I needed to apologise for something I had said/done in the past.As Christians we know we should forgive, but how often do we actually do it? These episodes caused me to think about the whole issue of forgiveness, what it means, how we can benefit from it and the damage that can be done if it is withheld.
Waiting for the Bus!
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Last weekend as I sat waiting for my daughter in the local shopping centre, I was fortunate enough to be part of a most interesting conversation with two old ladies. Sitting right next to me, they chatted away about how pretty the Christmas decorations were, glistening and sparkling as frenzied shoppers weaved their way in and out of the shops. After a few mintues they told me that they had time to kill whilst waiting for their bus. I asked them if they had far to go.
'Give this to Jesus for Me!'
For the second year in a row I have been given something by a small child and asked if I could 'give it to Jesus'! Last year a little boy at the crib service brought a picture he'd drawn for baby Jesus so we took it to the crib and laid it by the manger.
This year 6 year old Jake breezed into Kid's Club and handed me a card. At first I assumed it was for me and went to say thank you but a raised eyebrow from Jake's mum standing behind him warned me to take a second look. 'To Jeasus' it said in wobbly writing.
Well, what would you have done?
Becoming Emotionally Healthy
Here is a really excellent piece of advice:
'NEVER EVER compare the edited, digitally enhanced, carefully presented highlights of someone else's life with the broken, wonky, slightly unhinged or painful reality that you know to be your own. Don't ever look at 'other people' and think 'wow, they've got it all together, their lives are so blessed, calm, productive, balanced....(or whatever)'. And please, don't ever think that way of ME! (You weren't? Oh, that's kind of disappointing).
Christmas - the best time for an outreach event?
The carols have started playing in the shopping malls and the coffee shops have begun offering Christmas themed hot drinks. For some people a gingerbread latte is part of their yearly celebration, I tried a salted caramel mocha and will be trying it again as often as possible!!Many Christians loathe the early rush to make Novemeber and December a busy materialistic frenzy. I try instead to see it as a great opportunity to reach out with the message of Jesus. I beleive it is the easiest time of the year to invite people to an event and talk about faith.
