Please forward any complaints to God

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Yesterday brought me up to a small corps in our division, a corps which mainly consists of elderly people and which realistically could be in risk of closing within a couple of years. This summer a new officer was appointed to the corps, an officer which is so clearly in love with Jesus that it is always an encouragement to meet her. As we were chatting I was reminded of another conversation I had a while ago with a friend, who heads up Natural Church Development (NCD) in his country. He told me how he fairly regularly receives e-mails and comments which points out that NCD has got it all wrong. We should not focus on the church; we need to be "missional", or "community focused" or something else. What these people are saying is that we too long have been pre-occupied with the church and it is time we shifted our focus, so we can reach people with the gospel, see communities transformed etc. NCD, in their view, does exactly the opposite: It keeps us locked in a development, which will not do us any good, by focussing on the church.

It is easy to have sympathy with their passion and intent, the problem is they base their conviction on a wrong foundation when they want to create tension between their passion and developing the church. Reality is, and in this case reality is backed by empirical evidence, that when we increase the quality of the church, then people are reached, communities transformed and people are drawn into the fellowship of the believers. In Australia, where the friend mentions is from, churches that increase their quality through implementing the NCD principles over 2-3 years have increased their growth rate with more than 100%. But they, those who complain, don't see that. They are preoccupied with their wrong perception and so they tell Adam that what he is promoting is wrong, and preferably should be stopped.

Adam's has begun to write back to these people and apologize, but, as he says, "there is not so much I can do about it, so if you would write a complain over fact that a healthy church attracts new people, who come into not only the fellowship, but faith in Jesus, then I will forward it to God, who really is to blame".

Back to my conversation with the officer north of Manchester. She has only been in the corps since August and in her own words "I haven't really done anything yet", she is almost apologetic, because she feels she should be doing something out in the community, starting new programmes. What she has done is invested in the people in the church, what she has done is radiating Jesus through her being, what she has done is coming alongside the corps people, helping them grow spiritually as they never have before. Some weeks ago I called her and asked "How is the revival going?" "Have you heard something?" she asked "or are you making fun of me?" Neither, but I expected good things to be happening and there were. Over Easter people had experienced Jesus in a way they had never done before, as one lifelong Salvationist had exclaimed "I just can't get enough of this".

The interesting thing is that new people are coming to the corps. The corps people have begun to bring friends and relatives, others just appear. And they don't only come to an activity or even a Sunday service, several of them have participated in small group studies etc. Over these few months the corps probably has grown 30%, and still she claims "I haven't really done anything". What do you think, has she or hasn't she? Maybe she had just done what she should do and let God do what only He can do? Maybe she realises that the only way to grow the church is to grow the people in the church? Maybe she has just let Jesus shine through her, so that people get drawn to Him?

And yet, of course, she is doing it all wrong! It is not very "missional", certainly not very contemporary, neither emerging, liquid or a fresh expression. It is too simple what she is doing, there must be more to reaching the world! Or maybe there isn't!

If you don't like what is happening, please forward your complaint to God.

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The Year of Jubilee?

Last week I spent the afternoon with a team, who will be planting a church in our division from the summer. There used to be a corps in the location, we still have the building, but there has not been any worship or discipling going on for years. In one way the planting has already started, as we do run a playgroup and other activities for children in our hall, and relationships with parents have been built and for the last year or so there has been a number of "Messy Church" services. Messy because there always is a lot of arts and crafts, church because the theme always is Biblical. We are now putting together a team, hoping to move this to a new level, with the aim of establishing a worshipping community, where more and better disciples will be made.

We spent a good part of the afternoon walking round the area around the hall. There is a fantastic part right next to the hall, and the youth workers on the team begin to dream of all the football and other things that could be arranged to build contacts to children and youths. "We will just go round the Jubilee Centre as well" our guide said, and as an answer to our questions told us that it was a centre for retired and older people. When we reached the centre I suddenly felt old and tired. The large sign above the door did not say "Jubilee Centre" (or at least I did not notice that), but there was a huge sign saying "50+ Centre". "A centre for older people" I heard ringing in my ears, well aware that it would not be that many years before I would qualify. I left the group, went home and put on my grey cardigan and sat down in the rocking chair to contemplate on all this. 50+. Old? Retired? Finished? I almost lit my pibe, but then decided I was not going to give in that easily.

I was reminded that age has nothing to do with years; it is a state of mind. You are not older than you feel and anyway, we are supposed to be like the cedar of Lebanon "They will bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green". Somehow I think that I am more likely to get involved with the football in the park than at the Jubilee Centre. I might be kidding my self, but then let me dream.

Taking about dreaming: I really ought to go to bed, but maybe I can just keep my eyes open long enough to write about the last 2 Sundays, which were different from many other Sundays, and different from each other.

We were leading the service in one of our smaller corps Sunday 2 weeks ago. It was a bit of a challenge, as the service was only supposed to be 1 hour long! That is not much more than a sermon, at least in my mind, but here we had to cram everything into 1 hour. Something of a challenge (which we, or I suppose I should say I did not live up to). It had been a busy week leading up to the Sunday, so I got up around 6 to finish my preparation. It was here it all began to go wrong. 10 minutes later Lisbeth came down, asking if there was any particular reason she needed to get up now? I had forgotten to turn of the Alarm clock, so after 10 minutes it had gone off again. Lisbeth was not overly amused, but handled it very calmly.

The service was at 10 and we had a 45 minutes drive. We arrived 9:30, only to find a hall that did not exactly buzz with life. Actually the door wasn't even open and not even the officer's car was to be seen in the car park. I went to the front door and read the poster that announced, that Sunday Morning Worship was at......11:00! There we were, in the middle of nowhere, or at least so it felt. Nothing living moving anywhere around us, everybody sound asleep in the surrounding houses and we had 1 hour to kill! Again I have to admit it was my fault, I had been to the corps the week before for a soldiers' meeting and I was sure I had been told the Sunday service was at 10, but apparently not! Luckily the local supermarket opened at 9:30 and there was a cafe where we could sit and get a cup of coffee. There we sat, thinking of the hour we could have stayed longer in bed (2 hours for Lisbeth). We did get a good chat out of it, 1 hour uninterrupted and with nothing to really distract around, was nice, but probably we could have found that without having to sit in this little town, early Sunday morning.

As alluded to we did not keep the service within 1 hour, the poor people were not released before 12:15 (they probably will never invite us back!) There was no coffee after the meeting, so we headed straight home, dreaming of an afternoon nap all the way back. This was not to be. The Bandmaster at Sale corps, where we go to church, when we are not out leading and/or preaching, had kindly reminded me that the brass band at Sale had a concert in the evening, and a practice prior to that, so instead of a nap, I found myself on the second row of cornets, looking towards (I am intentionally not writing "looking forward to") 1½ hour practice, followed by another 1½ concert, or meeting. Not only would I not get my nap, I would also miss football that evening! (Maybe I did get a little nap, at least I suddenly found myself totally lost in one of the pieces we were playing. I had no idea where we were, until the flugelhorn player whispered it to me when stopping to breathe). The opening piece was by Niels Silfverberg, an old friend, whom I used to play 1 Cornet with in the Young People's band in my home corps. The bandmaster, in his comments, told the audience that the piece was by a Scandinavian composer, which I felt I had to comment. He is not Scandinavian, he is Danish! Wonder what the British would say, if in a concert in America a piece is played by Elgar, who is introduced as a European composer?

My mood was not getting better and I could not help thinking that it would be an absolute "perfect" day if our football team would win their game, getting the first victory in a real game ever – when I wasn't there. They didn't, so the day was not a total disaster!

This Sunday was different. Lisbeth and Lukas went to Sale Corps, as Lisbeth had a planning meeting in the worship committee after the service, but I went to another corps, where I had promised the corps leader to preach. He was leading and when talking about the service he had said he would plan a simple worship service and then leave 15-20 minutes for me! Fortunately I know him well, so I confessed I would struggle to stay within that time. We agreed on 30 minutes (ended up using 45!). Before the meeting started 3 ladies on the back row sat and distributed cigars. They claimed they were chocolate cigars, but the officer was not convinced, but thought they were real cigars, maybe with some chocolate flavour (sounds disgusting either way). It did give quite a light hearted start to the service!

After the service we went round to the officers for lunch. Lisbeth and Lukas joined us and we had a real English Sunday Roast dinner. I think there was a plate beneath all the food that was put in front of each of us, but it took a lot of work to uncover it. I am not complaining though, it was really good, as was the pudding (which of course was not a pudding, but a dessert) 3 different desserts to choose from, I tried all three! After the meal the men retired, not to the library to smoke cigars, but to the sofa to watch football! When the game was over we got into our own football kit and set off for the weekly game.

It was windy and cold, but who cares, when you get a chance to play football. As mentioned we have been relegated, but not much have changed. We had lost the last two games 3-6. Today was going to be different though, we tried to convince ourselves and it was different. Instead of 6-3 it ended 7-2!

After the game it was straight home for coffee and more football on the telly – quite a good day, very different from the Sunday before. Not much to tell about the week in between. Oh, Lukas injured himself playing with his friend down the road. A swollen thumb, pain and not able to move it. Of to A&E, but this time at 22:00. After an hour he was seen by a doctor. He pulled and squeezed the thumb, Lukas did NOT enjoy it and told us he could not find anything that led him to believe it was anything else than sprained. For the next couple of days Lukas could not use his left hand, but it is more or less back to normal now.

Well, now it definitely is time to get to bed – probably will have to sleep a bit at the desk tomorrow, will just pretend to be praying!

Goodnight!

Oh, almost forgot

The football game this Sunday: It did end 7-2, but we scored the 7 – in other words: We won! What a great feeling! Finally. I even managed to score a single goal, but what a goal. With my back towards the goal, I fended off the defenders and then back heeled it into the goal, the goal keeper not seeing it before it was in the back of the net (I also managed to shoot straight at the keeper two other times I was through on goal, but when you win you don't count your misses!

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Two of a kind

I have just realised that so far this year I have only posted 8 times on this blog, and 6 of those posts were in January and February. That's appalling. I do of course know that the important thing is not the quantity, but the quality, but even that truth can not justify such a low output. I have therefore decided to waffle more, not to sit and wait for inspiration for clever posts, but just write and then maybe once in a while stumble over something original or clever.

I actually decided to write last evening, but then Andreas started to writing to me on Messenger and I followed up with a phone call. If you ever have doubted that Lukas and Andreas are brothers, then Andreas gave the proof yesterday. He was on his way out from the house where he lives in Oxford, decided to jump over the threshold of the door, did not land properly and found himself on the ground in a lot of pain. He managed to crawl back up the stairs to the room and could sit and look as his foot got more and more swollen. If he had been Lukas, a teacher would now have been on the phone to me and ask me to come and pick him up so he could go to the hospital, but fortunately Andreas did not consider this option (actually I don't know whether he considered it, but at least he didn't do it). He took a taxi to the A&E and was told he had torn a ligament in the foot.

It would be 4-6 weeks before the foot would be back to normal, and he was told not to put any weight on the foot for the next week or so – and then they sent him home. Now, I might just be a stupid Dane, but you would think, as he should not put weight on the foot, that they also would provide crutches, but not so. There was some kind of shop next door, that could provide him with crutches, so he hopped on one leg into the shop. Yes, the could rent him crutches (this is where you begin to understand what our taxes in Denmark are used for). Unfortunately he did not have any money on him, so he had to go back to his house and then return to the shop, still hopping, as he could not put any weight on the foot. When he came back they suddenly remembered they had hired out their last pair of crutches! He had to by some instead (which probably is as cheap as renting them) and once again went back to his house and put his foot up!

He won't be able to work for a while, which is not good news as he needs the money, nor attend university, which he probably will survive.

Maria, as far as we know, has not had any accidents recently. She is now in Canada, staying with Wilma, and I am certain she will be well taken care off. Today is actually her birthday – which gives me a bit of a problem. We of course have to Skype her and because of the time difference in will have to be tonight. No problem, you might think, apart from Liverpool – Arsenal is playing their deciding Champion League game and it is live on TV. Suppose we will have to call during half time, should not take longer than 15 minutes to say Happy Birthday, should it?

Joking aside, Maria is having a really good time. I received some pictures from Wilma this morning – it appears they started celebrating Maria's birthday yesterday. I think Wilma had invited some of the young people from the corps round to her place. The cake looks really nice, just a pity no one thought of taking a photo of it before they began to eat it!

In case you are reading this Maria: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today Lukas is going back to school after almost 3 weeks of holiday. We almost sent him to school yesterday, but fortunately remembered it was a teachers' planning day, so he got himself an extra day. Lisbeth is in London, so I will have the pleasure of getting him out of bed before 8 for the first time in ages. For the last week he has been sleeping when we left for the office, and apparently not getting up before round noon everyday (he will be a teenager soon).

Before I end this post I just have to publish a correction, as I understand I have caused come confusion in certain circles: Sarah is neither 40 nor 39 (check the post Where are the Fields if you do not know what this is about) and I knew that when writing the post. I am (not really) sorry for any confusion I have caused and do apologize very sincerely (not) to Sarah for any unnecessary pain I have inflicted upon her. Just to put the record straight: Sarah is 36 years old, she only looks like she is........(better stop while I am winning).

Well, time to get Lukas up. Have a nice day everyone!

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Where should we go?

It felt very different as I last week was driving to the weekly football match with the guys from Fitton Hill. It was the day we had gone to summer time, so I was not driving in the dark, it wasn't even close to being dark. Not only that, the display on my control panel showed the temperature in double digits, which definitely was a first. I still remember the Sunday evening as I was driving in pitch darkness to the game and the display told me the temperature outside was 0.5 degrees Celcius!

It was light, it was warm (well 11 degrees felt like warm), but there was more to suggest this was going to be the perfect evening for a football match. It was the first match of the new season and we had been relegated last season. This mean that instead of playing against teams, where we would need small miracles to win, we should now be competing against teams on our own level – it could feel in my bones a victory was coming.

We ended up losing 2-1, but we could, and should, have won. Usually I have gone home after losing without caring about it, we did not stand a chance anyway, but this time I drove home irritated. I play to win, and when we actually had the chance, but through our own bad play did not grab it, then it is frustrating. The frustration disappeared quickly though, but not the memory of playing football in nice conditions with good friends. I have been looking forward to the next match all week. Friday, as I was cycling home from the office, it was just so nice weather and I could not help thinking of how it would be to play football with the sun shining and in almost perfect conditions.

Today is the day. We are of course going to the service this morning and I probably will have to do some serious reading afterwards, trying to catch up on my essays, but then it is all about football. It wasn't my first thought when I woke up this morning, but it probably was the second. As I got out of bed and looked out the window I thought of the game tonight, not because of sheer joy and excitement, but because everything was white. It had snowed during the night! Very quickly my mind was working out how I could get out of the game tonight, what excuse I could put forward. One thing is playing football when the sun is shining and the temperature pleasant, it is not quite as enjoyable when it is cold and icy. It was a disappointment. I had been looking forward to the game all week, but now I quiet evening in front of the telly seemed so much more appealing. I was ready to give it up.

This is only about football, but the pattern is often the same when you work with people in ministry. After a long winter, the sun begins to shine. You begin to see God breaking through, lives begin to change and you experience His manifested presence when you gather for worship or prayer. You not only understand, but experience what Jesus meant when he said "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you". There is excitement in the air and you begin to dream of where this is taking you. This is what church is supposed to be, this is what life in the Spirit means. And then one day, as you full of faith draw the curtain, it has snowed. Maybe it is someone, who has experienced the transforming power of Jesus Christ in their life, who has fallen back. Maybe it is a disagreement between the leaders, probably about something less than important. Maybe some of your leaders, or potential leaders, decide to move on. Maybe you lose your worship leader. It can be a hundred different things, or maybe more likely several different things, which on their own could be overcome, but added together they seriously impact life in and around you. The excitement doesn't reach the same level, nor the experience of God's presence. You think back to the sunny day, just last week, but as you look out the imaginary window, your wonder whether you should just pack it in. Whether it is time to give up and live on the memories of what has been.

This experience can be a corporate one, as in the life of a church, or it can be a very personal one, as our experience of Jesus and His Spirit somehow is not as it used to be. What do we do?

We don't really have a choice, do we? At a time when many disciples were leaving, even deserting, Jesus, he asks the twelve "You do not want to leave too, do you?" and Peter answers "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life". What Peter is saying is "We don't have a choice. There is no one else we can go to, no one who has what you have". Isn't it the same for us? We have seen the Kingdom, we have tasted the fruit of the promised land and we realise nothing else, or rather no one else, can ever satisfy us? We have seen the Kingdom and yet we have to live with the fact that the Kingdom is the already and the not yet. That we will not fully experience and live in His Kingdom before God restores all things in a new heaven and a new earth. Equally we see that God's eternal life, life in the dimension of the Spirit, has broken into our time and lives. The Kingdom is here now and we can but pray "Your Kingdom Come" and pray and do our part for it to become true to an ever greater extent.

If we stop up to think we probably will recognize that while we might have experienced a setback, that circumstances have affected our faith and enthusiasm, then we actually have not fallen back to where we were before. We are still on a much higher level than we used to be. When we look around we see people, who are not what they used to be. When we look inside, we realise we are not what we used to be. We should rejoice over this and give God thanks. At the same time we should not lower our faith or expectancy, we should not settle for the ordinary and plain in the Spirit. Jesus made it very clear "I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full". This is the promise, this is what God want us to experience and live in. When our present reality does not match the promises of God, we should not try to lower the promises to the level of our reality, but seek to raise our experience to the level of the promises.

So what do we do? We thank God for all his blessings. We thank him for the transformation in and around us that has taken place. And then we confess we are not satisfied as things are now, we pray for more. More of what only God can give us. More of his Spirit, more of his presence revealed among us, more of his power, more of Him! We pray with the prophet "Lord, I have heard of our fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known" We lift our eyes to him and then we wait for the Lord, knowing that no one, who sets their hope on the Lord will be let down. We wait, not in a passive sense, hanging around to see if God turns up, but in an active way, expecting it to happen as we do what we can do, so God can do what only he can.

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you"!

Would love to write more, but do not have time. Have to get ready to play football tonight!

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Where are the fields?

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No, this post is not going to be on a missiological theme, the fields are not the fields which Jesus spoke about when he said that the fields are white unto harvest. The fields in the heading are....well, fields!

Let me go back a bit. First of all an apology to all of you who have been looking for a new post. The first who asked when there would be something new was Lukas – strange in away, since one should think he knows what happens in the life of the Andersens! Since then I have heard comments about my lack of writing from Maria, my mother, and through her also my brother, and so I decided it was about time to give a little update, just in case others than my immediate family would come by.

Since we returned from Denmark a couple of weeks ago not much special has happened. We have been busy with work and a bit of study (not enough study, for either of us, but deadlines are approaching) and otherwise life has been pretty normal. In PE (Physical Education) Lukas just now plays rugby. What do you think you get when you mix Lukas and rugby? For the frequent reader of this blog the answer is obvious: Accidents and visit to the Emergency unit at the local hospital! Two accidents and visits to the hospital to be precise – within 8 days. First time because of an elbow in his eye. Second time because of a shoulder which temporarily was dislocated, when he attempted to tackle a player running towards him. We are getting used to the routine, so both times we made sure we had reading material with us which makes the waiting time more tolerable. The service was as always very good and, as most times, Lukas was OK apart from bruises.

2 weeks ago we got an e-mail from Sarah. She was on her way to England and was celebrating her 40^th birthday with family down in Gloucester and she suddenly had the crazy idea to ask whether we could come along. We had nothing on for the weekend, so we accepted the invitation. We went down Friday evening, stayed overnight just outside Gloucester and then spent the morning sightseeing in Gloucester, walking round the cathedral and the town centre. We managed to find Sarah's sister's house just on time, which meant we arrived half an hour before Sarah! I could try and find more insults to write, but perhaps I should just admit we had a great time with Sarah, Josh and Sarah's family. Hard pressed I will even admit it was well worth the drive down south! (By the way, just remembered it was not Sarah's 40^th birthday, I think she is only 39)

Tuesday this week we set off for London. Allan and Ea with family, good friends from Denmark, was flying into Gatwick to visit us for Easter. We had planned to stay a couple of days in London, before going back to Manchester together with them. We had booked a couple of cheap rooms at a hotel outside London and went there straight from the airport. Next morning Oliver, who is 4 years old, came into our room. He climbed up on the sofa where Lukas was sleeping to look out of the window. As he drew the curtains we heard him say "Where are the fields?" For those who do not know, Oliver, with the rest of the family, lives in the countryside, on a small farm with fields all around and so that was what he expected to see – not houses, houses and even more houses. After breakfast we headed into the centre of London – still no fields, but a lot more people than home in Tørring. A lot to take in, not just for Oliver, but his older sister and brother too. London might not have fields, but it does have Hamley's, the worlds largest toy shop and that was our first destination. 6 floors of toys. Fortunately also a café on the top floor, where Allan and I soon found ourselves!

We did manage a bit more cultural correct sightseeing too; Big Ben, Natural History Museum, Tower of London and Covent Garden (this was over 2 days) before it was time to leave London. We had parked the cars at The Salvation Army's training college, and we drove out through the back gate at 16:15. Not being too optimistic I predicted we would be home around 21:00, but apparently I am optimistic even when I try to be pessimistic! Traffic was awful, took us several hours just to make it across London and when we made it to the motorway the only real difference was that we now were stuck in three lanes. We were home by midnight! I promised myself I would never drive a car to London again! At least not on a day before a Bank Holiday.

We did make it to the Good Friday service next morning – but some of us managed to squeeze in a good nap – not during the service, but in the afternoon.

Today we all went to the centre of Manchester. Spent time looking at shops, but had an interesting experience walking down the pedestrian street. We heard singing, and it sounded like Christians. Looking ahead we saw a large group of people, standing in a circle, singing. They were all in yellow vests with the name of their church printed on the back. Not for the first time I wondered about this British tradition of standing in a circle, facing the centre, when you do open-airs. To me it sends the message that they are not interested in the people going by, making sure they turn their backs on everyone. We stopped to listen, and someone in the circle turned around and handed us an invitation. Under the name of the church it said: "A Church for everyone". It sounded good, but it did not quite match what we saw. Everyone in the circle was coloured. I am sure they meant everyone was welcome, but somehow the message we saw was that you probably should be coloured to feel at home in the church. Made me think. Imagine they had not been coloured, but white. Imagine they all had been dressed alike. Imagine they all would be dressed in black, and maybe even with strange headgear. I know this is farfetched, but try and use your imagination. Do you think people would feel, as I did today, that these people might say all are welcome, but apparently only those who dress in black and wear funny hats would really feel at home in such a church?

A few metres further up the street was a young guy, with a Bible in his hand, shouting at people. Could not really understand what he was saying, and he did not seem very fluent in preaching, only managed one or two sentences before he stopped up to think. Maybe the circle was a bit strange, with their backs to everyone, but at least they were glorifying Jesus in their singing and they gave a positive impression. The shouting guy – well it was difficult to get a positive impression. It reminded me of the time in Riga, when some were critical of the way we presented the gospel in Riga I corps. They felt we did not talk enough about sin and challenge people to repent. Well, I still think that while we have to present both grace and truth, then there is a reason why grace comes first. ("We beheld his glory, full of grace and truth") Yes, we are all sinners. Yes, we have to repent. Yes, we will spend eternity separated from God if we don't, but God is like a Father, looking for his lost son, and who runs towards us to shower us with his grace when he sees us approaching. I don't think that is selling out of the gospel, I think that is the gospel!

Well, we ended on a missional note, even if it was not intended. Let me finish with wishing you all a Joyous and Happy Easter. May you all experience the presence and power of the resurrected Christ as we celebrate he rose from the grave and conquered death. What a fantastic message. He is alive and he meets us with his unconditional love and grace!

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In memoriam

Early Tuesday morning last week my brother Preben suddenly died. He was only 54 years old and there had not been any warnings that anything was wrong. He had come home from work, prepared supper for the family and set off to play with his band as always on a Monday. He came home just before midnight, happy after having spent the evening with playing with "Container Band" and went straight to bed. He never woke up again.

Left behind is Preben's wife, Irene, 5 children, the youngest only turned 18 in January, 3 grandchildren, 2 brothers, our mother and, as we saw at the funeral, a large and extremely diverse group of friends, acquaintances and colleagues. There was the musicians, who brought their guitars, violins and a box as drums, there was the consultants from his work place, there was the guy who was somewhat drunk at the arrival, there was people with long hair and signs of a rough life, there were people in suits, wondering where in the world they had landed, there were people in uniform from The Salvation Army. There was a friend from school, who sang a song no one really understood. People from different backgrounds, others with similar background, but who life had treated differently, or maybe they had treated life differently. It was a very diverse group and was a testimony to a special man, who by no standards could be called conventional. Preben always went his own ways; he pushed and often crossed boundaries. He had no respect for authorities, convinced Socialist, extremely intelligent, for most of his life had no formal education. He wrote poetry and even books, lyrics and songs. Worked in theatres and participated in political happenings on the streets.

In his forties he decided it was time to get an education. 18 months ago he graduated with his Master in Political Science from Copenhagen University, 4 months ago he began his new job, one week ago he died.

I have never experienced a funeral like Preben's and have been to quite a few funerals through the years. Torben, our eldest brother, led the programme. He started with saying a few words about how one of the big trees in the forest had fallen and we still could feel the earth shaking. Irene, Preben's wife spoke, quoting Ecclesiastes words about how there is a time for everything and told how the family had sat at home the night before, playing a word game, fixing words to Preben and his life through the whole alphabet, and shared the list with us. The two eldest of Preben's children also spoke, very personal. It was extremely emotional, I have enormous respect for them being willing and able to do it.

As mentioned several friends participated with songs and music. We also listened to a recording of "Container Band", with Preben as the lead singer. "If anyone calls, tell them I've left" we heard his characteristic voice sing again and again – he probably did not have his own funeral in mind when he penned those words, but somehow they were very appropriate. In the beginning it was Johnny Cash we listened to. "When the man comes around" was the title. It did not mean anything to me, but listening to the song it sounded familiar – it was inspired by the words in Revelation about Christ coming on the white horse. If I got it right then the song ended with a line something like "After him another rider on a pale horse will come, and hell followed him" – I looked at my notes for what I was going to say – no way did I have courage to be as frank as that.

Irene and the children had asked me to conclude the funeral. I would have preferred not to have to do that, meaning I would have preferred my brother to be alive, but I felt it a privilege and honour under the circumstances. I did not have to try and balance between the roles of brother and pastor, because I felt no need to, I am both and tried to be both 100% in what I said.

It was a fair guess that most of those present do not go to church every Sunday, for many probably no Sunday, but it was moving to hear almost everybody praying The Lord's Prayer at the end (we had handed it out in printed form).

After the funeral everyone was invited back to Preben and Irene's house for "Chilli con Carne". I don't know whether party or reception would be correct terms to use, but it was held in the garden. It was freezing cold, but a lot of talking and even laughter filled the air. The whole day was a celebration of a life lived and very much kept in the spirit of Preben.

As you would expect many thoughts have gone through my mind this week, countless memories of Preben, especially from my childhood. Quite a few questions too, but those I will blog about the next couple of days.

Tomorrow morning it is a week ago my Mother called to tell us Preben had died. He was only 54. It does not seem fair, but then life is not fair. Preben did not grow old, but he certainly left lasting impressions on countless of people. He was no saint, but he was extraordinaire. Many lives are the richer because of Preben. Preparing my talk for the funeral I was reminded it is not a question of how long, but how much Preben lived. That is true for us all. We do not have any guarantee of a long life, not even of tomorrow. All there is certain is now and the question is how much do we live now?

29 years ago our Father died, 54 years old. His youngest was 17, Preben was 25. At that time Preben wrote a poem, which I had never seen, but Torben had a copy he shared with me. I can think of no better way to end this blog but by quoting Preben words in gratitude for his life and his lasting impressions on me:

Come my brothers; hold me close
while I am holding you.
Death has been here
but left us behind.
How will you use your day?

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Minor Miracle in Manchester

It might not be quite correct to call it a miracle, and it actually did not happen in Manchester either, but Minor Miracle in Manchester somehow sound better that Big Surprise in Oldham! For those involved it did feel like a miracle, even though it happened in Oldham. You have to understand; we have now played football in the 6-a-side league in Oldham since last autumn and we have never won, or even drawn a match. For most of that time we had at least avoided losing with double figures, but that record no longer stands after being beat 12-2 a couple of weeks ago. Every week when we meet we expect things to be different, that this will be the day things will turn around, but so far in vain. Strangely we don't improve during the week, but then we of course do not train either.

We have desperately looked for new players who could strengthen our team (and believe me, that would not take much!), but without any real success. Last Sunday we found something almost as good: a team worse than us!

It is so different to play when your mistakes are not punished and when the other team makes even more mistakes. Instead of running round chasing the opponents and the ball, suddenly you can keep the ball within the team for more than 5 seconds or two passes. Instead of picking the ball out of your net again and again, as we have done in every match so far, you instead can celebrate goal after goal after goal. It is amazing how easy it is to look good, when the opponent is really bad, you certainly feel on top of the world and forget you have not got any better, just the background is cheap. But no one will remember that in the future, the history books will just show we won 9-2.

We pray together before every match (not that we will win, but that we will bring glory to God in the way we behave) and after every match so far we have celebrated, either that we had managed to score a goal, or that we had not gone down with double figures or maybe just that it had not been raining during the match – this Sunday we celebrated we had won. It was not the FA cup and Oldham certainly is not Wembley, but it feels so good to win. Next week we will play a team as bad as us. If we can win that game too, then we very likely will not be relegated (if, as expected, both teams will lose the rest of their matches). But you don't think about that when you just have won, you just feel good. It makes it worth all the effort. Having played in rain, frost, having being kicked and pushed, you even forget all the swear words from the other players (that is: on the other teams!), you are a winner! That is just a great feeling.

My modesty prevents me from telling about my own performance, but I think it is fair to say I had decisive influence on the result. For once my age or lack of speed was not a set back. Problem is that this of course creates expectancy up to our match tomorrow, the match that will decide whether we will be relegated or staying up. I wonder whether I can live up to my performance from last week – it will be difficult, because tomorrow I will actually be there, not at home with a cold.

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Last week

Last week began and ended on a high for Lisbeth and me (it was more so-so for Lukas).

In my last post I left you Sunday night, trying to prepare for a day with our strategy group. Once again I somehow managed to get ready for the day and it went really well. We now have our Mission Statement ready, the first draft of a values statement and the first sketches of a vision as well. The Mission Statement was prepared not only in words, but in a graphical way, and it really needs to be seen, not just heard. I would love to show it to you, but until the process is over and we publish it all, I probably better not breach security and keep it to my self.

When we met Monday morning the Divisional Commander came over to me and said "Forget about all this strategy stuff and let's cut to the real important issue: When do we have to leave tonight?" He, Lisbeth, Lukas and I had tickets for the evening's FA Cup game at Anfield road between Liverpool and Aston Villa – which of course was much more important than such lowly things as vision and strategy, especially as he, as well as Lukas, are Liverpool fans. As soon as the strategy day ended we rushed home, dressed more appropriately for a football match (Lukas' priority was a Liverpool shirt, worn over everything else, Liverpool scarf and Liverpool hat, Lisbeth and I prioritised anything warm) and set off for Liverpool, picking Mel (DC) up on the way. Traffic wasn't too bad and we made it too Liverpool well before the match, which was important, because we of course needed to adhere to tradition and visit a local chippy (Fish and Chips Shop) for our tea before walking to Anfield.

Unfortunately we did not have seats next to each other, but due to kindness from the people sitting in our area, Lisbeth, Lukas and I ended up sitting together, which made it all even more pleasurable. It was Lisbeth's first visit to Anfield (or any other English football ground) and she found it fascinating. It was a cold evening and when we entered the stadium 35 minutes before kick off it was really cold where we were sitting. Not too many people either. 15 minutes before kick off and the stadium was still only half full and Lisbeth questioned whether it really would be filled, but when the players walked on the pitch every seat was taken (although everyone was standing up at this time) and most of the 44000 fans joined in an amazing rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone". It wasn't cold anymore, thousands of bodies do actually heat up the stands and everything was quite enjoyable. The game was OK, not the best, but then the atmosphere evened out the lack of good play. The match ended 2-2, which for Lukas was something of a disappointment, but for Lisbeth and me it had just been a really fun night out. We were not home before 23:30, but it had all been well worth being somewhat shattered the next morning.

The rest of the week was pretty normal: Lisbeth had her weekly trip to London (she has been down to London every week this year), but this time it was only for a day. I worked from home that day, which was really good. Not so much working from home, but working away from the office, as is was a clearing out day and a big tip had to be filled with rubbish from around the office and all our storages. Everyone of course had to help, but unfortunately a company chose this very day to come and install our new fireplace and two new gas fires. I was really sorry not being able to go to the office, but I just had to be home to let them in and out and generally keep and eye on things. And some people say I can't plan in advance!

I have begun to meet 2 of the officers from the division (not at the same time) for a kind of mentoring relationship and part of my day at home was spent with one of them. Just imagine sitting down for a couple of hours, sharing a pizza, just talking about ministry generally and especially leadership and getting paid for it! That's the kind of moments where I truly love my job. I have given him "Understanding Leadership" by Tom Marshall to read and basically we just let out talks form by what he has been challenged or inspired by in the book. It is such a good book, every Christian leader ought to have a copy of it.

Friday was another hard day, as it was our time to host the M62 fellowship. The M62 fellowship comprises of our colleagues from the 3 surrounding divisions, connected by the M62 motorway. 4 times a year we get together for a day of fellowship and inspiration. The first part of the day varies from meeting to meeting, but we always end up having a nice lunch and chatting away, before we all head home again. This time we spent the morning visiting one of our church plants and listening to the fascinating story of how a young married couple together with a group of even younger people moved onto a run down estate in Oldham and started living out the gospel among the people there. People have been saved and transformed, others are on the way and there now is a community of believers and seekers worshipping Christ and exploring what it means to live a Kingdom life in the middle of poverty and deprivation. Absolutely fascinating.

3 weeks ago the corps leader at the corps we attend had a mild heart attack. It turned out one of his arteries was 99% blocked and he had to undergo some heart surgery. One consequence is that he will be off work for a couple of months and we were asked to lead the service last week in his place. Especially I have not been too fond of going round to various corps and leading and preaching, I just don't enjoy preaching to people I do not have a relationship with very much. I find it difficult to prepare, become almost depressed the days leading up to the service and usually just want to get it over with on the day. This time was different. For one thing we had a bit of relationship with the corps, as we worship there reasonably regularly. Since this was an extra responsibility which we had not planned for, I from the beginning accepted there was no way I could prepare a new sermon and so I did what I do not do too often: I looked through the 7 or so sermons I have on my computer (I tend not to keep my notes so I am not tempted to serve old bread), asked Lisbeth to choose between 3 of them and she then planned the meeting accordingly. Not the most Spirit filled way of preparing maybe, but God is good and gracious, and we had a really good Sunday where we felt the Spirit moving.

After having stood at the door for a while to say good bye to people, I went over to get a cup of coffee. The lady serving looked up and when she realised it was me she just exclaimed: "Oh, I could have gone on listening longer to you this morning"!

I think that is a first and quite a way to end the week.

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At the end of another week

It was my intention to follow up on the last blog with news of how the NCD training had gone, but spent a day or two recovering and then have not really had the time to do it.
First of all thank you to those who participated in the NCD events by praying. Some one must have been praying, because everything went really well. I was honestly beginning to panic when I wrote the previous blog last Wednesday, but it was amazing to see how things were sorted out – seemingly all by themselves!

As mentioned we were doing a whole day of coach training on the Friday followed by a day of training for corps Health Teams on the Saturday. By Wednesday morning I had basically nothing prepared. As both these training events were a first for me, I had to prepare everything from scratch. To make things perfect, the material I had ordered from the US, partly for handing out to the participants on the Friday, but also for my own preparation, had not arrived.

Monday, as I was driving home from work I was wondering about the books from the US and how it could take so long for them to arrive. I was not sure how I would cope without them, apart from headquarters was paying for three books to each participant, and it would be a bit embarrassing if they were not there (the books, that is, not the participants. Actually if the participants would not be there, I would be quite happy!). I am not too proud of admitting this, but it was first at this stage I thought I better pray about it, so I prayed as I drove along and asked specifically that the books would arrive by Wednesday.

Well, Wednesday came. I was working from home in the morning, preparing for the weekend, but had asked our secretary to contact me if the books arrived. I did not hear anything and so just before I left for the office around lunch time, I sent her a mail asking her to contact the Royal Mail and organise a search. As I was writing it I felt a bit bad; was this not lack of faith? I had prayed for them to arrive by Wednesday and so should we begin to do something like this before the “deadline” had expired?

As I arrived at the office I walked over to my desk to put my computer down and walked straight out to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. “I think your books have arrived” our Youth Officer said. “Where?” I asked. “By your desk” was the reply. “No,” I said “I think that is just the folders we have bought for the notes”. “Well, I don’t know, but there is a lot of packages there for you” she said, before returning to her lunch. I forgot about my coffee, went back into the office and there, right by my desk, was 5 wonderful packages, all from the US! How I had missed them when I came into the office I do not know, but oh did feel good that they were there. God is good!

Before I left for the office I had written asking for prayer for the weekend and the preparation on the blog. The strange ting was that just writing and posting it made me feel better! It was like the panic just lifted and I returned to a more rested and calm state. Reflecting on that I could not help thinking of Jesus, when he says “Blessed are the poor in the spirit” or, as it also can be translated “those who acknowledge there need of God”. It was like, as soon as I acknowledged my need for His help and intervention, then I received it. Once again, God is good!

Thursday was spent, all day from early morning to late (very late) evening in preparing, but by midnight I had most of my preparation finished. I got up early next morning, finished what I had not done the evening before, and sent it to the printer at work. Morning traffic is bad in Manchester, I had to enter it twice, once to get to the office to pick up the notes I had printed, and then across town to get to the corps, where we were having the training. Amazingly I made it in time. I arrived after most of the participants, but had everything up and running before we were supposed to start.

The day went well. It was long, probably too long, but I felt we got out of it more or less what I had planned. Would have been good with some more practical training sessions (Triads, with the participants coaching each other), but that was where my lack of experience showed, I found it difficult to find the right questions/tasks. We began 9:30 and ended 18:30. I was tired, but now it was time to get home and prepare for the next day. I did not have anything ready for that at all!

I picked up Lisbeth from the station. We had not seen each other since Sunday, so there were many things to talk about. I also got started on the preparation for the next day, but when we finally went to bed (on the wrong side of midnight), I still had loads of stuff unfinished. Got up quite early, and went straight on to the computer, preparing powerpoints, printing out notes etc. The strange thing is that I was not panicking at all at any time during this. Somehow I was just peaceful; sure everything would turn out all right – and so it did!

We had a really good day. Almost 50 people were there, Health Teams from 7 corps and it just seemed as everything worked as planned. We started with some simple worship, and right from the beginning God’s presence was apparent. People were motivated, listened well and engaged in the task in the groups at the right time. There was a buzz around the place, a real good atmosphere.

During the day we broke up several times for the Health Teams to do practical work. Apart from the corps groups, we also had a number of my colleagues from other divisions, as well as the 4 people (apart from me) who will function as coaches. Neither the corps nor the coaches knew who would coach which corps yet (Lisbeth and I had worked that out in the car on the way to the training day!), but when I asked the coaches and my colleagues to join one of the corps groups and practice their coaching skills the coaches ended up joining the corps, which they were going to coach! Again, it seemed like God was in charge.

At the end of the day the teams had worked out their first action steps towards implementing NCD in their corps, had agreed a meeting with their coaches, and seemed quite excited about what could come out of this process. There is still a long way to go, may obstacles to overcome, but any journey begins with the first step, and that has not only been taken, but taken well – will be exciting to see how things develop.

Well, this post, like the coach training, has gone on too long, so I better end here. Not just because I do not want to bore you, my dear reader, but also because I have to prepare for a day with the divisional strategy group tomorrow. I am facilitating the process, and I haven’t got anything ready yet.... does it sound like you have heard that before? Well, if you read this before Monday afternoon (GMT) I would once again appreciate your prayers (would of course appreciate your prayers no matter when you read this, but....)

If you will excuse me I will get on with trying to formulate a proposal for the values of our division and think of how to facilitate working out our strategy. I am not panicking – there is still 12 hours and 4 minutes till we are meeting tomorrow.

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Half way through an interesting week

This week is not a normal run-of-the-mill week. Sunday morning Lisbeth left for a week in London, commencing her study towards a BA in Pastoral Care and Psychology. She had decided to go by bus, which turned out to be a wise move. All week there has been heavy delays on the trains due to work on the rail lines, which should have been completed 2. January, but is still ongoing. She arrived safely and have now completed the first 2 days of teaching. Every day is from 9 morning till 19 evening, so I think she will be tired when she returns home.

After having dropped Lisbeth of at the bus station Sunday morning Maria, Lukas and I went to one of our plants, where I had promised to preach. The corps officer called me just before Christmas and said he needed someone who could come and preach on the 6. January for 15 minutes. I told him I could manage the 6., 15 minutes might be more difficult! (It was, but I kept it at 25 and taking into consideration I had not preached since the first Sunday in Advent, I think that is quite acceptable!). The plant is a really encouraging. 7 years old and buzzing with life. They have seen individuals and families come to Christ and have a huge network with people living on the estate, where the corps is situated. One of the big challenges is to develop more intentional discipling and leadership development, but there is sooooo much potential there. It is the 3rd time I was there, and I could easily feel at home in such a corps.

Tuesday morning Maria was heading of on her adventure. She will be spending the next 6 months in USA and Canada. She will first go to St. Louis and stay with Evie, then later on to Sacramento and stay with a cousin of mine, back to St. Louis for a couple of weeks before she travels to Wilma in Windsor, Canada. After a couple of months there she will finally go for 3 weeks to Toronto and stay with a ICO colleague of mine and then travel back to Manchester. As you can expect there were a few things that needed to be done before Maria was ready to leave. Fortunately Lisbeth had helped her pack her main suitcase before she left, but there were still things to sort out and prepare. Add to that that Maria also had to finish her application for university before leaving, and you probably will understand we had a couple of busy days.

We left for the airport yesterday morning 8.10 and she was due to arrive in St. Louis (via Chicago) 19.25 local time (01.25 Manchester time). We had agreed she should not call, but send a mail, so we would know she had arrived safely in the morning. The phone did ring. It was not Maria, but Evie. “Have you heard from Maria yet?” she asked. It turned out that Maria's plane form Chicago to St. Louis had been cancelled and all other planes were delayed. Maria called a bit more than an hour ago, she had finally arrived. The plane had not left Chicago before around midnight (5 hours late) and she had just arrived to Evie's home. Looking at the clock I realised it was almost exactly 24 hours since we had left our house for the airport, quite a long journey! We did not talk for long, Maria quite understandably was tired and wanted to go to bed, but she was fine. Probably she does not want to see O'Hare airport again for a while, she must have spent 10 hours there yesterday!

So now, after we had the house full of people, it is just me and Lukas for a couple of days more. Lukas is back to school after a long Christmas holiday, but probably already looking forward to the weekend.

For me the second half of the week will be very interesting. Friday we are having a “Crash Course” on coaching, where most of the Divisional Directors for Evangelism will participate and also some people from our division. We start 9:30 and finish 19:00. Next day we have a training day for health teams. 9 corps have signed up for the NCD process we have planned in our division, and they have all established health teams. Some of the DDE's are staying for this day too, so we will be about 50 people.

That all sounds good, but I am beginning to panic. You see I am not only responsible for both days, I am also doing all the teaching and surprise, surprise, I am not finished yet! I am not even close to being finished, if the truth has to be told. I did start my preparation a long time ago, have been reading, taking notes, watching DVDs etc, but I still don't feel I have got the frame of the days in place yet. Today I am spending the morning home to prepare and tomorrow I will stay home all day. I really would appreciate prayer concerning this. Especially Saturday will be a quite decisive day for the whole process, which, if all persevere, can have significant impact on the Army in our division. It is the first time I do this kind of training, and I really want to get it right, not to look good or to impress, but for the Kingdom. It is also the first time I will do a full day on coach training on my own (I tried to call Christoph Schalk and get him to come, but unfortunately he is in Singapore, or something like that) and it is an area I am not really strong in. So as I said, if anyone reading this blog could spare some time and support us in prayer, then it would be really, really appreciated. I will of course let you know how it all goes.

We are setting up a prayer network, who will cover the whole process with prayer. If anyone would want to be part of that and support in prayer in a more ongoing way, please let me know, and I will put you on the mailing list.

I cannot procrastinate any longer, I have to get seriously into preparing for the weekend, so I will leave you for now – hopefully to reappear after weekend.

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Happy New Year

Last night I was waiting for the New Year to arrive....well, actually I was not really waiting for the New Year, but just for the clock to reach midnight so I could go to bed without being too unsocial or rude! As we were waiting we were watching one of these TV programmes which was all about waiting for the New Year. It was live, different artists participated, there was small talk (no serious conversations) and also a reporter on the street, talking to the people waiting for the gigantic firework display at midnight.

Not surprisingly two reoccurring themes was the fact that soon there would be an entire new year, a fresh start, a new beginning; and then of course New Year's resolutions. It aways make me smile when people approach a New Year and talk about a fresh start, a blank sheet and all that kind of stuff. Reality of course is that 1. January is exactly as 31. December was. There is still unrest in Kenya and Pakistan, if anything global warming has increased and if I had a row with my wife yesterday, it probably will flow over into today (I didn't, just an illustration). 2008 is from the outset just as 2007 was at the conclusion.

At the same time I accept and realise the cyclic nature of life and understand the benefit of stopping up and reflecting on what was and focusing on what we would like the future to be. We need those kind of milestones, those times when it is natural to stop up and refocus. Did someone not say that the unreflected life is not worth living? 2008 in itself is not going to be different from 2007, but we can make it different. The change from one year has not changed anything in my life and circumstances. The bank has not cancelled my debt, the pile on my desk has not been taken care off, I am still slightly overweight, but if a New Year makes us stop and reflect over how we envisage the future, then it might have some value.

This is what New Year's resolutions is all about , isn't it? – looking back at the old year and deciding what we would like to do better or different in the new. Again not an entirely bad exercise, but mostly futile! I do not usually make New Year resolutions, but I could quickly put a list together of all the things I could, and even should, resolve to do or do better in 2008:

• to be more consistent in my Bible reading and prayer life
• to loose 2-3 kg (ok, 4-5 kg if the truth has to be told!)
• to run or cycle every day
• to be a better spiritual influence with my children
• learn html, so I could design a proper blog
• to keep in touch with friends, who are dear to us, but far away
• not always doing things in the last minute, relying on my ability to improvise
• go on more dates with Lisbeth
• trying to be of some use round the house
• watching more football on the telly

To achieve all that would be great – but we all know New Year's resolutions don't work. We might start off trying to do better, but after a couple of days, weeks at the most, most things are back where we started. As I was listening to some people's New Year resolutions I realised it is not the idea of resolving to do things better that is the problem, it is the New Year. The idea of cycles, where we stop up, reflect and refocus, before beginning the new cycle is good and could be beneficial, but a yearly cycle doesn't work. What if instead did it every week or maybe even every day? What if we at the end or beginning of every day reflected on what we would like to do better during the new day? If we instead of trying to make a giant leap at the new year made small steps daily and weekly? It is not so flashy, there probably would not be any fireworks, but it could actually make a lot of difference. With those thought I finally could go to bed (5 minutes past midnight!) and when I woke up this morning I remembered to open my Bible before another book or before switching on the computer. Tomorrow I intend to read it!

Whether we do it yearly, weekly or daily, we should not just stop to reflect on what we can improve or change. More than anything we should think of all the blessings God sent our way, all the ways His grace was extended to us and all the ways we experienced his love. My little list above could actually become quite depressing. Listing and focusing on all God's blessings would be encouraging and uplifting. Isn't it amazing how good God is? Isn't it reassuring that it is not a matter of what we can do or achieve, but all about God's grace? I understand the Psalmist when he exclaims: “My cup overflows”. Yes, there might be “enemies” around, watching, there might be “valleys of death” to go through, but God restores of our soul, his staff and his rod comfort us, he anoints our head with oil and prepares a table for us, his goodness and love follows us all the days, every year. Wow, just writing that makes my heart rejoice and brings a smile to my face, God is so good!

One of God's greatest blessings to me is family and friends and so I will round up these somewhat scattered thoughts by thanking you for the blessing you are and wish you all a truly blessed and fruitful New Year, or maybe I should say New Day!

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Going up?

Last week we went to Ikea. Not an unusual event nor a revolutionary statement – actually not even a true one, we did not go to Ikea last week, it was the week before or maybe even 2 weeks before, but an opening statement like: 2-3 weeks ago we went to Ikea does not give the impression that anything interesting could come out of that. I mean, if it was interesting, why did I not write about it before, and if it wasn't interesting, why am I writing about it now? So I decided it probably would be excusable to edit the truth slightly in an attempt to keep the attention of my readers and at least give the impression of something fresh and interesting, but now I have messed it up, lost the plot and digressed and very likely lost the reader if not ages ago then lines ago – well, what do you say if we start again? OK? Good!

Last week we went to Ikea. Not an unusual event nor a revolutionary statement, but it once again made me think of the phenomena “Ikea”. I cannot claim to have done any research, but do have first hand experience of Ikea from at least 2 countries (cannot remember if I ever have been to one in Sweden, if so then 3 countries) and the amazing thing is that whether in Sweden, Denmark or the UK Ikea is Ikea, and I guess it is the same where ever you find it. The shops look the same, the layout is the same, all the furniture is the same and have the same names and their food shop sells typical Swedish food.

It is fun to go to Ikea in the UK and ask an assistant for a particular piece of furniture, referring to it by its name and pronouncing it in Swedish! They haven't got a clue! And neither does the customers. The name might be a Swedish boy's name, a Norwegian river a Danish or Finnish Town, but for the average UK customer (and probably for the above average as well, Brits are not famous for their knowledge of foreign languages!) the names make no sense and are impossible to pronounce.

Isn't this strange? Should Ikea not, to be able to reach their potential customers, contextualise? Should they not alter their products to adapt to what country they are in? Should they not research their environment and use names relevant to their local community?

The small food shop you find in Ikea is also interesting. It basically sells the best of typical Swedish food, food which is unknown to the typical UK resident. (it is only a small shop and that is all that is needed – there isn't that much good Swedish food!). The food is Swedish, sold in its original Swedish packaging with little or no explanation of what it actually is that you will be putting into your mouth, should you decide the adventure of buying some of it.

Isn't that strange? Should Ikea not rather sell British delicatessen (they could even save space, a much smaller area would be needed for that!) when in Britain?

What really is strange is that Ikea is very successful. It seems like they are breaking all the rules, they don't contextualise, they don't adapt their language to the culture surrounding them (apart from a few incidents, where a name could cause embarrassment or upset people) , they sell the same products, whether in Dubai, Singapore or Croydon, the stores' design and layout is the same whether in Sweden or Switzerland. If Ikea had been a church all the books would have told them they were a failure. But they are not, they are hugely successful.

As I was standing in the lift at Ikea, reflecting over this phenomena, I wondered why? Why can they seemingly break all the rules and still be successful? I am not claiming neither Divine inspiration nor commercial expertise, but as we passed the first floor, it seemed to me the secret is their unwavering faith in their product. They simply believe that their product is so good and so needed, that no matter where they go, it will sell.

On the way to the second floor, I could not help asking whether there was a lesson for the Church here? Or maybe a critical question: Are we unashamedly convinced of the strength of our product, do we believe it is so good and so needed, that no matter where we go or who we meet, it will sell?

There is a danger here. The danger is that we do not realise what our product is. Our product is not the Church, and so what we can learn from Ikea is not that forms and expressions should not change in and around the church. Our product is not our Worship or our preaching style, it is not the way we dress nor the language we use.

Our “product” is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this is what we have to offer and this is all we have to offer. We have no need to, and should not, diversify; offering different products aimed at different segments of society. We only have one product, and that is Christ and his gospel! Question is whether we a convinced of the relevance and the power of our product?

“I am not ashamed of the gospel” Paul declares in Romans 1:15 and continues “because it it the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”. For Paul it was not just a good story, not some nice tale with shepherds, angels and kings. No, it was power. Power to change lives, power to restore, to heal, to save, now and for eternity.

As we reached the 3rd floor I was being challenged as to whether I have faith in this “product”? Do I, do we, really believe the gospel has the power to transform? Do we think the gospel is powerful enough or do we think we have to help it a bit with clever thoughts, convincing sermons, slick marketing?

Apparently Apple has a slogan for its sales people that goes something like “fuelled by belief in the product”. Are we? What would happen if we were?

Part of our problem is that we tend to forget what the Gospel, the Good News, is. We think of the gospels, we think of the proclaimed message, but as Paul reminds us in “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of words, but of power”. He actually says he refrained from using clever preaching and rhetoric, in case the gospel should be seen to loose it power. What is this power? More than anything else it is the power to transform lives and communities. So do we have faith in this? Are we fuelled by belief in it? What would happen if we unleashed the power of the gospel, took steps of faith, expecting God to honour his word?

There is only 3 floors at Ikea, at least in Ashton, and so there was no more time to reflect, neither on Ikea nor the Church, which probably was just as well, otherwise this post would become far too long (you should be glad I was not at the Hilton Hotel, they have 23 floors!). As I walked out of the lift I asked myself how we best can “sell” our product, if we really believe in it?
But that will have to wait till another lift.

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Merry Christmas!

Singers Unlimited are singing in the background, Lisbeth is preparing the pork loin roast (specially imported from Denmark), the table is set and all the Christmas presents bought (although not all wrapped yet), in just a few hours it is time celebrate Christmas and so it seems as there might just be time to write a Christmas letter to friends and family round the world wishing you all a very happy Christmas with a bit of news from the Andersens.

When we last year had to sum up the year we chose the word “decisions” as it was a year of many important decisions and consequently changes. Looking back at this year “adjustments” probably could sum up a lot of the year, adjusting to the consequences of the decisions of last year.

When Lukas began the school year at Priestnall Secondary it was his 3rd school in 12 months, but as always he has adjusted magnificently. For many in the UK the change from primary to secondary school is a cause of great concern, but Lukas did not think much of it. Priestnall is a huge school of more than 1000 students from the age of 11 and up. As he set of in his new school uniform, white shirt and tie and a nice suit everyday!, he did feel a bit anxious, but within a day or two he had settled down and enjoyed school ever since, as much as you can enjoy school. The school puts great emphasis on sports, which suits Lukas very well. As soon as he gets home he changes out of uniform and is of to the park to play football. When he is not in the park playing football, then he probably plays it on the computer or watches it on the TV, preferably with Liverpool. During the year he had two trips to Anfield (the stadium of Liverpool FC) and also one to Old Trafford, to watch the Youth FA Cup final between Liverpool and Manchester United. He also managed to obligatory visits to the A&E department at the hospital during the year, if we remember correctly 5 times, 3 of them since September. The good news is that nothing was broken at any time, maybe apart from the family record for accidents in a year.

For Maria the year was more about change than adjustment. 11 years of school was finally completed as she sat her exams for the IB Diploma. True to herself Maria worried about failing, but of course ended up with a very good exam indeed, although she probably should not pursue a career in mathematics! She managed to score the top grade possible in History, Psychology, Danish (as a second language!) and also in her extended essay, written about William Booth and the In Darkest England scheme. She allowed her self a little time of after graduation and flew to Malaga to meet up with friends from Latvia for almost 2 weeks. She could not stay for 2 full weeks as she had to get back to Denmark and commence working. Maria has decided to take a gap year and go travelling in 2008. For that she needs money and so she has been temping in nurseries and kindergartens since August, saving up as much as possible. In the beginning of January she is of for a 6 months tour of USA and Canada, working as volunteer for The Salvation Army and staying with friends and family. She has come a long way from when Andreas and I had to physically carry her on an aeroplane because she was terrified of flying!

Andreas seems to have adjusted to student life in Oxford very well indeed. He finished his first year of Marketing Management studies at Oxford Brookes in May, but long before that had realised the course was not what he really wanted to do. When he returned to university in September he had changed course to Sound Technology and Digital Music (which we refer to as Sound of Music), a course which he not surprisingly enjoys a lot more. He was not more bogged down with the weight of studies than he managed a fair bit of travelling. In January to Toronto, May to Seattle and August to Riga. The two transatlantic journeys were to meet up with Katharine and somehow it seems like we more and more refer to them as Andreas and Katharine. When they met one lived in Riga the other in Warsaw, but last year one moved to Toronto, the other Oxford. Skype and Messenger are wonderful things to keep in touch, but they still cannot overcome time differences, so many late (or early) hours were spent at the computer instead of sleeping! Katharine also changed not only course this year, but also university and so now she is located in London, UK, which makes life a bit easier for both of them. Andreas certainly has inherited his father's good taste and we have enjoyed getting to know Katharine through meeting in Manchester and Oxford a couple of times this autumn. While in Riga, Andreas recorded a new CD with his band. They spent a couple of weeks in a summer house, writing lyrics and music and then went straight on to recording them. Andreas gladly will ship a free CD to anyone who is interested, it is well worth listening to, he too certainly has come a long way since the first feeble attempts at playing and singing many years ago in Riga.

For Lisbeth and Henrik the year certainly was about adjusting. Life in the UK has not been difficult to get used to, but work and ministry has been quite a change. We do begin to feel at home and have got to know people round the division and managed to built some good relationships, which is a prerequisite of any true ministry. Henrik has, not surprisingly, done a bit of work with Natural Church Development, both in the division, the territory and also some on the national level outside The Salvation Army. In January we begin an 18 months NCD process with 1/3 of the corps in the division, which will be very interesting to participate in. Lisbeth has during the autumn invested quite a lot of time in preparing for an introduction of BabySong to the territory, which will take place in February next year. Where as Henrik rejoices in all no translation is needed for the NCD material, Lisbeth now has to invest time in translating material from various Scandinavian languages into English.

One of the great advantages of working for the Army in the UK is the possibilities it gives for studying and both of us have been accepted to do a university course generously funded by the UK Territory. Lisbeth will commence in January studying for a BA in “Pastoral Care with Psychology” and Henrik began studying towards a MA in “Missional Leadership” in the autumn.
As this summer was our first in the UK we decided to stay here for our holidays. Part of it was spent at home, far away from the office and with a garden, which really was a very relaxing holiday. For the second half we set of for the south of England with our tent. With out saying too much let us just say it was not quite the same as camping in Italy or France, but now we at least know how to pitch the tent while it is raining! We did have a couple of days with sunshine, which made up for the cold nights, and it was an interesting experience – but whether it will ever be repeated is more doubtful!

When we started writing it was the afternoon of Christmas Eve and the intention was to finish it before starting our Christmas Celebrations – now it is passed midnight, the food has been eaten, the gifts unwrapped and we have all been to a Midnight Service to celebrate the birth of Christ. Fortunately we are in the UK and so it is not too late to wish family and friends a Happy and Joyful Christmas. Usually we would add a wish for the New Year, but since this is a blog and not a Christmas card we will wait a week or so before thinking about the New Year.

Good night, or rather, Good Morning – Merry Christmas and God Bless!

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From 82 to 100 in a week

This is a significant post. Not because of the content, which will be pretty trivial, but rather because this is my post no. 100! (Congratulations, applause and chocolates will not be turned away!). Originally it was my intention to hit 100 at the same time as the anniversary for the first posting. It ended up taking me 1 ½ month longer, but still I actually feel quite good about reaching 100 in such a relatively short time.

So what do you write about in your post no. 100? I have not got a clue. I thought about just making links to some of my previous posts, but then gave it up for 2 reasons: It would take a lot of time to look through 99 posts to find the best and secondly it might seem a bit narcissistic to begin referring to my own posts.

I also thought about finding 5 previous posts and ask all our readers to vote for the best, but as I want to avoid the humiliation of everyone realising how few readers there are of this blog, I also decided against that.

So what else? Maybe I should settle for a quick update about what this blog really is about: the daily life of the Andersens.

Yesterday Andreas and Katharine came up to stay with us for a few days. Katharine is going to Seattle on Monday to celebrate Christmas with her parents, but since term is over for both of them they decided to come up for the weekend, which we of course appreciate very much. Last night we went for a meal at the local carvery and then on to the Trafford Centre! It was actually not as bad as it might have been, I spent most of the time in a bookshop, just browsing and reading bits of various books – I did find some I would like to buy, but resisted temptation.
While I was there Andreas and Lukas showed Katharine the rest of the shopping centre (or maybe it was more a case of them following her from shop to shop?) and Lisbeth spent time in a few of her favourite shops.

Today we are planning to go to Manchester to experience the Christmas Market and probably also to do some Christmas shopping. This weekend Liverpool is playing Manchester United, so Lukas and Andreas (who supports one of each of these teams) started winding each other up straight away. They did consider finding a pub to watch the game together, but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!) the game is not played before Sunday, when Andreas will have left again. Undoubtedly there will be more teasing when Andreas returns later in the week, no matter what the result will be.

I am sure Maria would have loved to be here these days, but she is not coming before Wednesday together with Grandmother. Maria has been busy working and preparing for something of an adventure in the New Year. She will spend Christmas and New Year with us, but then flies of for a 6 month trip of USA and Canada. She will spend time in St. Louis with Evie, then on to Sacramento and stay with Corina, my cousin, before going back to St. Louis. Then it she will be off to Windsor, Canada where Wilma will host her, before she finishes of in Toronto, where she will stay with Holly, who I was at the ICO (International College for Officers) with 10 years ago. For someone who is scared of flying, it is quite a trip! (I hope all the people mentioned knows Maria is coming!) It is not just a holiday trip. At every location she will be doing volunteer work for The Salvation Army. Before leaving for the US she just needs to decide what she will study next year and send in her applications, so sometime will be spent on working that out over Christmas.

Lukas finds it somewhat unfair that he has another week of school left when his brother already is finished with Uni, but he is delighted to have Andreas and Katharine here and very much looks forward to Maria and Grandmother coming on Wednesday. He has not had any accidents that required visits to the hospital for quite a while (app 1 month!) which is almost extraordinary. Hopefully he will not take revenge during the Christmas period.

I am not sure I have mentioned I have taken up playing football? Every Sunday evening I join up with a group from one of our plants to play in a 6-a-side league. It is a real competition with referees and everything. So far we have not done too well.....that is we have lost all our games, but none with double figures (but we have come very close). My challenge is that all the players are considerably younger than me (both on our and the other teams), often half of my age, and I have had to accept I am not quite as fit or fast as I used to be (20 years ago, that is!). Nevertheless last Sunday we played our best game so far. We actually managed to pass the ball 2-3 times before loosing possession, and were not easily broken down. In the end we lost 2-5, but (wait for it...) I scored both of our goals!!!!! I even hit the post with the last kick of the game, but everyone agreed a hat trick would not have been good for my humility! Problem is we are playing again this Sunday, and suddenly I feel the pressure of expectations rising – I am beginning to understand how Torres feels every Sunday!

While I run around playing football, pretending to be young again, Lisbeth is steadily working down her list of Christmas preparation. Cookies have been baked, the pork roast imported from Denmark, decorations have gone up, Christmas cards written and endless other things. We (that is the rest of the family) are truly spoiled. As I am writing I am sitting next to 3 jars of home baked Christmas cookies, but am under strict orders not to eat any! Believe it or not, I haven't once done it yet, but I do look forward to Christmas!

Well, there you go, suddenly post no. 100 ended up as many others before it: Long and waffly.
Hope you all will have a great weekend – hope to be in touch before Christmas!

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Confessions

I don't how it happened. Suddenly I found myself at a site, where I never had been before. It certainly had never been my intention to look up such a site. I was just quietly surfing round the Internet, and then I was there. It felt very strange and certainly embarrassing, but also a bit intriguing and exciting. Some innocent link must have brought me to the site, my conscience was clear, I had not intended to land there, but now that I was there, it was difficult not to look around and I have to admit I lingered longer than I needed.

Ever since I have been reminded of it again and again and I need to get it of my chest, so I hopefully can put it behind me. Confession is good for the soul, and although it is lousy for the ego, I have decided to bite the bullet and get it out in the open.

I do not usually visit sites from Insurance Companies, but as I said, somehow I landed there and my attention was caught by the offer of trying a test which would predict your life expectancy. I had to answer questions about height, weight, age and then a lot about lifestyle (smoking, drinking, exercise etc) and then it would calculate how long I could expect to live. You have to understand that men in my family do not have a brilliant record of living to old age. My Father died when he was 54, his Father when he was 55, so I was somewhat surprised when the test predicted my life expectancy to 82! I have promised my children to break the trend, but 82!

It means I am only just about half way (+- 5 years), it also means I will have 17 years after retirement. What am I going to use that time for? I have already told my children not to expect me to look after any children they might produce, so17 years is a long time not to have any responsibilities. If I had chosen another career, I could spend the time travelling for the money I would have saved up, but in reality my savings probably only will buy me a cheap day return to London (from Manchester, that is!). I am not that fond of watching too much TV and I probably should not expect to be able to play football.

I have never given much, if any, thought to death. I know I have eternal life and will spend it with Jesus in heaven, so I am not worried. But neither have I ever contemplated on a long life, had more or less taken it for granted it would not happen.

While looking at the screen I realised I only have 2 choices: Prepare for a long life or change my lifestyle. Anyone got a cigarette?

Seriously, after thinking it through I realised it makes no difference whether life is short or long, it is about living every day for Jesus, having a relationship with him, being obedient to his commands and guidance. It is about receiving and living in the fullness of life from Christ every day and about living to help others enter and grow in this life. How wonderful it would be to reach 80 and be able to inspire and mentor younger people (younger as in younger than 80!) in their Christian life! How wonderful would it be to be sought out for advice from leaders still in the middle of the battle? How wonderful it would be to hear from God, to participate in worship and ministry, and to try and be open minded for how new generations will express their faith and reach their peers (with the advantage from today that I would be able to turn down my hearing aid!).

Just as my present lifestyle (which apparently is better than I thought) will affect my life expectancy, so will the way I live out my relation with Jesus today affect the scenario painted above. Maturity, vibrancy and wisdom are not natural side effects of a long life, they are effects of a life spent with and for Jesus.

I think I will continue not to think about the length of time ahead of me, but concentrate on today. Probably that is the best way to prepare. 82 is not 41 years ahead from today (OK, OK 36), but just one long line of “todays”. These “todays” will not only shape tomorrow, but the rest of my life. I won't need that cigarette, maybe I should look for my Bible instead? Or maybe I will do it tomorrow, after all, with 36 years to spare, what difference will one day make?

Today or Tomorrow? That is the real question. What will it be?

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While Shepherds Were Watched

It had been a good evening so far, but we still missed that moment, something that would lift the spirits, give people a reason to really enjoy themselves. 2/3 of our annual Carol Concert had gone, I was placed at the back of the hall by the sound desk, supposedly because from there I could intervene if anything went horribly wrong.

There had been good and moving moments. When our guest soloist sang “O Holy Night” followed by “Who would expect a King” (from “The Preacher's Wife) or when the Youth Chorus had sung “Prayer of the Children” and with some haunting words brought the reality of suffering and pain round the world into the Christmassy atmosphere in Manchester. I am sure I was not the only one with moist eyes at the conclusion of that song. But the item we had discussed in the planning meetings, but never really found, was just missing.

Then came the Nativity play. Esther, a young girl from one of our plants, stepped forward and without any accompaniment began singing “Silent Night”. As she was singing children slowly walked onto the stage, dressed as characters from the Christmas story. First came Mary and Josef with the baby. We had only been able to mobilise one shepherd and he entered during the 2nd verse. He was only 3 years old, but walked on stage just as had been planned, carrying his sheep under one arm and with a staff that seemed twice his size in his hand. Probably would have looked fine, if he had not hold onto it like a walking stick, stretching his little arm to the limit to reach the handle at the top. A slight giggle went through the audience – he was cute. He walked straight to his assigned spot and sat down. Or rather, he tried to sit down. It is not so easy when you are only three, carrying a sheep under one arm while holding on to a staff twice your size, and wearing a dress does not make it any easier. While he was struggling to get down the giggle grew to a controlled laughter, the kind of laughter you use when children, unintentionally, are amusing and you do not want to upset them, but still can't help to laugh. Finally he made it down to the floor with his two short legs stretched out in front of him, his bare feet pointing at the audience. Suddenly he realised that in his struggle to get down, he had come too far forward. He was determined to do it right, he had been shown where he should sit, and he was going to get there, but how? Getting up would be just as difficult as it had been to get down. He could not use his hands, as they still were used to hold onto a sheep and the staff and his legs were stretched out in front of him. The only movable part of his anatomy in contact with the floor was his bum, and he decided to use it. Displaying an amazing control of his buttocks he “walked” backwards, using first the left, then the right, then the left and so on until finally he was in the right spot. The laughter was not quite as controlled any more.

Amazingly Esther managed to keep calm and kept singing. Next verse brought on the star, a 2 year old by dressed as a star. He did exactly as he had been told and a collective “ahhh” sounded from the audience as they saw him. As you know, after the star comes the kings. 3 of them, supposedly coming together, but for some reason they came one by one. The first entered with something between a brisk walk and slow jog, dumped his gift in front of the manger and then hurried into his position next to Joseph. The next king had understood that jogging was not suitable for the occasion and set of doing his best to look dignified and solemn. Unfortunately he over did it a bit. He walked so slowly that he would not have made it to Bethlehem in time for the second coming and tried so hard to look dignified that it became hilarious. The congregation, truly warmed up now, of course reacted with mild laughs. Esther, God Bless her, was still singing beautifully, and we managed to get the angels on stage without any further mishaps. Finally they were all there, placed around the manger and as Esther finished the song and thunderous applause broke out, the biggest of the evening.

I had enjoyed the nativity just as much as anyone else, accepting there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, but I was glad it was over. From now it was plain sailing until the end of the concert, or so I thought!

The Divisional Commander (DC) stepped forward, standing in front of the nativity scene to do his devotion. He connected quickly with the congregation, helping them to settle down after the excitement of the nativity play. The idea was the children would stay as a tableau of the nativity during the devotion – big mistake!

The children had been instructed to sit and stand still while the DC was talking and they actually did. The shepherd, still sitting on the spot he so athletically had moved to earlier, knew he should not move, but no one had said anything about his staff. He probably was bored, and so he started exploring what he could reach with the rod – the manger, Mary, the cornet bench of the band. He realised if he held on to the bottom of the staff then it had a hook at the other end and for a moment he contemplated pulling baby Jesus out of his manger, but the it seemed like he got another idea, wondering whether, if he got a big enough swing on the staff, he might be able to bring down the man (the DC) standing in front of him, blocking his view to the nice people in the hall.

While all this was going on the DC valiantly tried to deliver his well prepared thoughts. Unfortunately the shepherd's actions had not gone unnoticed by the congregation, who several times burst out in laughter. I did not know whether to laugh or cry at this time, seeing a well prepared programme with a natural progression going down the drain. Part of me wished some adult on the stage would take that staff, which by know had turned into a lethal weapon, away from the shepherd, but I also realised it would probably not be popular with the crowd. The DC finished of by saying “Thank You for listening”, but knew very few had the faintest idea what he had said, the show had been hijacked by a shepherd.

When we planned the programme the idea was that the devotion would have given people something to think about and so, without introduction, the band would accompany a trumpet rendition of Away in a Manger, to give the audience time to digest what they just had listened to. The lights would dim over the nativity scene and as the band would start to play the children would discreetly walk off stage, while the attention was on the band. That was the plan. In reality, the lights weren't dimmed and before the band got going the children, relieved finally to be allowed to move, marched out in a single file across the stage, with the audience applauding enthusiastically. Our little shepherd found it as difficult to get up from the floor as he had found it getting down. When he finally made it to his feet, the other children were off stage already. Carrying his sheep and dragging his staff along the floor, he hurried after them, all on his own, but accompanied not only by applause, but loud cheers from everyone in the audience.

It had been planned as a moment of silence and contemplation, instead we got that moment, where everyone was enjoying themselves and relaxing, that moment, which, when everything else is forgotten, still will bring a smile to the face of everyone present. I am not sure anyone focussed on what the nativity was suppose to mean, their attention was distracted with all the things going on around the scene, but was that not just what happened the first Christmas? No one really got what it all was about, focussing more on the star, the angels and all the other happenings? Maybe we can convince people we planned the nativity play the way it happened, to make it more realistic? Maybe we can tell we were trying to make a theological point when the shepherd used his bum to move back on the right spot?

Or maybe we should just accept that the shepherd stole the show? He was cute – but he sure is not getting on stage next year!

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