Alongside all of this we feel the pressure from parents or friends or ourselves:  we have to get top marks.  It feels as if our whole future hangs on success of these few weeks.  In addition there is the summer to plan, the holidays, the festivals, the house parties, the jobs to be applying for and the daydreams the library induces.  In the midst of all of this coming to church seems to be the straw that will break the camel’s back.  After all, we think, church will still be there in a month’s time. 

Obviously you are a Christian all the time and coming to church is not more spiritual than other things.  Having said that, there are good reasons to make church a priority.

Here are my top 4 reasons for making a church a priority during exams

1.       You’re a Christian.  The most important thing about you is that you are a Christian.  Being a Christian is more important than passing or failing.  Being a Christian is more important than your future career.  Coming to church feeds your faith.  It helps us to grow to know God better.

2.       Perspective.  Knowing God better helps us in each situation which faces us.  It teaches us what is important and how to live.  You are not just a Christian at church, but church helps you to know what each moment of each day should look like.   This brings perspective on revision and laziness, failure and success.

3.       Church is not all about you.  You might feel you can learn and grow as a Christian from the comfort of your arm chair.  Yet that misses the point that church is communal.  We meet to encourage one another.  Coming to church benefits others as we encourage them, pray with them and learn with them.

4.       Set the Pattern Now.  Exams are part of a life full of big moments.  If you decide that church is for when life is easy and there is not too much on, then you will end up not coming to church much over future years.  Set a good pattern now of coming to church even when life is busy and tough.

There is loads more that could be said, but hopefully that inspires you to keep enjoying coming to church especially through exams.  Also be assured that there are a lot of people praying for you as you face this busy period.

• Respond rightly to God and the gospel (with seriousness and celebration).

• Be rooted in Christian history, benefitting from the songs and insight of the saints of old.

• Be relevant to our culture, speaking the musical language of our day.

• Avoid a culture of entertainment, so Christ-likeness trumps our preferences,

• Serve God’s diverse people.

However, it’s time for a disclaimer! You could read all this and draw the conclusion that each and every church family should pursue an ever-increasing number of musical styles and genres - anything goes! (and must do so).

This is clearly impractical.

So what musical genres or moods should we be pursuing here at Christ Church? How do we decide what works and is useful? Well, partly with reference to what I’ve already said - there should be some variety, it should allow for a breadth of ‘right emotional responses’ to God - awe, reverence, joy... etc. For example, if all of our music is faddish, transient and shallow, we may embrace a spirit of celebration but are unlikely to develop any deep-seated convictions about the awesome and holy God who has given us cause for such deep celebration by his remarkable incarnation, death and resurrection.

But beyond this lies a further question. Why do we instinctively know that some musical styles just won’t work in our setting?

Why is it, for example, that we don’t have a great burgeoning of rap and hip-hop at Christ Church Fulwood? After all doesn’t such music have a unique contribution to make? (undoubtedly). And isn’t rap, unlike many other forms of contemporary music, profoundly content driven? (absolutely). But we instinctively know this is not the best idea, but why? The answer lies in two simple ideas. Personality and Authenticity.

In order to draw any of the unique benefits a particular style of music brings, it must be able to be played and sung with authenticity. Otherwise the unique contribution of that music is negated because it just seems ridiculous. A much better place to start when working out which music will serve our church well is to ask, ‘What gifts has God given us as a Church‘? Working this way around will help us to use, value, develop and train those musicians God has placed among us, and to avoid musical blind alleys which are doomed to failure because they lack authenticity. That doesn’t mean we never push the boundaries, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pursue variety (for all the reasons given), but we must do so within the limits of ‘who we are’ as a church.

As an aide, this definitely doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to reach out with the gospel to those who are very different to us (absolutely we should!). And, yes, there may be some musical implications here. I understand and applaud the instinct to change a church’s music to appeal to non-Christians who are not yet part of the church family.  Remember though that stretching things too far will only result in inauthentic music, which everyone can see through. It’s worth saying, too, that (at its worst) this kind of thinking leads to far too much trust being placed in music to do the job of drawing people to Christ. Instead, we must earnestly pray for the work of the Holy Spirit, preach the gospel faithfully and with passion, and use the gifts we have to make authentic music with some variety.

Lastly then, you might wonder how we’re trying to put this into practice here at Fulwood? What balance are we trying to strike to serve the priorities and ideas in these three posts?

The following might help you make some sense of the changes and developments you’ll see at Fulwood.

We want to...

•     Pursue ‘undistracting excellence' as far as we possibly can. Such excellence serves all of the other priorities as attention is drawn to Christ and to the content of our songs rather than an impending musical train-wreck. Much is therefore expected of our musicians in the way of preparation, rehearsal, practice and prayer. We unapologetically seek to use only gifted and humble musicians who have a heart for the Lord.

•     Start with the question ‘what musical gifts has God placed here'? This has lead to an increase in the use of choral music in recent times.

•     (following on from the above) Implement our vision for a four-fold music ministry consisting of 1. Contemporary Music Group, 2. PA Ministry, 3. Core Choir, 4. Orchestra... all serving the church throughout the year.

•     Pursue each musical style properly and unapologetically. Often church music gravitates toward a ‘safe' middle ground where everything sounds pretty well the same. This means you effectively lose all the benefits of variety! For example, our contemporary music should be truly contemporary.

•     Use the right instruments for the right job. Hence our grand piano is now only used for choral and orchestral music, while we use our new keyboard week-to-week in our contemporary bands.

•     Develop a diverse music ministry team, firmly united around the gospel. The music leadership team and I now oversee around 70-80 musicians who serve in youth contemporary bands, adult contemporary bands, our core choir, and our PA ministry.

If you’re part of the church family at Christ Church I would be delighted to talk more with you about this; if you have questions, concerns, or you’re inspired to be involved, do be in touch. 

An article in todays times talks of the possibility of having located the remains of Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra just off a small coral island in the South Pacific. The intrepid lady, along with her navigator, disappeared 75yrs ago during an attempt to fly around the world along the equator. Other unsolved mysteries listed in the article include the final resting place of Noah’s ark, the rockets from Apollo 11, Hitler’s ashes, Shergar the racehorse and Atlantis.

There is nothing like a good mystery to get us interested. However I wonder if some of the mysteries that are a little more close to home are unhelpfully ignored. Secrets like “why so many young people are leaving church?”, “what happened to family bible studies?” and “who is really responsible for the spiritual development of young people?” do not maybe have the sensational factor, but are equally, if not more, worthy of serious consideration, debate and decisive action.

To that end in a couple of weeks we’re planning to put on our first ‘3D" event. The idea is to take an issue that affects young people and families and

DISCOVER with a careful look at culture, society and church what is actually going on. Before ...

DISCERN what God has to say about that issue in scripture and then...

DECIDE in groups how to face the issue in our own homes and families

 You can see where the 3D comes from now! Issues in the pipeline include Sexuality, Drugs, Transitions in education, Youth Culture, Success, Film, Music, Grandparents etc.

No doubt there are Mysteries that God alone knows the answers too, but I’m constantly thankful that, although there are some secrets (Deut29v29) that we’ll never know, there is in God’s Word answers that equip us for life and godliness (2 Peter 1v3). It’s my pray that in facing some of these “secrets” families and church family will be strengthened and encouraged to keep trusting the bible to solve these daily mysteries and thus glorify him more in homes and church.

3D will take place in Christ Church Fulwood church Lounge on Friday 20^th April at 7.30. Coffee and tea will be available and we aim to take about 1hour 15 mins. (Babysitters available on request Please phone 07847301254)

Reason for Variety #4 - Avoid ‘CENTERTAINMENT' 

We must make God and the preaching of the gospel (which includes discipleship and evangelism) the heart, centre and purpose of our meetings and not entertainment.

 That doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy any aspect of gathering as a church, gathering with God’s people is joyful, but it does mean we won’t let entertainment drive the agenda. This is a huge challenge to us and our culture for two reasons. Firstly, we’re all sinful and our natural propensity is to seek out that which we feel meets our own wants, desires, comfort and entertainment. We gravitate in packs to people who are like us and things which makes us feel good. Secondly, we live in the age of digital entertainment: the ‘iPod generation‘. The mantra of the iPod generation is that you ‘have 1000 songs in your pocket’. In other words, you can consume whatever musical entertainment you want, whenever you want it. Life, in entertainment terms, is entirely choice driven. Nobody is tied to TV schedules anymore, we have video-on-demand whenever we want it. You can even find an internet radio station which will tailor the playlist to exactly suit the preferences of every individual listener.  There are great benefits to this - I have 1000 songs in my pocket and I love that! I’m a sold out member of the ipod generation (in one sense). In another sense, however, the iPod generation faces a challenge when it comes to church.  It’s so easy to import the ideas of personal choice and entertainment into our services. This is seen (in larger churches) in the creation of a plethora of different services each catering to a particular musical taste. This model seems attractive but I think is ultimately dangerous because it doesn’t reflect the gospel. The gospel unites Jew and Gentile. In other words, very different people find peace with God and crucially unity together in Christ. For me the the iPod model of church - different services for different tastes - fails because the gospel which is preached (the gospel of reconciliation and unity) is undermined by church structures which ‘saying' something else. 

Reason for Variety #5 - Serve God’s DIVERSE PEOPLE

God’s people are diverse. What evokes joy in one evokes despair in another. We’ve need to remember then, that we will never be united around musical taste - why would we expect to be. The thing we hold in common is Jesus Christ. The gospel is what unites us. In a diversity of life circumstances we’re each on a journey of discipleship, growing up into Christ, becoming more like him. As we do this, a constant challenge for each of us is to learn to prefer the needs of others (Just like Jesus did). Here again, diversity of Music helps us. Music that speaks soundly of the gospel but that you don’t like is an opportunity for your discipleship. it’s an opportunity to behave like Jesus- preferring the needs of others, rejoicing in the benefit that a diversity of musical styles brings to our brothers and sisters around us. 

Stay tuned for a final post!

In this first blog post let me allay a few myths and give you the first three (of five) reasons that we, by conviction, believe in musical variety across the board at all of our services. 

Myth One - Keeping people happy.

Doing anything in church life to ‘keep people happy‘ is a poor plan. To be truly happy (‘blessed’ in Bible language) has very little to do with the immediate gratification of my wants and whims but is a product of walking closely with the Lord Jesus. Given our sinful nature these whims and wants for our own comfort and ‘happiness‘ are not necessarily an accurate measure of what will do us the greatest spiritual good. Remember, blessed are the poor and humble, not the opinionated or the entertained. ‘Pleasing everyone’ is also a completely unachievable goal. Of course we will never be united by musical taste (in any church, let alone a largish one). Why would we expect to be?! We must expect to be united by the gospel, not by this tune or that. Jesus Christ (not Bach, Watts, Wesley, Redman, Hughes or Townend - great as they are) is the one who binds us together. Pleasing everyone is a poor goal, we must find a better one!

Myth Two - People only ‘like' one kind of music. 

This, in my experience is just not true. People are much more complex than that and find that all kinds of music speaks to them and helps them to know and feel the weight of the gospel and the wonderful character of God. For example, in the churches to which I’ve belonged the simplistic idea that ‘Youth don’t like hymns' is just not true and does young people a dis-service. Plus, as my friend often points out, the generation who grew up with the Beatles are now entering the more senior years of life. 

Reason for Variety #1 - RESPONDING RIGHTLY to God and the gospel

A right response to God and the gospel includes a diversity of emotions or ‘states of the heart'. We ought to respond to almighty God in awe, wonder and reverence, yet also with a real sense of joy and celebration; as we are sinners brought near to a holy God through the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ. There also ought to be a sense of peace about Christian gatherings: after all, we are people who know peace with God and the restoration of human relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Having said that there’s also a right sense of restlessness and action when the church gets together: We are a people battling with sin, putting off our old selves and becoming more like Christ, a people labouring to take the gospel to a needy world.  It’s just true that different kinds of music are good at helping us to appreciate and respond to God in different ways and help us feel the implications of the gospel. 

Reason for Variety #2 - BEING ROOTED in Christian history

We would be wise to understand our place in the history of all God has been doing in his church throughout the generations. It is the height of arrogance to assume that all the greatest songs of Christian worship were written in the last twenty years, or to assume that the those who have gone before us have nothing to teach us and no songs of praise to contribute. Being rooted in the hymns and songs of previous generations means we don’t become blinded to those aspects of theology which remain neglected in our current time and culture.  For example it is relatively difficult to find contemporary songs which talk in any depth about the coming judgment of the Lord Jesus, yet there is a rich supply of more ancient hymns which will teach and feed us on this important issue. 

Reason for Variety #3 - BEING RELEVANT to our culture

We are wise to seek out, to make use of, even to create our own contemporary musical expressions in response to God and the gospel, lest we become lazy or neglect to engage ourselves in the things of God, or neglect to engage with those aspects of God’s character and the gospel which particularly speak to our culture; lest the church becomes a museum to a former glory; lest we cease to speak the musical language of our day which engages both Christians and non-Christians. The church has a history at the forefront of contemporary music (just ask Bach) and we must make music which sounds like ‘now'. 

Stay tuned for two more reasons... one disclaimer... and several concluding thoughts about how we put this into practice!

I Was in Cambridge on Thursday talking to some Youth Workers from East Anglia. It was great to catch up with some old friends and be amongst other people who wanted to grasp the truth of God’s word and apply it relevantly to ministry with young people.

The evening was all about how youth workers can better engage with parents, and as we thought, discussed and mulled over things I was struck afresh how important it is that Youth and Children’s workers engage fully with exactly how God want’s the church to support it’s children.

To cut a long story short, passages such as Deuteronomy 6v4-9, Ephesians 6v1-4, Psalm 78v1-4 along with Proverbs, plenty of Old Testament narrative and many other bits of scripture, all point towards the responsibility of parents when it comes to the spiritual growth of Children.

This months evangelical alliance magazine IDEA published an article Called EXODUS, in which they quote Christian Research as estimating that the church will have lost 1.1million children in the 30 years between 1990 and 2020

In it Peter Brierley, a man I really respect, says this:

"The rise in the number of youth workers in recent years has meant that the Church has not lost as many young people as it could have done"

BUT what if it’s the other way round?

Could it be that the rise in youth workers has actually contributed in some way to the exodus of young people from the church? Could youth workers have so professionalised Youth Ministry that parents feel they can’t complete...

“Youth workers are so cool, so culturally aware, so much better at discipling, that I might as not bother and just leave it to them when it comes to my children!”

I hope that I’m wrong BUT what I want to do, more than anything, is to ensure that our Family, Youth and Children’s ministry is putting the responsibility where God says it should be. I want the ministry at Christ Church to be the icing on the cake for Mums and Dads who understand and are equipped to take spiritual responsibility at home.

I think Wayne Rice (Veteran youth worker) puts it beautifully in this clip...

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Time was spent looking at some of the Judges; I chatted about our families being set up to model God’s good rule to a world that doesn’t think God’s rule is good; and fathers and sons discussed, in pairs, about what they had been learning. All this was great, and I hope helpful, but I was struck and reminded about how important just spending time being together is vital, particularly being daft and building happy memories.

When I turned up on Friday night everyone was wide awake and excited about a weekend together, but as I arrived for tea on Saturday there was a noticeable age split. The boys were bouncing around, no doubt aided by the odd E number from tuck shop, while the Dads were beginning to look a little the worse for wear. This I learnt was a combination of getting muddy on the ropes course, competing on the climbing wall and at archery and an epic football game won by the Dad’s who “cheated”. Needless to say all this information was gladly divulged by sons who had just had a brilliant time with their fathers.

After tea we played “hunt the Dads” in the dark with torches, followed by “hunt the sons” in a similar fashion. The sight of Paul Williams running, and shouting “I got you” repeatedly, in the pitch black after a small, but very fast, figure who didn’t want to be found will be a lasting memory. This was followed by a camp fire and songs with silly actions with which everyone joined in.

I tell you all this just to remind us Dads to make time and do daft things occasionally. Memories of that sort of friendship build security and approachability for when times get tough.

I think this Youtube link makes the point beautifully!

National Fatherhood Initiative: ‘Dance’

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A festschrift (literally a “feast of writing”) is a book honoring a respected person and presented during his or her lifetime.  Recent years have seen these presented to John Piper, Dick Lucas and Don Carson and others.

Could a festschrift contribute to the dilemma of the “celebrity pastor”? That’s a real danger, but in this case, the truth is that the focus is firmly centred on the gospel. These writings are not about Philip but about the role of the pastor that he so valued and to which he gave himself unstintingly.

However, the purpose of this review is not to contribute to the festschrift but to encourage you to read these essays. Personally, this is a form of writing I really enjoy. Too many books have a good idea at heart but run out of steam well before the last page. However, the contributors here use their skill and knowledge to concisely and clearly address “all the major aspects of pastoral ministry”.

Each of the contributors knows Philip personally and wisely use the various contexts of his ministry to introduce their subject. There are 12 essays in total, preceded by a four-page foreword by Hugh Palmer that sets the scene well.

This book might well be “a major resource for all pastors” but I think it is far more valuable than that. This is a book for all of us. Here we have an insight into the role and ministry of the pastor that will help us, not just as those who are “pastored”, but also as those who must pastor “one another”.

It is not just pastors who need to learn valuable lessons on renewal, prayer, worship and the church. We can all learn from this helpful book so that we might be hearers of the word, doers of the word and messengers of the word, “a people that are God’s very own, eager to do what is good”.

Peter Collier

The book is available from the church bookstall for £8.

I’ve been a Christian for 28 years now - 28 Christmases have amazed me, as I’ve thought about the wonder of God’s remarkable intervention in the incarnation.  But this year I have been grabbed afresh by the wonder of the truth that God became a baby.  The Almighty God, the creator of the universe, the one who flung stars into space (as the hymn writer puts it) became a baby - a gargantuan gift in very small packaging.  There was my justification for wrestling with the remains of the roll of Christmas paper.  Except what was impossible for me, was possible for God.

Happy Christmas

What are they? 

A time which Christians set aside to spend reading the Bible and praying every day.  

Why do them? 

A person who becomes a Christian goes from knowing about God to knowing God. 

“Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”           --John 17:3 

Being a Christian is all about knowing who God is and what He has done.

But if we don’t spend any time with Him we can’t get to know Him! After all if you are getting to know a friend you spend time hanging out, chatting, asking questions.  

^"1In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ²but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe." Hebrews 1v1 

The main way we get to know God is by reading the Bible.  Jesus is described in the Bible as being the word of God.  

 "¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1v1 

So we can know God by reading the Bible-His word written down.

But often we don’t read the Bible or spend any time with God. 

Why not? 

Prayer often does not happen because Christians don’t take the time to plan to pray and we then decide we are too busy-watching TV, checking facebook etc.

Some Christians plan to pray but then are defeated by their mind drifting off topic.

Other people feel like they are too far away from God to pray.

Some feel that they are too ashamed to pray.

And lots are happy to just be mediocre. 

So Top tips to combat these issues (drawn from a selection of  ex-youth who’ve just gone to Uni) 

Find some time when you can be alone.

Find a time to timetable it every day.

This doesn’t mean it becomes a religious habit it means you do it whatever you’re feeling. (preferably in the morning as it focuses you for the day)

Write prayers down, or think of creative ways of praying if you aren’t in a routine or habit of doing it at all because it makes it more fun-like a prayer map or timetable. 

Use ‘Search the Scriptures’.

Explore Bible notes.

Remember that God loves you and has written it down so how He feels about you doesn’t change even if you don’t feel close to Him.

Remember you can always ask for forgiveness.

Please post your own top tips in the comments section below! 

by Emma Graham

Click to download the November-December edition of our Church Family News magazine to find out a little more about who we are and what’s going on at Fulwood Church.

The verse on the back of the tshirt reads: ‘For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “yes” in Christ’ 2 Corinthians 1:20