http://www.backyardmissionary.com rediscovering mission and church in our own backyard Fri, 16 May 2008 03:05:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Ellie was the phone to Danelle last night. "Mum - I'm living in a house of boys. Every time I go to the toilet the seat is up!" Is this toilet seat thing genetic or what?... She's 7. http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/7-year-old-overheard.html I sold my boat today... A bloody big decision I can tell you, but one that had been festering for quite a while. One of the things about boats is - if you don't use them often enough they stuff up - so that when you do use them they cost ... http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/bye-bye-boat.html If we genuinely believe that the church is actually the primary unit of the 'Christian life', (rather than the individual) then this has massive implications for how we live our lives and how we follow Jesus. The 'I' always becomes secondary to the 'we'. In our individualised western world this is abhorrent. ... http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/the-primary-unit-of-the-christian-faith.html I have been chewing on this for a while as the language of 'selling out' has been used around the place quite a bit lately and I am not sure its always used appropriately. There have been (quite legitimate) questions raised about whether Forge is selling out by having a national ... http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/selling-out.html UWA are offering this as a course between July & September. You couldn't offer a topic I am much more interested in! So I imagine I will be back to my old University for 12 weeks auditing a course that looks like it will be very interesting indeed. http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/australian-suburbia-history-culture.html There are some things in life that I both love and hate. Preaching is one of them. I love the intense rigor of preparing, of researching, of learning and of listening to God for what he wants me to say, but I hate that it rarely comes together as easily as I ... http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/that-love-hate-thing.html Life feels like this at the moment and probably explains the absence of blogging around here. This time last week we were supposed to be launching into a week of activity with some visitors from Bali, but they didn't arrive. They have arrived today but there is little to do, so ... http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/disjointed.html I am preaching this Sunday night at North Beach Baptist on Revelation chapter 2, so I have been doing some reflection on who we are as the church. I'm thinking that if the church is really the bride of Christ... then logically that would make God my father-in-law rather than my ... http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/logically.html "For the working class world, Christ seems to be settled with the church and middle class society." Bonhoeffer (Christology) http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/my-christ.html In years gone by I would have had many answers for these people, but today I feel inspiration at their story. I guess we all change. Thanks Simon http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/05/shift.html