God created the universe and He made man in his own image……. this is mind blowing!
Therefore may I suggest that we think outside of the box and focus on how each one of us could be more creative this week.
This may be with our hands such as photography or gardening, Churchill relaxed by building brick walls!
We could be more creative socially…start a prayer triplet. Visit an elderly man who may be lonely and take him for a pint at your local. Go for a long cycle ride with a mate or your son.
Someone challenged me to focus on my ministry of being a husband. That is very creative and involves every heading that I could possibly mention in this short blog!
One of my friends observed that many men who have very creative jobs want to switch off their brains on Sunday at church. Is this is a cop out? Sometimes the best refreshment is to do something as challenging, but completely different from, our normal tasks. It is important for church leaders to challenge men with creative activity rather than them becoming passive spectators.
It is good to do what you are passionate about and invite others to join in. I think CVM call this level one! This is not a big deal, just start in a small way with one other person.
I`m a retired civil engineer and I have found voluntary work socially very demanding and creative. And a joy!

Jesus instructed us to ‘Go and make disciples’… This was not an option, it was a command. He then went on to say ‘And I will be with you’, in other words He will be walking alongside us in this activity.
The men and women who taught me mountaineering did not give me a lecture, they explored and travelled with me over rock and ice. When we came to a problem, it was good to share their greater experience, it helped me to feel safer, more confident and more relaxed. They always seemed to have that vital spare pair of gloves at the top of their rucksacks, where as mine were in the bottom!
While I was learning my mountaineering I was passing on my experience to the next generation, often these activities overlapped. You feel a glow when a past ‘pupil’ becomes your ‘teacher’. Also some of my mountaineering friendships have lasted many years and others have only been for one expedition or event.
Perhaps ‘making disciples’ is similar to learning about mountaineering. Sometimes it can be fairly formal such as in a home group or prayer triplet. Other times it may be a friendship that occurs only for one event, but it can be very special when you have that ‘light bulb’ moment.
This week, I challenge us to pray to be sensitive to the opportunities that God will give us to make disciples and be discipled.
Remember that we are making disciples for Jesus with Him along side us.

A day arrives in the life of the baby eagle when he is fledged and ready for take off from the nest that has been a safe haven. He must take this risk and learn to fly or he will starve. His parents will soon stop feeding him and he must also to learn to hunt. A few days before take off he has been exercising his wing muscles and feeling uplift, but on the day he must take a step of faith.
During our Christian lives we also reach crunch points where we must take off in order to grow and develop as a unique member of Christ`s body in the way that God has created us. The Christian life is an adventure and that may well mean leaving our comfort zone.
Image credit: Photo by Linda Tanner / CC BY 2.0

I love chilling out in the mountains and relaxing with God. So when both activities happen at the same time I am in my element!
God seems to be asking me to relax with him more and more. I just sit down and enjoy his company, praise him for his creation and even share a joke with him.
Last week I was having a chuckle with God down the garden and a sparrow came and perched on my elbow, that is certainly a first for me!
I love the unexpected in the mountains, twice I have seen a brocken spectre…….that is when you see a large shadow of yourself on a misty cloud bank below you, when the sun is directly behind you.
The first time was on the top of Crib Goch in the 1980’s and the second time was about 4 years ago when I was on a cycle ride in the Yorkshire Wolds.
In my experence the best views in the mountains are unexpected and happen when I have left my camera at home!
The Christian life is about having a close friendship with God, this includes relaxing with him and expecting the unexpected?

In 2011, 60% of the world’s 1 billion ‘extremely poor people’ lived in 5 countries- India, Nigeria, China, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This statistic indicates that ‘trickle down’ is not a very effective agent of economic development!
From my own experience of working in the developing world as a civil engineer I have observed that the ‘people friendly’ grass roots projects are the ones that help the poor. They are the ones that are community led and encourage development of talent and long term thinking
About 6 months ago my wife and I moved to a church that was ‘Trickle up’ rather than ‘Trickle down’. We feel liberated, loved and very blessed! Lots of churches talk about ‘Every member ministry’ and think it is a good idea, but do they do it? It is very demanding because as church members, we each take on responsibility and like a family we don’t always agree. The leadership team become facilitators and encourage the development of ministries as well as washing up the tea mugs.
There is a CVM/One Voice day conference on ‘Every member ministry’ at York on the 10th October 2015. See here for details
The conference will also explore other aspects of ‘Trickle up’. So come and explore with us and wash up the tea mugs!

A Roman soldier saw a beggar by the roadside on a cold day, the soldier split his cloak in two with his sword, and gave half the cloak to the beggar. The soldier became the first `chaplain` as this was the word for cloak.
Today we have chaplains in the military, in hospitals, in universities, in industry, in sport, in airports and even in shopping malls. There are about 15,000 of them in the UK and most of these are voluntary.
What does a chaplain do? They simply come alongside folk and encourage and befriend them or just be there. No praying or sharing their faith, unless asked, just be there. Many football clubs and companies who have invited chaplains in to mix with their staff have found that attitudes and culture have become more friendly and positive over a period.
I have just completed a short course to be a chaplain in the local racing industry. It was called `Chaplaincy Everywhere`. We can all be chaplains wherever we are.

Jesus said,”Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds.” He said this a few days before he died. Crucifixion was no soft option. Nor does he offer us an easy path.
Jesus challenges us to complete commitment to follow him and serve the poor, the sick, the downtrodden and those in prison. We enter into his family, we do not join a fan club!

Is your 2015 diary already a bit too full or do you just live in the present? We all have our own time management styles and, yes, planning is necessary. But don’t let your diaries turn into a straitjacket
Then we shall be freer to focus on “random acts of kindness”. Those small gifts cost us a minute or two of time but have value for our neighbour. Letting a car out of a side road in front of us, allowing a harassed parent with two screaming kids go in front of us in the check out queue….and how about telling the kids a funny story while they wait.
Smiles are very catchy, like ripples in a pond when you throw a stone. A few strangers have given me warm smiles back this week, it brightens up the day!
About 60 years ago my scoutmaster suggested that we helped old ladies across the road…I thought that was crazy, as with no cars and only a few bikes, the roads were safe…so let`s be more creative and laid back!
Jesus challenged us to go the extra mile…..perhaps we need to take that first step to climb Everest, then keep on keeping on, step by step.

According to a recent article in the Guardian, being lonely is a higher risk factor for heart desease and stroke than being obese and smoking.
As far as the local church is concerned, we need to encourage it to look out for lonely senior men in residential homes and in their own homes and just be there.
Simple things like fixing a light bulb, taking them to the pictures or the pub or a local football match. Get the youth club involved in this ministry… you can skip a generation. Residential homes are very feminine in culture as there are so few men there so these guys feel sidelined.
TLC is just common sense and imagination. Many old boys, like me!! just want to do stuff for their community but don’t know where to start. So the church could network. Churches need challenging to have pastoral teams for senior men. This would highlight this neglected topic.
Age is only a number… some oldies want ADVENTURE! Most men prefer action rather to chat. There is only one no no… Don`t invite them to church unless they ask…men who want to sing hymns are in a minority and join a male voice choir! Yes I am in one!!
Some churches run holiday clubs for seniors. This stimulates new friendships and activities such as furniture workshops.

The fastest growing churches are the ones without  ‘walls’, the New Testament church, the persecuted underground church in China, the Pentecostal church in South America and parts of Africa. They have no buildings, no institutions, no professional leadership, but they have the body of Christ involved in all spheres of life.
In Africa I have visited thriving schools, garages, barbers, markets and churches ‘under a big tree’; no walls! Jesus`s ministry had no walls.
There were as few as 25,000 christians in 100 AD but by 310 AD there were 20 million.
The Pentecostal movement has grown to about 350 million in the last 200 years.
I am using the term ‘walls’ figuratively, let’s say no formal building. In South Korea, Paul Yonggi Cho, leader of a mega church, always maintained that the real church existed in the cells and that the rest was frills.
My calling for the last few years has been to try to link the formal with the informal church and to encourage ‘every member ministry’ at the grass roots. The ‘formal’ and the ‘informal’ church need each other. We are all brothers and sisters in the same family!
What can we do? Gordon Cosby of the community Church of the Savior in Washington DC noted over 60 years of ministry, that no groups that came together around a non-missional purpose (eg prayer,worship,study,etc.) ever ended up becoming missional. It was only those groups that set out to be missional (while embracing prayer, worship, study etc., in the process) that actually did mission.
How do we become missional?
Church starts on the Monday morning, the Sunday morning session is like getting the tank filled to empower us and equip us to be God’s embassadors for the week.
We are not alone. Keep your close Christian friends up to speed, so that they can pray. Act in small teams if possible and remember that the Holy Spirit is always beside us to guide us and encourage us. We are God`s eyes, ears, mouth and hands in many situations.
‘Slow down’ was the good advice passed on to me by CVM when I started our informal men’s group 9 years ago.’
‘Relax with God and listen to God,’ is another suggestion I have followed. Finally watch where the Holy Spirit is working and join in with him.
God bless you next Monday morning!