The longer I am in ministry the more I realise that people live life in a state of worry and stress that is beyond what they will admit to experiencing.
It is THE modern epidemic... Anxiety. Our culture is literally rushing around trying to make things work in a world without God and His wisdom and it won't... so we rush faster!
I see this even more so in the upcoming generations. Canterbury is "a student city." There are 40,000 students that converge on Canterbury during term time and so many of them are living with unmanageable levels of stress and anxiety. And what is worse, is that most of them are doing so without the tools to help them cope. It is literally "killing" them.
This is a big deal. This must be addressed. So we as a church began a conversation around this topic in October of 2017. I will post most of the messages here and this is the first one. I hope they help. We need to get real about the havoc this is leaving in our society and amongst our young people.
You can find the first talk in this series at this url: https://vimeo.com/240542583
Enjoy.
What do you think of when you hear the word, "Christian?" My observation? -- There is SO. MUCH. BAGGAGE. It seems like one is swamped by the "stuff" and "static" around religion and institution and cannot get to the heart of it. So much of what I try to do in speaking and conversations with seekers is to try and cut thru that NOISE and get to the heart of it. This series we did at Canterbury Vineyard was an attempt to do this en masse. It was inspired by "Speaking of Jesus" by Carl Madearis and many other authors who have influenced me and that will come through. I did not do every week in this series and there are some wonderful contributions by many gifted teachers in the CV Family.
Please have a look at THIS Facebook page that we started and on which we posted the links to the talks on video and extra resources.
My hope is that you will get past the NOISE and discover the REAL JESUS, perhaps for the first time, and He will change.... everything!
Enjoy.
When Nehemiah says "The Joy of the Lord is your strength" in chapter 8, what exactly does he mean? What is this "joy of the Lord" and why is it my "strength"? I am not sure about what the difference is between happiness and joy! But if Nehemiah says that this is MY STRENGTH I am all ears. You see, I need strength. I need it because actually, I'm weak. Life gets on top of me and I am weary and gnackered and... if I must admit it, too weak for the onrushing headwinds of life. I want strength. So how can this JOY be that?
This talk was an attempt on my part to begin to engage with this. Enjoy.
