Get your Christmas Presence here!

Woolworths is closing. I cant quite believe it. The home of my favourite pic'n'mix is to disappear from the high street. Market analysts reckon that this wont be the last big shop to go under in the recession. I was talking to an electrician the other day who was telling me that he fully expected to lose his job the week before Christmas as the firm had no more orders on the books in the new year. Things like this always make us think about money. We think about how we should restrict our spending this Christmas . . . just in case. The credit is well and truly crunched.

Why have we developed such a fixation and stress inducing drive on making sure that we buy the right presents? We run around for weeks looking for perfection. Instead, we burn ourselves out so that for the few days we are off work to celebrate the birth of Jesus we are so tired and exhausted that we sleep, sleep, sleep.

Perhaps, as the financial markets are resetting themselves, people will reset their priorities and what is important to them. Perhaps people will stop concentrating on trading presents but will again focus on the presence that God revealed over 2,000 years ago when he sent his son down into the earth. God opened a channel for communication. It was a personal message to humankind - you are so important to me that the best I can do is to send my son to deliver the message and be sacrificed in the process. That is the cost of God's presence with us.

The study this week takes a look at some of the main characters in the Christmas story and gets you to consider some hard questions about where your heart lies this Christmas time.

Read the study here and then have a go at this little computer game!

Happy Christmas!

Tim

I still haven't found what I'm looking for!

How much confidence do you have? Where did you get it from?

The recent credit crunch is a good example of what happens when people loose confidence in property, banks and even goods and services. The markets plummet and they loose value. Sometimes our faith, our confidence in what we believe and what we live for can take a knock to and we need to be able to know what to do when we are taking those knocks. Where can we get our confidence back? How can we press on and make sure that we are living our lives in the way that God intended? These are some of the things that we will be looking at in what will be the last of our bible studies into 'Living in the real World.'

Hopefully, through this series you have started to think about your life as a believer and follower of Christ. Hopefully you have started to ask questions and find answers that will make your witness and the way that you live out your faith better. Bono from U2 sang that 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for' and neither have we. We live in a dark world and we try to bring Christ to this world to make it better - we try to bring the kingdom of God to this world but ultimatley we know that we are not going to get perfection here. What I am looking for - is waiting for me when I die and go to be with Jesus in heaven.

But in the meantime, lets press on . . . keep going and do our best in the hope that many other will also be saved.

The study for this week can be found here

Getting ready for Christmas . . .

A few weeks ago I was reading a book by Rick McKinley called 'This Beautiful Mess'. Rick is Pastor at the Imago Dei Community in Portland, USA. I took look at the church web site and stumbled across one of their initiatives called The Advent Conspiracy.

The idea is that we give less to people who dont really need it so that we give more to people who do. I know that in this time of credit crunch, there is a temptation to do this for selfish reasons - to reduce our outgoings and NOT to pass money on to those who need it. Maybe it can be as simple as spending more time with people or making our presents more personal because we have spent time and effort making them.

Certainly this is something for you to think about as we approach Christmas.

There is a video on youtube you can have a look at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU . I also hope to have a copy available on the small group web site in the near future for you to use to inspire others to do the same!

Happy Christmas!

Living life in the real world . . . . .

On Sunday 23rd November the evening service at Muckamore Presbyterian takes a more relaxed format again as we look at some of the issues facing the Christian in the world today. Please come and join us for 7pm!

Shine like stars!

I have to admit that this is one of those verses in the bible that really inspires me. I love the picture that Paul paints in these verses about how we should be responding to God’s Grace. Because God has saved us, regardless of how good or bad we have been, our response should be to live different lives. Lives that act as beacons to others. Lives that shine out amongst the darkness of the rest of the sky.

Get the study here

This week in you network bible study we will be looking at how we should be acting as a witness for others. You might also want to look up a great song on this by Matt Redman called Shine. It is on his most recent album ‘Beautiful News’.

Al Gordon is the co-leader of Worship Central, which is part of the Alpha organisation. In the Worship Central blog for Sept he wrote a bit about this . . . .

Shine Like Stars 13SEP08
Looking around the church at the moment, I see signs of incredible creativity, explosions of art and wonder, but at the same time we often short-change ourselves. We lose out on the vast inheritance we have as children of the Creator.
If it follows that God is the true source of all creativity, the ultimate dreamer , and that we are not just made in the image of our Creator, but also adopted through Christ into his family, reflecting the nature of our Father, then it follows that we should burn with bright, Spirit-fuelled creativity. We should be exploding with art, bringing beauty and calling order out of chaos.
What’s holding us back? I wonder if, on the one hand, we hide ourselves in mediocrity, afraid to share our ideas for fear people will shoot them down. But the opposite is true:
“Whereas material goods are diminished by sharing, the spiritual treasuries of knowledge and beauty, of poetry, music and the rest, by being shared are not diminished but increased.” [Kathleen Raine, The Land Unknown]
We’re called to create in community: just as God involved Adam in the first creation, we who are in Christ, the second Adam, are called to be involved in the new creation: remaking, rethinking and renewing the world around us. We need to encourage a culture that births creativity and does not settle for the status quo.
The second thing that often holds us back is pride. Ego chokes true, God-anointed creativity and leaves us with a hollow shell of what could have been. I love the famous exhortation to humility that US President Ronald Regan had mounted on his desk in the White House: ‘There’s no limit to what you can achieve as long as you don’t mind who gets the credit’.
Let’s push for a cultural shift in our churches towards a season of dangerous, risky, brave creativity, while striving to be clothed in real humility. Let’s shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life. [Phil 2:15]

From Al Gordon’s blog on Worship Central

Have a good week!

Tim

An Attitude like his . . . .

When I was a lot younger my brother was seriously into the A-Team. He loved that TV programme and had all the toys and action figures. His favourite character was BA Baracus played by Mr T. BA was a hard man and his name said it all - Bad Attitude! BA liked nothing better than tossing some 'crazy fool' over the front of a car or van.

The character, like the actor was a big softie. In fact, Mr T used his high profile to help get an important message across to kids. he was a Christian who told kids to stay away from alcohol and drugs. The scary, mohawk and gold chain wearing giant of a man might have looked like a tank on the outside but on the inside his attitude was one of a gentle giant whose love for Jesus caused him to use his fame for good.

This week in the bible study we will be looking at the attitude that we are meant to be showing as Christians. Are we meant to be proud/ aloof? Are we meant to be people who care for others? Are we people who have concern for the people we come into contact with - our neighbours, our friends, our family, our workmates?

Hopefully, we will be able to develop an attitude like His . . . . .

Click here for the study

Time off for good behaviour?

It is not easy to live as a Christian in the world today. Often the people that surround us and know that we claim to be followers of Christ are waiting for us to mess up. How we live our lives, the things we say, the things that are important to us and the way that we react to issues all show how serious we are about following Jesus. Is it enough just to be 'decent'? Do we need to be the type of people that are open, vibrant, challenging, energetic and people that others gravitate towards rather than be out off by our caustic personality. What things do we do that make people think that being a Christian is boring, full of rules and unfulfilling?

In the current bible study we will be looking at the way that Paul reckons we should be behaving. How do we live as Christians in the world today? This will also lead us into thinking about the attitiudes that the Christian should have in the next study.

When others look at us what do they see?

Have a good week!

New Small Group Bible Study: Priorities

What are the big priorities in your life? Church - family - job - God - the kids - free time - football? What things do you make a priority? Whose interest do they serve? Are your priorities an indication of the way that you live your life and the way that you serve God?

This new study will be used from Sunday 5th October and gets us to look into Phillipians chapter 1 to see the priorities that Paul had in his life and how we should try to be more like him.

You can access the study by clicking here

The cost of forgiveness . . . .

I wonder if you have been watching the news over the last week as the Credit Crunch really starts to bit with the big banking and financial institutions around the world. I have been bemused to see the extreme efforts that governments seem to be taking to steady the sinking ships. It seems that the world will end if banks we have never heard of go belly up. It seems that the people who have been getting paid big money for many years are finally getting a dose of the real world.

George Bush has been trying to get this big mega deal to help the financial system. $700 Billion dollars. The Guardian on Saturday told me that this is equal to the GDP of the world's 12th richest country and that it is equal to the US government paying out $5,530 to every person who lives in the US! Is it just me or is this a little crazy? It seems to me that the Banks are about to be forgiven for their bad debt. In order to survive the government will buy the bad debt from them. Is this not a spectacular form of forgiveness. Companies used to taking risks are being bailed out by the government. At a huge cost. I have been wondering what it might be like if my endowment mortgage fails to reach the figure I need it to get to by 2020. Will the government be there to bail me out - even though I am likely to actually have paid enough into the account . . . .

This whole financial crisis has got me thinking a lot about forgiveness. Do I resent the fact that some people get forgiven debt and others dont. Then I thought - what am I worrying about? The biggest debt in my life is already sorted. God, through Jesus, has already forgiven the fact that I invested my life in selfishness, greed, anger etc and He turned me round. Just like those big banks - I needed someone to bail me out - there was a huge cost - a cost where Jesus had to become one of us, be condemned like one of us and die like one of us - yet, He was not one of us.

My debts are forgiven. I am free. I dont need to worry about the past, the present or the future. How cool is that?
So, how do I then live this great forgiveness and share it with everyone else . . . . I think I need to work harder on my 'forgiving heart'.

New Small Group Study: Building a new community

Church is a community of believers who have a shared identity who are engaged in shared tasks and who have a shared aim. We cannot be in isolation. We are the parts of one body, we are the living stones - 'we are built together into a spiritual house' and we need to be involved in this together.

This is the first in a new series called 'Living in the real world'.

The first study of the year will be called 'Building a new community' and will look specifically at some of the writings of Paul to the church at Philippi (aka Philippians!). You can read through the notes on this study on the following link

It's time to go . . . again!

I would like to say a big hello to all of the new people who are wanting to join network groups this year. We are hoping to be able to have 2 extra new groups this year and aim to have about 65 people meeting together on a regular basis, every 2 weeks for bible study and fellowship.

These are exciting times for us and we want you to make the most of your time in the group. A new small group study guide that contains the questions that leaders will be using can be found on the links in my web space. A permanent link is over on the right of this page where it says timmanson.com or you can just click on this link. When you go to the Small Group page you will be able to see and download, print etc the most up to date study . . . if you microsoft word!

Someone should be in touch this week to let you know further details . . . but if you have not heard anything do please get in touch with me .

A message to our local community!

What a week it has been in our church! Many of us have been really encouraged by the great number of people in the church who have been meeting for prayer both as part of the week of prayer and then as part of the 24/3 prayer thing in the Lawther school. It has been a great to have such a 'family' atmosphere, with people hanging round and chatting away to people that they maybe have not chatted to in a while. There was a great feeling of community and togetherness. Our hope and our prayer is that we can continue to build on this. That God's Holy Spirit will continue to bless us, guide us and challenge us as we try to make a difference to the place where we live.

Can I say a big thank you to everyone who has made a special effort this week - for everyone who made it down to the prayer meetings and the people who helped to fill up the 44 prayer slots, the people who helped with breakfast for the prayer walk, to Peter and Brian for leading the prayer meetings and the praise section on Friday, and to Helen, Mark, Lynsey, Gav, Rosie and Sarah who all helped out with different aspects of the prayer room.

It is always rewarding when you see hard work being rewarded and you see God doing His thing through us!

Finally, can I also please say that we can continue to walk with God on a close basis by joining a network bible study group. These groups meet every 2 weeks and there will be one to suit your needs. Please come and learn more about what God wants us to do with Him in our local area!

Re:Launch of Network

Exciting news.
Later today in church I will be announcing the relaunch of network. We already have 7 groups that meet every 2 weesk but we want more. Network is now open to anyone at all - not just the 20 -40's - so we really want to see how many more groups of people are interested in meeting and having bible study!

Please make sure that you sign up - either download this questionaire and email it to me or give me back one of those yellow ones from church. The choice is yours but do, please, join us! (The questionnaire is on the Small Groups page of my personal web space)

More info after the announcement!

3 days of Prayer

You maybe heard the announcement in church on Sunday. This year as part of the week of prayer we are encouraging people in the church to spend some time in the church praying for the year ahead. The idea is that that the Lawther school will be set up as a prayer room and that we have people 'booked' into the room for 3 days.

This is a great opportunity for individuals, small groups, families, teams of leaders, groups of friends to come down to pray together for the church, friends, family and the local community.

Prayer is the backbone to all of the things we want to do. This is an opportunity for us to reflect on the positive power of prayer and for us to remember how our prayers can change situations and lives.

There are 44 slots available over the weekend and we really encourage you to sign up. We also have a few sessions where you can come down for group prayer and worship times.

Look up the online calendar to see what is available

24/3 Prayer calendar

You can then sign up by emailing me or of course fill in the sign up sheet in the church!

Make a point of joining us!

A few changes . . . .

With the summer (what summer?) almost at an end it is time to start turning our minds towards the things of the Lord again! As you may know - Network is an organisation for Muckamore Presbyterian church. There are 2 elements - we organise a network of small groups that meet on a regular basis across the wider area of the church. In addition we have in the past organised a worship/teaching night on Sat nights.

The small groups will be continuing and we will be inviting other people in the church to come and join with us.

In addition we are planning some changes to the network worship nights - these are going to change and hopefully will become a time for worship, praise and prayer.

We will be releasing more information about what is going to be happening in network this year, over the next few weeks - so watch this space for more.

All the best

Tim

Introducing Worship Central in Carnmoney!

A few months ago Helen and I headed over to London for a one day conference with Worship Central. It was a great day of worship, praise, prayer and renewal. I emailed Tim Hughes when I got home and asked him when we could get him over to Northern Ireland. The rotters at Carnmoney got in before me and WC is coming over to do a worship and teaching night on Sat 18th Oct. It only costs £5 per ticket and I really, highly, highly recommend that you go online to WC and book your ticket right now. If you end up going drop me an email at tmanson@thinkgeography.org.uk so I can keep track of the posse going down.

Seriously - you do not want to miss this - Tim Hughes and Al Gordon will be hosting and hopefully leading worship too as they are both fantastic worship leaders. Many of Tim's songs are already modern classsics.

Get your tickets now!

Tim

Worship Central website

Next Network Night - Sat 24th May at 7.30

The next network night is due to take place in Muckamore Pres church at 7.30. You are very welcome to come and join us as we think about the final 'I am' saying of Jesus when he claimed to be the way, the truth and the life. Come to think about the direction where your life is heading . . . are you going the right way . . . . . are you doing the right thing . . . . are you putting energy and time into the right things as you try to look for and serve God.

This is a great time to reflect and to refresh yourself and to commit yourself to God. It is the last 'proper' network night until September. We will be having a more informal get together night on Sat 28th June and then thats it over the summer! But dont worry - the network small groups will be continuing to meet as much as possible through the summer holidays.

So - do join with us this Saturday. Rick Hill will be leading the worship and the speaker is Graeme Thompson who is a Youth Development Officer with the Presbyterian Church.

Engage with us

We are coming close to the first year of network. There have been many highs and lows in the journey. What about you? What the high and low lights for you? Let us know! We are pretty sure that network is NOT the one size fits all solution for the church. It is only an attempt to engage and to do things differently. We have messed up a few times along the way and sometimes things have not quite been the way that we expect them to have been . . . but we believe that we have been guided by God and that as we faithfully try to serve Him and you, that change will happen.

We need you to engage with us! We need to hear what you are thinking -how can we make things better for everyone? How can we take things to the next step? How can we make a bigger impact in the lives of our local community? Thats the challenge. We need more people to help us out next year to take a job and faithfully do it and complete it for the whole year. Is this something that you can do? What are the gifts and skills that God has given to you and wants to see used in his service?

Let's hear from you!

tmanson@thinkgeography.org.uk

Thanks

Tim

Next Network Night - Sat 26th April 2008 7.30pm

The countdown is on for the next Network Celebration night. On Sat 26th April 2008 at 7.30pm we will be meeting in Muckamore Presbyterian Church for our 6th night. The theme for the night is 'I am the bread of life' and we are really pleased that Rev John Dickinson (from Carnmoney Pres Church) will be speaking. As always, the evening will be a relaxed affair and will combine teaching with an opportunity to worship God in a personal and alternative way. Do come and join with us!

Thoughts on worship . . . .

Over the last month I have been doing a lot of thinking about worship. What does it mean to me? How can I get involved in it more? What exactly does God expect me to bring to Him as my worship?

I know that my life is meant to be 'an act of worship' and I really hope it is. Though, recently I have been thinking about how I actually respond to God in and through times of corporate worship in church and in meetings. For a long time I have always played the Presbyterian card and have thought that as long as the worship is in my heart as I sing, my worship is valuable and authentic. But, what about those times when all I do is mumble the words? What about the time when that is all I do?

I have been rediscovering how worship is a chance for me to actively respond to God - what do you think about this? How do you respond to God in worship? When we sing together in church what are you doing? What are you thinking about? How are you trying to get your heart to connect with God? Does the style of worship matter? Does it matter what instruments are used?

One of my most favourite traditional pieces of worship is St Patrick's breastplate and one of Tim Hughes new songs reminds me of this. He has a song called 'Everything' and it goes . . . .

God in my living, there in my breathing,
God in my waking, God in my sleeping.
God in my resting, there in my working,
God in my thinking, God in my speaking.
Be my everything,
Be my everything;
Be my everything,
Be my everything.


God in my hoping, there in my dreaming,
God in my watching, God in my waiting.
God in my laughing, there in my weeping,
God in my hurting, God in my healing.
Be my everything, be my everything;
Be my everything, be my everything.


If God is in everything then our worship is worth it. God wants to be involved in our lives - our lives our living sacrifices. He wants us to respond to Him. To include Him. To love with His glory seeping out of every pore in our bodies. He wants to be our everything!

Reflecting on the last network night . . . . .

Sat 1st March: I am the light of the world!

It was great to have so many people join with us on Sat 1st March for a rather chilled out night of fun, worship and teaching. We were joined by the rather excellent singer Mel Wiggins who sang some great tunes for us at the start of the evening. Watch out for her upcoming releases. We were treated to a first, as Stuarty Marks, our home grown talent led the worship made up of a band made up of people from Derryvogie and our own church! Tim Manson (aka me!) was the main speaker and issued a big challenge for all of us to step out of our comfort zones and do something for God! He looked at various occurrence of light in the Old and New testament and investigated how we try and be the light that Jesus wants us to be in our local communities and places of work.

Links
Mel Wiggins
Link to Tim's site for Network talk and PowerPoint

Next Network Night - Sat 1st March

Happy Valentine's Day!

I can never really decide if I like Valentine's day or not. I suppose if one day in the year actually stimulates some people to to actually open up and tell someone that they love them . . . it might just be worth it.

A lot of single people feel that their singleness is what makes them incomplete. I dont think so. God has a plan for us all and some will get married and some won't. I know that this can be hard for many people to come to terms with and maybe it is up to those of us who are married to actually try and help out a bit here. Do we make it easy or hard? How often do good friendships get wiped out because of relationships? How often do couples invite their single friends along to stuff? I know many people who are single and I do hope and pray that they get their desire . . . as long as it is in God's plan and will make them happy. How many people today are struggling to stay together?

So - my single friends - hang in there and wait for God to reveal his plan for you and to my married and coupled up friends - please be sensitive to your single friends and maybe this valentine day do something special for them as well as each other.

The cost of commitment . . . . .

Are you a do-er, a wait-er or a nev-er? Too many young christian adults today are wrapped up in their own lives, their own desires, their own job, their own family, that they find it hard to make time for God. It is a strange thing to think about. But the reality is that many of us see our busy lives as essential and God-related thinking gets relegated to the 'extra' time.

There is no doubt that following jesus has a cost. Maybe we dont get persecuted like those in other countries but we still struggle to meet that cost. Maybe God wants you to give him more time. Maybe he wants you more involved in his church. Maybe he wants you to actually DO something rather than just thinking about it and talking about it all the time. Myabe he wants us to stop with the criticism of the people who dare to take a risk and maybe jump off that cliff edge too.

Come on - do something . . . .

Next network night - Sat 2nd Feb 7.30pm

Getting down when it counts

With reference to my last post on the site I thought I would continue the theme about prayer by quoting directly some text from Tony Campolo in the book Stand up and be counted (Page 128 Chapter 9) wrote this . . . . . .

Getting Down when it counts

Its up to us. Now. The means of seeing God’s will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven is on our hands, in our lives. But we can’t do it alone, as much as we’d like to. We need the help of our pastors, church leaders and others in positions of spiritual responsibility, for in some respects they are the ones who hold our destiny in their hands.

If we are going to be challenged as Christians and to challenge others too, we ought to pray for them, that they also will be open to what God would have them do. . . it’s the smaller, more intimate churches, where you know you’re a name and not a number where God is especially at work.

We need to pray for ourselves, our fellow church members and our church leaders, that with us they will catch the vision and help to further God’s kingdom on earth in our homes, on our streets, in our workplaces, in pubs – and in churches. The responsibility is awesome, for this is God’s work we are on, and this fact alone ought to cause us sober reflection and contemplation. Those who lead us in worship and head the ministry of God’s people have an incredible responsibility, for, as James warns, those who teach the word of God will be held more accountable for what happens to people than anyone else (James 3 v 1). For this reason alone we ought to pray and intercede for them, that when revival comes they aren’t just prepared but are also at the forefront of it.

In the Bible, the prophets arose because the people prayed for God to raise them up. When the children of Israel felt that they were living in a spiritual wasteland, they prayed that God would give them a prophet, and God answered they prayers. In Bible days, the revivial of a people and the renewal of the nation always began with prayer. Without prayer there were no prophets.

Its up to you!

A New Year Prayer

Do you believe in revival? Do you actually believe that God can change lives? Do you believe that He can change people? Do you honestly think that He can bring people close to Him? Do you believe that this is an act of making them 'Christianised' or 'decent'? Do you believe that God wants to share His love, His power and His Grace with more people than just you and me? Do you REALLY believe in revival? So, what are YOU going to do to help start the ball rolling? Are you going to actually do something? It's time to stop all the talk. Its time to stop sitting on your hands. Its time to do something different - to do something that makes you feel a bit uncomfortable. Its time to be part of the revival. Its time to believe that God wants to pour our His Grace and His Spirit over where we live and work. Stop making excuses. Start doing something.

It starts with a prayer. Use me. The second step is a prayer too. Be with me. The third step is action. GO with me!

If you REALLY believe that God wants to move in Northern ireland and in our local community - do something!

In Bible days, the revivial of a people and the renewal of the nation always began with prayer

(Tony Campolo)

Start to pray. On your own, in pairs, in groups and pray that God would move. In addition to the Prayer Meetings in the church we have also started to get together once a month on Sunday morning to pray for our church, our leaders and our community. Why dont you join us? First Sunday of every month in the Committee room at 10.30am. (Next is Sunday 3rd Feb 2008)