A French nun stood in front of the burning Cathedral and said that it was only a building; the church of God is people. In Sri Lanka a few days later over two hundred of those people died. As words came from politicians that Notre-Dame must be restored, millionaires rushed forward with offers of large sums of money. No millionaires rushed forward to support the suffering families of Sri Lankans or to rebuild their churches. From Sri Lanka there were only pictures of coffins being carried to graves and even the number of the dead was uncertain. The Western press had pictures and stories of tourists who had died, but the Sri Lanka Christians remained anonymous. Notre-Dame survived the fire. No lives were lost. Sentiment was high that this symbol of France, the testament to a nation’s lost faith, must be a continuing part of Paris life. In Sri Lanka perpetrators were pursued, security chiefs resigned, churches were closed and tourists warned away. Paris resumed normal life and the causes of the accident were sought. The Sri Lanka victims are still dead.
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Notre-Dame and Sri Lanka
The church mission committee was meeting
Chair: So the next item on the agenda is Christine’s return on home assignment for nine months.
Ron: I expect she is going to have to go round all her supporting churches raising support for her next term and we won’t see much of her.
Chair: Well actually we will have her exclusively with us for five months.
Carole: That is a long holiday!
Bill: I expect she will want to be active in the church for some of the time.
Two curates were talking
Oliver: Do you remember John Apulyo[1].
Rupert: Yes wasn’t he a student of engineering who attended our church a few years ago? I think I remember that after he had returned to his own country he had problems relating to his church pastor and went off to study at a Bible college in another Western country.
Oliver: Yes that is right. I had a message from him the other day to say that he had now returned to his own country and wants to start church planting.
Rupert: Who is he going to work with? Has he been reconciled with his Pastor?
Two members of a selection committee were talking
Paul: So what do you think of our preferred candidates?
Alan: Well they seemed to have the right qualifications and experience for the job.
Paul: And they were both very insistent how good they would be in the role.
Alan: You sound as if you thought they tried too hard to sell themselves.
A group of Christian leaders were in a meeting
Chair: We have been talking about this matter long enough. It is time we came to a decision. Should we allow the Treasurer to do electronic banking based on just one signature?
A vote was taken with the result that 4 voted for the motion, 3 voted against and 5 abstained.
Two young professionals were talking after church
John:
Do you support any mission agencies?
Mark:
Not directly, but through our church’s giving of 10% of its budget to mission. I take account of that when I fix my standing order to the church.Read more
The Chairs of two Mission Agency Boards met at a London club
“What did you make of what Eddie Arthur was saying on his Kouya[1] blog about Mission Boards lacking theologians?’
‘I don’t normally read his blog, but someone showed that one to me. I couldn’t really see his point. All my board members are evangelical Christians, but I didn’t select them for their theological acumen. There are other skills that we need on our board.’
‘ I thought it was useful. We have one theological college lecturer on our Board and he often asks questions that the rest of us don’t think about. He reminds us that we are not just like any other UK charity, but rather carrying out the mandate from our Lord.’
‘ But what has that got to do with good governance? It is not something that the Charity Commissioners are concerned about. We spend all our time making sure that we are compliant and continually solvent. We also need to keep an eye on what our CEO is doing. We haven’t time for theology!’
The Two Pastors Met Again for Coffee a Couple of Months Later
A follow up to the blog posted on 25th August 2016 entitled ‘Two Pastors met for coffee’
Mike: It was good that Andrea, the Pastor of the Church of the High Priest Jesus Christ, was able to come to our Evangelical Pastors’ Prayer Group last week.
Dave: Yes, I found the way she prayed very moving.
Mike: And Dave and Pete seemed happy to fellowship with her too. I didn’t know that Dave was so fluent in French. They really seemed to establish an entente cordiale. Also I hadn’t realised how much Christians have suffered in the CAR.
Dave: Put in that context it was easy to understand why the knowledge that Jesus as High Priest is ever interceding for us has come to mean so much to the church. Andrea’s explanation of that sent me back to Hebrews again and I realised that I haven’t really appreciated Christ’s heavenly work for us.Read more
Two Pastors Met For Coffee
Mike: Have you heard that a new church has started in the community centre?
Tim: Yes, someone did mention it. It has a rather strange name – The Church of the High Priest Jesus Christ[1]. Where in Africa are they from?
Mike: I think it is from somewhere in the CAR.
Tim: CAR?
Mike: Central African Republic. It seems their services are in French.
Tim: Do any of them speak English?
Mike: I think most of them do and certainly the Pastor, but they are happier in French or Sango
Tim: So have you met the Pastor?
Mike: Yes. I asked her why they were opening another church in town. She said that no one else was putting on a service in French and their people found it more helpful to worship in their own language.
Before the deacons’ meeting
Two Deacons were chatting before the deacons’ meeting.
Peter: Good to see you back for a deacons’ meeting, John.
John: Yes I have been rather busy recently and haven’t been able to fit these meetings in. I hear we have got another intern starting next month.
Peter: Luigi isn’t an intern; he’s the new assistant minister.
John: Oh I thought he was a Latin American who is coming here to learn what it is like to work in a UK church.