The Parable of Austin Powers!

One of the things that happens is that when you clean out your office and book shelves you discover things from the past. You brush the dust off and can sit down and read some stuff you had written along time ago. I've been re reading something I wrote while at the school of ministry called "Hope Not Hype: A Prophetic Ministry in a church in Decline.' It was a reflection on my sense of calling to ministry within the PCANZ... anyway in the conclusion I came upon a section I had written called the Parable of Austin Powers... It was good to be reminded of two things by this.

firstly, that we need to be teachable as it was one of my Youth Group leadership team who came up with it after my rather arrogant comment that I could see no redeeming feature in the Austin Power's movies... as quick as a flash he came back with this.

"The church is Like Austin Powers"

 And on a flat, wrestling with it all, Wednesday the glimmer of hope from that comment in the reflection I wrote on it... " I am excited about he church because it is like Austin powers. It may seem as if somehow its been stuck in a  time warp, frozen in time and out of place in its twenty first century home. It may be rather comical and , well, for the past few decades it has been obsessed with sex. However it is till God's not so secret agent and as bungling as it may seem it is still the agent of God's redemption in the world today."

I'm not such if 'Yeah Baby, Yeah' should replace alleluia in our worship services... well I'm quite positive it shouldn't. But on a droopy Wednesday I find a glimmer of hope not hype in this reflection.

You'll be pleased to note, in a way that stopped my reflection being hype not hope: A Pathetic ministry in a church in decline' and I apologise if I've shared this before however I finished my reflection then and now with two challenging insights from other voices.

" don't think that small groups can't change the world; they are the only ones who ever have- Margaret mead (quoted in Jim Wallis' FaithWorks)

"It's hard to believe that a movement born of visionaries and dreamers would become dominantly known for its traditions and rituals... God has a lot on his mind and it is through the church that he makes it happen."- Erwin MacManus