Claims to Fame, by Simon CarpenterSimon Carpenter - 23 Jan 2007
Ben Elton and the pioneering naturalist and writer, Rev. Gilbert White. What do they have in common? The answer is me. I was at sixth form with the former, and am a distant relation of the other. What a great thing fame by association is. It doesn’t matter what I do or don’t do in my life, I can always drop those two names into conversation.
It’s so easy to slip into that sort of mentality, and for Christians there is also its near relation, spirituality by association – second hand spirituality – to contend with. So much easier than trying to listen to God and work out your own unique life and destiny. Cruising along behind someone else’s ministry or pioneering work, and just following their lead without trying to find out who we really are and what we’re meant to be doing. As Gerald Coates has often said, we all start out as originals but most of us end up as copies.
In my formative years I not only went to sixth form college with one of the contemporary giants of the English language (we never met by the way), but I also lived opposite that evangelical legend, David Pawson, and was a member of his church in Guildford. Now there was a ministry to be proud to be associated with, and not a little smug. Some of the best teaching available at that time, one of the biggest churches of that era. And within a couple of years, If name dropping was a key to spiritual success then I could drop any number, as every contemporary Christian giant seem to pass our way on a regular basis. It was easy to grow complacent and spiritually fat in such an environment.
Of course all these connections meant and mean nothing; nothing that will help me in God’s presence anyway when I come face to face with him. Just as I am glad that, thanks to his grace and mercy, all the dodgy connections and associations I have made in my life won’t count against me on that same day.
In Gloucester we have run a few 24-7 prayer rooms. If we are honest we would have to admit that we have tried to copy what we perceive as being a successful formula. “We need to pray more. I know, let’s set up a 24-7 prayer room.” In case you think that is a harsh assessment, I don’t think we would have come up with the concept on our own. As human beings we have a natural inclination to try to follow success, in whatever form it takes and being Christian human beings we have a natural inclination to try to follow or reproduce known ‘anointing.’
But just as association with Godly people and ministries doesn’t automatically make you Godly, treating someone else’s ministry as a franchise doesn’t ensure God shows up. And our experiences so far though good and worthwhile, have been far from those of the more dramatic testimonies we have heard.
When I read Carla Harding’s article “Calling 24-7 back to prayer” on this website just before Christmas it rang so true for me, and the conclusion I was planning to come to in my first piece as a 24-7 reporter. She wrote “Let’s remember we that are “24-7 prayer” not “24-7 prayer rooms” – that’s right, Carla! Not a franchise, but an individual living relationship with God; our totally wild and passionate, unpredictable and awesome God!
In 2007 let’s get back to basics. Let’s forget our connections, good or bad. Let’s ignore a formulaic or franchise approach to God. Let’s not just try to get on the back of someone else’s anointing. Let’s seek him for ourselves, and be ourselves in the process, and see where he takes us. Wherever it is, and whatever he calls us to do, one thing’s for certain, it’s going to be unique and exciting. That much is guaranteed. Our God doesn’t do boring.
photos for title image and thumbnail by jcandeli.
