1. When you can't figure someone out it's sometimes because you are not seeing a dimension of their character (eg bad temper, extremem defensiveness).

Sometimes you can encourage this by dealing with conflict in a different way to them.

2. This is a reminder that hypcorisy and self-control can sometime be confused. Self-control is actually harnassing the problem. Hypocrisy is only having enough self-control to master it before others. Sometimes it is better to first learn to 'be who you are' before others, and then to deal with it properly.

3. How do local churches relate to the universal church? Are gatherings of Christians to read the Bible and pray equally church: around a dinner table, in a CU, in a Bible study group? If a church has a BBQ is that less church than when a CU meets?

Some would say only the Sunday gathering is really church at all. Some would say that as long as the Bible and prayer is involved, there is no difference between an Growth Group and a Sunday meeting. Some would say that as long as Christians are involved somewhere along the line it's church ('whatever we may mean by that...'). Here's my thoughts:

a) A public gathering of a church is the fullest expression of the universal church. It is a community that has gathered together deliberately as a local church and it is engaged in the activities of the heavenly church: prayer, praise, hearing the word of God, encouraging one another and so on.

b) A gathering of Christians to read the Bible and prayer (eg Growth Group, CU) is engaged in the the activities of the church, but is not intentionally gathered as a church. It has not been ordained as a local church. It is therefore not properly speaking a church in the fullest sense. At the same time it has much of the spiritual significance of a church.

c) A gathering of a local church to have a BBQ is not engaged in the the central activities of the church, but it is still gathered as a church. This activity is an deliberate activity of this group of people who have been ordained as a church. It is therefore not properly speaking
a church in the fullest sense. At the same time it has much of the spiritual significance of a church.

4. Our church recently realised that we were making the whole process of signing people up on rosters a nightmare, because it relied on peopel taking the iniatiative all the time to put their names on the roster. Established churches tend to slot people into the roster, then publish the roster and ask peopel to make changes as needed.

The reason we hadn't approached it that way before, I suppose, is because it is aht result of quite a 'club' mentality. Each member of the club is just assumed to be willing and expected to serve on the rosters. So we'll jsut plug them in!

It got me thinking... sometimes it is appropriate to adopt a club mentality. I wonder, how many other things do new churches make difficult for themselves because we don't adopt a club mentality?