SIMON PHIPPS

This book is a classic on the life of community. I have read it several times and this time I decided to make fairly extensive notes to try and capture more of what Bonhoeffer is saying. I have published these notes for anyone who is thinking about reading this and would like to get an idea of what it says, or for someone who has read it and wants to quickly refresh themselves on it's basic content. For a small book it has a lot to say, so if you enjoy these notes I highly recommend reading the whole book if you haven't. You can get a copy of the book from here (please note this this is an affiliate link which means that I get a small amount from the sale of the book). 20 Things I Learnt From This Book There is so much that this book has to say but here are 20 key things that really stuck out to me: 1 – To dwell in fellowship with other believers is a great blessing . We often take this for granted because we experience it daily, but we should thank God for it ...

The word apostle means ‘ sent ’. In the gospels Christ calls 12 men and trains them for ministry. Christ sends them out. When we think about the word apostle meaning 'sent', then Christ is the archetype of apostle, He is the one who was sent to us, to help us, to guide us, to save us. There has been much discussion about what constitutes an apostle; is it a title only reserved for those original 12? or is it reserved for anybody who pioneers christian ministry? or, if we take the meaning literally, is it reserved for all of us? If we call ourselves disciples of Christ, then we are also called to be those who are sent. To be an apostle then is to move beyond talking about what we should do, and actually do it. Christ sends us to be with the lonely. Christ sends us to feed the hungry. Christ sends us to care for the broken. Christ sends us to visit those in prison. Christ sends us help the poor. What is Christ sending you out to do? May we be people...

The Great Comission The word evangelist comes from the Greek word evangelion – meaning ‘ good news ’ In my tradition, whenever we think of the good news, we view it as synonymous with the great commission found in Matthew 28:16-20 –basically, tell people about Jesus. When we view the good news from this perspective then everything else becomes a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. I remember one of my lecturers saying that social action, like feeding the poor, should only ever be used as a reason to tell people about Jesus. The Kingdom of God When Jesus spoke of the good news, he used it in conjunction with the concept of ‘ The Kingdom Of God ’. In the words of Tom Wright, 'what would it look like if God was running the show'; And the answer is, there would be no poor, no hungry, no-one in need. When we consider our proclamation of the good news, then these things are part and parcel of it, not just precursors to it. When I think of the Good News, ...

In my experience prophecy has often been about encouraging words. In my time I have been called a jug, an aeroplane, a lion and many others, all in the name of prophecy. But the definition of prophecy is far wider than this narrow view. What Is A Prophet? The word prophet is translated from two words in hebrew: ‘ to call ’ and ‘ to see ’. The call was that from God which validated their role as a prophet. The seeing was that which God had shown them – of the things that people were blind to now, and the things that had not yet been seen. Walter Breuggermann in his book The Prophetic Imagination * describes the message of the prophet as one who criticises , and one who energises . We see this throughout the scriptures. The prophets criticise . They criticise their leaders, they criticise their nation, and they criticise the nations around them. They call them out for their neglect of the orphan and the widow, for their apathy when surrounded by injustice, for thei...

I am a specialist in adult learning, specifically workplace learning. I teach people how to do their job, or how to improve in their job. In the first century Jewish context, the role of educator was taken by the Rabbi , literally meaning master , but often translated as teacher . One of the major distinctions of a rabbi, as opposed to the modern day context, was the fact that the rabbi had a group of students, called disciples , that lived with him 24/7. This was because a rabbi’s message (or yolk) was not simply what he said, but everything that he said and did . Jesus himself was a Rabbi , He had disciples that lived with Him, indeed all Christians are disciples , ones who follow and dwell with Him. Seeking to live out His lifestyle and message. In this respect each of us is called to be a teacher, to be those whose lives speak a message, and indeed we already are. When we love someone, we teach a lesson. When we extend grace and forgiveness to those who hurt us...

My father was a shepherd, if there is one thing that that I learnt about shepherding from him it is this: if you don’t care about your sheep, don’t be a shepherd. I remember my father telling me stories of walking late at night into the fields to have to go dig the sheep out of snow drifts. A shepherd cares about their sheep because each one represents equity. Each sheep represents an investment and each one lost represents a financial loss. In the book of Ephesians there is a list of gifts (emphasis on the word ‘a’). Much ink has been spilled, and many words spent in pursuit of this list: apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, pastor. I've been around enough circuits to hear people say “ I’m an apostle ” or “ I’m an evangelist ”, but the one thing about this list is that all of them are embodied by Christ . If we call ourselves disciples (those who follow Christ and seek to emulate his life message), then to some degree, we are called to embody all of these gift...