thinkother

This morning I am playing with imagery for a Path online magazine... Which brings me to my latest contemplation which has been going round in the back of my mind since Christmas... The concept of online mission. Everything else seems to operate online except for Christian mission... I mean, there is no shortage of Christian web sites or alarming notifications of going to hell, but is this the most effective way of building the church? God says "I will build my church" and if He says that He will, then I am under no doubts whatsoever that He will. "For when the Lord makes a plan, NOTHNG will stop it". I may have taken liberties with the capital letters there, but that is how I read it.

Something strange happened to me at the beginning of the year... I was sitting in church listening to a sermon about how the world has become very self-obsessed. I was struck by this notion and was left with two words in my head which I knew the Lord wanted me to keep hold of: "Think other". After processing this a while I realised that it was to be a web site and quickly registered www.thinkother.org (site not up yet). I realised that the most effective UK mission I have been involved with is The Noise. The reason for this appeared to be that people were encouraged to take their eyes off of themselves for a weekend and show all of their love to others. It gave them a strange sort of buzz, not a self-righteousness, but a wider perspective in which they were able to see God, because by adopting the attitude and character of Jesus for three days, they were open enough to connect with Him and explore this new lifestyle.

thinkother (the project) is going to be some kind of online mission (still praying it through) whereby people are encouraged to think other, from small acts of kindness to larger projects. Everyone wants to "change the world" and "make a difference", but few really realise that God thinks in the same way and His instruments of use are us! He has far more potential to make a difference than we do alone and as we dig deeper we realise that we don't do these things for a 'feel good' factor but instead as the focus comes off us, it becomes an act of worship to God.

I am still praying through this...