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Donís Book Reviews

Blue Like Jazz - Donald MillerBlue Like Jazz is one man’s story of his journey into spirituality. Nonreli-

gious thoughts on Christian spirituality, as the subtitle says.I love the way this book is written. It’s almost like having a conversation

with the author. He writes about real life. Many of his conversations hap-pen while drinking and smoking with his friends.

Don Miller’s great skill is his way with words. A short sentence de-scribes something profound. He had me hooked from the first page.

“…these early days when God was down a dirt road walking towards me. Years ago he was a swinging speck in the distance; now He is close enough I can hear his singing. Soon I will see the lines on his face.”

Each chapter could be a self contained essay. But each chapter is also linked with his common theme. He writes about God, relation-ships, love, money and faces his own self-centeredness head on.

Reimagining Church - Frank ViolaReimagining Church explores in depth what a biblical church would look like.The book is a profound examination of the first century church and

how the modern church has replaced some of the most fundamental parts of the early church with methods and practices from Western and Greek cultures.

Frank Viola paints a picture of the Early Church which met in homes; shared a full meal for communion as opposed to ‘tokens’ of bread and wine; had no program; no ‘manager’ in the sense of the modern day pastor; had mutual accountability rather than hierarchical authority; and knew nothing of the clergy-laity divide.

Having lived and worshipped in what he calls ‘organic church’ for over 20 years, Frank Viola certainly has practiced what he preaches. So this book isn’t an empty theory, it’s born from real life experience.

My one reservation is that it’s written from an American viewpoint and I’m trying to imagine how some of the suggestions would work in the UK setting.

Whatever your view of church, I would highly recommend reading this chal-lenging and thought provoking book.

“Gary, do you fancy cycling round Ireland?” “When?” “Tomorrow!” Gary, Ryan, Adrian and Nigel share an adventure for which

they have little preparation or experience. The sense of adventure makes them think again as they begin to explore all sorts of things that have affected them for many years - things like faith and hope and relationships and purpose.

If you fancy an adventure with a bunch of guys who are mostly just trying to get up the next hill and find the next menu, then this book is for you.

I loved the Irish humour, descriptions of the Irish countryside and Adrian’s wonderful outlook on life and spirituality.

The God with sore legs - Adrian McCartney

In 2011 I took some time out to think through the next season of life and ministry. I took a sort of mini-sabbatical from the regular activities. Obviously, I am continuing to lead and minister through RSVP Trust.

My studies began with looking at St Anthony and the Desert Fathers and other monastic writings. I really warmed to their radical thinking and radical simplicity of life.

Next I read several thought provoking books on simple church, emerging church and organic church. Those terms can mean different things to different people. But for me, it was a revelation about how many artificial ingredients we have added to the simple gospel, of new life in Christ.

The Pharisees of old were adept at adding to God’s word and piling law upon law, loading down disciples with burdens they themselves would not carry. But I think we do more than they did today, inventing little ‘Popedoms’ without a shred of biblical support.

One of the books I read last year was Blue Like Jazz – Non-religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller. I highly recommend it. There’s a story of when Donald Miller resigns as youth pastor because, as he puts it, “I’m not using the product I’m selling. I’m just telling these kids what I think you want me to tell them.”

He goes off on a journey with a friend to get close to God and

try to live in reality rather than performing some laws or rituals just to look good.

I have often sat in different churches over the last 25 years and found myself thinking “Whatever it was Jesus had in mind when he said ‘Do this in remembrance of me’, I’m fairly sure it wasn’t this!”

So, lately, I’m rediscovering the Early Church. How did they live out their faith in such a way it turned the world upside down? What aspects of that lifestyle can we recapture and live out today?

Secondly, what artificial ingredients did the Emperor Constantine add to the church after his conversion? Most of what causes trouble in the church today are things he added from the secular world.

Thirdly, when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom, indicating that the Father himself wants a direct relationship with each of his children. Not some mediated ritual of appeasement week after week.

So I’m on a journey with Jesus. The Bible is my map. I and a few others are seeking a more natural, organic form of church life. By ‘organic’ I mean something that grows naturally from within as opposed to organised church where change is imposed from the top down.

What does that look like? Well because it’s natural and organic, I don’t know yet. First the seed has to be planted. Growth will be

slow and small at first, but the relationships are much deeper.

It means a few radical changes: It’s not about ‘going to church’ for 2 hours a week. It’s about ‘being the church’ 24/7. There is no building, PA system, or Powerpoint. There is no program. No budget. Simplicity is key. It meets in homes, coffee shops and on a walk or cycle ride. There’s no set time. No leader but Jesus. No passive audience but a respect for the life of the Spirit in each believer. It’s a conversation not a monologue. It’s a journey. An openness to the move of the Holy Spirit, at any time in any place.

For several years now, I’ve only bought Free Range Eggs. They taste better but more than that, I think it’s morally wrong to keep chickens in cages. It’s not what they were created for. They were made to wander a bit in small groups.

So, for me, the next season is going to be Free Range. Outside the box. Free to wander and be more productive than before. I’m not advocating it for others necessarily, but if you feel cooped up, your welcome to join us.

Free Range Disciples. That’s the next part of my journey with God. I don’t think my aims have changed. But they way I pursue them certainly has.

Read and hear more at www.freerangedisciple.com

Free Range Disciple

It is amazing to me that 25 years has passed since I was commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1987. Never in our wildest dreams could Hazel and I have imagined where God’s leading would take us.

After 3 years training in Blackheath in London we returned to our home town of Manchester and served 2 years at St Luke’s Benchill in Wythenshawe.

In 1989 we left Manchester and moved to Suffolk. It felt a little like the beginning of Abraham’s journey - “...he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8.

In Suffolk we were welcomed like family members and made some great friends, who have been very precious over the years. It was great to watch the girls grow up in Suffolk and make their own friends. After 5 years on the staff of St Peter’s Stowmarket, I founded RSVP Trust and went part time for 4 years to get it developed.

After another 4 years at St Peter’s my contract ended and I went full time with RSVP. We began to rent an office in the town as the ministry grew and my friend Claire Smith became the first administrator. After several other admin staff, my Daughter Beckie Egan took over the admin for child sponsorship and the rest of the ministry.

In 2003 Alison Fenning joined the ministry and has developed an amazing ministry extending RSVP’s reach into prisons, among the homeless and hurting and into dark places where people are involved in the sex trade. Alison also has developed the Female Evangelist Network and RSVP Training School and much more.

Friends on the journeyWhen we began RSVP we made a

quality decision that we would not do fund-raising. Instead we would do friend-raising. That has been one of the best decisions ever. Not only do we receive donations great and small from some very generous people, but we also made some

great friends on the way, as RSVP has developed in the UK and Africa.

The unfolding story So the last 25 years has been incredible

as the story has unfolded. And the story is still unfolding. We don’t want to stop learning or developing and end up a bunch of dry bones like the people in Ezekiel 37. So come rain or shine, the RSVP story continues to unfold. We don’t stop. We press on.

Our work with Child Sponsorship, orphans, water wells and poverty relief continues. The leadership training, literature publishing and outreach continues. Developing new media with podcasts, e-books and social networking continue. The healing and teaching ministry continues to develop. New ways of sharing and being good news are being pursued.

For my part, I am developing a spirituality of simplicity and a more organic form of church under the banner of Free Range Disciples. I share more about that in these pages.

Above all I want to say a huge thank you to all those who have prayed for us, given of time and finance and been our friends and partners over the last 25 years. We couldn’t have done all this work without people like you.

25 Years of Ministry

B e p a r t o f t h e s t o r y f o r t h e n e x t 2 5 y e a r s !

Over Christmas, my Dad, Mum and my sister Beckie and I went to Stowmarket Church to see the Christmas tree festival. It brought back memories of when I was younger, running around, playing hide and seek in the pulpit and behind the organ. I wondered why we were aloud to treat the church like a play ground and think it might be to do with a Dad being a Rev. I’ve been told that my Dad is like a celebrity in the Christian world, by my friend’s Mum. For me he wasn’t.

As a child growing up, having your Dad bring a bus load of Africans to your school, to perform during assemblies, wasn’t quite my or my sister’s idea of a celeb lifestyle. This ended before we made it to high school. But we never had a problem with African or Filipino Pastors staying with us. Isn’t this normal? Doesn’t everyone do that?

Whenever I had a friend stay over at the same time, they’d be fascinated to see a man having dinner with us who clearly wasn’t related to us. But it was the norm for me. As was having Dad missing from the dinner table several times a year.

As I’ve got older, I’ve followed the family tradition of going to investigate what it is my Dad actually does and have been fortunate enough to visit Rwanda twice.

On my first visit, I was told by one of the sponsored children, that my Dad was ‘Father to all of Rwanda’. I feel I have a strong attachment to the country because I’ve grown up with it. As it evolves and grows so do I.

Whilst there, I visited genocide memorial sites, where violence took place, and many bodies have been buried. What I saw would make you shudder and weep. But I have been made numb to seeing after affects of extreme violence because

I’ve been seeing video footage and photographs, for as long as I can remember, of the genocide.

When I first saw it, I was young and naive, so didn’t understand what it was and got on with playing with toys.

As I’ve got older, I’m now numb to it. But when witnessing the after affects in person, I may not cry, but I feel the sense of pain that people have suffered.

When red nose day is on TV, I’m not affected by the video clips of starving children, but at Fern Cotton

crying at the video of starving children.

Through both trips I have had my eyes opened and both times have affected me for the better. I’ve met amazing, beautiful people and find it difficult returning home because friends close to me haven’t seen what I’ve seen, and my stories can only say so much. On the most recent trip, I ended up starting a mass tickle fight with hundreds of children. Beautiful. One of the most euphoric moments of my life.

I see and hear about my Dad witnessing people’s lives change. Does everyone have someone in their lives that does that?

I’m now out of education but working at a college helping to shape and educate the next generation and I want to help inspire and develop people, have an effect on people, helping them change their lives.

My family are extremely close and I believe that I have been very blessed to have this wonderful family to call mine especially in this day an age. I’d be glad to know Don Egan let alone have him be my father.

I’ve always questioned Dad on his beliefs, trying to make my own understanding of life and all that jazz. I challenged myself to read the entire Bible, I’ve not got very far but every time I have any questions, I have someone I can go to that will share with me his answers. Heres to another 25 years of changing lives!

“Your Dad is ‘Father to all of

Rwanda’”

In the footsteps of my Dad...Heather Egan

I was visiting Rwanda in September serving an evangelistic ministry. We visited Africa New Life Children’s homes where young people can live and study safely. A small girl aged four had recently come to live in one of the homes, her mother was in prostitution in Kigali and the little girl was at risk of all sorts of exploitation, so they gave her an opportunity away from the effects that happening.

Upon my return to Rwanda in November, with the RSVP team, I asked to meet the mother and see if anything could be done to help her. It was not possible to find her. But just then she walked into ANLM offices saying she was going to kill herself, so could they make sure her daughter grows up well.

They brought her straight to us. She was very poor in spirit as well as physically poor. We sat and listened to her story, she had been through the genocide. Her family was murdered and she was raped - therefore now an outcast from society and shamed. She had survived by selling herself for sex for the last 17years.

After praying with her, and speaking with her about change, and that God has a plan for her life, we arranged to take her to see her daughter, as it had been 10 months since they last met. This small offer of generosity brought hope back into her heart. And she loved spending the day with her daughter. The visit inspired her to make a move from poverty and desperation to stability and growth.

I was so moved by the situation and felt the hand of God was upon the family. Their time for change was now so we helped put a long term care plan in place, to lift her out of her cycle of prostitution through poverty.

This helps Mamma Sandrine to help herself by making quality choices whilst no longer having to do that alone. As part of that plan we put in place some immediate changes - a safe place to stay, food, pastoral support and opportunity to begin a new enterprise to provide income.

She is now progressing well and doing fine. She has the love and care of others and a renewed sense of hope from Gods provision healing her life.

Alison Fenning reports on one of many stories from her travels.

From death to life

Junction 50

If you would like Don Egan or Alison Fenning to speak at your church or event please, email the office with proposed date, time, venue and realistic expected attendance.

Don and Alison minister healing and restoration. They also are happy to teach on new forms of church and being Free Range Disciples.

Sign up for Don’s - Free Range Disciple monthly email at: www.freerangedisciple.com

Sign up for Alison’s - Agent of Change email at: www.rsvptrust.co.uk/agentofchange

Junction 50 meetings will be on the following Wednesdays in 2012 at Cedars Hotel Stowmarket, with coffee served from 7:30pm:

Wed 28 MarchWed 13 JuneWed 26 SeptWed 28 NovA midweek oasis. Expect a miracle!

PodcastsFree range Disciple podcast can be found at:

www.freerangedisciple.com

Don’s healing talks can be found at :

www.doneganpodcast.co.uk

25th Anniversary AppealIf you would like to help us continue and develop this important ministry, would you consider a one off gift of £25 or more to celebrate what God has done over the last 25 years, specially through RSVP.

Please make your gift payable to ‘RSVP Trust’ and send to

RSVP, P O Box 55, Stowmarket, IP14 1UG, or even better, donate online at www.rsvptrust.co.uk

Available to speak

Email Updates

Don Egan Alison Fenning

RSVP is committed to bring hope to the poor through acts of kindness. We do this through or gifts of hope food and bedding gifts, our House of Mercy orphanage, child sponsorship scheme and finding ways of making a small gift make a big difference.

Thanks to all those who give to RSVP who make these acts of mercy possible.

Helping the poor