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Theresa May has said Christians should be able to speak about their faith in the workplace.
Responding to a question in Parliament today, the Prime Minister said the UK has a "very strong tradition" of "religious tolerance and freedom of speech", and added that our "Christian heritage is something we can all be proud of."
Fiona Bruce MP had raised concerns that many Christians are worried "about mentioning their faith in public", after a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) hit out at organisations which suppress Christianity for fear of causing offence.
Free Speech
The Prime Minister agreed that the ability to "speak freely, respectfully and responsibly about one's religion" should be a "jealously guarded principle."
She went on to say: "I am sure we would all want to ensure that people at work do feel able to speak about their faith and also feel able to speak quite freely about Christmas."
The EHRC's report, due to be published this week, hits out at organizations that discipline Christians or drop references to Christianity.
Injustice
According to The Mail on Sunday, it references several cases where believers were treated unjustly, including that of Institute client Adrian Smith. Smith was demoted for writing that gay marriage was "an equality too far" on his private Facebook page.
One section is reported as saying: "There is no right in Britain not to be offended and, in our view, respect for people's right to express beliefs with which others might disagree, is the mark of a democratic society."
Institute Public Affairs Deputy Director, Simon Calvert, responded to the report, saying: "Christians have certainly felt that their fundamental freedoms have been set aside by the human rights and equality industry in recent years."
Change Needed
"It's a relief to see the Commission stand up for freedom of religion as a fundamental right and recognize that it should not be suppressed through fear of offending."
But Calvert insisted that the current law needs to be amended.
"We have long argued that equality law needs rebalancing so that courts have to take time to weigh up competing rights to see if both sides can be reasonably accommodated.
"Too often the courts come down strongly in favor of the secular liberal side of the argument."
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!
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Men, what are you looking for in your local church? (Lightstock file photo)
There is no easy answer, but in this article I would like to provide some basic principles that will help you develop a male-friendly church. The overriding principle is simply this:
The environment you develop is more important than the events or programs you put on. A man is looking for an environment that is consistent with who he is as a man and a place where he feels comfortable belonging and becoming the man God wants him to be.
1. Relevance. Most men in our society today do not see the value of going to church because it is not speaking their language, and it is not addressing the issues they face. For example, a recent survey showed that 92 percent of church-going men have never heard a sermon on the subject of work. The unspoken message is: What you do for 60 to 70 hours a week does not relate to what you do on Sunday mornings. The most important issues for men are their work, family, marriage, sexuality and finances—and rarely are these addressed from the pulpit today? Some of the key questions men are asking are:
What is true masculinity?
What is success?
How do I deal with guilt feelings?
What is male sexuality?
Is purity possible today?
What does a healthy marriage look like?
How can I raise my children to be successful?
How can I be a man of integrity in the workplace?
How can I be a leader in the home, church, workplace and world?
What is my purpose in life?
2. To be involved in a cause greater than themselves. Men want to be involved in something driven by a compelling vision. Men want to know what hill the church is climbing, where we are going, what we are about. The church has the greatest and most far-reaching mission on Earth, and we should not be bashful about challenging the men of our congregation with it.
3. A shot at greatness. I have never met a man who wanted to be a failure or a loser. Men want to win. They want to be heroes. They want to come in first. Unfortunately, it seems the church today wants nice men, not great men.
4. To be challenged. Men tend to view the world around them as something to be overcome or conquered. It's high time we told them they do not have to check their competitive drive at the door of the church. If they are seeking risk, adventure, change, competition and expansion—tell them how to find it within the mission of Jesus.
5. Action. Men today are looking for something to do; they do not like sitting around and theorizing about the 27 views of the second coming of Christ! Men measure themselves by productivity and gain a portion of self-image based on what they do. Their desire for adventure is often expressed in the desire to be on the solution side of things. Many churches today are in maintenance mode, rather than being missional.
6. Men are looking for leaders, and they want to be leaders. This principle is simple: Men do not follow programs, they follow men. They want to follow a bold, courageous, visionary leader. Establish an environment where strong leadership is attractive. Not only are men looking for a leader to follow, they want to become leaders themselves. They want to lead in their family, workplace, church, community and world. One of the things you can do is equip them to lead.
7. Fun. If men walk into a church and see a bunch of serious, stoic-looking people, shouldn't they wonder if Christianity really is a killjoy? The world is a serious place; men are looking to laugh and have fun to balance that reality. They love a good joke, funny story or movie. I encourage you to develop a ministry environment in which men have fun together.
8. Brothers. Most men have many acquaintances, but very few men have a good friend. According to statistics, the average man over 35 years old does not have one close friend. Men need teaching on how to develop and strengthen friendships and an environment where they can find genuine male friends.
9. Healing. Many are using socially unacceptable means to deal with their pain—making their work or their hobbies their life, misusing sex, drugs or alcohol. Unless these wounds and hurts are dealt with in a healthy way, they will never become the man that God wants them to be. They will never be able to have healthy relationships or move on from childish behavior.
I hope some of these insights from my own ministry to men will serve you well as you seek to minister more effectively to the men of your church and community.
Steve Sonderman is the associate pastor for men's ministry at Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wis., and the author of How to Build a Life-Changing Men's Ministry.
"The first thing God spoke to me concerning your word is this – You are going to start seeing the car beginning to go faster. God began telling me this earlier as I was asking God, “What does that mean, the car is going to go faster.”
God said, “Things are going to start moving
in a higher speed. Your life has been almost slowed, Things have been at a slow
pace. It is almost as if slow, as in getting your hands on things, slow in the
progression of different things, but God says the speed is going to begin to
get faster.”
I literally saw in the spirit that God
Himself was putting His foot to the gas pedal and all of a sudden God says, “Accelerate.”
Your word of the Lord is “Acceleration is
happening. It is speedily, it is beginning to quickly happen. Even concerning
your life, you are going to begin to be trained, and for some reason, there is
a season of Divine appointment of teaching, training, knowledge, learning. Knowledge is power. I want to be able to
infiltrate my Word, My definition, My Spirit into being, to begin to teach you,
train you, show you.
There is a man of God in you that has been
launched out but he hasn’t even seen the fullness of him yet. You haven’t seen
the fullness of who you are yet. You are going to be able to see you, in the
mirror, recognizing, noticing that you are a man with a plan. Understand that
you have a plan in your life. You are not here just to praise Me, just to do
this, you are not here just to do that, you are not here just to work.
Your lifestyle is a man that has a plan and
a strategy. And not a plan to fail but a
plan to infiltrate the earth with a Kingdom message. Whatever that looks like, concerning
business, job, church – no matter what it looks like – infiltrate society by
being who you are called to be, and the Kingdom of God will advance, quick,
when you begin to manifest the things I put in your spirit. So what goes into a
man will come out of a man.
I am teaching, I am educating, I am
training. God kept telling me over and over again, “Schooling, schooling,
schooling. You are at a place where I am taking you, I am taking those around
you, those even within your family, to a higher level, to a higher plane.
God says, “Educate, empower yourself. It is
the school of the Holy Spirit. I am launching you out in this season so you
will know what to do, what to say, and you will always be on in movement. Did
you hear what I just said? You will be on time in movement so that you will
begin to know that you are ready in season, you are ready out of season, you
won’t be taken by surprise, or caught by surprise.
Son, it is time for you to move on. It is
time for you to move on and progress in something new. What you have been
working with your hands on for a while concerning, I don’t know if it is job,
or just the lifestyle what you have been doing recently, but God says that is
beginning to change, for I am causing
you to put your mind and your hand to something else .
Yes, to something else, for there is going
to be a new refreshing, of a brand new you, a brand new work, a force coming
into to play with you. You are going to start demonstrating and literally begin
to bring forth to the surface a brand new working skill in you of the things
you need to be doing within your life.
I am rearranging and I am changing the way
you have been moving, your habits, your patterns. I am rearranging and I am
changing and I am moving you into a new pattern in your life. You will quickly
see, quickly see, that some things will begin to pass away and God is going to
make them new again.
You will begin to see that some things will
begin to die, some things will begin to come to life, in a new area, in a new arena that you have
not done before. It is time for you to
get new education, new knowledge, be put through the school of the Spirit and begin to grab a hold of the
new thing that I am going to do with you concerning a new working mentality”,
says the Lord. The new working mentality and the new pattern of acceleration is literally going to be where your anointing is. For some reason I felt in my spirit as if your call and your anointing has been locked up for season. And this is why I say it to you.
I don’t know what you are doing exactly
right now in your life, and what you do you are good at it. Everything you’ve
been doing you’ve always put God’s heart into it, but the Lord showed me that
that season has been over. God says you are on overtime and I want you to shift
into the dawning of a new day. Shift into a new work force, a new work place, a
new working of who you are. That is your elevation. It is your time for
promotion.
That is going to be your promotion, is
moving into the new. And when you move into the new and move into the now, God
says that is when you are going to start seeing this new anointing and this new
knowledge, begin to increase in you and to put you where you need to be in your
life,” says the Lord.
Brother I hope this ministers to you because most of the
time, as you know, I will go, “Thus says the Lord” but I felt for you that
every time I begin to prophesy, “Thus sayeth the Lord” that God began to shift
me into educating you on what is going to be happening in your life. And I tell you brother that I know
sometimes that you think sometimes that you are going round and round, like a
broken record, so to say, but I felt as if it is time for you to shift and move
on.
I don’t know what that looks like exactly;
I don’t know if it is a workplace, I don’t know if it is just a pattern in a
working that you are doing within your life style, but it’s like God is saying
it is time to move on into something new.
I don’t tell it to everybody, because
everybody needs to move on, but I felt as if there is a new you coming to the
scene in this hour. So I want to encourage you in that.
Also I will encourage you with the
schooling process. I don’t know what it
is with you as well but it is a schooling process coming that God wants you to
educate yourself on.
I don’t know what it is, but there is a
schooling for you, that God wants you in the school of the Spirit, that God
wants to teach you and train you. The main thing that I want you to grab hold
of in this schooling process is learning the voice of God.
I don’t know what it is about you but it is
like God says I want to teach you and train you how to hear My voice. He wants to teach you and train you to hear
His voice and also how to speak His voice.
That is a big thing that God is going to move you into.
I want you to pray about that as well. He
wants to teach you and train you about His voice. It is very imperative that
you begin to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd the way that God wants you to.
That is what I really felt. That is one of the struggles I felt as if you have
been having recently. So pray about that as well brother." Aug. 8, 2013
ac·cel·er·ate
verb\-lə-ˌrāt\
ac·cel·er·at·edac·cel·er·at·ing
Definition of ACCELERATE
transitive verb
1
: to bring about at an earlier time <accelerate their departure>
2
: to cause to move faster <accelerated his steps>; also: to cause to undergo acceleration
3
a: to hasten the progress or development of <accelerate our efforts>
