One Life

So…welcome to the New Year! Sometimes the New Year feels like an anticlimax – to be honest 2010 doesn’t feel any different to 2009. It’s just as cold, anyway. But for me, 2009 already seems worlds away…I’ve just started here at Onelife, and suddenly I’m the new girl who asks the silly questions and doesn’t know how to work the printer!

There are seasons and situations where you simply know how stuff works and, even better, people come to you for the answers. But then there are times, (and apparently you don’t grow out of them) when you haven’t the foggiest. And as strange as it sounds, I am enjoying this ignorance. There is absolutely no pressure for me to know, and so there is no need to pretend.

I’m reading a book called ‘Next Generation Leader’ by Andy Stanley – which I highly recommend, by the way – and it says some remarkable things about knowing and pretending. As a leader there will be times when you don’t know the answers; if the way was always clear and easy everyone could swim along fine on their own with no need for leadership. But when there are uncertainties, leaders are the ones who are clear on their direction, if not the method, and have the courage to risk it. Pretending you know everything is fatal. Pretending means you can’t ask questions. Pretending means you will never know. It’s the whole thing with the mask – keeping up appearances is a joyless fight you won’t win. Here’s a quote to chew on: ‘Uncertainty exposes a lack of knowledge. Pretending exposes a lack of character.’ As leaders we cannot have all the answers. We don’t have to be all-knowing, (luckily). So when we don’t know, and honestly it’s guess work, lets keep the vision sharp and keep asking questions. Yes, even the silly ones.

This weekend we are hosting a weekend away in Devon with a few invited guests. We are beginning a discussion that we hope will lead to some developed ideas about how we can prepare young leaders for marriage and family life – all sounds very grown up I know, but on several occasions in the past year we have come face to face with the issue of how important marriage and family life is if a leader is to stand the test of time and act with integrity in their public leadership. If in 20 years time we want to see Godly leaders in every sphere of society then it really matters what is going on at home ‘behind closed doors’. The bible talks about the importance of a leader being able to care for their own family (in relation to church leadership), and we believe that strong steady, committed home environments will make all the difference to future leaders who need to know that they are standing on good foundations in their personal lives. Family breakdown is a key issue for the UK at the moment, so we are working with more and more young leaders who come from ‘broken’ homes and may not automatically know how to model a good family life when they begin to have their own family. There is so much more to say, but essentially we are spending this weekend discussing this issue and working out if there is something that Onelife can do to prepare young leaders for their future marriages and families. Its just the beginning, so we would love to ask you to pray. We need insight and we need to be creative in our thinking. Do feel free to email any thoughts if you have them and we can filter them into the discussion.

Amongst various travels over the past weeks, I’ve recently finished reading a book called ‘Tribes’ by Seth Godin. I found it hugely engaging and it inspired me in all that we long to see for Onelife. In short I’d encourage you to get it, read it and then start leading your own tribe! And if you feel really daring then join me in daring to believe that there is a growing movement of young leaders in the UK – who are going to shape the imminent future and that bodes very well for the future of our nation! Heres a little quote from the book to get you started… ‘The movement happens when people talk to one another, when ideas spread within the community, and most of all, when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing.

Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. They establish the foundation for people to make connections, as opposed to commanding  people to follow them.’

I've just returned from Edinburgh, where I spent the weekend ministering with a great church. Im always amazed everywhere I go how many incredible people there are all walking out their God given purposes and gifting. We are part of an ever expanding family and its good to remember that! I walk around communities wherever I go thinking ‘people actually live here as well, and you are doing good stuff with them Lord!’ – it helps me get out of the little mindset of ‘pete’ world where everything seems so important and all consuming. God is on the move all over, and he is calling all sorts of people into a fullness and freedom that will enable them to impact their communities!

One of my favourite places to sit is on a ‘kissing gate’ near my house (no comments about kissing gates please!). I’ts in a peaceful field where there is a beautifully kept farm, with glowing lights at dusk that speak of warmth and welcome. At the same time you can see planes circling in the distance queuing up to land at Heathrow. I’m always reminded of the bigness of the world as people jet off around the place, but the importance of the local day in day out community symbolized by the classically English farmhouse. People everywhere, and we are called to play our part in the small corner of the world that we call home. If we all step up and play our part locally, then the globe will know the difference.

It’s not quite jet setting to the globe, but Sarah and I will be in Sheffield this coming weekend for the Steelroots youth leaders and young leaders conference (Saturday 10^th October). Cant wait to see what God is doing in that place too!.. Maybe we’ll see you there.

We’re fast approaching Onelife’s first birthday (on November the 1^st for those who want to send a card!) and when I look back over the past year I can hardly believe all that has happened! There are more files stored on my laptop than I thought were possible to create, we’ve had more meetings and conversations with churches and organisations than I thought the pages of my diary could fit, and the flood of opportunities has left us staggered at the uptake for all that Onelife is about. But most of all we’ve begun connecting with a load of incredible young leaders and youth leaders who are passionately going about the cause of growing the Kingdom of God where they live.