‘Answers from the rest of us’

Our Sunday Evening series ‘Christian living for the rest of us’ has given us some great thoughts on how we should view Christian discipline. And as we carry on through focusing on more specific topics like prayer and giving, we thought it would be a really great idea to ask different people in the church to answer a few questions related to Christian living. The four questions people were asked to answer are:

The questions we thought would be great for you to answer are:

What distracts and gets in the way of having regular quiet times?

What encourages you or helps you to have regular quiet times?

What has most helped you grow as a Christian over the past two years?

And

Do you have any thoughts/wisdom on how to get the most out of Sunday mornings/ home groups/ meeting Christ friends during the week?

The whole reason for doing this is to encourage each other that we’re all in the same boat when it comes to the struggles of Christian living. But also to give encouragement to each other that the Gospel really works and find better ways to support one another in ‘Christian living for the rest of us’!

The answers are slightly edited but are what people wrote so i hope you find them helpful!

Keren Baker

What distracts and gets in the way of having regular quiet times?

Anything and everything. Quiet Times were much easier before I had 5 children to add into the mix. Everyone will probably relate to the fact that whenever you sit down to have a QT, the phone invariably rings or a child cries, etc etc. If the truth be known, it is more ‘me’ that gets in the way of regular Quiet Times. If I really was serious about it, it would be THE priority. My sinfulness and selfishness tend to get in the way more often than I like to admit.

What encourages you or helps you to have regular quiet times?

Several things;

1. Steve (hubby) is good at encouraging me.

2. Church and friends who hold me accountable

3. Adversity. The more problems I have, the more I sense my need of spending time with God. Maybe that’s why I have so much adversity!!!

4. Routine! As a parent, no two days are ever the same. In fact, most peoples’ lives seem to have an element of ‘chaos’. Finding a time that has less ‘distractions’ is a good start. I used to feel less spiritual that I didn’t manage to start the day with God, but often, meeting with Him at lunchtime is just as good!

5. Use technology to your advantage!! I often have spare time in my day when I’m waiting around. Having the Bible on my phone is brilliant as I can read a little bit during the spare 5 minutes I might have. Sometimes I use my driving time to pray. One of my friends’ prays every time she stops at a traffic light (obviously with her eyes open!!).

What has most helped you grow as a Christian over the past two years?

That’s a hard Question. Sometimes it’s hard to see ‘growth’ when you feel like you’re often going backwards! I think that tough times are the times that maybe I have grown, although I suspect that they are simply times when I’m learning more and having to trust Him in a greater way. As time goes on, I’m recognising that I’m a greater sinner than I ever realised. This just makes me value God’s grace even more.

Do you have any thoughts/wisdom on how to get the most out of Sunday mornings/ home groups/ meeting Christian friends during the week?

Actually turning up is the best way!! Despite it looking like I’m texting throughout the Sunday morning teaching, I am actually taking notes. Taking notes helps me to focus and I have something to refer back to, too. I’d recommend listening to the Audio copies of the talks. I’ve often listened to them on the school run and sometimes the kids listen too! I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve learned or been encouraged by, the second time around!

Its also good if you can make yourself come to church being grateful for others. Sometimes it can be easy to think a bit critically about the way that others are doing certain jobs. If I go determined to thank others for the way in which they’re doing jobs, it’s much harder to criticise them, even if I’m only being critical internally.

Home Groups are such a brilliant way to get to know the ACC family! I think you get more from them when you go prepared to share honestly. I know I’m encouraged (and often relieved) to hear about other peoples’ struggles and their thoughts on solutions for their problems too.

Praying for the people in your Home Group during the week is good too. We have a prayer time at the end of Home Group and if you mentally take notes (or write them down if you’ve got a memory like mine!) about what you’ve been praying for, you can then keep praying for them throughout the week. Its really great when someone asks you about whether you’ve had answers to prayer about something they all prayed for. That’s how we all develop our friendships with each other!

When meeting up with Christian friends it can be tempting to never really chat about Christian things. When we share with each other how we are REALLY doing, it can make meeting up with each other a really positive time. My best friends are those who ask me hard questions; the sort of questions I can’t wriggle out of answering- Questions like, what have you been reading in the Bible this week (that’s a good way of checking up that I’ve been having Quiet Times!!) or What are you finding hard at the moment? If we have areas where we struggle, it is good to have someone that will ask me how I’m doing in with it and hold me accountable!

Ed Clarke

What distracts and gets in the way of having regular quiet times?

Pretty much anything. I’d rather be in bed 15 mins longer in the mornings, don’t even think about doing them during the day usually, and at nighttime I have no motivation whatsoever.  I have spates when I am motivated and diligent - but my default position is that there is always something more urgent.

What encourages you or helps you to have regular quiet times?

There are 3 things that (for short periods) motivate me to pray and read the bible (outside of home group).  I don’t use any of them consistently, but find that I might pick and mix depending on what else is happening around me.

1. Preparing a talk - usually for preaching group.  I find it useful to have a time scale to work to, and having a date that I need to have gotten under the skin of a passage from the bible is very useful for me.  In these situations I find that I regularly find 30 minutes to an hour to sit and read and think about a portion of the Bible and start these times with prayer - which is time that somehow I don’t find when I don’t have a deadline.

2. Online sermons - these have been revolutionary to me (for short periods!) - I used to download the video sermons but never sat around to watch them, so now I download the audio and listen to the MP3s while washing up / cooking.

3. Having a “running mate” - because my motivation is so low to get out of bed each morning, I have found it useful (for short periods!!) to commit with a friend that we BOTH do our quiet times together.  This has been Kate once, but also friends from church.  Last time I did this was with Rich Grindey.  We both struggle with getting out of bed, but felt morning quiet times were the best time for us so used to phone each other at 6.15 each morning to check we were up.  For me, the feeling of accountability - that someone else was going to be getting up because of an agreement we’d made motivated me tremendously - though we haven’t done this for many many months!

What has most helped you grow as a Christian over the past two years?

Without a doubt, meeting up with a Christian guy on a weekly basis for an hour has been the most helpful to me.  I think one to ones are brilliant - but only work if they are done weekly (rather than “as and when”) - and miss them during holidays.  Sometimes we work through a book of the Bible; other times look at that week’s sermon, or even just catch up.  We’ve just started to look at “The gospel driven church” - will let you know how that goes…

Do you have any thoughts/wisdom on how to get the most out of Sunday mornings/ home groups/ meeting Christ friends during the week?

I think the wisest thing I can suggest in this regard is to use any opportunity to ask for help, and offer yourself to help, and then give as much time as you can to talk to each other.  My favourite evening this week was Tuesday.  Kate and I wanted to visit Clare in hospital so phoned Ed Carthy with 30 mins notice asking him to come and baby sit for an hour.  When we got back, Ed and I had a cuppa and discussed life, the universe and everything.  For me that was a great picture of what church is - a group of Christians being mutually supportive, but also mutually receiving.  I had a great evening - thanks Ed. It’s not always possible to be the one offering support, and it’s not always comfortable asking for help, but asking Ed to help the other night meant that not only did I get to do something other than raise kids with Kate, but I also got to know Ed a little better in the process - and hopefully it wasn’t too unbearable for him either.

This post is tagged Discipleship, Training, ‘Answers from the rest of us’