A Proposal

In a time with political promises and suggestions of almost every kind in Denmark, there is one that I believe I haven’t heard, so I will offer it here.

An unrestricted, government-funded 2-3 weeks of holiday should be offered to anyone getting married or initiating a relationship of any kind.

Here’s the deal: Being currently two weeks into a relationship with, arguably, the love of my life, I am finding that trivial undertakings such as working or studying matter surprisingly little. Eventually this may wear off, but for the time being, it is difficult to be worried about, well, anything. How do other people do this?

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

Yesterday, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced a general election scheduled for November 13^th. He will be seeking a third term for the current liberal/conservative government. And there seems to be no reason why they shouldn’t be awarded exactly that.

The government has helped foster a period of unprecedented growth in our country. They have accomplished mostly what they have promised, and this election comes at a time in which the opposition still cannot offer any realistic alternative. Sanity compels us to give the government our backing for continuing their visionary policies.

Denmark needs to continue a responsible economic policy, we need to stimulate job growth by lowering income taxes, we need to expand our work force through reduced subsidies and smoother immigration, and we need to continue dealing with long-term challenges facing our country, such as globalization, demographic changes, education, infrastructure and the environment.

This government will continue to lead our country with vision and wisdom. Let us show them our support by granting them another four years in office.

Nobel Prize – What Happened to Peace?

The Nobel Committee is out of their element. And the decision to award this year’s peace prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is, in my opinion, off the mark.

Mixing the climate debate into one about peace and security seems flawed, and an imbalanced priority. Many other causes seem much more worthwhile. What about the Burmese monks, for instance? The Nobel Committee states that they are “seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind.”

The connection between climate and security is tentative, at best. Environmentalists (including Gore) talk very rarely of security issues. Even if we assume that human activity contributes partly to global warming, we cannot know if anything we do now can change that. The climate has never been stable, and an attempt to roll back the Earth to a perfect state – i.e., the way things were 200 years ago (!) – seems naïve.

The climate debate seriously needs more perspective, and more people like Bjørn Lomborg (incidentally, my old lecturer in statistics) who dare say: We probably can’t make the world perfect, so if we have to choose, where do our efforts make most of a difference? If the climate is indeed changing, we should rather be working to adapt to these changes – who are we to control the weather?

Nobel Prizes have been controversial before, of course. Awarding it to Jimmy Carter in 2002 for his work for peaceful solutions to international conflicts was arguably a slap in the face for George W. Bush and his policies.

This year’s peace prize has nothing to do with peace. Al Gore is a politician, pursuing a certain cause vigorously. Which is all fine – but the Nobel Committee aught to know better than play along on the whim of the moment. They should stick to their cause: promoting peace, freedom, liberty and justice for all. Those truths are still self-evident – and still all too inconvenient.

How to Keep a Church Alive

Last weekend, Århus Café Church was away together on a spiritual retreat for the first—but definitely not last—time in our history as a church. We had lots of fun, enjoyed good music, prayer, inspiring teaching, and just hanging out together.

Regina and Juris Rekis—good friends, and founders of the church plant “Korinta” in Riga—provided awesome inspiration and challenged the group to go out and do something for God and make a difference for Århus. The reaction is overwhelming; a great number of people have indicated willingness to be more committed, and lots of good ideas have surfaced. So the big question now is: how do we as leaders keep this flame burning?

The obvious answer—which a friend gave me today—is that it’s not our responsibility, but God’s. As leaders we are called to do the tasks we are charged with. But so is everybody in the church. We are responsible to God, and committing ourselves to Him as leaders should be our foremost priority.

Even so, it can seem daunting. In the parable of the talents, Jesus says: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21 NIV) I feel in some ways that God is telling us: “OK, well done so far. Now let’s go to the next level.” Which is going to be fun, but challenging.

Church growth comes from the grass roots, and we have a strong and committed core of people with a passion for turning Århus Café Church into something really big. Our job as leaders will be not to stifle that passion; but to facilitate initiative, ministry, responsibility, and growth in every member. And to inspire them to continue to grow as disciples.

A great responsibility, indeed, if it were ours alone. Fortunately, it is not we as leaders who create growth, but the Holy Spirit. Paul writes: “I planted the seed. Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7 NIV)