Say 'No' to labels! - CFN Newsletter Week 154

CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK NEWSLETTER 154

> Elaine Storkey says we need to reject labels
> News:
> Believers urged: work 100% for God
> 'Live as an asylum seeker on £5 and a food parcel'
> Christmas stamps in unholy row
> Sites:
> Great resources for the new Narnia film
> Online outreach with the Internet Mission
> Leadership advice and prayer ideas
> Great fun VeggieTales site for under 8s
> Marriage MOT: Run out of energy?
> You've got to laugh: Laws of the natural universe

> OUR SPONSORS FOR THIS WEEK

The UK's leading provider of outreach resources for churches now has a superb range of Christmas resources available, including tools to help churches use the new Narnia film - discover CPO at www.cpo.org.uk

> FROM THE EDITOR

Dear all

If you've received your copy of the winter issue of Families Together magazine, you'll know that sadly Christian Family Network is coming to an end. A combination of increasing costs and falling revenue has meant it just hasn't been possible to continue the ministry of the magazine and website.

We do believe God has used both FT and CFN over the past five years, and that there remains a growing need for Christian based parenting and relationships advice in today's world. God willing, at some point in the future, CPO would love to provide more resources in this area.

For the moment, however, thank you for your support, ideas and encouragement. If you have a live subscription to Families Together, you'll be receiving a letter from us very shortly.

We do intend to leave our 1,000-page plus website online for continued use, although this update will be the last addition of new material.

May God bless you and your family - and use you for his glory.

Russ

Russ Bravo
Christian Family Network
info@cfnetwork.co.uk
http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk

CHALLENGE

Labels are for jars, not people

• ELAINE STORKEY is tired of dangerous, sweeping labels – all bar one
  

There is such a strong tendency to give people labels. We read it in newspapers, and watch it on television every day. Labels trip so quickly off the tongue in almost any interview or panel discussion: "Now with us in the studio we have a 'gay rights campaigner' and a 'conservative Catholic' to discuss the issue of civil partnerships …"

Labels are offered as a short-hand summary of who a person is and what that person thinks. They alert us to what we are about to hear. They also predispose us to either listen more intently or to ignore and dismiss the speaker.

Like many others, I have often been on the other end of a label; several in fact. In my time I have been called 'evangelical', 'radical', 'conservative', 'feminist', 'pro-life', 'academic', 'social activist', 'Christian philosopher', 'family values promoter', 'ecologist', 'justice advocate', and (in my Christian Herald articles) 'pacifist' and 'anti-American.'

It is interesting that those who give people labels have often very little to go on. It is easier to apply the label 'anti-American' for example, if you don't know that the person concerned has twice lived in America and goes back to speak three or four times a year at the invitation of many friends there!

Nor do people necessarily know what precisely is implied by some terms like 'feminist' or 'social activist'. And it is not unusual for some people to be given seemingly incompatible labels, like 'conservative' or 'radical' depending on the point of view of the speaker. What is evident, however, is that the labels do have an effect on people who are being introduced. The person so defined might be greeted with warm enthusiasm and applause, along with a knowing nod of approval from those on 'their' side, or with muted hostility and reserve from those who have already decided they will dislike what they are now about to hear.

The problem with labels is that they are so inadequate. How can the complexities of human experiences, ideas and passions be summed up by one banal term? How can the word 'pro-lifer' begin to uncover all the arguments involved in the debate about abortion or euthanasia?

The other problem is that they come with so much ideological baggage. Those who choose labels for their own self-definition inevitably buy into a cluster of ideas, some of which they actually might want to reject if they gave the issue a little more consideration. And people begin to see themselves as members of a group or club, bound up with other people through a common label. They are often defined over against another group, embodying principles which others (the opposition) do not hold.

• Read the rest of this article in our Resources section at www.cfnetwork.co.uk/resources.asp

> THIS WEEK'S NEWS

> Believers urged: work 100% for God

More than 700 Christians were urged to work 100% for God in whatever workplace they find themselves in at Love Work, Live Life!, a new event from Care for the Family.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/news.asp for the full story

> 'Live as an asylum seeker on £5 and a food parcel'

Church Action on Poverty is challenging people to take on the life of someone who has been refused asylum for one week as they experience UK poverty. For the first week of advent (27 November – 4 December) CAP want Christians and others to live on £5 and a food parcel.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/news.asp for the full story

> Christmas stamps in unholy row

The Royal Mail has apologised after the UK’s Hindu Forum called for the withdrawal of a Christmas postage stamp depicting what it described as a man and woman with Hindu markings worshipping the baby Jesus.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/news.asp for the full story

> MARRIAGE MOT

> Check out our archived marriage tips at www.cfnetwork.co.uk/advice.asp, plus stacks more marriage resources at http://www.2-in-2-1.co.uk

Run out of energy?

Last night the TV remote control wouldn’t work. I went to the drawer where I kept the batteries, and found a pack empty except for one. I needed two.

How easy it is in marriage to run along happily, busy with our lives, work and leisure, and then the crisis comes. Something goes wrong and we have run out of energy and resources to deal with it.

You can’t always tell when a battery is running low. You can’t always anticipate the pressures in a marriage, but you can build up a store of good communications, trust, and respect, which can carry you through when things get tough.

If you have been neglecting each other, spending little time together, talking just about the essentials, leaving irritations and issues to fester, then as soon as something goes wrong the resentment will begin to surface and their may not be enough resources in your relationship to weather the storm.

So what shape is your relationship in? How would you handle an unexpected crisis? Why not look here at some of the things you can do to keep your relationship fit and healthy and ready for life’s challenges.

> EVENTS

> YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH ...

Laws of the Natural Universe

Law of Campbell's Oops: The probability that you will spill food on your clothes is directly proportional to your need to be clean.

The Donking Principle: Wind velocity will increase proportionally to the cost of one's hairdo.

Law of Fatal Irreversibility: After discarding something not used for years, you will need it one week later.

Law of Delay: Arriving early for an appointment will cause the receptionist to be absent, and no one else in the waiting room - and if one arrives late, everyone else will have arrived before you.

Theory of Absolute Certainty: Do not take life too seriously, because in the end, you won't come out alive anyway.

www.mikeysfunnies.com

Read the rest in our Resources section at www.cfnetwork.co.uk/resources.asp

> CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK THIS WEEK
http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/

> Advice
> Kate's Marriage advice - run out of energy?
> Elisabeth Corcoran says you're achieving more as a parent than you give yourself credit for
> Stand firm with the full armour of God, says Bob Rieth
> Lay off the labels, says Elaine Storkey

> Resources

> Rob James on marriage preparation
> Getting older - what happens when you get AAADD (Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder)
> New resources: for your mobile, church and PC
> Why read the Bible? A classic illustration

> Magazine
> The lowdown on what's in the Winter issue of Families Together

> News:
> Believers urged: work 100% for God
> 'Live as an asylum seeker on £5 and a food parcel'
> Christmas stamps in unholy row

> Sites:
> Great resources for the new Narnia film
> Online outreach with the Internet Mission
> Leadership advice and prayer ideas
> Great fun VeggieTales site for under 8s

> Webwatch index: more than 700 sites categorised at your fingertips

> Site Search Engine: the easy way to trawl our 1,000-page plus archives

Christian Family Network, CPO, Garcia Estate, Canterbury Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 1BW, UK (01903 8263354; subscriptions 01903 602136)

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