This month's most popular posts

  • Sheep and Shepherds Preparing for next Sunday's Video talk, which we're filming later today, I found a great deal of interesting detail from this source, reproduced at www.baptistbiblebelievers.com Manner And Customs of Bible Lands by Fred H. Wight Copyright @ 1953 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Shepherd ... posted on December 10, 2013
  • Getting My Feet Wet In The Jordan – Where God Got His Hands Dirty As I stood there on Tuesday praying in the waters of the Jordan where He was baptised I reflected that Jesus did not just drop down some divine dictat from the safety of heaven for us to try to follow ... posted on November 12, 2023
  • Good Questions (1) What is Good? Despite what many people in our culture may think, anyone who reads the Bible will soon discover that Christianity is NOT a system for Good people trying to live good lives. When people say, ‘I don’t believe in God or ... posted on July 13, 2015

Getting My Feet Wet In The Jordan – Where God Got His Hands Dirty

As I stood there on Tuesday praying in the waters of the Jordan where He was baptised I reflected that Jesus did not just drop down some divine dictat from the safety of heaven for us to try to follow. He chose to come into the midst of the mess in the Middle East as the Prince of Peace by revealing himself as the friend of sinners, the one John the Baptist saw is ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ God got his feet wet in the Jordan. God got his hands dirty. He is the answer.

James Emery White – Strategic Shifts to reach your culture for Christ – LAUNCH 23

RETHINK the ACT of Evangelism Think of a line, scale of 1 to 10. The person of yesterday in the 1950s, they would have had a positive view of Christianity and a sense of guilt or conviction when they broke the tenets of the faith. Based on that context, unchurched people who were at 7 or 8 on the scale already worked easily because they were nearly there already. Just a tract or a talk again. AN EVENT. Now; the contemporary unChristian might be on what – a 3? So how do we talk to them. We need PROCESS and Event. Pay attention to the process that helps them progress to a 5, to get them forward. CS Lewis said the gospel was first of all to people who were conscious of sin, and aware of the supernatural. But ‘I sometimes wonder other we shall have to reconvert people to real paganism’, before converting them to Christ. Move To Explanation We have moved from Acts 2 (When Peter told them – who were God fearing Jews, monotheists and had the […]

Rachel Jordan Wolf at LAUNCH. The Harvest is PLENTIFUL!

Talking Jesus Research The most important question anyone can ever answer is WHO IS JESUS?  That’s a big question.  Let’s ask the whole nation.  Found a jaw dropping answer the the question, ‘What do you think about the resurrection of Jesus?”  16% of the population of the UK ticked they believe the resurrection of Jesus happened – as described, from the Bible.  29% believe it yes it happened but not all the detail can be taken literally.  What about we talk with those people?  What if we helped them know what Easter really is about? We own Easter. We only have eggs and bunnies to compete with.  Could we work together as the people of the resurrected Jesus to help them meet him?  In 2017 the BBC went to Comres, wanted to show that more people believe in reincarnation. They found that was not true. But they ran the headline only that 41% don’t believe in the resurrection.  Remember the truth – not the BBC version.  45% of the people in our nation believe already enough for a great conversation.  […]

Rich Robinson at LAUNCH – What’s the Story we are telling?

Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step… If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.

‘Ministry In The Blood And The Mud.’ Patrick O’Connell, NewThing Global Director on the Future Church Podcast.

My friend Patrick O’Connell is the Global Director of NewThing, the network which I and Ivy Church are privileged to be part of, which exists to partner with movement makers and catalyse reproducing disciples, leaders, churches, networks, and movements.  Here he tells the story of how he came to faith, having met his wife in a punk rock mosh pit, joined the army, he went into business and while finally successful in worldly terms when he finally after 4 years accepted an invitation to go to church and everything changed!  He went from church goer to church planter, now serving thousands of church leaders and planters worldwide through NewThing’s dream – to see a church planted in every community around the world. We discuss, among other things –  How might we help connect people far from God so they don’t just learn to cope, but receive hope.  What army life taught him about teams and sacrifice, and how that applies to the army of God and ministry ‘in the blood and the mud.’  How do we collaborate and form networks that are all […]

We Don’t Need Another Welsh Revival, We Need To Change The Church. Julian Richards. New Podcast Episode on Future Church.

This podcast details a story of miraculous provision and remarkable spiritual openness in our culture but we hear how Julian is convinced the answer for Wales (and everywhere else) is NOT for ‘another Welsh Revival’ dropped down from above, but by disciples faithfully serving, loving and winning their neighbours and nation for Christ. 

New Podcast Episode: The Life, Deaths, And Resurrections Of A Pastor-Prophet. Chris Wickland Has a Word for the FUTURE Church.

I met Chris Wickland recently when he came as one of the guest speakers at a leader’s retreat. I’ll never forget his incredible story of how he went from witchcraft to Christ.  Having been aware of the supernatural realm and its realities more than most, Chris described seeing and hearing visions and dreams which have led to him publicly declaring major words regarding the church and the nations ahead of time.  These include the rise and fall of various political leaders, Church closures across the world (publicly declared April 2019) to humble the church, providing insight to governments re natural disasters, and predicting economic upheavals and collapse both present and to come;  However as a Pastor-Prophet Chris says in the podcast he always wants to bring hope not fear, so God’s people can be ready!  As we talk I learn more about his story, his life (and deaths), hearing about how he was saved from a suicide attempt when as a new Christian he drove his car off a cliff, and how he has died and been resurrected (not just […]

The Surprising Truth About What People Think About Jesus & The Church. Rachel Jordan-Wolf

EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, KNOWING JESUS. Well talk about a big vision! Dr Rachel Jordan-Wolf will be joining us at this year’s LAUNCH to talk about how it can become a reality and I loved hearing from her in advance on the podcast. Rachel is executive director of HOPE Together in the UK, having worked closely with the initiative since 2010, when she was the Church of England’s National Mission and Evangelism Advisor. “I’m committed to evangelism being at the heart of the church,’ says Rachel, “Committed to mission and to the local church in villages, towns and cities, and committed to do this together across denominations and across ethnicities to make Jesus known with words and action. We are also committed to a new generation, engaging with Millennials and with digital culture as well.” LISTEN TO THE FUTURE CHURCH PODCAST where you’ll hear how as well as being an expert on the stats and demographics from surveys that she has commissioned so we can have a great deal of hope for the future church, Rachel as a passionate evangelist herself is seeing […]

How To Avoid The Most Costly Leadership Error

Getting the wrong people on your team (or leading it!) can be one of the most expensive and stressful issues you’ll ever face. I was thrilled to hear wisdom from my friend William Vanderbloemen on how we really can do so much better at this. He is an entrepreneur, pastor, speaker, author, and CEO and founder of Vanderbloemen Search Group, which has helped thousands of churches, ministries, and faith-based organisations create a great culture and find people who will consistently make it better to achieve their God given goals. We looked at many issues on the Future Church podcast here including: