“The moment we add fasting to prayer in the West, we will see the dam burst. It will signal to God that we have mastered our appetite. We are not just consumers. Fasting as a necessity, not because we like it, but because it’s a turbocharger to our prayers.”
INTIMACY with Jesus.
PROXIMITY to Jesus and
DEPENDENCY on him.
SHUT THE GATES!
It’s struck me as this year opens up like never before just how good the good news is that it really is possible for me and you to be more and more like Christ.
Rather than come up with another TO DO (or not to do) list for 2024, there’s a more important question – and it’s not about doing
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.
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 […]
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. […]
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.
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 […]
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.