Ephesians 3 This is the reason we kneel. God is higher & more glorious than we can imagine. Picture of a beach The beach is good But there is an ocean to step into. Go in deep enough to trust the waters to hold you God wants to lead us into deeper waters where we are immersed – where we are out of our depths but the Spirit is in control Col 3 Look up – that’s where the action is We look down a lot. We get focused shuffling along Look up to where Jesus is God is bigger Higher But we shuffle along. Look up! See the stars He’s bigger than you can imagine! 98% of the universe are invisible to us The heavens are his playground The earth is his footstool We are made of 7 billion billion billion atoms 99.9% of an atom is empty space. If you got rid of all the empty space you could condense everything to the size of a sugar cube Don’t shrink God Don’t control & contain him in a […]
Dave Ferguson"A short but insightful read that can change lives forever – Anthony proves again that deep truths don’t have to be complex."
Carl Beech"Anthony is the real deal, a leader full of keen insights into how to unlock the gift and calling God has placed in you. Read this, then get hold of a bunch for your friends."
Dr. Krish Kandiah"Anthony Delaney is a gifted communicator and leader. He has an infectious passion for God and is making an outstanding impact in his community."
The Independent“Delaney is 'above all' a follower of Jesus: he has successfully utilised his engaging, measured manner to grow Manchester's Ivy Church to more than four times its size since he joined as leader five years ago. So significant today is the congregation, that events are now held several times a week at venues across the city, including Cineworld, a warehouse and even a nightclub...”
Dave Ferguson“Anthony Delaney is one of those amazing leaders who loves Jesus, loves the mission and is truly authentic in his faith. I love how Anthony is impacting his community and putting into place a network of reproducing churches to reach the UK. I'm truly inspired by his get-it-done attitude while totally depending on God.”
Mike Breen“Anthony is a rare kind of man. He’s a great leader but he’s honest about his weaknesses. He’s a charismatic personality, but he’s surprisingly self-effacing. He comes from an ordinary background but has never settled for mediocrity. He’s a strong man with a tender heart.”
Tim Morfin“So many people talk leadership theory but are not leading in significant ways. What Anthony brought to the TLG managers was so directly from his personal leadership experience. We were inspired to bring who we are to the leadership opportunities we have, to overcome opposition and build passionate teams who are focused on achieving goals. Inspirational and practical – a great combination!”
Thinking about leading...
NEW THING EUROPE IS ROLLING – GET ABOARD!
5 years seems like a short time scale for a big scary vision (what I called New Thing Europe when I spoke at Ivy on my return), but it’s great to be able to reflect here and give thanks for just some of what’s happened toward its accomplishment in just over a month!
Ben Jeffery at @MyIvyChurch – Esther 6 ‘The Man The King Honours’
There are 2 kinds of pride. One says ‘I am superior to others.’
The other kind says, ‘Everyone’s better than me, I couldn’t do this or that – because people will look at me.’ Pride is your world revolving around yourself.
Humility is you revolving around someone else’s world.
Your Mind Controls Your Life – And Why That’s A Good Thing
Let’s spend some time ‘contemplating thinking about thinking’, to quote Robbie Williams.
Stand Up, Stand With, Never Bow Down.
We should STAND UP for what we believe.
We should STAND ALONGSIDE those who are being persecuted.
We should never BOW DOWN to pressure to conform to what people think, rather than what God says.
Ivy Corporate Mission Partners Annual Meeting
The major missions partners we support as Ivy were able to report briefly on their current position. Ngage – challenges; a small charity doing big stuff. Getting funding is tough. Everyone going for the same pot. Exciting? Still looking at youth work Hub in Burnage. Also possibility of Free School. Development fund application successful! Roc; Highlights – the Fuse; has grown their faith. 2000 visitors from all round the country. Today in holiday club a child wrote ‘This is the best day of my life,’ Football coach said ‘this has been the best week I ever did.’ Challenge? Bid to deliver restorative justice for MCR Also – family mentoring Need more staff, bigger infrastructure. Besom; David King – Christians being released into social action. Meeting needs to matched help. Building relationships with the people we help too. All kinds of people get prayed for, someone recently said ‘THANKYOU nobody ever prayed for me before.’ David is now holding the baton for someone else to pick up the Baton on this. Dignity. An amazing year – a big movement of 3600 […]
#40DaysCreative Let’s Begin..
I’m in too! #40dayscreative
Church We Can All Do
I follow Rachel Held Evan’s blog and I’m grateful for her pointing to this church in New York (a city I’m so excited to be visiting at the end of the year with Zoe). [vimeo 42866194 w=500 h=281] What a great idea – Dinner Church! Who do you think they got that from? I can see this working brilliantly here in Manchester. Sounds, looks and tastes a lot like how church started, and grew – and maybe it holds a big key to how we can once again build movements that don’t depend on ‘Who’s your Pastor?’, but rather ‘How’s your Pasta?’ More about St Lydia’s here.
Ems Hancock at @myivychurch Esther 1 A Culture Of Honour.
There is a way to talk to and be with people that honours people or dishonours them. Ems has a daughter called Esther and she was born ‘for such a time as this.’ It’s a very biblical thing to exercise a culture of honour. Around 470BC the Jews were taken into exile and now they were under the power of Xerxes who ruled 120 provinces from India to Ethiopia. For 6 months he threw a party to display his wealth and power. It was very ostentatious (think footballers mansion). The royal wine flowed freely and he got ‘very very drunk’ – after a 7 day binge he called his wife in to show her off She refused and he got very insulted. So did all the men. Let’s get a new queen! That’s how Esther got a crown later Xerxes was a man without honour Rich, yes – but… Insecure Drunkard Big ego Communicates through eunuchs Not a job you’d want He’s surrounding himself with men less manly to make himself bigger. The queen was from a royal line in […]