Tag: Christianity

THE CHURCH BUILDING CYCLE. (ALC Network Day)@StephenMatthew_

 Stephen Matthew has become a friend whose wisdom I appreciate greatly, he has been very generous with his time and encouragement, mentoring me individually through numerous conversations over in Bradford and also coming across to meet with some of our leaders at Ivy recently as we prayed and planned into our future. He is a surveyor by background and combines theological acumen, practical skills and a pastoral heart through 25 years of ministry to be a man with a brain worth picking for anyone who wants to build a prevailing church. Here’s my notes on his talk at the ALC Network day this week:  There are only two kinds of churches: The church everybody wants to build (It’s there in Acts 2, and the ideal church, it inspires us). The church God wants you to build. If you try and copy the church ‘out there’ you’ll always fail. God wants to speak to YOU about YOUR people and place. It’s always bespoke. You work the process and start to build from scratch or reinvent what’s been built so far. What […]

TALE OF TWO BROTHERS: Charlotte Gambill: @CharlGambill – ALC Network Day

GREAT TALK from a fantastic Network Day! All our team who attended were blown away. Well worth looking over and praying through in your teams etc. Psalm 133: 1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, 
running down on Aaron’s beard, 
down on the collar of his robe. 
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon 
were falling on Mount Zion. 
For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. Have we accessed this blessing to its full extent?1 We can INSTIGATE this, bring it in ourselves. If… we can figure out how to be united. And that’s not about standing up and all hold hands. That can be purely external. We need this REAL unity. In our teams, churches, cities. In our marriage and with our kids is where it starts. Where has this gone wrong? Go and look for brothers in the Bible that got along – there weren’t many! Cain and Abel Jacob and his […]

Andy Stanley: DO FOR ONE – Catalyst 2011

Be Present. The more successful you are, the less accessible you’ll become. This is not good or bad, it’s just true. The more people become part of what you’re doing, the less available to everyone you’ll end up. But we think, ‘I don’t want that. My door will be wide open…’ But if we refuse this truth, the more you’ll burn out by trying to be accessible to everyone. You’ll do life spreading yourself razor thin, not accessible to those you’re with really anyway. Distracted. The hard thing is, we come into ministry because we’re all about people. OR we may use our success as an excuse to be more inaccessible than necessary. People will come up in your own church and say, ‘I know you’re busy, but…’ You’ll hide form them. Unawareness is bliss! Because the more people’s needs and problems you’re aware of, the more you’ll know there’s no 15 minute solutions. That will wear you out. The more need we’re bombarded with, the less able to handle it we feel. So much cancer, so much debts and […]

DON’T LOSE HEART. Michael Hyatt at Catalyst 2011

Michael Hyatt Don’t Lose Heart.  The people who don’t stay the course, are those who lose heart. Most Christians – 80%? lose heart and become ineffective by the age of 55. You can get your heart back – and lead from the heart. You will maximise your influence as a leader when you embrace 5 truths about the heart. Your heart is the essence of your identity. The Bible uses the word heart over a 1000 times. Matt 5:8, 6:23, 15:18, 22:37 – love God with your heart. Your heart is YOU. Who YOU are. The inner sanctuary where you connect with God and others from. The world ‘s focus is external image, but the Lord looks at the heart. Why? Because it matters most. The big question is not how’s your family/ career – but ‘How’s your heart?’ Your heart is your most important and valuable leadership tool Prov 4:23 – above ALL else! (It’s not your knowledge, your skills that counts) – your heart is the WELLSPRING of your life. If you stop up springs, the streams stop […]

Jesus’ Job Interview

Just thinking about this as I prepare to speak Sunday on John 21. The original ‘Footprints in the Sand’ I suppose… Here’s Jesus’ job interview… Simon do you love me? You know I love you. Feed my sheep. Do you love me? I love you deeply. Good – feed my lambs. Do you love me? You know I love you… Feed my sheep. Okay – er… What about him?

Debra Green – Mountains or Fountains

My notes from this, the first talk in our 40 Days of Ivy DNA Series: RELEVANT. People are surprised when we as a church are normal rather than ‘religious’ Text –  John 4- the samaritan woman at the well. 1) Jesus asked – ‘Will you give me a drink?’ This is a very controversial conversation for him to have at all. He’s showing us the type of Saviour he is. He’s speaking to her in her language, about her every day life and needs. Connects with the familiar. If we want to be relevant we need to offer and speak into what people need. Cf Breathe City Church in Stoke- their ‘When‘ ministry: giving clothes to the poor in the city. Thousands of clothing packages given. When we meet the felt needs of people, we’ll be relevant. We’re not relevant because the worship is great or the preaching is good: people outside of church are not even asking about that anyway! But if we help people and connect in people in prison, in debt, when we are marked by hospitality, […]

DEBRA GREEN: Nehemiah 10 – 13. The house of God.

Debra rounded off our series tonight. She began by talking about competing voices – a time in the week when there were 2 sat navs going in the church, which one do we listen to? God’s word to is the Bible, and Nehemiah kept having to come back to that, and call people back to what the Lord had said. 10:28 Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding— these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes. At what age can a child understand and come into the things of God? Josh 24:15 – Choose who you will serve! As for me […]