Tag: Church

I’m Starting To Think Bigger!

I know that will annoy some people. Some people who know me think I already think big enough – but I don’t think God agrees. He’s been growing my vision and faith recently. Other people think small is beautiful. I agree. But bigger is beautifuller, when it comes to thinking. Some years ago I read a book called ‘The Present Future’– and I hated it. Why did I hate the book? It was like going to the Doctors and hearing that while you may look okay, just about everything is wrong with you, you’re really unhealthy and on the way toward slipping off the plate; then being told various obvious things that if you did them, would avoid that fate; but not being allowed to do them. It was like a mechanic looking at the engine, ‘Here’s what’s wrong with your car and here’s what you need to do to fix it,’ but while you really want that to happen, you know you can’t. It’s not possible. At the time I was leading an institutional church, with great people, meeting locally […]

Leadership Network Interviewed Me…

about our experience of connecting to their High Capacity peer learning group for Europe, which has been fantastic; their notes from our telephone interview have just been posted widely and I reproduce it below.   In September 2014, Leadership Network will launch a High Capacity peer learning group in Europe. Anthony Delaney, Team Leader of Ivy Manchester (UK), tells his story of participating in Europe’s Rapid Growth Leadership Community. When Anthony Delaney took over as leader, Ivy was known as ‘Ivy Cottage’ and he reflects, “I saw great potential, but we needed to move out of the cottage and into the city.” With the help of Leadership Network, that’s where Anthony has been leading Ivy over the past five years. In this time they’ve planted three churches and started several missional projects. For Anthony it began when his friend Andy Hawthorne (founder and director of The Message) invited him to join a Leadership Network Leadership Community. Within a few months Anthony was at his first meeting. It was at these meetings that he began to make great friendships and was introduced […]

Jessie Jo Jacobs – Revival of love

Everything we want to do comes out of love. Jesus sets a very high bar; don’t look at her with lust, she’s your sister Don’t look at him with anger; he’s your brother The fasting he requires is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, loving those that have nowt. He asked Simon Peter: do you love me? Yes Feed my lambs then If you love me – love them What else can save the world, our cities, but this love. A people caught up in love. The bible is a love story Not a rule book Matt 13:3-9 parable of the sower 19-23 unpacks and explains it. Jesus is sowing seed on planet earth Some – hard ground; ‘I just don’t and won’t believe that love story.’ Some had no root; shallow relationship. The first joy of the first date. No depth to the relationship. And some – it’s wealth that gets in the way. The cares of this world, consumerism is choking out the gospel in the world. Britain is full of rich young rulers who won’t give up […]

Problem – People – Plan. Acts 6

Great input from Chris Willard  @Chris_willard at Leadership Network @leadnet Retreat.   In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”  This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large […]

The Biggest Challenge Of My Life So Far – Please Help Me Out!

I’m WAY excited! Carl Brettle from UCB recently challenged me, “If you wrote an evangelistic resource that will connect to 21st Century people, I think we could make thousands of copies available to give FREE to churches.” Woah. I met him a week or so after to see if he was serious or whether that was just a rush of blood. We discussed an idea I’d had about a year before that I’d been thinking and praying about and following that I’m just about to start writing and producing what will be at least two resources. I can’t give you the titles etc yet but there will be… 1) A short, punchy booklet and DVD resource linked to a website full of amazing testimonies challenging people to follow Jesus Christ 2) Another free resource for those who have done so (or are still on the edges of it) to help disciple them to make disciples. Both resources will have dedicated websites to really help people who engage with the material at every level and we are planning on having tens […]

Dream Of A Coming Revival

Anyone who knows my wife Zoe well will know over the years she has a great prophetic gift in dreams, really insightful and occasionally scary! The wonderful thing is how they come true in detail. It’s no exaggeration to say that every major move in our life has been foretold in a dream she’s documented. So the other night she had a dream – about a move of GOD that’s coming our way. This ties in with an increasing excitement I have been feeling, many reporting a palpable sense of the presence of God last Sunday in our service at Kingsway, a number of miraculous answers to prayer here at Ivy recently; and reports from various sites I’m connected to of outpourings in various churches. It seems the spiritual temperature is being turned up!  Here’s Zoe’s dream, from her notes. The bits in brackets are my explanatory notes. I was with a few others (women friends/prayer partners) were in an upstairs room – when a storm was coming up outside. I told someone there how bad it looked but they […]

Successful Succession

Bill Hybels on Succession The person who helped him think through the tough questions around this asked – Do you ever see yourself dying? The death rate is 100% Do you see yourself being Senior Pastor till your last day? Or when you’re walking slow and drooling?  PLANNING PHASE Every important matter to do with this needs to be asked. Who decides? How long will they have approximately What role will the pastor have afterwards How will their contribution be honoured? PHASE 2 Is there an internal successor? Give this a time frame. If not.. PHASE 3 External successor PHASE 4 18 months transition to new person.   This is a GOOD process! It gives security to the church.  But it’s tough on the pastor and needs to be handled with great sensitivity. Don’t assign a person with low Emotional Intelligence to handle it!   Some senior pastors hang on too long. Leave a great legacy! Trust God to guide you on the journey. Set the church up to be stronger as you go.  

The most tragic verse in the Bible?

I believe that this Saturday, God is going to do something supernatural in the lives of the men who come to the Diamond Geezers Day here in Manchester, releasing our potential for supernatural greatness. If you’ll come along to the Message building and connect to God’s presence there, hearing His Word and doing what He says, I believe that God is going to raise up from the day some spiritual leaders to make a massive difference in this world. And the reality is that this is so important because there’s a huge shortage of godly men in our nation. In the church men too many men have relegated themselves into passivity, or fallen to compromise and shame. One of the most tragic verses in the Bible is Ezekiel 22:30: I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it… God said: I looked for a man like that… How many did He find? The Bible tells us: […]