Now here in the West the question arises more than any time in my life whether the light of the gospel that we have been handed on, that we are to shine before all people, may be in danger of going out? The historic value of the church in society, the idea that this is a Christian nation, that the word of God has a hearing, that flame is burning down in society, in churches and, yes, believers.
First the church is lulled into acceptance. Then the hammer falls.
What would WE do?
Some time around 10pm (I think) a singer put down his trumpet and said, ‘The Holy Spirit is here, let’s be silent and welcome his presence.’
Within a few minutes, we all knew the anointing, overwhelming, presence of God – come to counsel and comfort, to convict the world with regard to sin and righteousness and judgement.As I looked around I saw hundreds, many hundreds, all kinds of people around the Arena where not long ago death and horror reigned doing just that men and women and young people coming back to life! Hands up everywhere. Many were in tears and others smiling broadly as they did business with God in what was now surely a holy place as he made himself present where he had been so royally welcomed and honoured. The King had come.
John 17:6-11 ‘That they may be one – even as we are one.’ This is what is on his heart and uppermost in his mind – unity. He has everything being put into place on the other side of his death and resurrection. And he knows that UNITY is the Key, if we are to build anything in life. Nobody can do it alone. So his emphasis, his prayer for us – is unity. Even as he’s on death row effectively, he’s not praying ‘Lord be with me, in this trial, make it easier.’ He transcends his needs to pray for ours. We are here as church, because of this prayer. You can’t just have revival because you hold a prayer meeting or an event, how do I know? We have tried it! It comes – to the desperate, those who know their own poverty who cry out, in their desperation for God, and for their own condition. Our lives are made up of moments. Some of have had those life changing, life shaping moments. What if this happened now when […]
Save souls, make them into disciples.
That is the purpose of every church and every Christian.
Do you believe in the Great Commission?
Yes, we’d say of course we do!
Well do your systems back that up?
Do we put the responsibility of the weight of the Great Commission on every believer?
What stops us saying ‘We would love to multiply where you are.’ The only way to do that is to overcome fear. Because fear is the opposite of faith. And if that has stopped you, don’t let having less not stop you doing more because scarcity brings clarity and if we make our vision and mission again. Serving the hurting. Saving the lost – We would see this as such an opportune time
I found XCC physically testing, spiritually, emotionally and mentally strengthening, community building.
So many things connect us to the one Father – Nothing should be able to separate us!
Your harvest is in direct proportion to the amount of seed you sow. Farming principle!
I spent some time with my friend from NewThing Josh Howard as he helped a small group of us think about movements of disciple making and church planting. Josh (who will be with us again at this year’s LAUNCH event in October) shared with us that in their work across South East Asia they radically changed their approach 8 years ago toward intentionally discipling people who would then go and make more disciples they call it “Train the saved, save the lost.” And it’s simple but can be disheartening because it’s not all up and to the right – it’s usually more like a J curve, you see some subtraction – and you don’t see the big crowds now. It seems nothing much is happening because multiplication is slow at the start, one person reaching out and reproducing Jesus at a time. But when you get doubling disciples every six months or so look out – you start to see something amazing. So in the First Quarter of 22 across the nations they are operating in, it’s starting to go exponential. In […]