we be church

[Sore Thumbs] The Presence-Shaped Edition

Tim Keller on Preaching, Cities, and Relating to Culture

At a recent event in London at Westminster Chapel Tim Keller delivered a very measured and well thought out combination of talks and seminars on the importance of churches in the city, preaching to change people in their seats and finally relating to surrounding culture the right way. I didn’t go but by the wonder of the internet Newfrontiers have published video of the talks for all to see. I have added the last one on Relating to culture to this post below.

Preaching the Gospel
Why Cities Matter
Cultural Transformation

Tim Keller – Cultural Transformation from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

Terry Virgo on “Why Church Plant?”

Over at Terry’s blog he has written a two part series on why church planting.

Church planting, it has been observed, is the most effective form of evangelism. Some statisticians have done the sums and worked out that you get more individuals saved through church planting than from any other form of evangelism. Sadly, however, by simply adding up the numbers they are in danger of missing the point.

Terry makes a strong case for church groups to be “presence-shaped”.

When ‘He is here’ all things are possible. This is what makes God’s people unique – His presence goes with us.

Why church plant 1
Why church plant 2

Web Tech and the Church: A New Blog Series Starting.

Cartoon by David Walker

One of my great passions is the internet and related technology and how it can support churches in their mission. Want I want to do is write some really solid posts on how churches can use the web to impact the culture and locality. Why? Well I think the climate is right we have some fantastic examples out there now of Churches engaging with culture and even the media through web technology. Some churches are beginning to ask how they too can achieve such things. So what qualifies me despite my passion to write and talk about this? Here is a bit of my background and journey related to the topic.

Continue reading…

[Sore Thumbs] The “Oh! How He Loves Us!” Edition

Every week I link to resources and sites that stand out and which are worth pointing people to, hence the name sore thumbs, “it stood out like a sore thumb”.

The love of God changes us! There is so much weight in what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1

“If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

How can you expect to be EFFECTIVE for God if you have not been EFFECTED by the LOVE that God has for YOU! I would rather make noise for a reason, both in praise to God and in sharing what he has done for us. These videos and article just stood out as great examples of that.

Song: How He Loves Us

Kim Walker singing How He Loves Us from the We Cry Out CD/DVD, available on jesusculture.org. This DVD was recorded live at a Jesus Culture Conference in Redding, CA.

Went Shopping for Doghnuts Saw People Healed

“Attention all Shoppers! God is in the building! And I just began to tell what God was doing.”

Mark Driscoll on Evangelism

“Evangelism is the natural overflow of a life lived in joy as a worshiper of God. Sadly, evangelism is often portrayed as something that Christians must do as a duty, rather than something that they get to do as a delight.”

Amish Paradise Lost or Paradise being Found?

Today I wandered over to the BBC iPlayer and landed on an insightful documentary on the Amish Community near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the US titled “Trouble in Amish Paradise” the blurb reads as followed;

When two radical Amish men, Ephraim and Jesse Stoltzfus, start to question some of the most fundamental aspects of their Amish culture, they face excommunication from their church and total rejection by their friends and family.

Setting the scene Ephraim’s and Jesse’s families hold their own prayer meetings, express their faith with those who are not Amish and a study the Bible in a language that they can actually read, not the antiquated German which is meant to be used. The local Amish church which they are apart of is threatening excommunication for these activities as it is against the rules. Eventually both men are excommunicated.

Really what the BBC have published, perhaps rather unwittingly, is a story of church persecution in the Amish community. At one point Ephraim’s daughter gets diagnosed with leukemia right after they had sold their house and given all their savings to those in need. They are people who live the gospel and hold shining faith that is dependent on Jesus. They want to hold on to the Amish way of living off the land but recognize that it has been corrupted by petty rules grown out of a legalistic religion.

The documentary ends with Ephraim struggling to find and relate to a new church that fits them culturally but I have to say from what I saw of him he had more charisma than many charismatics I have met. We might just be looking at the start of a true renewing of many Amish minds in terms of what is of God’s word. Revival in the Amish culture would be a wonderful thing to hear about, so I’m going to pray for it.

You can watch this on BBC iPlayer (only published for a short period). Also if you did not know, I used to attend a Mennonite church in Canada when I was a kid, apparently it was part of my parents training as missionary for Malawi. They were brilliant at BBQs and made mean corn on the cob.

Prayer as Mission

Photo by Ben Askew

So the church I attend as a student (City Church Newcastle) is just finished a series on prayer. At the last service we looked at Praying Together as a Church Family with the example of the early church in Acts 4:23-31.
What I love is that they are told not to speak about Jesus and then when released they decide that they need to pray together and ask for the exact opposite, boldness to speak. They had faith which caused them to be spiritually stubborn for Jesus. The place where they pray is shaken and the Holy Spirit arrives. They then do what they prayed for, went out and again spoke with boldness, they were open to God to deliver their prayers in them stepping out.

I just want to illustrate this. I came across this video of 24/7 Prayer in Ibiza the party capital of the world. There is a load of prayer going on but notice it is mixed with action/mission. You will have to watch it on YouTube as it can’t be embedded here.
Also of inspiration is my pal Clair Francis talking on prayer at Kings Church in Wellington New Zealand. Go Clair!

Newday Youth Conference 09

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Newday Youth Conference in Sherwood Forrest, yes that’s right, the realm of robin-hood. I didn’t really know what to expect, but thankfully I was in experienced company, thanks Larry!

Looking at my notes the theme which leaps out is that God wants us to be equipped by the understanding that we are His People and to stick to the Guns of his Gospel! You would expect that to be a given but it is very easy to get bogged down or distracted from the fact as your focus. This is how we can run with the youth we are responsible for and see change in their lives.

The Talks?

(The talks will be up on the new newday website soon)

Luke preached on 1 Peter 5:5 about being humble, what true humility is and what it isn’t. Sometimes we can put ourselves above what God is doing and have that arrogant attitude and sometimes we can place our selves below what he wants to do not living up to the responsibility and gifting we are given.

Julian Adams preached on John 14:12-21, the pursuit in God is about his heart which then brings power. Also that we are Children of God, not orphans. We have an identity, an inheritance, a home, and a FATHER!

At this point we chose a seminar. We decided to go to one run by Pete Benton who heads up the Glo Youth in New Life Church East Grinstead. He showed us the need for a strong inspired vision from God and the need for a firm but adaptable structure.

Nearing the end of the conference Joel Virgo preached on Standing Before God from 1 Kings 17,18 using Elijah as an example. Standing before God in resolve, obscurity, responsibility, in truth and even in courage.

Finally Stuart Gibbs helped us look through passages that communicated what Jesus had achieved for us as to be the foundation and core of everything we do. A funny example he made was that we shouldn’t preach a mix bag but a pure bag (using cocaine as the metaphor). We should only preach to peoples hearts. Legalistic manipulation doesn’t work and doesn’t create change in people only the gospel. And yes like pure cocaine it should kill us for any alternative, the word needs to pierce hearts.

There is No Game Over with Jesus

Sometimes to switch off I design, its a way I can be in my element without pressure or demands. Over the past months on and off I have been designing three t-shirts for our youth group level-x. I thought I would post them here and get some feedback. Eventually the plan is that they will be made into stencils and the youth can bring their own coloured tees and print off their favorite design.

24/7 Prayer – What on Earth is all the Fuss?

So what is the 24/7 Prayer movement, how did it start? Do people really pray for 24 hours straight?! This documentary on 24/7 Prayer was originally made as part of a university dissertation and reveals how it is impacting people world wide since it’s humble beginnings (filmed in 2006).

There is a story behind the filming of the documentary. One of the student film makers producing the documentary found himself so impacted by the prayer room goings-on (combined with ‘Alpha’ and a little book called Purpose Driven Life bought by Jim) he decided to become a Christian, pretty much while on shoot. The last two scenes you see are of the moment Tom becomes a Christian, and the wonderful aftermath… Booyakasha!

I have seen for myself the outcomes of 12/7 Prayer in a Church community. It’s fantastic to see people who want to spend time with God and who want others to know about how awesome He is. Conversing, listening and loving God (prayer) really does rock socks as it helps us be who we were made to be, worshipers of Christ! To be totally honest a church without prayer is like a hamburger without the meat. It’s also possible that prayer without a truth guzzling Church becomes very wishy washy with no firm hunky holding.

In the UK alone 75% of the population apparently admit to praying at least once – many of whom don’t consider them selves followers of Jesus.

Continuing on the Treasure Trail

It looks like the Treasure Trail Healing Stories I blogged about in my last post, “Treasure Hunting Leads to Seven Youth Heald!“, are inspired by a Book by Kevin Dedmon called “The Ultimate Treasure Hunt“. I have added it to the Library section on this website, man I really want to read it! If you want to have an advanced read before you get your mits on it can do that on the US Amazon site. Thanks to Nat Carey for pointing the book out to me.

We as Christians seem to either go jelly at the knees or “wowzer!” when we hear of stories of people getting healed today. I was suddenly struck that actually we have a whole Bible crammed with awesome stories and practical examples where people have been healed by God’s power. These are reasons enough to get out there and begin praying for people, but Jesus says something that I feel gives us total permission and freedom in the knowledge that we too can do this work and heal people in John 14:12-14. Thank you Jesus!

I know I need to stop looking at the tails where Jesus healed as a surface stories but dive deep in to the relevancy they have for us today and to not only think about it but get practical about it because they are strong exhortations to GET CRACKING for HIS KINGDOM!

Treasure Hunting Leads to Seven Youth Heald!

I came across this awesome video testimony with a chap named Simon Holley who is the lead elder at King’s Arms Church. Him and a friend called Tabo basically asked God to be their treasure map and were directed to people to pray for through pictures given to them. They directed to a group of youth and the results were amazing with the mark of an awesome God interested in revealing Himself as the ultimate treasure. “Treasure come and treasure go but Jesus your eternally mine”

Simon Holley Interview from P&F on Vimeo.

You can find more on the Treasure Hunts at the King’s Arms Church website I found this video indirectly through Andy Bradley’s blog Theologising. I love stories like this where God is directing, inviting us to get involved in seeking people, healing and encouraging people to make decisions. If you have any simillar stories where God is working why don’t you share them in the comment section?

UPDATE:

There are also some brilliant audio testimonies from church members doing street encounters using the Treasure Hunt method. The one published on 29/11/08 is particularly encouraging.

15 healed on the streets of Bedford! - 29/11/08
Treasure Hunting Tales – 09/09/08
Treasure Hunt – 01/07/08