Off to the States

I’m off to America tomorrow. Not for ever, you understand. I couldn’t survive without the important things available only in England like tea, cricket and drizzle.

I’m off for a conference. It’s not the first time I’ve been to a Bible Conference in the States. I’m always keen to access their expertise. But it is the first time I’ve gone as a speaker. And it can’t be because they want to access mine! I wasn’t their first choice, as you might expect. But I am their last! They wanted Gavin McGrath. I mean, who wouldn’t?! But Gavin told them that they didn’t want him; they wanted me. They listened to some talks and saw no reason to disagree, which is encouraging.

Christ Church Carrollton, Dallas is the church hosting the conference. You can find out more about them here. They’re a recent church plant established initially as a result of the fallout from the rampant doctrinal revisionism of the Episcopal Church of which they were a part. They’re now a mission of the Presbyterian Church of America. You can find out a bit more about that here. They describe themselves as Christ centered, Bible focused, mission minded and reformed. Amen to that!

I’m so looking forward to going. Of course I’ll miss the family. And I’ll miss the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, which I think Rosslyn is more put out about! It’s a big weekend in the United Kingdom. We’re celebrating sixty years of the rule of Queen Elizabeth the Second. You can find out more about that here! But it’s going to be a treat meeting Christian brothers and sisters in the States, enjoying what we have together in Christ, sharing what he’s called us to do in his service and encouraging one another to persevere in his strength. I’m hoping to sit down with Bill Lovell, their principle pastor and compare church planting notes.

You can find details of the conference here. That’s some speaker list. But given that I’m preaching on 1 Corinthians I’ve taken great comfort from 1 Cor 4:3, ‘But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court’. It’s the Lord who judges the quality and motives for our ministry. And so I’m trying to focus on the only audience that ultimately matters. It may be daunting to know that God is watching and listening. But it’s also liberating.

I’ll keep you posted on my experiences. I have some worries not least whether my, some might say, unique style of humour will translate. I’ll tell you what I make of the home of JR, the Cowboys and George W. Bush. But I think I’m in for a treat. You might pray that Christ Church Carrollton is as well!

Read Full Post »

Ten Top Tips for Going to Church

Christine Jensen, the wife of Peter Jensen (the Archbishop of Sydney) has written her ten top tips for going to church. You’ll find them here.

She’s raised a young and large family so she knows what she’s talking about and she’s done the hard yards of putting it into practice. And she’s been married to the Minister so she knows what a difference each of these things makes to him.

Being on time is a real bugbear of mine. It’s so frustrating to get up at the start of church to a half empty building and then watch people arrive during the hymn, confession or kids’ slot! And there’s just so much to be done before church actually ‘starts’. There are people to see, conversations to be had, newcomers to be welcomed, stuff to be arranged and so on. If we breeze in on time or 10 minutes after the start of the meeting (as one of our families got into the habit of doing), it’s pretty poor form. The Perkins are hopeless at being places on time owing to the different way Rosslyn and I approach time (let the reader understand). We’ve worked out that if we aim to be at church at a certain time, that doesn’t work. We aim to leave the house at a certain time. And that does. If we leave at 10am we may well get there at 10.10am and that means that we get 20 minutes to be helpful and do ministry. If we have a last minute disaster (I spill toothpaste on my shirt, have forgotten to download the power point onto the computer or one of the kids is completely inappropriately dressed) we can still get there before the start, which is always helpful for the Minister!

Christine’s article isn’t long. It’s well worth a read. And it’s well worth having a discussion and a pray with your spouse. If every family had this attitude then a church would be transformed.

Read Full Post »

Unwanted Friendships?

One of our kids has been invited to a party by someone they don’t really regard as a friend. There’s no hostility between them, or indeed anything remotely untoward. It’s just that they don’t really play together. And the enthusiasm for friendship is a little one sided. And so the invitation to come to a party involving only a handful of others wasn’t welcomed with the enthusiasm that you might expect. Our child decided that they didn’t want to go. We could have taken the path of least resistance (which is often the most attractive route in parenting … but is usually the most disastrous). But we didn’t. Not this time. I felt uncomfortable for the individual who’d sent the invitation. They’d only invited a few people to the party. And one of our kids was one of them. That’s not nothing. They clearly regarded our kid as someone whose company they enjoyed and whose friendship they coveted, even if it wasn’t reciprocated. And so we braced ourselves for a confrontation. But it went surprisingly well, largely because of the example I gave.

I talked about our friendship with God, or rather, God’s friendship with us. Think about it for a moment. What has God got to gain from offering us His friendship? How does He benefit? As far as He’s concerned, we’re a bunch of losers (until He makes something of us). We’re really different. We don’t have a whole lot in common and what we do we’ve trashed (His image). We’re the geeky nerds that no one really likes. It’s not convenient for Him to seek us out and befriend us. And yet, that’s what He’s done. He’s shown us compassionate love. He’s approached us and offered us friendship. He’s taken us into the inner circle of his friendship group. We get to share His life. And it makes Him happy (as well as us) to do it. What an undeserved privilege!

Is that not a model for offering friendship to those we wouldn’t naturally choose as our friends? Are we, who’ve experienced the kindness of God, to show similar kindness to others. Our child thought so.

And it got me thinking about my own friendship patterns, and especially those at church. In fact, it got me thinking about how we treat the newcomers that God brings to us at CCB. I think that this has got something to teach us about the ministry of ‘welcoming’ at church.

One of the joys in an inner London suburb is that though people leave when they get to a certain stage of life, they also keep arriving in similar numbers. And everyone who joins our church needs to be integrated into the church family for them to flourish. They need to find Christian friendships in order to grow and mature. Of course not everyone who arrives needs to be, can expect to be and perhaps most importantly wants to be my new best friend. But the danger is that once we’re settled with our own group of friends we lose the impetus to provide friendship to others. We’re sorted and we’re not looking to extend our inner circle of friendships. But if all newcomers meet is an apparent wall of closed cliques, why would they stay? There’s sometimes little appetite to offer genuine friendship to newcomers where the volume of arrivals is high. But what a privilege to be those who can treat others the way that God in Christ has treated us.

I think I got more from the conversation with my kid. They’re now keen to go, which is good. But I’ve benefited from thinking about our own life in ministry at CCB.  It’s a win win!

Read Full Post »

Unrest in Southwark – A Kuhrt Response?!

The proposed ‘Southwark Ministry Trust’ has (not unexpectedly) caught the eye of those interested in Church Politics. But it’s also caused some consternation amongst those that agree that the situation in the Church of England, and perhaps especially the Diocese of Southwark, is lamentable.

Stephen Kuhrt, the Vicar of Christ Church New Malden in the Southwark Diocese, has written a response to the proposed trust fund on the Fulcrum website.

Let me begin by saying that there are many things that I liked about the article.

First, I think he’s made a shrewd and insightful observation in his first paragraph when he writes,

It is often much easier for evangelicals to agree upon problems within the church than their solutions. This is because our understanding of such problems is usually based upon the relative consensus that evangelicals broadly possess over doctrine and ethics. Proposed solutions to these problems, on the other hand, often reveal the diversity amongst evangelicals when it comes to one particular area of doctrine: our ecclesiology or theology of the church.

I agree with that. But it remains incumbent upon those of us that agree with the issue to do all that we can not to fall out over the tactics we employ to try to effect the change for which we all hope, pray for and work towards.

Secondly, I respect him for the recent stand he’s taken within the Diocese in opposing the cause of biblical revisionism evident in the recent appointment of so many Liberal-Catholics to senior posts. Stephen writes, ‘It is for these reasons that I have been among those who have criticised the imbalance within the Southwark appointments and strongly communicated this upset and dissatisfaction to our Bishop, Christopher Chessun’. It’s not easy to contend for the truth. You get shot at. And good for Stephen if he’s willing to take the hits on this one.

Thirdly, I agree with him that there remain questions and difficulties that surround the administration and distribution of funds from the Southwark Trust Fund. Some of those questions have been addressed already and others, no doubt, are being worked out as the plan evolves. I’m sure that those responsible will carry on responding to the criticisms that come their way and clearing up any misunderstandings or misrepresentations. But he need not be unduly suspicious of the phraseology that’s been employed by the Trust in their wording of the proposals.

Fourthly, I broadly agree with him about the subsidy culture. Stephen writes, ‘I have major issues with the ‘subsidy culture’ that asks for such a crippling amount and is so discouraging to church growth’. Having said that, I’m pretty sure that Stephen would support the redistribution of income to church ministries that are unlikely ever to be self-sustaining so long as the church is involved in gospel ministry consistent with the theology of the Church of England as contained in the 39 Articles.

But I’m not completely onboard with everything that Stephen says.

I don’t think that the so-called ‘balance’ that has apparently existed in the Diocese of Southwark has been a good thing. I’d be very happy to see it lurch off in one direction, as long as that direction was towards biblical orthodoxy. My issue with the Diocese (in particular) and the Church of England (in general) is that it still offers a place for the theologically unorthodox. Consider this, if a hospital employed Doctors who administered poison rather than medicine I wouldn’t expect people to rejoice in the diversity of the staff team. False teaching is poisonous. It undermines faith. It destroys people. And its proponents are wicked. I’m not interested in a balanced portfolio of Church Ministers from differing theological positions and traditions in Southwark. I know it’s a pipe dream but I want uniformity; theological uniformity (but missional diversity) of the biblical kind. We may never see it in our day but let’s at least be clear about it!

I guess I’m just not committed to what Stephen describes as ‘principled comprehensiveness’. Or at least I’m not committed to it in the way that I’ve seen it exercised in practice. Stephen’s understanding and familiarity with contemporary church history will be better than mine and so I’ll assume that his take on Keele is accurate. But regardless of what was decided just off the M6 at the end of the sixties, I just can’t sign up to an unspecified comprehensiveness. Comprehensiveness needs to have some limits. There’s such a thing as being too comprehensive. If the Church of England is all-encompassing then it stands for nothing and it means nothing. The Jerusalem Declaration put some limits on comprehensiveness. I’d have liked something a little tighter than that but I’m happy to work with it. A friend compared it to the Elizabethan Settlement at the Reformation. I just nodded and pretended that I’d understood the reference. But it seems to me that the proponents of biblical revisionism are having a field day with our inability to apply the first part of the phrase ‘principled comprehensiveness’. And that’s my issue with Stephen’s opposition to the Trust Fund. It’s not principled. It’s probably an unfair caricature but, if I’ve understood him correctly then he’s saying we need to keep paying quota and that gives us the right to voice our complaints. That’s just so politically passive and naive. We’re getting taken to the cleaners. And we’re funding it!

And it’s also true that I disagree with the proposed methodology for change. One that was apparently agreed upon at Keele. I wasn’t there so I didn’t have any input. In fact, I wasn’t born! But where has being ‘fully involved’ actually got us? Since Keele, are we really in a better position because of the approach adopted at Keele? I don’t doubt the integrity or motives behind those who were involved. Neither do I wish to denigrate the activities and efforts of evangelical clergy and layman who got stuck into the administrative and theological structures of the Church of England. But we need to ask ourselves whether, after 40 years of this approach, the cause of evangelicalism in the C of E has been strengthened because we got involved in the Deanery Synod. Is it not the case that evangelicalism has made advances across the country because of things like the growing political influence of sizeable evangelical churches (St Helen’s and HTB in London, and St Ebbe’s and St Aldates in Oxford for example), church planting across parish boundaries (with or without Diocesan sanction), the increasing numbers of young Bible believing and Bible teaching clergy and the increasing belligerency of evangelicals who find what they need for ministry from alternative structures? But perhaps that’s a post for another time.

Read Full Post »

Mission Encouragements – III

Are penguins who engage in homosexual acts sinning?

Why can’t brothers and sisters sleep together?

Why did God create evil?

What about the dinosaurs?

These were just some of the questions posed last night at our ‘Question Time’. Some of them, we were expecting. The gay penguins took us by surprise! (We may not have answered that to the questioner’s satisfaction. But could you?!)

For one night only, we took over the ballroom at the Bedford replete with stage lighting and a disco ball. Those expecting Argentinian Tango were disappointed. But we had quite a crowd, which was heartening. There were probably fewer numbers in total than we were hoping for, which was mildly disappointing. But there were more guests than we got last year, which was terrific.

I hosted the evening with my usual mixture of self-deprecating whimsy, gentle mockery and completely inappropriate interjections. The panellists were Andrew Nicholls, Leonie Mason and Nick Tucker (the last of whom took great delight at my personal discomfort at a badly chosen gag and the subsequent tumbleweed moment).

Andrew read medicine at the University of Cambridge and trained as a Doctor at St Bart’s. He then worked for UCCF, an organisation supporting and training Christian students in London. He started working for a church 15 years ago before training in theology and becoming a church minister in Kingston. We had him dealing with the ethics and science questions.

Leonie was quite simply the cleverest student when we studied together at theological college, which surprised us all given her background in selling handbags! (She had other jobs but they don’t help the gag) Those of us most threatened by her fearsome intellect spent our three years trying to copy her essays. For the past 10 years she’s been working on the St Helen’s Church staff team in the City of London. She helps train future church ministers and has responsibility for taking care of the women of that congregation. We got Leonie to deal with the lifestyle related questions and apologetic objections.

Nick is a University Lecturer, teaching in church history and doctrine at Oak Hill Theological College in north London. He trained as a Church Minister, completed his training on the Wirrall, in Lancashire and is now back south completing his PhD. He also worked for UCCF before becoming an Anglican Ordinand. Nick dealt with the more doctrinal and philosophical issues that arose.

We got them to tweet their essential summary of the good news of Christianity and then talk us through it. They each responded to a question pertinent to their area of experience and expertise as outlined above. And whilst the questions were being collected and collated we got them to give us their testimony of how they became a follower of Jesus Christ. And then we spent an hour ploughing our way through a wide variety of questions. We had some great questions on suffering, other religions, church involvement in politics and economics, historical and archaeological reliability and Jesus’ identity. Inevitably there were questions about science and evolution and their compatibility. And there were a few questions out of left field. We got through all but four. But we promised to finish at 9.3opm and so I was determined to honour that.

One great question was ‘what would qualify as a disproof for God?’ And I pressed the panellists to say what, if anything, would cause them to stop being a Christian. Andrew’s answer ‘Jesus’ body’ led to a useful discussion. We opened it up to the floor on one or two occasions but most people seemed happy to let their questions do the talking.

Andrew, Nick and Leonie did a great job. They were knowledgeable, thoughtful and careful. They worked well as a team; supplementing each other’s answers when appropriate. A couple of people said that it was a shame that they didn’t disagree more. But from the questions that they were asked and given their common conviction about biblical authority it was difficult to see where they would disagree. I guess some of the questions about politics and economics gave room for more manoeuvre than say the identity of Jesus, the existence of hell and the reliability of the resurrection. I’m not sure how I would have handled it if there had been disagreement. But I trusted them enough to respect each other’s position and allow for a difference of opinion where the Bible permits that.

But I was especially thrilled that each of them modelled the way to handle people’s questions. They remembered that dictum that we’re not simply trying to win the argument, we’re trying to win a person. What’s meant by that is that in our interactions with others we’re not simply trying to defeat the other person’s argument, we’re trying to win a hearing and through the persuasive presentation of our case we’re trying to win the person to our point of view. It’s not deceptive or underhand. It’s just recognising the human relational component in the way we respond to those with whom we disagree. To help people engage it helps to take them and their issues seriously and to treat them with respect. They did that.

Last night was a good night for the gospel. We’ll definitely do it again at some stage. It’s  great way to allow people to ask questions and hear intelligent biblically based answers from those who have the requisite nous to respond in a way that’s clear and helpful. The mission week is in full swing!

Read Full Post »

Is Christianity Good for the World?

That’s the question of this year’s Balham’s Big Question.

We’ve posed it online here, on various social media sites and in person on the streets of Balham.

But how has it got to this? Honestly, how on earth have we got to a situation where people are genuinely asking the question ‘is Christianity good for the world?’ To us Christians, it’s inconceivable that anyone should be in any doubt about the answer. After all, when Mark began his gospel he started with these words, ‘the beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ – the Son of God’ (Mark 1:1). Mark wasn’t unsure. He was convinced that Jesus Christ is good news. That’s what the word ‘gospel’ means. Jesus Christ has always been and will always be very good news for the world.

But in our neck of the woods, the good news has become the bad news. At least that’s the perception. And we’d like to change that. We’re putting on a week of mission events as one of the things that CCB can do to help the people of the Balham area hear the good news of Jesus Christ. We want to do so with events that they can access, in language that they can understand and in venues with which they’re familiar.

We’ve got a Question Time tonight at which people can pitch their questions and hear some answers from our panelists Andrew Nicholls, Leonie Mason and Nick Tucker. We’ve got a Men’s Curry Night on Friday at which I’ll give a talk entitled ‘Is Jesus just for girls?’ (The answer is no – but I’m planning to have a bit more to say than that). We had a women’s evening last Monday with their ‘Girls’ Night In’. I’ve blogged about that here.  On Sunday we have a guest service in the morning when I’ll speak on ‘Christianity: a faith for people who don’t do religion’. And Sunday night we’ll reveal the results of Balham’s Big Survey and Dan Strange will answer the question ‘Is Christianity good for the world?’

We’re pleased with what we’ve ended up with. We’re hopeful that this will work. But please pray so that our efforts to help our friends, neighbours and colleagues are not in vain? We’d love to help them see that the answer to the question ‘is Christianity good for the world?’ is emphatically yes.

Read Full Post »

Mission Encouragements – II

Monday night was the Girls’ Night In. I didn’t go. Wasn’t allowed to, what with not being female and that. But at half ten that night I got the full debrief when all I wanted to do was watch the highlights of the Quins Northampton game from the weekend. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as keen as the next man for women’s evangelistic events. But there’s a time and a place for everything! And this was neither.

Joking aside. And, yes, it was a joke. Monday night’s women’s event went off like a storm.

The event was billed as an evening on which to take time out, relax and find sanctuary. Guests were greeted with an stunning array of beautifully crafted canapés (a rapidly diminishing number of which still reside in our fridge). Different women in the congregation offered a variety of pampering treatments ranging from make-up, hand massage, nail treatments and the like. (They may be boring accountants, teachers and nurses by day, but by night they clearly transform into talented beauticians!) But the focus of the evening was a talk by Julie Marriner. During the traumatic pregnancy, delivery and now upbringing of her youngest daughter Hope-Tia , Julie found her ultimate sanctuary in God. By all accounts she spoke openly and with heart rending honesty about Hope’s life. But Julie and the family will continue to face a number of heart-wrenching decisions as they respond to Hope’s very serious heart defect.  But in the midst of this ongoing turmoil, Julie is adamant that we have a God in whom we can always find refuge.

Commenting on the event one recent newcomer to CCB wrote this in an e-mail to her small group,

Those of you that were around last Wednesday know that I was planning to ask my flatmate to come along. She said yes and then told me how excited she was about it. Then yesterday I think she got cold feet and said that she wouldn’t stay very long but would still come along, so I prayed about it. Anyway, we arrived and it was just a haven of loveliness! She felt really welcome and said how friendly everyone was. The food and drinks were beautiful too! So after being there for about 15 minutes she decided that she definitely wanted to stay longer and hear the talk - hooray! The talk really moved her and we had quite a long chat about Christianity and our faith afterwards (previously unexplored territory!)

Anyway, she really enjoyed the evening and on the journey home even said she might try and go to the Bedford on Wednesday night and also said she’d like to come along to CCB.

Before the event, when they were still facing the anxious uncertainty of whether it would work, I tried to convince the girls who organised the event that if only one non-Christian came then it was worth all the effort. I still believe that. But how good was God!! Isn’t that terrific. We’ve got more events to come; the Question Time at the Bedford tonight, the Men’s Curry Night on Friday, the guest service on Sunday morning and Balham’s Big Question on Sunday evening. We’ll keep you posted. But we’re praying that God continues to exceed our expectations and do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

Read Full Post »

Small Things – A New Musician

Somewhat carelessly we seem to have let all our keyboard players leave CCB. None of them cited musical differences as their reasons. We share a remarkably united musical vision at CCB, largely because I let them do whatever they tell me needs to happen. It’s a new type of leadership model I’m trialling. And so far it’s working faultlessly! But the departure of an Irish wonder to a neighbouring Co-Mission church plant and the return of two Aussie stalwarts to their homeland has left us bereft of the glorious redundancy our rota has so often displayed.

We used to be the envy of other Co-Mission music co-ordinator for the simple reason that we were awash with talented pianists. No more. which is not to say that the two we have left aren’t talented. It’s just that the glut is no more.

It would be easy to get discouraged by such a situation. But not the new me. Not the me who searches for the silver lining in every dark cloud just like Jesus tells me to. OK, I made that bit up. But I am determined to find the goodness of God in each and every situation, even when at first sight it doesn’t look too promising or encouraging. Ministry provides ample opportunity to be discouraged and despondent because life doesn’t turn out the way you want it to and people usually don’t do the things you want them to! But Jesus is our Lord and I’m resolved not to display the monstrous unbelief of the disciples who said to Jesus, ‘don’t you care if we drown’ as though the Lord of compassion had changed his default setting from mercy (Mark 4:38).

Last Sunday the encouragement came. Someone who’s either not felt able or not been needed (I simply don’t know the reason) joined the band. And it worked with seamless transition. That may be overstating it. To the trained ear there may have been a perceptible shift in gears. But not to mine. It sounded fine. In fact, it was much better than that.

This is a reminder to people like me, who have responsibility for making things happen, to be prepared to look for new people. I so easily forget that I’m employed to equip the saints for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4). I can’t teach the piano. But I can encourage people to exercise their gifts (however latent) for the glory of God and the benefit of others. And the musicians can help integrate a newcomer into the band. Someone new is serving in a new way because others left. And that’s a good thing.

But it’s also a reminder for people in the congregation (the people who share the responsibility for making things happen) to seize the opportunities created when a hole appears in the rota. Opportunities to serve open up when people leave or have to step down. And so, one of the great things about planting new congregations (perhaps especially small ones) is that it provides opportunities for people to take on new responsibilities. In other, usually larger and more established congregations you might have to wait for years for a chance to open up. And even then you may feel that the level of ability required is beyond you. And you might be right. But in smaller churches like ours we train people on the job and we get people involved far sooner than they otherwise might expect! The level of expertise required to be involved at CCB is less than it might be elsewhere. For example we’ve got nearly 10 guys having a go at preaching this summer because we need them to fill the (not insubstantial) hole left by the departure of our assistant minster for pastures green. That’s terrific, isn’t it? Not Pete going. Though that’s good for Woking. I mean new people getting to handle God’s word, prayerfully prepare a sermon and apply it to the congregation they love. Some things are worth doing, even if you can only do them badly. There’s no doubt that the ‘professional’ preachers might do a better job (though that’s arguable in our situation!). But we’re committed to training people and giving them an opportunity to serve. We’re just not as fussed about absolutely everything being done faultlessly. We’re not blase about doing things well and to the glory of God. But we think that God is glorified if we do what we do to the best of our ability, operating with the constraints of our abilities and opportunities. And so, it’s terrific that our new keyboard player has stepped up to the plate. A relatively small thing perhaps, but a disproportionately encouraging thing.

Read Full Post »

Mission Encouragements

This is our week of mission. I know! Every week should be a week of mission. I agree. And it is. Sort of. But this is a week of mission events. And we’ve got some crackers.But this isn’t a post about that. I may get round to it. But I’m so headless I suspect not. This is about an encouragement to do mission.

Recovering from the rigours of a Sunday that began at 0500 and finished at 2230, I browsed the Briefing with my morning cup of tea. This terrific little article caught my attention. It deserves a wider audience I thought. And so, for all you non-Briefing readers out there (shame on you!) and especially for my partners in the gospel at Christ Church Balham here it is. It’s Jean Williams’ top ten tips to sharing the gospel with others. It’s immensely practical and very helpful. There are lots of reasons that I don’t speak about Christ that have to do with embarrassment, the fear of others’ opinions, preoccupation with lots of other less important things and so on. But as a stimulating reminder of what I’d like to be doing a more of and how I might actually do more of it, I found it hugely encouraging.

 

Read Full Post »

Small Things – The Mission Half Night of Prayer

Every now and again, no more frequently than that, God makes little things happen that help ministry feel sustainable. He sends encouragements that take me out of my despondency and stop me from wallowing in self pity! I thought it’d be a good thing to mention them when they happen. And so I’m hoping that this becomes a regular feature. If they don’t then the odds are that I’ve quit and gone back to being a pool lifeguard (the only professional qualification I’ve ever had)!

We had a half night of prayer last Wednesday. It started at six and finished at midnight. We operated in hour long slots and made sure that there was variety from one hour to the next so that it didn’t become routine. The intention was that people would be able to come for an hour or two and pray in preparation for our forthcoming mission, which starts this week.

Regrettably, many of the church used the opportunity of the half night of pray to either take the night off or to use the time for other things. Not everyone, because some stalwarts came and prayed for four or five hours with the staff. And one couple took it in turns to be at home looking after their son so that they could both participate. Those sorts of things are priceless. But many of the regulars ended up coming for less time than they would otherwise do on a Wednesday night for small group. I guess they thought that they’d actually prayed for more time than they would usually do. We usually pray for 10-15 minutes in a small group session. But on this occasion we deliberately planned to pray for longer. And teh truth is that they did. I just thought we’d push the boat out and do that little bit extra by staying for two hours.

I was feeling a little deflated then when at eleven o’clock (when most people had sensibly gone home to bed) two young men walked through the door. They’d come straight from work. I cannot tell you how much that lifted my spirits. I’d been in a bit of a grump up until that stage. I’d kept it hidden, no one would have known. But the sight of these two men pitching up to pray was a massive encouragement. Humanly speaking what they were doing was not impossible. But it was unlikely. They’d just worked a full day. They needed to get home for some sleep. And yet they pitched up to pray. That’s a work of God in their lives. And I rejoiced. I kept it hidden. Again no one would have known. But inside I was whooping with delight because of the goodness of God. And that’s helped me get over the more disappointing aspects of thatterrific evening.

Read Full Post »