30 April 2010

MISSION - The Kingdom

This evening we watched the DVD of Wolfgang Simson speaking to the House2House Conference in September 2008. An imperial crownHis theme was the Kingdom of Heaven, and how we can't live in the Kingdom without obeying the King.

We discussed what this means to us. The Kingdom stuff surely can't be ignored - are we going to live as people under the King's command or are we going to do our own thing? Only obedience brings blessing!

We thought that next week we should spend our time in prayer and listening.

Offord - Chosen and loved

We met at Roger's again this week, but ate lunch indoors this time as it was too cold in the garden. Tar on the groundWe met before lunch, and then Ruth joined us for the meal.

We all shared CO2 first, this is a really good way to get the ball rolling. It quickly brings us up-to-date with one another's heart feelings and significant events in life, and it's good to share what we each feel the Lord has been saying to us.

As we continued in worship and prayer, Paul had a word for us, 'God says he doesn't need us, but he wants us.' I prayed for more labourers for the harvest, both in the Offords and in connection with Paul's youth work. Paul prayed that we'd hear Jesus and accept the changes that we find hard. He also mentioned the need to forgive people who may hurt us sometimes.

I had a picture of someone watering a pot plant, but to my surprise I quickly saw that they were pouring out hot, sticky tar - not cool, fresh water! It wouldn't work, of course. The plant would die. And I understood that we need to give people the rivers of living water that come from Yahshua. If we give them something other than living water they will be unable to grow.

Roger read Ephesians 6:10-13, how we need to stand and live fully in the light! And finally Paul read Ephesians 3:14-19 about the width, length, height and depth of God's love over us. We can be filled, not according to our way of measuring full, but according to his measurement of full (far, far exceeding our own)!

29 April 2010

RESPONSE - The dirt on organic leadership

Brian Hofmeister has tried organic church and found it difficult. Acorns and oak leavesHe writes about his experiences in a report in Christianity Today - Leadership. Brian's conclusion is that leading organic church was just too onerous, and was not achievable without some degree of professional input.

However, this has not been my experience, nor that of many others. And I don't believe it was the experience of the early church either. There's little evidence of paid leadership in the New Testament.

So what went wrong for Brian and the people he met with? To answer that we need to go right back to define what is and is not organic church. The word 'organic' implies an organism, whereas much of our experience of church comes from organisations. An organisation usually has a top-down management structure and a hierarchical authority structure. Something which is organic begins from a seed and grows until it reaches maturity and produces more seeds which grow in their turn.

In this way, one tiny seed may produce not just a tree, but an entire forest. It takes a certain amount of time, but it speeds up dramatically with each generation and will eventually fill the space available. Trees and forests can be managed, but they don't have to be. There were very successful forests in many parts of the world before human explorers arrrived to manage them!

I think that Brian simply tried too hard to manage and guide and educate and persuade. But that's not organic. The seed that germinates and grows amongst a small group of people is the expectation that Yahshua himself will do the managing, guiding, educating, and persuading. He said, 'I will build my church.' And he really meant it! He is the only one who truly knows how to do it.

Church is a community of people who love one another because Christ has first loved them. When we come together to meet it's just the tip of a giant, hidden core of fellowship and community. When we meet, Yahshua is there at the centre. He is with us because we are his and he loves to bless us and guide us. But he's also with us day by day as we live our lives, he is with us in defeat and in victory, in sorrow and in joy.

A group of new believers, if they focus on Jesus, will help one another along the road to maturity. The wiser and more mature will look out for the others. There will be problems, but rather than training programmes and theological studies the believers need to discover how to be disciples. They need to be walking with the Lord, listening to what he says and watching what he does. Reading the Bible together will provide a lot of useful guidance. Eating together when possible, helping one another with practical things, and having good, family fun together will help too. Encouraging one another, praying for one another, all these things help to build community.

But the key is listening to the Lord and doing what he says. Out of this will come mission, church growth, and all the rest.

Brian tried an alternative model of church and found it wanting. But it wasn't really organic church. My advice to him would be try again but to do a whole lot less while expecting Yahshua to do a whole lot more!

For some practical advice, browse through the 'Useful links' in the right hand sidebar, these will lead to other useful material - books, mp3s, DVDs, videos and more. But above all pray and ask Jesus himself to guide you, he won't let you down.

28 April 2010

NEWS - Latest newsletters

This week there are two really encouraging newsletter updates out there. The logos of Harvest Now! and House2HouseI encourage you to read them both. What is the Spirit saying to you as you pay attention to the stories and thoughts in these newsletters?

Harvest Now - Steve and Marilyn Hill report on the violent change in government in Kyrgyzstan and the possibility that the new interim leader follows Jesus. This is very rare in a predominantly Muslim society.

In neighbouring Tajikistan they write, 'A new follower of Jesus tells her story how she was visiting family when they began to talk to her about Jesus. She was frightened that they should pray to any one than Allah but their story of freedom caught her attention. She says that while listening "I felt immediately pain in my kidneys and fell down...' (visit their article to read the rest of this wonderfully encouraging story).

House2House - Tony and Felicity Dale write about getting stranded in the UK because of volcanic dust, and then share some great thoughts about spiritual warfare, recognising that the battle is already won, and standing firm.

They share some useful links and then ask their readers to consider the house church conference in September. I joined last year's conference and highly recommend it. If anyone is reading this and thinking of going, please get in touch with me (chris@scilla.org.uk).

27 April 2010

Eaton Ford - Salt and light

We chatted over tea and coffee for a while until Jim took us right into spiritual matters with the question, 'What does it mean to be salt and light?' (Matthew 5:13-16) Various kinds of fruitIt's clear that these terms refer to making a difference, but Jim wanted to go deeper.

Acts 1:8 shows us that the Holy Spirit comes so that we can be witnesses. Are we really witnessing with 'fire in our bellies' as we should?

Sean had been thinking about the fruit of the Spirit and realised that these fruits are like food for people. We all agreed, it's not about mission fields or saying particular things to particular people - it's about the fruit, grace in our daily lives, joy, kindness etc.

I sensed that in order to be victorious in this spiritual Kngdom we must first be utterly defeated. To succeed we must first fail. Unless our human weaknesses are overcome, we will be unable to be living witnesses of the kind we need to be.

Sean prayed for the fire to burn up everything worthless, but he's afraid there'll be nothing left, nothing will remain. I had a word from the Lord about this, 'A seed will remain, and it's a seed that will grow.' Although we will lose ourselves, we will also begin to gain our real selves in the process. And it will be the beginning of real growth.

25 April 2010

Science and faith - war or peace?

The origin of the universe, the origin of life, evolution - these are some of the topics that seem to be endlessly debated across the science/faith divide. Molecules of lifeWhy does this happen, what are the root causes of the sometimes strongly-worded arguments? Perhaps it's time to take a fresh look.

Science is based on such things as reason, deduction, inference, and testing by experiment. At the most fundamental level science is simply a formal way of observing how things are. And it has an excellent track-record. We depend daily on the technologies that science has made possible. We drive our cars, watch TV, depend on medical help when we are sick or injured. All of these things and many more are rooted in generations of observation, hypothesis, and testing.

On the other hand faith is not based on observation and experiment but on assertion, often about matters that are untestable and are unknowable in the scientific sense. The existence of a powerful personality outside the universe and this personality's influence within it are not things science can investigate. Science doesn't reject faith (indeed it might investigate faith as a phenomenon) but it does not (and cannot) investigate the claims of faith.

There is therefore no reason for science and faith to do battle with one another, but historically this has happened repeatedly. An example of past 'warfare' concerns whether the earth or the sun is the centre of the solar system, one current skirmish centres on the origin of life and on evolution, another one on theories about the origin of the universe.

The usual pattern is that science draws a conclusion that offends people of faith in some way. Instead of understanding the scientific arguments and accommodating them within the framework of faith, believers often try to find holes in the science. Scientists continually refine our understanding in a formal way, believers sometimes lash out at new ideas they don't like.

How can we take this forward? Here is some advice for scientists and believers who have become embroiled in debates of this sort.

Scientists - Don't become angry, recognise that if the science is sound you have demonstrable facts on your side. State these straightforwardly and point detractors to the evidence calmly. If you are vilified and your integrity is questioned, recognise that these are the actions of desperate people who have not yet understood that facts are a form of truth. The battle will rarely centre on those facts, instead it will usually focus on attempts to discredit the people involved. Don't engage with these attempts.

Believers - Don't interpret statements from scientists as provocation, they are simply sharing factual information. Respect the people even if you don't like their thinking. Christ called you to love so speak in love, not in anger. Look at the scientific claims calmly, facts about the world cannot possibly contradict truth. Look for ways of accepting the science within your framework of faith. Remember the battles about the place of the earth in astronomy, why is that no longer an issue? Understand that if the Almighty exists, scientific and spiritual truth will be able to coexist, because he is the author of both.

Where there appear to be contradictions there is an opportunity for mutual understanding. Science deals with the realm of materials and energy, faith deals with the realm of the spirit. There is no overlap in subject matter and there is no clash of ideas that can't be accommodated.

23 April 2010

MISSION - Wisdom

Sean explained that he'd been reading Proverbs 24 which is about wisdom. Child development and drawingVerses 11-12 particularly stood out and spoke to him about mission. It's what we're here for! Salvation for those in peril! I agree with him about this.

As we were talking about it I mentioned that it is 'the Prime Directive', and Sean suggested instead that the prime directive for us is loving God and everything flows from that. This makes sense to me.

Like Moses, who didn't enter into the promised land, we will continue on our journey to the end of this life. But Moses was there on the mountain talking with Jesus and Elijah. One day we will be with him too.

The Moggerhanger meeting in February and the Newforms meeting in April were mountaintop experiences for both of us, they were so exciting, so encouraging. But we're not meant to be there all the time. Sean pointed out that if we were able to choose our mountaintops, we'd most likely be there for the experience, not simply for the Lord's sake.

I had a picture of colour spinners, the sort children used to make from a disc of card with two holes and a piece of string. Colouring them with segments of the primary colours red, yellow and blue and then spinning them by pulling the string, there was a magical effect. The coloured segments would vanish and be replaced by a neutral, dull grey. When we spin our colour discs we make a dirty grey, but when the Lord spins his colour wheel it makes a glorious, brilliant white too bright to look at at. I thought that this is how he takes our different abilities and natures and somehow creates something wonderful out of our ordinaryness.

Sean explained that when they were young, his children could draw, but not nearly as well as he could. They were always amazed at the things he could draw that they could not. He felt that we are like that. He can do so much better than we can, he can spin a colour wheel to produce true white light, our attempts are rather poor by comparison. And we are amazed!

Offord - Lunch in the garden

Paul and I travelled to meet in Offord d'Arcy today as Roger had an injury and was unable to drive. Salad for lunch

We sat in the garden for a salad lunch, it was delightful to be able to do that so early in the year. James (the cat) sat with us and enjoyed small pieces of cocktail sausage and sultanas from the fruit cake.

We shared CO2 together and prayed for some of the people who were on our hearts today. We just enjoyed conversation centred on the Lord and I returned home feeling refreshed and encouraged.

20 April 2010

Little Paxton - Salvation and reward

Jim read Matthew 5:8, 'Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God'. Building with strawHe asked us to consider what it might mean to 'see God'.

On the face of it this is a very simple question, but Sean and I were both unsure how to answer, Jim certainly got us thinking! If you're reading this you might like to consider the question for yourself. What does it mean to 'see' the Almighty?

We decided there is certainly a need for humility.

Moving on, we also wondered what it really means to be a disciple. We know that once we understand that Yahshua truly is the Son of the Most High and that he is the Lamb, the one and only sacrifice necessary for our sin to be forgiven, when we accept him and depend on him, we begin living a new life. I thought that this in itself doesn't make us a disciple because we need to move from new life to actually following Yahshua daily, finding out what he wants and doing it. In other words it may be possible to make it into eternal life but without any reward or crown. (See 1 Cor 3:11-15)

Jim referred to Luke 6:23, our response to being rejected because of Christ is to jump for joy! And I thought of Matthew 5:23-24. The gift at the altar was the offering. But Christ himself is our offering, our sacrifice. In a very real sense Yahshua is our gift. There was nothing sufficient that we could supply, but he supplied our need. We cannot really offer Christ as our sacrifice without first putting things right with our brother.

19 April 2010

St Neots - Passion for Souls

Six of us met this evening to discuss an aspect of the work being done by Passion for Souls, a charity run by Paul and Michele Shinners to support the mission work they've been doing in parts of Africa. The Passions for Souls logoMore recently, Paul has felt the need to reach out here in the UK, and specifically in St Neots and the area round about. We were a mixed group around our dining room table, from several parts of the church in the town.

A series of interesting and encouraging circumstances were uncovered as we met. For example, one couple had viewed our house before we had bought it, and they'd considered buying it themselves at the time! An African crafts connection (Spring of Hope) had been made independently by Paul and by Donna. The Spirit gave me a thought about city walls which resonated with Claire, reminding her of other times of prayer for the town.

We listened to Paul as he outlined his ideas and the reasons for them. We had a chance to ask questions and hear answers from Paul and from Jim. We spent some time in prayer and all felt very encouraged and excited.

The next step is to give ourselves time to consider what to do. I am already confident that the Lord wants me to be part of this new development in the town and I think perhaps we all are.

As things go forward I should be able to be much more specific about the details, meanwhile - watch this space.

17 April 2010

NEWS - Westminster2010

I won't normally post about politics on this blog, Westminster2010so perhaps this news item is the exception that proves the rule.

With a general election almost upon us many of us will be deciding how we should vote. If you haven't already seen the Westminster2010 website I'd strongly urge you to take a quick look. It provides some very useful links for learning more about your local candidates and current MP, and it invites you to sign a declaration which you may wish to consider.

Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in this. Don't miss your only opportunity to influence the outcome unless you are sure that is what he wants. If you vote, I'd also urge you to vote on the basis of the best available information. Take a look at Westminster2010 and follow some of the links, pray about your personal decision, and then get along to the polling station and mark an X for the candidate Jesus leads you to vote for.

16 April 2010

Nottingham - Newforms Conference Session 1

Although we weren't registered and won't be present for the Newforms Saturday and Sunday sessions, The Newforms websiteSean and I were able to stay on for the first evening after the excellent pre-conference during the day.

Marsha Farmer opened the meeting and Peter Farmer followed up with further information. We heard about 'Broken Britain' where there are now very few churchgoers.

Peter introduced Tony Dale (visiting from the USA) and he spoke simply and quietly without notes, but to great effect. He began by asking how we might birth churches that consist mostly of people who are initially non-believers. Tony explained that Felicity had been unable to make the trip despite the intention that both of them would have been with us. They prefer whenever possible to share the work and for both to speak.

We heard about Victor Choudhrie's work and the very powerful move currently underway in India.

Tony made one remark that particularly stood out for me, I made a note of it. He said, 'The less successful we are, the more we need God'. This seems to me so true, in fact fundamental. We need to be driven by the teachings of Jesus, the encouragement of our peers, and by our own experiences to throw ourselves upon the Lord - not merely for help, but for basic direction day by day, moment by moment. If he doesn't build the house everything we do will be wasted.

Nottingham - Newforms pre-conference

Sean and I travelled up to Nottingham for the day to join Peter and Marsha Farmer and other simple church leaders for the Newforms Conference pre-meeting. From Tony Dale's Facebook pageWe didn't plan to stay for the main conference on Saturday and Sunday, but we were able to stay for the opening session on Friday evening.

We began by going around the room and saying a little about ourselves by way of introduction. There were, I think, eighteen of us. We came from all around the UK but mainly England. Peter Farmer then spoke for a while on the interesting topic of church planting movements and we spent some time in open prayer and sharing. Mim reminded us that Jesus is the King, Marsha prayed for emotional healing, especially for women who have so often been hurt by being overlooked or even at worst despised in church life and particularly in church leadership. I shared some things about the sheer privilege of being disciples and about Jesus' call to Peter to 'feed my sheep'.

Tony Dale joined us a little late due to some travelling difficulties, but we were glad to know that he made it into the UK before volcanic ash closed the airports. Felicity was unable to come due to an unexpected family commitment and although it was disappointing not to see her, at least we had one Dale with us!

Tony began by asking us what books and authors had particularly impacted our views on church life. Wolfgang Simson, Neil Cole, the Dale's own books, George Barna, Frank Viola, and Rad Zdero were mentioned, I added Paul Vieira and Bruxy Cavey to the list. many of these and more are listed on the House2House 'Books' page.

Tony then told us something of the background to their move to the USA and some of the events that had shaped their journey. He mention big and little church working in harmony, he described how the Lord has a destiny in mind for his people, and he pointed out that it is clear he's preparing us for something big.

He stressed that movements start rather small and multiplication is very slow to begin with. Tony also mentioned that we need expressions of church that are relevant to each culture and people group that we can identify.

Next, he considered the requirements for a movement to begin in Western Society. God has chosen to work through people, but we must choose to co-operate. Some kind of infrastructure is necessary too, to provide useful tools. Online social networks like Twitter play a very important part here. Ideas are essential and stories are a great way of getting them across. We need to 'tell a new story'. We also need to consider the language we use, for example 'Christian' carries various kinds of baggage for most non-believers.

We should think of church as a new way of life, not an event. Also it is imperative to ask Jesus and then do what we hear him say. We are meant to to be followers, a disciple is someone who recognises Jesus and does what he says (John 10:1-4). This is very significant in terms of mission! The Holy Spirit will lead us to the person of peace. We can teach anyone to listen and do.

Jesus always released people back into their sphere of influence (for example the Samaritan woman). Movements don't grow and divide, but they grow and send out again and again. Tony illustrated this by telling us a story from an Asian country in which great moves of the Lord were happening regularly. We need to dare to let our best people go if there to be any chance of a movement beginning.

Tony also touched on spiritual warfare, we need to 'be not ignorant of the Evil One's devices'. Something that had helped Tony and Felicity was to pray through the Psalms. At one point they had read that they should pray until the enemy was unable even to lift up his head, and in that way they found victory in a particularly difficult and trying time.

Another topic he covered was the place of women in ministry. This is a very important battleground and he and Felicity always minister together if possible. There is another principle that he mentioned, one that seems to me to be true and worth remembering. Tony said, 'What God did last tends to persecute what he does next. We need to forgive.'

What I've written above are just highlights here and there, things I wanted to jot down to keep. There was much, much more, it was a wonderful day!

11 April 2010

REVIEW - Brain McLaren interviewed on Nomad

I've just listened to the latest Nomad Podcast, an interview with Brian McLaren. The Nomad logo

Like most of the podcasts, this one is an open and friendly discussion. Brian McLaren is a sometimes controversial figure and the Nomad podcaster (Nick) wisely presents difficult questions without becoming personally involved. Phrases like 'some people say xyz' are widely employed and enable hard questions to be addressed without arousing defensive resonses. This is one of the things I like best about these podcasts.

Brain McLaren is often seen as an important figure in the emerging church. He was pastor of a small church for 24 years and during that time heard many questions that needed to be grappled with. Some of them came from non-Christians. For example, 'Does God sanction violence and the destruction of innocent men, women and children?', 'Is the Bible about spiritual rescue or is it about social action?'

McLaren suspects these questions have not been widely tackled because they're sometimes seen as encouraging doubt instead of faith. Religious leaders are often busy and don't have time to deal with questions, and also most denominations have a list of required beliefs and questioning those may be unwelcome.

Some people have become unhappy with internal denominational debates and are finding they can learn things from others with different views. This seems to be a beneficial development. Some people want to deal with the practicalities of church but not get involved with theology. Others want to delve deeply into theology. Yet others wish to be involved in both, to bridge the differences. McLaren sees himself as part of this third group.

He suggests that Jesus' message about the Kingdom is not just about how to get into heaven, but has a great deal to do with Father's will being done on earth as it already is in heaven. Mission is not just evangelism, it involves reaching out in terms of helping the poor, being peacemakers, and so on.

Ultimately, Brian McLaren's desire was to become more Christ-like, and to follow the Master wherever he might lead.

In the discussion at the end of the podcast, the team look at some of the ideas presented in McLaren's latest book. For example, they talk about the difficulties that arise when we view the Bible as recording progress in man's understanding of the Almighty. This may be a way of dealing with some of the difficulties we have about wrath and anger in his character. Is he really like that or is it just how people at that time perceived him? On the one hand we may struggle with such a view of Yahweh's nature, but on the other we want to accept the Bible fully - even the passages we find hard to understand. We can't dodge issues like these. We must think them through and make choices or find a way of integrating both aspects.

The interview with Brian McLaren, the Nomad discussion that follows, and the comments on McLaren's book are all worth hearing and helped me understand some aspects of the emergent church more clearly. It's thought-provoking and challenging stuff, and these are issues we should all have an working knowledge of. Listen to the podcast and decide for yourself.

09 April 2010

Eaton Ford (day) - Healing a mother-in-law

Roger and Julian were unable to come this week so Paul and I went ahead without them. We began by running through CO2. Healing Peter's Mother-in-lawAs part of that I explained that the Lord had been showing me that I should be like a little child, they are innocent, straightforward and trusting.

Paul pointed out that once they reach five or six-years-old they are already capable of cheating and telling lies, so when Jesus tells us we should be like little children, he really does mean 'little'. But Paul also mentioned that we can ask anything of Jesus at any time, he never turns us away. What a wonderful truth!

I said that Yahshua has a plan for each one of us and he is working it out day by day and even moment by moment. I had a picture in which I was standing on the top of a hill with  the Lord. I could see a brilliantly lit cloudscape below, it must have been a grey, foggy day down in the valley. Up here everything was bright sunshine and glorious. But Yahshua said, 'I have X-ray eyes, you don't. I can see the road we are following together as it winds down the hill and across the valley. And I can see everything you'll see along the way when you are there - but you can't see them yet, not from here, not under the clouds.'

'Walk with me each day. I know where we're going. You don't.'

We spent some time in prayer and then we returned to Mark 1 which we've been working through from time to time. We read from Mark 1:21-28 about the casting out of an evil (unclean) spirit. Paul noticed that we're used to doctors who can sometimes cure physical ailments, but to the people of his day it must have been astonishing to see Jesus cast out an evil spirit instantly like this.

Reading of the healing of Simon's mother-in-law in verses 29-34 we thought how amazed we are when we see similar things. A good example of this was the way Paul was able to be so active physically during last year's X-treme Camp and was relatively free of pain. It was unasked for, unexpected, but so, so encouraging. We are asking for the same again this year!

I shared a bit about why Yahshua wouldn't allow the demons to speak. Very often when we intend to spread the good news about him, we begin by telling people who he is. But this was not the way Yahshua did it, he didn't want people to know who he was. He began by simply loving people and caring for them, meeting their needs, and then he told them about his Father and challenged them to come in line with heavenly standards, not earthly ones. People started to ask, 'Who is this man, even the demons obey him?' We should learn from him, we are doing it all back to front! People first need to know that he is good, then they will want to know more about him.

Verses 35-39 show the Son wanting to hear the Father. When they told him, 'Everyone is looking for you!' he said, 'Let's go somewhere else.' Is this what we would do? Probably not! He was always full of surprises, the disciples must have been puzzled on many occasions.

Mark 1:40-45 is very significant. Yahshua heals a Jew of leprosy. This is the first of the so-called Messianic miracles, the religious authorities believed and taught that only the Messiah would be able to perform such a healing. It was not unusual for people to be healed or demons cast out by prayer, but some things had never happened before and this was one of them. Naaman had been healed of leprosy by Elisha, but he was not a Jew, he was an Aramean.

This is why the healing was so significant and why it caused such an uproar. Now people were starting to seriously wonder if this Yahshua from Nazareth might be the Messiah. The religious leaders would start to take a major interest in what he was doing. The healed man was supposed to make the prescribed offering but not tell the priest (or anyone else) who had healed him.

08 April 2010

NEWS - The latest House2House Newsletter

The latest House2House newsletter from Tony and Felicity Dale is now available. The House to House logoThis issue covers some important topics.

The main item is about women in the church and things we can all do to encourage and release women to serve in the church more fully. Tony recommends two books, a post from Katie Driver's blog, and a link to Hosanna Freedom.

He also mentions the Newforms meeting at Nottingham here in the UK, as well as some meetings in the USA including the Labour Day weekend H2H Conference in Dallas. I went to the H2H Conference last year - it was brilliant! Highly recommended.

06 April 2010

St Neots - X-treme Bowling

This evening was a reunion for the young people and their parents. X-treme Camp reunionWe had arranged a bowling night with pizza and chips, and we had about thirty people there on the night. It was great fun, I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

There are several more photos online, if you were there perhaps you can find yourself in one of them!

During the evening Jim described the background to X-treme Camps in Eynesbury and I announced the dates for this summer's X-treme Camp, Friday 23rd July to Sunday 25th July 2010. Don't miss it! More details from me, Chris, by email.

ANNOUNCEMENT - Newforms UK Gathering

This is to remind everyone about the Newforms UK Gathering due to take place in NottinghamThe Newforms UK Gathering from Friday 16th April until Sunday 18th April 2010.

The gathering has been arranged by Peter and Marsha Farmer who live in the city and have been active in mission and church planting locally.

It's not too late to book your place if you're not already signed up, and Nottingham is a good, central location for access from all parts of the UK.

THOUGHT - Enthusiasm!

Someone shared this video with me earlier today, it shows real enthusiasm for Jesus in the lives of some students in the USA.

Watch it and see what you think, how do you feel about the student's attitudes? Encouraged? Challenged? Horrified? Amused? Upset? Emotional? Excited? Rejoicing? How does this make you feel about your own life? Leave a comment to let us know.

Student CPx rough intro from Erik Fish on Vimeo.

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