Octopus or Strawberry?

Continueing my thoughts about what it means to be 'church', it seems as though most churches are like an octopus. They reach out into the community, get hold of people and bring them back to be swallowed up in the centre. This seems OK except all they are doing in effect is feeding the centre. It seems to me that instead of being an octopus we should be more like a strawberry plant. The strawberry plant reproduces by putting out long trailers and producing another offspring which itself grows roots and begins to grow in another place. Eventually it becomes independant of the parent plant. Then it in turn produces its own offspring and so it continues. This is a truer picture of the New Testament Church - they went out and instead of bringing people back to the main centre, they established themselves wherever they were.

So why, if we consider ourselves to be 'church', do we insist on just feeding the main centre instead of producing offspring where we are? One friend wrote in his blog about outreach, making the point that we can only reach out to somewhere where we do not already inhabit. Surely as Christians we should be inhabiting the community and not just reaching out to it in order to feed our own congregation. It just seems to me at times that we are more concerned about increasing our own numbers and getting people to congregate with us than to help people to connect with God and have a real relationship with Him - even if they do not wish to join our particular group.

When Jesus saw Zacchaeus, He didn't suggest to him that if he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath He would get someone to pray with him. He went to where Zacchaeus was in his own surroundings, where he felt at ease and uninhibited. He met him where he was. I know some churches do this but it seems that the vast majority are only interested in activities or projects that will in some way benefit themselves and increase their numbers or standing in the eyes of others. No wonder so many really committed Christians are opting out of church as we understand it. As one friend explained to me - 'I am not prepared to be just a pew-filler any more.' Octopus or strawberry?

Loyalties

I have been thinking a lot lately about loyalties. Partly because of what God is doing in my life. I occasionally go away in prayer teams and when I get back I feel so desparate and hungry for more of God and get so frustrated when I visit my own local church. I often wonder if I'm on the same planet and feel so unable to share with them sensing that most of those in the church really don't have a clue as to where I am spiritually.

I feel that most look at me as a bit of an oddity - why go to other places to pray when so much is going on in my local church? Why not support them? It makes me sort of feel a bit disloyal until I start to question where exactly do my loyalties
lie?

It's a bit like party politics. I suppose most of us have a tendency to one party or the other at election time but still have some reservations about all of the policies of our preferred party. On the whole we agree with what they say but there are some things that we don't agree with. Our loyalties go beyond party politics to what is right or wrong, what is best for our country and not what is in keeping necessarily with the politics of a particular party.

I guess it's a bit like like with church. On the whole I can go along with what is going on but my loyalties really are not to a particular church (group of people who meet in a particular building)but they are beyond that to what is right for me according to God's will and purpose for my life. My loyalty to Him far exceeds any other sense of loyalty and if that means being misunderstood, then so be it!

I'm Back

I haven't posted anything for ages as I have been disconnected from the internet because of changing from one provider to another. All the customer service advisors in the call centres are very well trained in apologising but unfortunately that doesn't actually solve the problem! We can say 'sorry' but unless we actually do something about the problem, nothing really changes.

Hope to post more frequently now that I've caught up with a backlog of updating and writing.

Loughborough

We had a good day yesterday in Loughborough. We worshipped, prayed, cried and interceded for our nation. We heard of a report that said that Britain has more obesity, more drug addiction and more credit card debt than any other nation in Europe. This surely is a sign of a nation that has become selfish and greedy in every sense.

We were reminded of the passage in Mark 11:15-17 when Jesus cleansed the Temple. It was noted that this was not an action on the spurr of the moment - verse 11 says that He had been to the Temple the day before and noticed what was going on. Then He went back and in a premeditated act,cleansed it. He also stopped people from going through who were carrying stuff. How much do we bring into the Temple? How much irrelevant 'stuff' and excess baggage are we hauling along with us? God wants to cleanse His people so they can be a Temple of prayer for the nations of the world. The trouble is that when God blesses us, we just sit back and enjoy for ourselves and don't realise that what we have is for the benefit of all nations. So we prayed for forgiveness and interceded for our lost nation to return to God and fulfil its God-given destiny of going into the world and showing the love of Jesus.

Last week God spoke very deeply to me about intercession for our nation and I had begun to feel a very deep ache for its lost ways. So yesterday was a continuation of what He had already been doing in my life. Next Saturday (21st) I'll be in Birmingham with another few thousand people, again to intercede for our nation. We need to get our own house (Temple) in order so that we can then go and fulfil God's purposes in the world. May God have mercy on our nation.

Keeping busy

I realise that I haven't written anything for ages. I have been so taken up with other things and haven't had much time.

For 11 days I was house-sitting for friends while they were away. I managed to call in home most days but just to catch up with mail. Then at the same time my brother had a stroke and was in hospital. He was transferred for convalescence to another hospital 20 miles away. So I felt that much of my time was taken up with travelling here, there and everywhere.

I did manage to get to a prayer day on September 30th. It was held at a farm/church. The farm used to have cows but God changed that and now the farmer has no cows but makes a living with other produce. Instead the barns are now converted into a chapel and a storage place for equipment to be taken/sent abroad for those in need. Centuries ago that same farm was a monastery and it seems that this is the time when God is opening up again the old wells in the South West of England. We had a good day together waiting on God and interceding for our nation.

Yesterday I spent in Birmingham (central England) at the World Prayer Centre with others who wish to be part of prayer teams going out to other places/nations to stand with those there in prayer, intercession and encouragement.

Next Saturday I'll be in Loughborough (also in central England) for a day of prayer and fasting for our nation and the following Saturday back in Birmingham for Trumpet Call, a day of national prayer for our nation.

In November I'm returning to France with a prayer team for a week. Oh the joys of retirement! I'm loving it!

I'm one of the lucky ones!

Today I have been to our local hospital to have laser treatment on both my eyes. My appointment was at 12:30 pm and by 1:10 pm I was at the main entrance waiting for my friend to pick me up to take me home. The reason for the treatment was the build of pressure behind the eyes. The laser treatment itself took barely a couple of minutes. How amazing that a beam of light used in a particular way can, in a one-off treatment, resolve the problem of pressure once and for all.

I have no after effects, apart from 'sticky' eyes from the drops put in beforehand so that I didn't feel anything. I feel so privileged to be living in a day of such medical expertise and in a country where it is readily available. In the west we have so much that we take for granted and feel that because we have worked then we have in some way earned it. I am just so grateful. I have so much. May God remind me of just how fortunate I am the next time I moan!

Major Breakthrough

To others it may not seem much but for me it was a major breakthrough. Let me explain. My sister and I take responsibility for our older brother who is becoming less able to care for himself. He always insists that he's OK and manages everything, no problem, when we know that is not true.

On Thursday when I took him shopping I had a chat with him about various issues, trying to persuade him to accept help - without much success. Friday I spent quite some time moaning at God telling him just how frustrated we were becoming not knowing just how to get through to him. Must say that just offloading my frustration helped me a lot.

Yesterday my brother came to our home for dinner. In the afternoon my son had asked me to trim his hair (I'm not a hairdresser but cut it very short all over with hair trimmers!) So I asked my brother if he wanted his hair trimmed while I had the trimmers in my hands. He agreed. Then I suggested giving him the full 'beauty treatment' and cutting his finger and toe nails. To my amazement he didn't exactly say yes but as he didn't say no I went ahead and did it. It was so obvious that he cannot bend in order to see to his feet so I suggested putting in place a regular visit from a chiropodist and he thought it a good idea! I thought that while I was on a roll I would suggest a visit from an occupational therapist to see what other aids he needed and could get to help him continue living an independent life in his own flat. Again to my great amazement he agreed.

As I say, this might not seem a big thing to many who read this but for me it was a major breakthrough. God reached his heart and mind and changed his way of thinking in a way that we were unable to do. I just wanted to share this with whoever might read it to say that with God nothing is impossible and He really does listen to our moans as well as our praise.

Free or Fair?

Jim Wallis in his book 'God's Politics' refers to world poverty and quotes the Top-Ten Facts as highlighted by Christian Aid. They are:

1. International trade is worth $10 million a minute.

2. Poor countries account for only 0.4% of world trade. Since 1980 their share has halved.

3. The UN estimates that unfair trade rules deny poor countries $700 billion every year. Less than 0.01% of this could save the sight of 30 million people.

4. Income per person in the poorest countries in Africa has fallen by a quarter in the last 20 years.

5. The 3 richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million in the world's poorest countries.

6. Nearly half the world's population (2.8 billion people) lives on less than US$2 per day (and 1.2 billion on less than US$1 per day).

7. The prices of many poor countries' key exports are at a 150-year low.

8. Global trade is regulated through policies and priorities set by international institutions, including rules made at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and conditions attached to loans provided by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. These bodies are controlled by governments.

9. At the last full meeting of the WTO, the European Union had 500 negotiators and Haiti had none.

10. After the last round of trade negotiations rich countries estimated that they would gain by $141.8 billion per year and Africa would be $2.6 billion per year worse off.

Jim Wallis goes on to say that this is beyond politics. World poverty is a moral and spiritual issue. On several occasions the prophets of the Old Testament talk against the rich exploiting the poor - Isaiah 5:8, Micah 7:3, Jeremiah 5:28 to quote just a few. When Jesus talked about the reason for His coming to earth, His first words were 'the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor'. If we follow Him then we cannot detach ourselves from this problem claiming that we should not mix religion and politics. If we can successfully separate the two then maybe our 'religion' is not of Jesus.

Being fair

I have just been reading about Nicodemus when he couldn't understand what Jesus meant when He told him he must be born again. Jesus talks of the wind, not being able to catch or control it and likens that with being born again. The comment in the booklet I was reading says, 'In other words "You didn't have anything to do with your first birth, so you've nothing to do with your second one. God prepared your heart by sending the right people, the right circumstances, and the right word at just the right time to show you your need of Him."'

It goes on to say that the things of God cannot be explained, only revealed. 'Anything less would be unfair, for then the sharp folks would get it and the slow ones wouldn't.' So simple yet so profound. So obvious yet so misunderstood. God is just so amazingly fair and loving to everybody, regardless of our abilities. And what a relief to know that I don't have to struggle to understand things beyond my capabilities, just ask for revelation. How often we think our spiritual maturity depends on our level of understanding instead of our willingness to allow God to reveal Himself to us in the way that He wants.

Prayer team in France

I have recently returned from spending a week in the north of France with a prayer team from the World Prayer centre.


The front of the opera house in Lille where 400 Huguenots were martyred.


Sue with the resident kitten. Ahhh!!!


This vegetable garden is actually a roundabout along the road from where we were staying!


A day out in Lille


A well earned coffee break after cleaning out a room before the spiritual cleaning


Sunset over the corn fields of Wattignies

Wales

For some months now I have been receiving email updates of what God is doing in Wales. They are in a time of revival and God is doing amazing things - miracles, healings, angelic visitations, prophecies, appearance of gold dust on hands and much more. I have added their website to my links so you can check it out for yourself (Emerge Wales). You can also sign up to receive regular newsletters. The wild fire of the Welsh Revival is on its way to England and from here to Europe! God is moving and I for one want to move with Him. Make sure you don't miss it!!!

Same but different

Sometimes you read something that you have read a thousand times before but suddenly it comes at you in a different way. Two such experiences happened to me recently.

Just the other day I was reading in Revelation about the church of Laodicea and the verse that struck me was v 20: 'Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.' I have always thought of that verse in reference to those who are not converted. But in the context it is clear that these words are for churchgoers!

The other reference was when I was reading 'Intelligent Church', a new book by Steve Chalke. In it he comments about Jesus washing the disciples' feet: 'I often wonder why it is that of the two commands Jesus gave the disciples that day (the day before he was crucified) - to wash each other's feet and to remember him when they ate bread and drank wine - only one has been adopted as a church tradition. Why is it we celebrate Communion, but we don't have foot-washing services?' Maybe it is easier to share a symbolic meal than to wash feet! Steve Chalke suggests that maybe we should adopt the towel as a symbol of Christianity (I rather like that idea!)- 'your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who ... made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant ...' (Philippians 2:5,7)

I'm sure many will have always thought of these verses this way but for me they came alive in a different way this week. Thank God that He never stops teaching us.

Update

I have just had a couple of weeks travel/holiday. I spent 3 days (5th - 7th June)in the north east visiting family and friends. Friday the 9th I spent with more family who visited Yeovil. Then on Tuesday 13th, Diego and I set off for a very enjoyable week's holiday in Malta. On returning we then went to spend a few days with my other son Martin in Cheshire.

I left the house keys with a friend who had arranged to re-do my kitchen. So the nice thing is that after two weeks I have come back home to a nice new kitchen without having to live through all the mess!

Polzeath

Saturday I spent in Polzeath, a coastal village in Cornwall where in the summer loads of young people gather to go surfing. The very small, elderly congregation of the Methodist church, situated right opposite the beach have a great desire to reach out to these young people and feel that God is telling them to open their church as a drop-in centre, a safe place to go. So a group of about 15 people travelled in to Polzeath from various places to stand with the local people in prayer for this vision.

During the day in the summer season, everyobody's enjoying the beach and water sports but when night falls the beach becomes a place for taking drugs. The police then move in and move them on which doesn't really solve the problem - it just moves it to somewhere else. This small group of Christians have such a heart for the lost. And so we prayed together that God would provide the people and funding to help. The sad thing is that other Christians in the village (of other denominations) are opposing the plans and are urging them to sell the property so it can be developed.

Two scriptures came to my mind. 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.' The other I was reminded of is about Sarah who in her old age gave birth to the plans of God to bring in a new generation. AMEN. SO BE IT.

Mississippi Squirrel Revival

I've just read a very funny post on Marc van de Woude's blogspot. Check it out. Click on my link to Marc's Messages and look at the post for May 21 entitled Mississippi Squirrel Revival and then click on 'this report'. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. By the way put your sound up so you can hear it as well as read it.

Got the point?

Today is my elder son's birthday. My sister-in-law who lives in Argentina tried to send him a greeting my email but it kept being returned to her. So finally she emailed me to ask if she had the correct address. I realised that she had left out the dot between his first name and surname. She tried again with the dot and this time it was sent without any problem. Just goes to show what a difference a little dot makes. You musn't underestimate the value and power of little things.
Point taken!

Trumpet Call

Went to Trumpet Call yesterday in Birmingham. It was good to meet up with friends from all over the country and to hear testimonies of what has been happening particularly in Manchester with city links and the Message Trust. It is always difficult to encapsulate in a few words what was said and done but here are a couple of quotes.

Referring to Gideon and how God chose him to fight the Mideonites who every year stole the harvest of the Israelites, 'I want my expectations to be shaped not on the past but on the future.' (Paul Miller)

Speaking about the verse in 2 Chronicles 7:14 - if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves ... ... 'The problem is not the quality and quantity of darkness but the quality and quantity of light.' (Lloyd Cooke)

Stand up and speak out!

This morning I spent in the Local Council Chambers listening to an application that had been presented for a sex shop to be opened in our town. In previous weeks, many Christians had written letters to councillors and signed petitions against such a shop. People have prayer-walked the street and stood outside the proposed premises praying that God would intervene. This morning was the public discussion for this application.

A good number of people opposed to the proposal gathered in the chambers and several of them had made arrangements to speak to the councillors on our behalf. Then it was the turn of the proposed 'business' to put their arguments in favour. In the discussion it was mentioned on a few occasions that it was NOT legal to reject the application on moral or religious grounds and so those of us who objected were a bit discouraged. Many of us sat in silence listening and praying.

The councillors then went to discuss the matter with their legal advisors. After about two hours they returned with the verdict. They had decided against the proposal. So now I'm in celebratery mood. It just shows that when we stand up and speak out we CAN make a difference. Of course it's not over yet. The sex shop proposers will possibly appeal against the result so we need to go on praying and seeking to lift Jesus high in our town.

Mega Shift

I'm reading a book called Mega Shift by James Rutz. It is also subtitled 'The best news since year one...' There are some amazing stories about healings, miracles and resurrections. It also talks of how these things happen in an Open church rather than the traditional gatherings. The difference is that one is organised by humans and the other by God. So why do we go on propping up the one that is going nowhere? Frank Battleman, explaining about the decline and fall of the Azusa Mission (which was the start of the modern Pentecostal movement) says 'Every meeting was now programmed from start to finish. Disaster was bound to follow, and it did so.'

Paul says to the Corinthians: 'Then what is the right course, brothers? Whenever you meet, every one of you has something to contribute: a song, a piece of teaching, some special information God has given him, a message in an unknown language, or an explanation of what it means.' (ch14:26)
'If someone sitting in the meeting receives a message or idea from the Lord, the one who is speaking should stop. For this way, you can all have an opportunity to give a message, one after the other, so that everyone will learn something and everyone will be stimulated and encouraged.' (14:30,31)

People are leaving the traditional church not because they have lost their faith but because they want to preserve it!

A subtle difference

I've just spent a couple of days in Totnes with friends on a prayer ministry time. Overnight I stayed with a lovely friend who commented how words change their meanings. She mentioned the word 'prodigal' - how we come to think of it as meaning someone who has strayed from the Father or someone who has wasted his/her inheritance. In fact originally, she said, it held the meaning of being generous. I was a little surprised so looked it up in my dictionary when I got home. Sure enough, one of the meanings said 'lavish'. When you think about it, there seems to be a short way to go from being lavishly generous to being recklessly wasteful. It just reaffirms how Satan will take the good things and twist and abuse them until we cross over the invisible line and the good somehow becomes wrong. He is so clever at this subtle difference that we so often don't even notice it.

When this line is overstepped generosity becomes wastefulness; healthy goals become obsessions; leadership becomes abuse of power; freedom becomes licence etc. Let me know of any more you can think of.

A few more photos

I am preparing to go to Totnes for a couple of days with another prayer team tomorrow. But just wanted to post a few more photos from New Caledonia before I go. (I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!)

New Caledonia

Arrived back from New Caledonia on Saturday after a 40 hour journey with very little sleep. We had a good time and God blessed us. We found the people to be warm and generous in spirit and they really welcomed us into their hearts. We all came away feeling we have a load more friends. Thought I would share a few photos with you. Please note the dates in the bottom right hand corners are incorrect. We were there from 3rd - 14th April not in January. I'm afraid I forgot to correct the date since the last time I used the camera. Ooops!

Sorry I'm having a little trouble uploading the photos. I'll have another go tomorrow.

Busy and preparing

It's been a while since I wrote anything. This is because my brother has been moving house and he depends on my sister and me to do most things for him. So I have been kept quite busy for the last couple of weeks. He is now settled in his new home in a sheltered housing complex.

So now I'm looking forward and preparing for my travels. Next Saturday (1st April) I'm off with another three friends on a prayer ministry trip to New Caledonia. If you're not sure where that is look at an atlas, locate Australia and it's an island a little north and east. It's about as far as you can go (from England, that is) before you start coming back! We will be away for 2 weeks arriving back on Easter Saturday. We have been meeting regularly for months now to worship and pray about our visit but don't have any clear plan or strategy. We sense that God is not telling us much for our own spiritual protection. What the enemy doesn't know he can't do much to hinder. So we are going prepared to be surprised by God and open to whatever He says. Exciting stuff!

Another glimpse into Swanwick

Looking through my notes from the conference in Swanwick I was reminded of a saying of the Dakota Indians: 'When you discover you are riding a dead horse, it is advisable to get off the horse.' Yet we western Christians tend instead to - use a stronger whip, change riders, form a committee to study the dead horse, go on an overseas trip to see how others ride dead horses etc. etc. The speaker gave a longer list but I was a bit slow at writing and so stopped so I didn't miss any, and now can't remember them all! But we get the picture - why do we insist on 'flogging a dead horse'?

We ride a dead horse because we do things earth to heaven instead of heaven to earth. Much of the conference was about Abraham and his two sons. God had given him a promise to become the father of a great nation but when nothing happened he felt, in all sincerity, that maybe he should do something about it (earth to heaven). The result was Ishmael, born of a slave woman. Many years later Isaac was born of Sarah, Abraham's wife. He was the son born of the promise of God (heaven to earth).

We want results at any price! And preferably not to have to wait for them. In the end Abraham had to get rid of Ishmael and his mother. We need to choose - earth to heaven or heaven to earth; our way or God's way!

Prayer Alert

I have just added a link to Prayer Alert. This is a well researched and informed weekly newsletter with subjects for prayer particularly for Britain and Northern Ireland but also with items about Europe and the wider world. Why not check it out? You can also subscribe to receive these weekly updates directly by email.

Still waiting?

Heard someone say the other day, 'We are the people we have been waiting for!'. Made me think.

Swanwick

Just come back last evening from a 3 day prayer conference at Swanwick. It was good to meet again with friends and share together. In the first session Ian Cole (who heads up the World Prayer Centre in Birmingham) said: 'We have a sort-of programme but we'll just see what God wants!' And that's exactly how it went. We worshipped and prayed as God led us and the teaching was awesome! No milk, pure meat! I think it will take me some time to process all the things I heard. Might share some of it as I unwrap it in the days ahead. My mind keeps thinking and going over what we experienced. But need to catch up now on the practical 'home' stuff like washing, ironing, shopping etc etc.

God's organizer

I had commented that it was unusual that I had nothing in my diary for the month of March and yesterday it became clear just why that was. My older brother has come to a point that he needs a little more care so he is about to move into sheltered accommodation. I was a bit concerned about when this would happen because next week I will be away for a few days and then in April I'm off to New Caledonia for two weeks with a prayer team. You guessed it! Yesterday I received a letter saying that he was being offered a flat in the exact scheme that he had hoped for. The flat isn't actually being officially vacated until Sunday and the elderly lady who lived there was well into her nineties and nothing had been done to the flat in the way of decorating for a number of years. So contrary to the usual policy, the scheme manager has requested that the flat be decorated throughout. This will save my sister and I a lot of extra work. This of course means that I will be able to go away next week and enjoy the 3 day prayer conference without wondering about the situation. It also means that we will be able to have him settled in his new flat before I go off to New Caledonia. The time slot is just perfect. I couldn't have planned it better myself. It really does pay to let God sort out the dates and appointments in my organizer. He does it so much better than I could.

Doing what He wants

I am reading a very good book by David Orton called 'Snakes in the Temple'. In it he explores how Satan has got into the church through hidden idolatry. He talks about the fact that we are all familiar with the idea of doing bad things outside the will of God but that the idea of actually doing good things can also be outside the will of God. He quotes Matthew 7:22-23 'Many will say to Me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; Depart from Me.' Here Jesus is actually saying that even if we are operating in the supernatural we can still be outside of God's will for us. How many of us can even say that we prophesy, cast out demons and perform ANY miracles let alone MANY and yet Jesus says to these people that He doesn't know them. We can do all manner of wonderful things but if God hasn't asked us to do them then we are outside of His will. 'To obey is better than sacrifice' (1 Samuel 15:22) Again Jesus says in the previous verse in the book of Matthew 'Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord", will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father...' It made me think really hard about what I am doing and why. I want to make sure that whatever I do is because the Father has asked me to.

The Arts

I met up with a friend this morning to have a coffee. He was telling me about his wife who is working towards a degree in the arts and how God is using this to help her communicate with others about the things that are important to her. She has studied the various aspects of art - painting, collage, sculpture etc and at the moment is into photography. She has found that the various projects that she has had to do have helped her to communicate to others, in class and in exhibitions, about her life, God, her spiritual journey, poverty, injustice and the desperate plight of humanity in its search for meaning and purpose to life.

I began to think of a number of my friends who are involved in various aspects of the arts - painting, drama, writing, film-making etc. and realised again with a certain reassurance that we are all equal in God's sight and that He uses all sorts of ways to communicate to people. Sometimes the visual aspect of art in its various forms reaches people that no preaching, books or verbal interaction can reach. It reminded me of the news report, given by Michael Buerk over twenty years ago, of the plight in Ethiopa that was a catalyst in Bob Geldorf's involvement in Live Aid and the subsequent efforts of many people for the plight of those living in poverty. One image, captured on film can speak volumes.

Isn't God so amazing! Whatever we're into, He wants to use it to bring His message of hope and freedom to a lost world. I'm so pleased that the Body of Christ is beginning to accept the need for the arts in worship and that it's not just about singing and listening to sermons! We need to pray and support more those whom God is calling in this way to reach those who would never go inside a church or listen to what we have to say. God loves the lost and wants to reach them with His love. I pray that God will raise up a new generation of those to whom He has given these giftings, that their lives and unique expression through the artistic media will speak for Him and point many to the Way.

City-Changing Prayer

I have just finished a book called 'City-changing Prayer' by Frank and Debra Green. It's about a prayer network in Manchester that has had a great impact on the community. This morning in church I was asked to give an 'interview' about prayer and what it means to me. I took the opportunity to mention this book (well worth reading) and also promote the Trumpet Call IV to be held in the Birmingham NEC Arena on May 13th where the ideas from this book will be launched nationally. I do urge all who are able to attend to do so. It is a truly inspiring story. Read more about it on www.worldprayer.org.uk and www.citylinks.org.uk

A game of football

Today has been lovely and sunny considering it is January and supposed to be the middle of winter! This morning I was walking through the recreation ground near our home when I saw a group of 7-8 year olds playing football. There were a number of parents watching. I don't know what was more entertaining - watching the children playing football or watching the parents cum frustrated footballers offering their own particular offspring the wealth of their experience. Even a younger sister got really excited when her brother had the ball and was approaching the goal area only to give sighs of disappointment when it didn't result in a goal. It seemed like there were about 2 dozen coaches/trainers/referees on the sidelines, each with their own 'pearl of wisdom' and a desperation to share it.

I walked on feeling cheered to see a number of parents on a Saturday morning sharing a time of healthy pursuit with their children. It makes a change from the usual headlines about the younger generation.

Church unity

This week we are thinking of church unity and different churches are holding prayer meetings each day. This morning I went along to the Methodist church for what I thought was going to be a prayer meeting for church unity. We had a half hour service beginning with a hymn, then a Bible reading and comment from the minister and ended with another hymn. We said the Lord's Prayer and the Grace. I had planned on going to the Church of England on another occasion during this week but discovered from an Anglican friend that it will be a normal weekday communion service. So I'm having second thoughts.

At the service this morning, those there were my 40 year old Anglican friend, myself and the other 15-20 people were all very mature Methodists (even older than me!) It just seems that for some people Christian Unity means that we are happy to have people from other denominations in our services and we are happy during this week to attend a service in another denominational building. After this week then everyone will go back to their respective boxes until next year. One elderly lady put it so aptly at the end when she came up to me and said 'Welcome to our church'. I felt like responding: 'Your church?' but didn't. After we got outside my friend and I had quite a discussion about 'church' and 'unity'. She said that people in her church don't understand when she says that she is only there until God tells her to go somewhere else.

I just thanked God that over the past years He has changed my own attitude to denominational christianity and continue to pray that He will reclaim His church. And if that means closing all the church buildings in the process then so be it!

'Father shake your people out of their sleep!'

God can use you

I read the following in a Christian magazine the other day:

The next time you feel that God can't use you, just remember ...

Noah was drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Moses had a stutter
Gideon was afraid
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
The disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
Zacchaeus was too small
Peter denied Christ
Timothy had an ulcer
Lazarus was dead

No more excuses please!