Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Last Sunday, I began a first of a two part series on our vision as a church community. And we looked at a number of things, but one of the key things we looked at last week was around the apes, that is short for apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, shepherd and teacher, the apes with the Sts on the end.
And we looked at so often in church life and structure that churches have often been very good at encouraging the shepherds and the teachers, but not so much the apostolic, the prophetic and the evangelistic. And we're a church that believes that God has given all of them to the body of Christ. They're like major organs in the body. They're like a heart, the lungs, the brain, the kidneys and, and liver. I think I made five there. And if I said to you, which one can you live without? And you could agonize over that, but the reality is you couldn't live without any of them. And the body of Christ cannot live without any of these if it wants to be a vibrant expression of revealing God's glory to the world. And if you have not yet carried out the assessment tool that we've partnered with a group in the States to enable you to ask a few, be asked a few questions and you just answer these questions online and then it gives you a report of what it suspects are your primary graces in your life. And then we are going to use that, we are using that information to help each of us grow in the grace of God on our lives so that together we can reveal the glory of God to the southwest and beyond. If you would like to do that, and we would love you to do that, we would love everybody in the church to do this, you can simply go onto our website, which is rediscoverchurch.comAPest and on that connection point on our website, you can also watch all of our previous teaching on this topic, which will help unpack it even further for you. We would love you to do that. Whatever your age, whatever your background, however long you've been coming, come and be a part of our APEST journey. Well, this week I'm going to talk about church planting, which might sound a little bit irrelevant to a majority of people here, but I'm going to tell you that it's not. I'm going to reveal how significantly important this is for every single one of us in the church. And I can't get this scripture out of my mind. Last night as I was driving home from our church partner academy weekend and this morning as I got up and I sat at the piano, and I began to sing that song. I will build my life upon your love. It is my firm foundation. As we sang that song earlier on about our foundation being in Christ, I was reminded of these few verses in Luke's gospel, chapter six.
In verse 46, Jesus says these words, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't do the things I say.
I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. He or she is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundations on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against the house and couldn't shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who builds a house on the ground without a foundation. And the river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great. You see, the distinctive reason why this house stood strong was because it wasn't just the expression of words of Lord, Lord, but it was the obedience to what the Lord said in return.
And if you and I want to build our life on a firm foundation in Christ, it is not enough to hear lots of good teaching. It's not enough to read your Bible every day. It's not enough to spend time praying. It's not enough to raise your hands as high as you can in worship or even dance around the room. What it requires to have deep foundations in your life is to be doers of God's word as well as hearers. To be someone in your life that responds with. With whatever he asks, with a big yes, Lord, I am following you. I am serving you, I am obeying you. I am responding with everything you ask of me. That is how you and I get firm foundations in our life. It isn't through just simply hearing well, but it's by responding with obedience. And as I remember that thought, I come back to the topic of church planting. Because, you see, our vision is to reveal the glory of God to the southwest and beyond. Now, on one level, that's a great little statement for us to put out there and to cheer and say, yes, we want to be a part of that. But I believe in response to that, the Lord asks things of us. He requires things of us. He comes alongside with stirring, unsettling instructions that demand a response from us. And it's in our obedience to that that we gain our confidence, our strength, and the foundation of following hard after the Lord. You see, in the heart of our cities and our villages across the southwest and across the uk, there is a quiet crisis unfolding.
Church attendance on the whole continues to decline.
There are historic buildings that stand empty and there's an entire generation growing up without any meaningful connection to the Christian faith.
Yet in this significant challenge lies an extraordinary opportunity, one that echoes the very patterns we see in the Scriptures. When Jesus stood before his disciples on that Galilean mountain, his words were very, very clear. He said very simply, but very profoundly, go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.
This wasn't merely a suggestion, it wasn't a request.
It was and it remains a fundamental commission on the body of Christ today.
But what does this mean for you and I in our British context thousands of years later?
Well, consider the Book of Acts, the early church. The beginnings of what we have seen fan around the globe today. They didn't simply maintain congregations, they planted new expressions of church wherever the Spirit led them. From Jerusalem to Antioch, from Ephesus to Rome, new communities of faith sprouted up and grew. Each was contextually relevant while remaining doctrinally faithful.
Today in Britain, across the uk, I believe it's more like the first century Roman Empire than we might imagine.
There's a multicultural society that we are living in today. There are competing and multiple worldviews that are trying to take the high dominant ground in our society. There is a deep spiritual hunger that's masked by material prosperity there. There are traditional religious institutions that are losing their authority and losing their grip on society. Very similar to the context of the early church in the Book of Acts.
And Paul's strategy in Acts provides you and I with a blueprint. I believe he didn't try to just maintain dying congregations or institutions. He planted fresh expressions of church that could reach new people in new ways.
In Thessalonica, he worked alongside people. In Athens, he engaged with philosophical debate. In Ephesus, he trained leaders who would multiply the work.
But why plant new churches when we have existing ones that are half empty?
Let me offer you three principles why I believe we need to plant new churches.
Firstly, multiplication is God's pattern.
From Genesis we hear the cry of the Spirit which says, be fruitful and try that again.
From Genesis we read, God says, be fruitful and not add, not grow slightly multiply.
I believe the call on the people of God is for us to multiply.
I'm not talking about birth control, although if your family is growing, God bless you. We'll grow church one way or the other, eh?
But multiplication is the economy of God.
God takes a seed and he doesn't just grow a Tree. He grows a tree full of seeds that could grow an orchard.
And that's all within a tiny seed. We within the church. I believe the power of multiplication is present because God has planted it in that which he has established.
So multiplication is God's pattern. God's kingdom advances through multiplication, not mere maintenance.
We're not here to hold the fort until the king comes. We're here to advance the gospel across the face of the earth and to multiply.
Every living thing that's healthy has the capacity to reproduce.
Secondly, a reason why we need new churches is that new wine requires new wineskins.
Jesus taught this principle.
I've never made homemade wine, but I know something of what happens is that the bubble in the ferment of this, if you try to produce that in an old wineskin, it will burst.
And so you need to put the correct aged wine in the correct wineskin, because during the process of fermentation, it bubbles away and there's some life in it that requires a new skin to hold it. And I believe that we need new churches today to rise up across the Southwest and across the UK to contain that which the Lord is wanting to do. He says, see, I am doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it? And if we perceive it and we understand it, but we do nothing about it, we are like people who build our house upon an unfirm foundation.
It's about obedience.
Now, the new doesn't mean to say we abandon the traditions of authority of God's Word, not at all.
But it's about translating them in a way that connects relevantly into society in today's culture. Thirdly, there is a principle of incarnation. Jesus came, and I love the way the message says that he took on human flesh and he moved into the neighborhood. He came among us. He did not send us a telegram or an email. He didn't send us a text to instruct us what we should do. He. He came himself and he lived among us.
I remember someone telling me on one occasion of a church that had been started in their community. It was a little housing estate. And I remember just speaking to some locals that didn't go to the church. And I said, what's it like having this church in the middle of your housing estate? And they said, well, to be honest, it's okay apart from Sundays when all these people turn up in their nice cars who don't live here, and we have to close the windows for a few hours to avoid the noise, and then they leave in their nice cars afterwards and we don't really know them.
That's not incarnational.
That's visiting a community, that's not living among a community.
And many people in this church travel from great distances to be here.
Some of you will travel over an hour to be here from across Devon. And you have your reasons for that. And you will. Some people will criticize you because you've driven past lots of other churches to come here. I tell you how that makes sense to me.
It doesn't make sense if it's just about coming on a Sunday.
Because while you will make the journey, if you get talking to your neighbors and then invite them to church, they won't travel with you.
So it doesn't make missional sense unless you return back to those communities and you become the incarnational version of Jesus to that community.
And if you become the incarnational Jesus into those communities, then maybe you could start a church there.
Maybe you could take the gospel.
And I believe God has been bringing people from across the region here because some of you thought you were coming to be given a faith boost to survive the weak. And survival is not part of our strategy in the church. It's thriving is our strategy in the church that you and I come alive with the things of God. And we take it to where we work, where we live, and we rise up and we say, I am Jesus in this community.
I'm going to represent him to my neighbors. I'm going to represent him to my village, to my town.
See, there's a lot of church planting moves around the world, around the nation even. But they're all targeting cities.
They're all going for the demographics where there's lots of people who live.
And across Devon here and Cornwall and Somerset and Dorset, we have lots of rural communities.
And they're never going to be places where churches of hundreds are planted, but they could be communities where churches of 30, 40, 50 people are starting in the local village hall. And it can start in your living room, it can start where you live.
And the gospel is an incarnational gospel. It comes and it moves into the community and it brings Christ.
I'm going to invite in a few moments time, number of people, people who've been able to stay over from our weekend with the Church Planting Academy. We've had an amazing weekend. We have, I think, around 60 students on the course this year.
And the Church Planting Academy, it started to provide a tool for every single one of you to have an ability to take a leap of faith and turn it into incremental steps of faith to make it accessible. But God is doing something with the Academy and it's now gone national and we've got people from all over the UK here planting and dreaming of planting in various locations and we're going to introduce them in a moment. Before we do that, I need to help you with a question that maybe you're asking right now. And if you're not, let me plant the question in you before I give you the answer. What is a church?
Talk about planting churches. What is a church?
Well, let me help you understand what the New Testament says a church is. Because you probably think that it's having a building, something like this, a smaller or bigger version of this, of having a band and having a preacher and having a welcome team and having coffees afterwards, taking offerings. You probably think that that's what church means and you think there's no way I could start one of those in my community.
But I want you to see right now that although all of this can be legitimate expressions of church, it's not what church is. Let me explain to you what the Bible says church is.
First of all, the church. The New Testament term comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which means a called out assembly. It means that we have been pulled out from the prevailing forces of this world and brought into a new kingdom in God. And we are now part of that new group, that new belonging. We're a called out assembly.
And there are some characteristics to that called out assembly.
First of all, Jesus is Lord.
You cannot have a church unless Jesus is Lord.
It doesn't matter how many thousands of people attend your worship services. It doesn't matter how cool and trendy your house group is. If Jesus is not Lord, it is not a church.
His presence is central to what church is. We don't gather around our ideas or our preferences or or our hobbies or our interests. We gather around the presence and the person of Christ and we say he is the fire around which we gather.
He is our reason.
He is our reason for existence. He is our drive, our desire, our passion, our hope.
So first of all, Christ is Lord.
Secondly, church is a covenant community.
It's not a group of people who conveniently sidle up to one another and are just nice. It's a community of covenant, a covenant with God.
My life is not my own. I have been bought with a price of the blood of Jesus which has made a covenantal relationship where I am now His.
In him we live and move and have our being. He is the very epicenter of our lives.
And because of that covenant with God, we develop a covenant with each other. A covenant to encourage, to build up, to discipline, to shape, to train, to develop.
It's a covenantal community.
We see in the early church various ways they expressed that interconnectedness of covenants then. So it's Christ is Lord, it's a covenant community. It's also a word centered ministry.
Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have a 35 minute preach at 10:30 on a Sunday morning, but it does mean you have to build your life upon the truth of this word.
However you dissect it, however you teach it, however you meditate on it, to be a church, you must live it.
And there are churches and denominations that have taken this word and they've said, we don't like that bit.
They usually don't say we don't like it. They usually say, well, we've gone back and we've looked at the interpretation and we think it needs to be adapted in some way.
And sadly, when they do that, they stop being.
Because where do you stop with that?
What are the issues you stop at?
Because if you can change one word in here, you can change them all.
And it moves away from being a community built upon the word of God.
Now there are things in this book that offend my flesh.
If you've not been offended by the word of God, you've probably not read it because it's full of stuff that can be quite challenging to my convenience, to my preferences, to my likes.
So what do I do? Do I water it down and take those bits out?
If you do, you stop being part of God's plan of church.
You have to take this word and say, I want to bring my life in line with this.
Sadly, churches that water it down or take bits out change things for their own convenience.
It would be my observation that they begin to go into a state of decline.
What this world needs is not a church that's compromising its teaching to try to be relevant to the world, but a church that builds its life on the uncompromising scripture of God and shows the world there is a better way. That's what this world needs.
And if you want to be a church, the word of God is central.
Fourthly, there's some sacramental practice. We're a Pentecostal church. We often don't use the word sacrament.
Other traditions would have a range of sacraments as part of their expression, but in our tradition we would have the sacraments of baptism, the opportunity to follow Jesus and get baptized. Now that doesn't need to happen in a tank in a church.
Who is it recently got baptized in someone's garden here? Where are you? Just stand a moment, would you? Just on a Sunday evening in someone's garden in a paddling pool.
There's some friends around, gave his gospel testimony to Jesus. And it's wonderful, wonderful to see God at work in your life. Isn't it beautiful to watch God at work in people?
Well done. Thank you. Bless you. Some of you have been baptized in the sea. If you've been baptized in the sea over recent years, give us a wave.
Beautiful cold sea.
And thank God we don't live near the Jordan because that's not a very clean place to get baptized.
But we have nice warm pools or tanks. Often in church, it's not important of what the water is contained in. What's important is the principle that I have died to self and I'm alive in Christ and my baptism represents that. If you've given your life to Jesus not being baptized, I really want to encourage you, get baptized.
And if you think you're not ready, let me tell you, you're absolutely right. Because salvation is not about you. It's about him. It's not about how good you are. It's about how amazing he is. And you will never be ready. You will never be ready. You will never earn your way to that salvation. All you can do is yield and say, thank you, God, for your salvation. So rich and free. And I'm getting baptized because I want to tell the world about this. If you've not got baptized, then do contact the office here and we will let you know when the next baptism service. And it will be our joy to cheer you through those waters and to say yes, come on, God, another victory for you.
Also. We take communion.
We enjoy taking those precious emblems of the sacrifice of Jesus life, of his death and his resurrection of his body and his blood.
And it reminds us that that is who we are, where people gathered around his sacrifice.
We're also a church. To be a church, you have to be on mission. And it can't just be some ideas. It has to be a Holy Spirit empowered mission. There's a mission that he's on that we join in with.
We don't come with our latest ideas of how we can change the world. We come and we surrender to his idea about how he wants to change the world. And we say, yes, Lord, I want to say yes to you.
He gives power to be witnesses. The Holy Spirit fills us. If you've not been filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to encourage you. The Spirit of God is not a discriminator of his sons and daughters. He wants to fill you with his power and he wants you to explode with mission. He wants you to thrive with an overflow of good news in your life. And he wants you to face the lions in the den and not be scared. He wants you to face the Goliaths and not be intimidated. He wants you to go into workplaces where the philosophies of this world want to silence you and give you courage to stand strong and stand bold for him. Because we're on spirit powered in mission.
And the church, if it doesn't have a spirit empowered mission, I don't think it's part of the church.
There are some other things that might feel less significant, but they are part of the New Testament Church. We see leadership structure.
They appoint elders.
There's qualifications given for leadership in church.
Must be a good example. Must have our own affairs in order in our lives so that we can be an example that's authentic to the world. And leaders are not perfect. I know that because I am one of them.
I know that I'm only here by the grace of God. And all of us are only able to serve because of the grace of God. But there is a call in our lives to live an example. We can't live just however way we want to. If you want to step into the purposes of God, it isn't good enough to say, well, I'll do it on my terms.
It has to be on his terms.
We live our lives according to the principles of God's Word. We build our life upon his truth.
And sometimes being a Christian can feel like you're in a fish tank and everybody's looking particularly Christian leadership. Everybody's watching. You think, can I post that on social media? What will people think about my Christian faith if I post that?
That's not a bad question to ask. In fact, looking at some of your timelines, I think is a question you should ask more often because we are a model and an example to the world. We are ambassadors of another kingdom.
We are people living according to another truth.
And the church, it needs structure. I thank God we have an amazing team of elders here. We're going to be looking to add to the eldership team soon and coming to our members to discuss that. But we thank thank God for we have wise godly leaders here in the church. I wonder for a moment, could all our current elders just stand a moment Because I Want to applaud and thank you for your ministry and your life. Would you just stand?
Thank you so much. Not all here this morning, but we love you guys. This has been a year of lots of transition in the church and these guys have kept their eyes fixed and focused on Jesus and they're like a rock in this place and I thank God for them.
Discipleship and discipline are part of the church as well.
The scripture says that all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in all righteousness.
God's word has an outworking in our lives and sometimes we need people to come around us. I see often people spend enormous sums of money to get a trainer at the gym and there's nothing the trainer can tell them that Google can't. But they need someone to come alongside them and to say, come on, one more set and another one now. You said one more a few moments ago. Oh, we'll have another one. Come on, push it, push it.
And there's a sense the church should be a discipling community that pushes us to the next level into the things of God. And I believe, I see that in the scripture there's various ways this can be expressed. I see churches that they meet in homes, I see churches that meet in schools. I see churches that meet weekly, monthly. I see churches that look at all sorts of different ways. Across Elim, we've got a range of different styles of churches. The, the style is not so important. What's important is that it has all those elements I've just mentioned.
And in this unique UK context where so many churches that have been the staple of our communities for years are closing, I believe there's an opportunity for U.S. church, there's an opportunity for new wineskins, and there's a need for people who have said, I'm a background person to ask God what his opinion about that is.
Because some of you have written yourself into the script of being a background person and you've never consulted God's opinion on that.
Now, I thank God that we work behind the scenes and we do things that no one sees in order to honor him and love him.
But God requires people to come to the front and to come to the fore as well.
Some of you right now are feeling a bit stirred that in your village or in your town, maybe, maybe there's an opportunity to create a presence of God through your life and through your witness, and there's an opportunity to plant.
We, a number of years ago said that we believe that we could see 100 churches planted across the southwest.
I thank God over the last couple of years, we've seen a great church planted in Newton Abbots. It's now on a Sunday, gathering about 120 people on a Sunday. It's amazing what God's doing there. The cafe is buzzing in that community. In fact, the cafe, it's making links with the community. It's not just a brilliant coffee shop. I think it's the best coffee shop on the high street. In fact, it's going so well as a coffee shop that it's just broke through the vat throw threshold in the first seven months of trading.
It's incredible what's happening there. But a few months ago there was a lady came in, she came in for her coffees regularly from a Muslim background. And she said, there's something different about this place. What is it? Oh, no, we're Christians.
And she goes along to church after a few weeks of asking these questions and gives her life to Jesus Christ in church on Sunday.
A few years ago, that place didn't exist and it took someone to hear this sort of message and say, okay, Phil and Esther Daniels, they said, okay, yes, Lord, we'll move, we'll relocate, we'll take our kids in different schools and we'll step forward and we'll say, God, if you want to use this, we say yes. And if they hadn't said yes, that lady, I don't think would have given her life to Jesus. And the many other people who've given their life to Christ wouldn't have found Christ.
I love what Linda's doing. Stand a moment, Linda, would you? Because Linda started a new church just over a year ago in Plimpton in North Plymouth.
They meet on Friday evening, so she's often still able to come here on Sundays. But Linda, I don't think you thought that you could plant a church.
Anita and I were a little spirit led mischievous because we went to see Linda. Said, linda, we see that God's got more for you than you think you've got. We can see churches in you. Linda signed up to the church partner academy.
Before she finished the academy, Nita and I went on holiday and Linda came to me after the holiday and she said, mark, I've got an apology to make to you.
Said, what have you done, Linda?
What have you been up to? Why do you need to apologize to the pastor? She said, I'm really sorry that while you were away, I've started a church.
And that church now, over the last 12 months, they had their one year anniversary in November. They have connected with over 250 families in Plimpton, North Plymouth. Isn't that amazing?
There are lives being touched for the gospel. Linda's lived in Plimpton for years. She never really understood why she was traveling up and down to exit at the church.
But the reason she's doing so was because she found an environment that would empower her, equip her and then release her to step into the purposes of God. And we're really proud of all you're doing, Linda. You're doing an incredible job. Well done. To you for stepping up. Thank you.
Norman and Allison, Ken and Amy in Cranbrook. You here, I can see. Just stand up over there for us, would you?
Norman and Allison, their son was a trainee teacher at a school in Cranbrook. They lived in Honington. And their son used to come home from school, from his teaching days there and tell them stories, painful stories about young people's experience on this new housing estate with thousands of homes.
Norman and Alison, it felt a bit like a Nehemiah moment. You remember Nehemiah? He got a report about the state of the walls in Jerusalem and it stirred them.
Then there was a season in their life where they felt God was leading them to a new adventure.
And they began to wonder whether they could plant a church in Cranbrook. They came on the Church Planting Academy.
I met with Norman and Alison after they walked through the academy and they said to me, we can't do it.
We can't plant a church. I said, tell me what you can't do. They said, we can't see ourselves organizing worship rotors and preaching rotors.
I said, well, thank you for your honesty. Can I ask you two questions? First question is, can you build community?
And I knew they could because I've seen them. I've seen them host barbecues in their garden. I've seen them love on people. And they said, oh, we love building community. I said, I know, I've seen it. You're brilliant at it. So the second question, can you get alongside others and help them grow in their faith? And they said, we love doing that. I said, oh, no, I've seen you do it. You're exceptional at doing it. Said, why didn't you just do those two things? Why don't you just build community and help people grow in their faith? They said, yes, we'll do that. I said, by the way, that's a church.
And they've done that.
They needed some help. God led them to Ken and Amy, who the following year did the Church Partner Academy. Do you know? Now, a few years on, they've baptized multiple people in Cranbrook. They have seen people come to faith. They meet in multiple homes around Cranbrook. They hire the school, the very school where their son was working all those years ago. A school where Alison saw a tree in the garden of the school, and she thought, God, I pray one day someone will come and plant a church and it will grow in this community just like that tree is growing. She had no idea that they would be the ones that would go and plant a church in that community. And now once a month, they meet it in the school hall and they gather with people, and people are giving their lives to Christ and they're baptizing people on a regular basis. We're so proud of all you guys are doing. And more importantly, the people who have given their lives to Christ over the last few years because of your obedience are deeply grateful that you said yes to Jesus. Come on, let's give him a hero's welcome. Well done.
Stephen Joy, would you stand a moment? Steven Joy. They're increditing.
Steven Joy moved to Crediton years ago as part of another church network, and they went there specifically to plant a church.
That church a few years later had a change of leadership, and the new leader said, we're not really doing church planting. So they were now living in Crediton with the hopes and the dreams feeling dashed.
And as we begun to talk about church partner, they began to feel a stir of the spirit. Maybe this is God.
They had a book that they wrote all of their visions and dreams and ideas and promises from God many years ago when they moved to this area to plant a church, but they lost it. They couldn't find the book.
And as God began to stir their hearts about planting again in Crediton, they opened a drawer in their living room and they found that book.
It was like it had been hidden, and then it was revealed, and they began to read through all the promises that God had spoken over that community.
I love what you guys are doing. I love your desire and your passion to reach out into that community. I love that you've stepped forward and you've said yes. And, you know, I remember a few years ago, you both retired.
Do you remember that? Do you remember that? That false idea?
Stephen Joy are wonderfully involved in our pastoral ministry in the church now. And I went to them just as they announced their retirement from the work they were doing. And I said, we need a lot more. Stephen Joy's in the church. Will he help us make more?
And they have given themselves to the Lord. And in the adventures of the season, of the life that they're in, they've said, God, I know we could travel around and we could cruise the world. We could put our feet up and say, we've done our bit, but we're saying yes to Jesus more than we've ever done in our lives. And we want to honor you for what you're doing and for the way that you're stepping out and for all that God's doing for your life. Thank you. Come on, let's give him a hero's welcome.
And then we've got church prior and Academy students here. I wonder if you'd come and join me on the stage. Would you give them a cheer as they make their way to the stage here?
Come on. They're all over the building, so you have to keep your cap going a bit longer than that.
Damien and Maggie, come and join me on the stage with you as well. Damien and Maggie planted a church in Northamptonshire about 15 years ago. It's a wonderful church now. And about two years ago, Damian came to see me. So I'm thinking of planting again. I said, why are you thinking about planting one? God's into multiplication, not addition. And so they came on the Academy last year and now they're area hub leaders to create multiple church plants around the area of Northamptonshire. And they've now last year completed the Academy and they're now teaching on the course and hub leaders as well. This is an amazing couple. Damien and Maggie, come and join me at the front here, would you? Would you give these guys a real celebration because they're just amazing, just amazing.
We're so grateful for your constant obedience. And I've met lots of church partners over the years and it's hard work planting a church, isn't it?
And when it doesn't go very well, which sometimes it doesn't, and that's okay because this is a culture that we will celebrate the attempt, not just the success.
So if you start to try to plant a church and it doesn't work out, you will hear a cheer from us, not a tut.
Did you hear that?
We will celebrate that you've had the guts to get out of the boat and try to walk on water.
We will celebrate that more than those who didn't try getting out of the boat, even though they're not wet.
We will celebrate the attempt. And there are lots of people who try and it doesn't always work. Out and they get disappointed and never try again. But there are people who try and it goes really well and then they're too exhausted to do it again.
And these guys, you've done that and yet you're ready. There's a fire in your belly to do that again. Tell us about your vision for Northamptonshire around the area.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: Morning, everyone.
It's really great to be here. So inspiring to be around this church, by the way. There's such a beautiful, caring heart and a real vision to see people reach for Jesus in Northamptonshire. There are lots of towns and villages around Corby, the town where we live, that don't have really strong evangelical charismatic churches. And our heart's longing is to see expressions of church planted in lots of communities around and about where Jesus. His name's lifted high, where the church shows people what it's like to live a different life and follow Jesus. So we're hoping to see those kind of churches planted round and about. Maybe in Corby, there's some new housing estates that have been established, some. Some are quite big with no churches on. So we're praying and hoping that God will lead us to the right places.
[00:42:37] Speaker A: Wouldn't that be amazing? All the lives are going to be impacted through that and there's a few people that are on the. The hub around Corby area in North Hampshire. Give us a wave if that's you. So look at that. Already there are people who are being recruited that area to plant, to be a part of planting churches. Really wonderful. I'm going to ask you to give a name and give your name and say where you're from. Haven't got time to go into anything more than that. And then we're going to pray for you and commission you into this next season. So just start with your name and where you're from.
Israel we're from. My wife, Jaz, we're from Pool in Dorset. Israel's his name, not where he's from.
[00:43:14] Speaker C: My name is Jasdeep and I'm from Pool in Dorset.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Wonderful. Claudia Kent just moved to Barnsley. Fantastic. And you have both just moved to Barnsley to plant the new Elim Church in Barnsley. Come on, it's already happening.
Terry Barker from Axminster. Terry, you only got saved in the last two years.
What are you doing? Trying to think about planning a church. No idea.
There is no.
There is no limitation to what God can do to a yielded person.
You need to hear that.
You remember last week, that picture of the barracks? Some of you been in the barracks for years.
It's time to get on the battlefield. Well done, Terry.
Yeah, so my name's Richard, originally from Corby but moved to Barnsey six months ago to plant a church. So wonderful.
I'm Anthea Hayes and I am in Hope Church, Corby, but we live in Kettering, which is just outside.
Fantastic. Brilliant.
[00:44:19] Speaker C: Adele and from Carried Off Belfast.
[00:44:25] Speaker A: Wonderful. Fantastic.
And then I'll do this when Denique Exeter.
Come on.
Brilliant. Wilner, Adele's other half from Carried Off Outside Belfast. Terrific. Thank you.
[00:44:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm Kevin, I live in Kettering and worship at Hope Church in Corby.
[00:44:49] Speaker A: Brilliant. Fantastic. And Ruth and Corby, but a different church in Corby, so we're networking. Superb. Well done. Greg, married to Anthea.
[00:45:00] Speaker B: So, yeah, we're from Ketrin but worship at Corby.
[00:45:03] Speaker A: Melissa, married to Kevin from Kettering, Northamptonshire. Worship, worshipping in Corby. Brilliant. Could you do me a favour and just pass the mic to the next person? I'll run around the other side.
Hi, I'm Nick and I'm also from Corby.
Hi, I'm Val and I'm from Beer in East Devon and I'm married to Val. I'm Tony.
[00:45:30] Speaker C: I'm Pal from Southeast London.
[00:45:33] Speaker A: Brilliant. We did a session yesterday afternoon and the title of the session was what are you waiting for?
And Pal, he took that question seriously on board and felt, actually, he's overthinking this about church priority. He's overthinking that he's not ready, he can't do this. So during that session, you did something. Tell us what you did.
[00:46:00] Speaker C: So I was overthinking my whole life like I do sometimes, just thinking I'm not qualified enough. I used to be a gang member. Will people take me in? And then we were talking about it and then Mark was preaching, speaking, and I thought, you know what? I got so convicted by the Holy Spirit that I made a plan for a church. And the plan was I'm going to plant in the area that had problems in, basically, and I grew up in. So I made the plan, got the scriptures, prayed on it in the space of about an hour, and I sent it to my pastor and the trustees of the church just sent it. And I asked, if you think I'm deluded, tell me. And he didn't tell me I'm deluded. He called me and said, pal, this is an answered prayer because we want to plant this year. And then he said, on Monday you got a meeting with me. And I'm like, oh, Great. So praise God.
[00:46:48] Speaker A: Come on, love.
Can you imagine a church that's full of people on mission like this Spirit filled mission?
Or we can still keep our connection and our involvement, but to be able to be sent forth to reach communities with the hope of the gospel, what a wonderful privilege that would be. Wouldn't it be a joy that our Sunday worship is full of testimonies of more people who've given their lives to Christ and been baptized in localities across the areas that you live? And you might say, well, I'm really not a point person on that, but you could be a team member, you could get alongside and encourage it. It's not an individual who does this, it's a team that does this.
And by your availability it can make a real difference.
What these guys did, they went on to churchplantingacademy.com which is our brilliant training program. I really believe it's a great program that helps take ordinary people and help them to achieve extraordinary things. You're not too young to go on it, you're not too inexperienced to go on it, and you're not too old to go on it. Wherever you are, whatever stage of life. I believe if you say yes to God, he can work in and through your life to make a difference for the gospel. And I would love you to stand and stretch out your hands towards these. There are many others who've been with us over the weekend that have had to go back to their own churches or travel home to their locations. So these are just representative of a few. But I'd like you to stretch your hands out towards them. I'd like you to pray. God, would you bless their ventures? Would you give them courage to step into all that you've got for them? And as you pray that prayer and as you lift your hands towards them, I'd like you also to take your other hand and put it on your heart and say, God, here I am. Send me.
There's a powerful response of hearts across this room this morning.
As we pray, as we yield, as we honor.
Here we are, God, send us as a church.
Send us. Church is a community of sending, not receiving. It receives in order to build up, in order to send. Send us to the nations, O God.
Some of you young people, you've not had a vision beyond your career. And right now there's a stir of the spirit because there's even other nations for you to go to. There are missions and assignments. It's the most exciting thing you can give your life to. And it, it's not one or the other. It's not a career or serving God, it's both. You can serve God in industry, you can serve God in society, you can serve God in education. But our lives must be kingdom orientated.
So Lord, I pray that we will not live in the barracks.
I pray we will not live on the cruise ship of comforts. I pray O God that we will not live as casualties in A and E for all our days but that you will stir us up to be a mobile army that responds to the opportunities of our day and we will see a generation rise up that will take new wineskins to be filled with new wine. For our communities across the uk we pray and Lord as we pray for these that represent in various parts of the nation we also remind our own souls of our vision statement to reveal the glory of God to the southwest and beyond and in the name of Jesus we surrender this vision to you O God and ask that you will help us to fulfill all that you're asking of us and all God's people said.
