The Mission of the Church

The Heart of The Church

I will build my Church (said Jesus, not me!)
Jesus said, I will build my Church As I thought about that today I thought that it’s amazing how the Church in the UK is in some areas growing, while in other areas groaning. I’m sure the above phrase has thoughts to offer. The Church that grows is Jesus’ Church – not ours. Are we at the helm, or is Jesus? The Church that grows (and I’m referring to spiritual growth that results in missional activity which leads to numerical growth – the order is important here) is in the ‘will’ of God. Stagnation cannot be the will of God for His Church. Why not? Because the Church of Jesus is being ‘built’, not broken.

Revolution on your Sole
My wife just had to get rid of her trainers.  they had holey soles and were giving her wet feet.  She wanted to show me the damage so she gave me her shoe to have a look. I turned the shoe over and found the word “Revolution” on the sole.  It’s on the photo for you to see. I found this interesting as I began to consider how

Be an Apprentice
I seem to be continually challenged about not settling for the depth of relationship with God that I have, so when I read Luke 5 last night it was perhaps not surprising that I sensed God drawing me to this phrase: “Put out into deep water” Are we willing to follow Jesus’ advice to ‘go deeper’ with Him? Although this passage doesn’t explicitly relate to our walk with God, it is a direct call for the disciples (and therefore, us!) to follow Him. Jesus has just finished teaching the crowds the ‘word of God’ (there’s a great place to begin digging deeper into God!) and he turns to the fishermen and tells them how to do their job. As I thought about

“Who is my neighbour?” and all that nonsense
A middle-class, newly married woman approached me recently. She was someone I knew, but who isn’t apart of our community. Safe to say she goes to ’someone else’s church’. I knew about her story. She suffered from a medical condition that caused her to be in debilitating pain; pain so excruciating at times she was unable to care for her young family. In and out of hospital, surgery after surgery she became dependant on addictive painkillers… painkillers she did not want to take. She explained her situation to the doctor who understood and instead recommended she used cannabis or similar style drug. This young, Christian woman (who puts my faith

Don’t abandon your life
I’ve been thinking recently about pieces of advice and teaching I’ve received over the years.  There are times in life when we all just want to retreat, run away, curl up into  a small ball and rock, hide, give up, give in, pull out, etc.  This advice strikes a chord with me during these times: Abandon your plans of escape and be where you are (Kyle Lake) Hard times are not wrong times.  They are opportunities to grow in maturity, character and faith.  Often our groaning pains are our growing pains. Abandon your plans of escape and be where you are (Kyle Lake) A verse that helps me