February–March 2013 Issue 7
l Patience is my challenge
Andrew McCourt’s journey after taking over the reins at a church in Belfast
l Success is down to God Dominic Yeo on life as the leader of a Singapore megachurch
l Not weird or wacko!
James Galloway says we must learn to manage miracles
RETURN OF THE
PRODIGALS How the story of the lost son tells us most Harvey love believes that a true about David the extravagant of God
church will struggle if it is worldly
I READ MY BIBLE EVERY DAY
Hollywood star Denzel Washington reveals his Christian faith
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Editorial
ISSN 2049 - 2014
Contents 03
PATIENCE IS MY BIG CHALLENGE
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I READ my BIBLE EVERY DAY
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HUMBLED AT WHAT GOD HAS DONE!
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Story REMINDS US WE’RE ALL PRODIGALS
Andrew McCourt is the Senior Pastor of Christian Fellowship Church in Belfast having taken over from Paul Reid
Oscar winning Hollywood star Denzel Washington used an interview with a men’s magazine to talk about his faith
Rev Dominic Yeo is the Senior Pastor of Trinity Christian Centre, a growing church in the city of Singapore, where 6,500 attend
Grace Community International shows how the parable of the prodigal son reveals God’s luxuriant love for everyone
PRAYER DOESN’T HAVE TO BE WACKO
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DOING ALL WE CAN TO reap harvest
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What legacy are you leaving?
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GOD’S HEART FOR the LOST
It’s not just about miracles, but about managing them, says Pastor James Galloway, of Breathe City Church
As the return of Christ draws closer, we as the Church should do all we can to reap the harvest, writes Glenn Balfour
Disciple makers are those who build people that have eternal consequence and pass on God’s anointing, writes Jim Master
Through Christmas and the return of Christ Ian Watson finds out why 99 per cent retention rate just isn’t good enough
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Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com
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advertise in Re Online – call the National Office on 01777 817663 Re Online is the official magazine of Assemblies of God GB Editor in Chief: John Partington The purpose of Assemblies of God is to give every man, woman and child the opportunity of understanding the gospel and to provide a church where they can grow and develop in ministry for the glory of God. 2
Re Online is published by Assemblies of God Incorporated, PO Box 7634, Nottingham, NG11 6ZY. Tel: 0115 921 7272 Email: info@aog.org.uk Publishing agents: New Life Publishing Co Write to: Re Online, PO Box 777, Nottingham, NG11 6ZZ. Tel: 0115 824 0777 Email: editor@newlife.co.uk All content is copyright and must not be reproduced without prior written permission from the Editor. Submitted articles are subject to editing. By submitting articles you accept this to be the case.
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ast year I have been privileged to be a part of a number of significant Area Days that have taken place in the Scotland, Central and London/ East areas. Each of them has had a different ‘flavour’ reflecting something of the particular NLT member who has headed the day up, but each has provided those who attended with some excellent fellowship and food of both the spiritual and practical type. The number of people attending has also been encouraging, to say the least. In the three days I have been to, almost 1,000 folk have crammed into the venues with an enthusiasm and optimism that bodes well for the future. It was the same story at our two other AoG areas, and it seems we are beginning to see a RETURN to what for so long was a missing ingredient within our Fellowship – a recognition that we really are ‘stronger together’. It is essential that we relationally connect in order to aid us in that Great Commission of being missionally focused. Excellent apostolic leadership is helping to bring this about. Furthermore, when our area teams met together in Coventry
and were fed by the outstanding word ministry of David Smith, pastor of the Peterborough church where we will be holding our 2013 Conference in May, again I sensed that perhaps a corner really had been turned and that we were returning to our roots. The theme of this Re Online is RETURN, and it opens a door for some excellent articles, but whether they are about those prodigals that we long to see return back to a Father whose arms are wide open to welcome them, or a Christ who has unconditionally promised that he will return and come again, I urge every reader to get back to basics. Only a returning to the fundamentals as found in God’s Word – a love for the Bible, prayer, life in the Spirit, worship, seeking the lost, holiness and a love for one another – will result in us being restored to that old-time Pentecostal power! Your friend,
John • Follow me on Twitter: @johnpartington
Patience is my big challenge Andrew McCourt is the Senior Pastor of Christian Fellowship Church in Belfast having taken over from Paul Reid. Re’s Kate Kent talks to him about his journey
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ndy, tell us about your life prior to becoming leader of Christian Fellowship Church. I was in the city of Derry for 13 years and pioneered the church with my wife Isobel. I was 25 and she was 24 when we moved there, and she was also three months pregnant and we 0 3
didn’t know a single person! But within ten days of arriving back I was called by a guy in the city who had a group of about 15 people who didn’t have a leader, and we were leaders without people so it was a perfect match and they were brilliant – that was a godsend. Derry is a largely nationalist republican Catholic city compounded with all the difficulties of the troubles, so people were very suspicious. We were missional in our approach, our language had to be considered carefully and we weren’t able to buy the building where we met… but we loved it. We had four children in that time and saw the church grow. I couldn’t have left for Belfast to work alongside Paul Reid unless succession was done well in what we were leaving because we’d put too much of our lives into it; that was a non-negotiable. It’s been a long journey, but a good one. How is CFC doing since you took over? Really good! I took over in January 2011 having been Paul’s assistant for 18 months and I would say that 2011 was still a year of transition. People were still saying, “What is he going to do?” The majority of people made the commitment to join the church during Paul’s time so their emotional attachment was obviously with the previous leader and with those values and practices. They would read so much into really small changes and we are still bringing reassurances. We grew by about 15 members last year so it wasn’t staggering growth, but our Antrim plant grew because the leadership transition didn’t have the same impact for them – it was a new church and they’d known me from the beginning, even though it was launched under Paul. But new people are now coming in who didn’t know Paul was ever the leader. We’ve added new services, we used to have three and now we have six. We run four services; 9am, 10.30 and midday, and then at night we run one at 7pm. We also run two services side by side at 10.30am and 12.15 but we video the 9am service and show it at them. When you start with video it’s fine but when you try and bring it in, it doesn’t work. We call it cafe church; we worship around the tables, stop for coffee and freshly baked buns and say ‘hi’ to people before being asked to watch the screens – it’s a completely different experience. Our multi-service strategy we say is because of growth so we need those extra services but it’s also a cause for growth – it’s a dual thing. 4
Last year we started off with a series on how to read the Bible and its importance, which is a really good thing to do to bring maturity, but it also brought comfort. And it sounds so simple, but placing the emphasis on the fact that we exalt and value the Bible has really helped. Have you changed the vision? No! Our vision has always been to be a Christ-centred community and to impact Belfast, Ireland and the nations with the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit and you don’t need to change that! It’s being like Jesus and living in grace but focusing geographically, and I take it really seriously. I didn’t just inherit this vision, I believe in it. That is the dream that Paul created and my dream is to see it come true and so we work hard on it. We are launching a new site in West Belfast which is one of the most difficult areas and we plan to re-develop the site we have. We’ve looked at Ireland and said, “How can we resource other churches and make them better, and how can we learn from them?” We’ve created a new leadership forum in Ireland that meets twice a year – it’s for the leading leaders in Ireland and we come together from quality churches. Our history as a church allows us to do that and pull it all together and take it to the wider nations. CFC got a word from God years ago that if we could go for the nations, then God would give us the city, so we are keen on going further afield. We are very strategic. We also have a social action side to our church which sees 70 people employed in it. It generates money for them and helps with social deprivation, so there are many dimensions to the church. But our mission is made up of two legs – evangelism and social action – and they are two clear partners in the gospel. What have been your greatest challenges? I think to be patient – to be a number two for 18 months before you become a number one having been a number one for all those years, and to bring different practices to existing departments and bring fundamental changes to how we do things because previous practices can be enshrined as holy... that all takes a lot of work! It’s that whole attitude of ‘this worked so it must be God’ that has been a challenge to me, and to turn the church into a multi-generational church has been hard, but it keeps me in a job! 0 5
Where do you think you have seen the most success since your arrival? Probably in the multiple services. We already had three but adding one more has been a win. That has been very positive for us and more recently, being able to talk about building again – that has been good. Tell us about your style of leadership and the team you have around you. I hang between courage and collaboration. You can’t just do it on one – courage is just dictatorship, collaboration is a committee – you need both. I’m quietly determined but I could not have done this process without our elders. If we had lost anyone it would have rocked the church but they’ve stayed with me, encouraged me, believed in me and challenged me. You have to be a good listener – not just tokenism, because they have stopped me falling in a few ditches and when I have landed in a ditch they’ve come and stood with me in it. You have to have an absolute belief in the quality of your leadership but I still see myself as the visionary leader in the room and I have to take my team with me on the journey. Who do you look up to? In terms of Christian leaders, Donovan Coetzee. When he was younger he had a mentor but as he grew older he realised he still needed mentors because they have skill sets. I would say I have various people whether you follow them from afar or not. Even Brian Houston from Australia, I follow his tweets every day, and Rick Warren, these guys are outstanding! I have books that I read, too. But I also just look up to people in our church who hold down high pressured jobs and still live for Christ. So it’s not just about Christian leaders, it’s about those in the secular world that I find inspirational. Every leader knows that the road to achievement is full of ups and downs. Can you tell us about the things you have experienced so far on your journey? Our greatest challenge was bringing in a worship pastor from the outside and it didn’t work – it was demoralising for the whole of our worshipping community and we staked a lot on it. Fortunately our people were hugely supportive even in the midst of defeat and there is no other way 6
of putting it. They were very gracious to me and that is part of community, people saying, “You know what, we tried it, but it didn’t work.” But ultimately, I’m the one who needs to take responsibility for it. If you could ask God for anything right now – what would it be and why? I would love a great number two, because I really need one, the church needs one and for us to implement everything we want to, I need someone who is joined to me at the hip, but who is very different from me – a real strategist but that has the ability to implement as well and an understanding of all our values; gracedriven but yet courageous enough to make hard decisions. So ideally are you looking for someone from inside? I’m debating that one at the moment. If it’s inside are they too much a part of the system to really be objective enough, or if they are outside will it take too long for them to build some relational kudos? There are pros and cons – obviously I came from the outside but it took time and now it’s working so there is something to be said for both. I have this philosophy that either way you have to pay, so either you pay up front or you pay later... but the cost will come! You want the leader and the only thing they do is deal in change. When we stop dealing in change we become managers. What does downtime look like for you,
Andrew? How do you relax? Running. I love it – it clears my head. Maybe a little bit of football too, and family time, which is massive for me. I don’t work Fridays so I finish on a Thursday evening and that’s the new Friday. We may go out on that night or bring drinks and snacks for the kids. We relax, eat good food, watch a movie and then my two youngest kids finish early on a Friday so I take them out after school. And finally, have you got any leadership secrets to share? When I was at Bible College, John Partington came to preach. At the time he was planting in Liverpool... he was the golden boy but he gave us a hard time! He told us to get up off our backsides and do something! So that night when he was in bed we thought, “We’re not taking what he said lying down!” So we decided to teach him a lesson. We wrote him a letter saying how privileged we were that he had come to Mattersey to talk to us and we wanted him to feel a bit more at home... so we threw a stink bomb under his door at about two in the morning and rattled his door and then ran off. We hid outside and waited for his light to turn on. It seemed like an age but eventually he appeared at the window, the curtains were pulled back and there’s John – topless trying to get the window open. He didn’t realise there were side latches too, so it took him a while, but eventually he opened it and hung out! And then he proceeded to air all his clothes!
I read my Bible every day Oscar winning star Denzel Washington used an interview with a men’s magazine to talk about faith
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ultiple Oscar winner Denzel Washington has spoken publicly of his Christian faith. The actor, who has starred in many films, including Training Day and American Gangster, told GQ Magazine about his beliefs. He said: “I read from the Bible every day, and I read my Daily Word. I read something great yesterday. It said, ‘Don’t aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.’” Washington, 57, told the
publication about a spiritual experience he had during a service at West Angeles Church of God in Christ. He said: “That was 30 years ago, at the church I still attend. The minister was preaching, ‘Just let it go.’ I said, ‘I’m going to go with it.’ “I had this tremendous physical and spiritual experience. It did frighten me. I was slobbering, crying, sweating. My cheeks blew up. I was purging.” The ex-
perience frightened the actor at first and he had to call his mum for her to explain what had happened. “It was too intense. It almost drove me away,” Washington said. “I called my mother, and she said I was being filled with the Holy Spirit. I was like, ‘Does that mean I can never have wine again?’” Washington, who has appeared in films since his 1977 debut, has remained vocal throughout the years about his Christian faith. “Spirituality is important in every aspect of my life,” he said. “I mean, that’s why I’m here. That’s what I’ve been blessed to do.” 7
I'm humbled at what God has done Rev Dominic Yeo is the Senior Pastor of Trinity Christian Centre, a growing church in Singapore with 6,500 in attendance. Re Online caught up with him
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hen did you first realise that God had graced you with an apostolic ministry and anointing? I always thought I would be an evangelist for the rest of my life. But in the early years of my ministry – at a time when I had taken on a youth group of about 40, only to see it go down to 15 – I asked God to let me see the fruits of my labour, and from that time on I realised that anything I got involved with was accompanied by rapid growth, which I can only attribute to God. It’s his grace. But I believe he has brought me into an office and I have to accept that. Yes, I admit it, I have an apostolic ministry. What do you feel are your greatest strengths and how do they help you lead successfully? My greatest strength is vision. I am not good in admin per se but I have a strong administrative process in my mind, so in a sense my gift is expressed through my organisational leadership. 0
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I assume there is no such thing as a typical ‘working day’ for you but can you give us an idea of how you manage your work and life balance? First of all, I do not believe in the word ‘balance’. Contrary to a lot of teaching on this subject I disagree with the concept and prefer the concept of ‘seasons’. Sometimes church life takes precedent and I give myself to it and my family supports me and releases me to it. Then there is a season where it’s family and that’s where church life takes a back seat. I also have seasons where I just have time to myself. Two or three times a year I will go away by myself on a retreat with just my Bible and God, and that is my time. I don’t allocate myself an ‘off’ day, but rather segment my days into hours so I may take time off on any given day – two hours here, one hour there, to do my own thing. It is my theology of ministry. I view my whole life as a ministry, so corporate time off doesn’t sit with me theologically. So how does the Sabbath concept sit with you? I create Sabbath within my schedule. I may use it when I go on a three-day retreat. I know it’s controversial in a sense, as I’m not having a day off each week but I do not see myself as a workaholic. In fact, I play as much as I work. I’m in the office on Monday mornings after a busy Sunday. The first half of the day I just go around teasing my admin staff – I’m not in my office, I’m around my people, encouraging them and laughing with them. In the afternoon I go to my office and look at my schedule for the week. Tuesday is the office’s official day off and now that my wife no longer works we tend to hang out on this morning but I come back to the office at lunchtime and I use the afternoon for the ministry of the word. Sometimes my time is taken up by attending certain churches in Singapore that have asked me to mentor them. Wednesday morning is a full day for me. We start with staff devotions every other week or an office cell. I have 122 staff so when it’s cell I would be visiting them, but during devotions I meet with all 45 of my pastoring team. I share my heart with them and deal with staff discipline matters and we hear from one another. After lunch I meet with my four key leaders; my administrator, my two depu10
ties and my head of corporate communication. We come together and go through operational matters and policies and also some of the dreams that I have that need to be actualised. This goes on until the evening. On Thursdays I meet with the different ministry teams and again if there are issues I will deal with them. I also meet with the executive council of the AoG Singapore once a month. Then, in the National Council of Churches in Singapore there are five bishops – Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, Evangelical and myself – and we meet once every other month for a whole afternoon and look at the issues of the Singapore Church and liaise with the government and agencies. Friday I enjoy the most because I meet with our interns – I love to give myself to them because they give to the church. On Saturday I am generally at home with my wife and children but if I have to go to church then that’s a time I go and
'Two or three times a year I will go away by myself on a retreat with just my Bible and God, and that is my time'
know them and I’m able to share my heart with them. What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? Oh, that’s a tough one. On a personal front it would be seeing my daughter, who has a learning disability, do well and keep her faith, and who is currently doing a Bachelors in Theatre in Brisbane. She graduated with a double diploma and is now doing ten months to get her degree. Where the ministry is concerned, I think one of my greatest joys is to see sons and daughters serving together with me. What risks are you taking right now? I feel that in the coming days God wants to shift and bring forth a new paradigm of missions, so I feel that would be a risk in terms of mobilising business people and bringing them into a place of ministry so that the finances and profits of those endeavours can be poured into community transformations. I say that is a risk because sometimes when pastors get involved in this kind of work they can be misunderstood, and if the business venture goes wrong you risk losing the great financers of the church. But it’s something we need to do, and in every church there are great resources and as ministers we are stewards and we need to mobilise and direct. And if we never tried – that would be a tragedy. either preach or attend a service, and finally on Sunday I’m either preaching in Trinity or visiting other AoG churches. I don’t preach, but I like to attend and sit in on services to get a feel for what others are doing – assuming I’m in Singapore, as my travels take me elsewhere. I also try to meet with the other 27 general councils in Asia Pacific to see how we in Singapore can help and serve them and close ranks for missions, evangelism, training and for planning purposes. How often are you in Trinity? I have raised up a team of preachers scheduled on a rotation so I currently preach once every eight to 12 weeks. However, seven times a year I meet with our lay leadership of the church (about 1,600 people), and they gather after a service and that is my time with them. I may not be that visible to the congregation, but I am very visible to the leadership layer which I feel is the best invest-
ment of my time and explains my passion for the leaders and the pastors. Do you allow your preachers a free license on what they bring from the pulpit? When I take time off for my retreats I plan the whole preaching series for the year. I have a preaching curriculum for a three-year cycle, but interjected into the cycle are series that I craft for the church, sometimes generally and sometimes clearly with a structure. We talk about the curriculum as a team, and then they develop their own sermons from it. What do you love most about what you do? I enjoy seeing sons and daughters coming up to the front and leading; souls saved; meeting visitors at our guest reception every weekend when I’m at Trinity and teaching the membership class every quarter because it’s a time when I get to
If we were to ask the people closest to you in your world, how do you think they would describe you? I think they would describe me as a man of passion, extremely cheeky and naughty but fun to be with, a person of intent and someone with a strong leadership gift. If you could live your life all over again, is there anything you would change and why? I don’t think I would do anything differently even though I started off in a life of vice. I’m humbled at what God has done and that has been the making of who I am. What was your life of vice? I had a rough background and was involved in triads. I don’t glory in the past but it tells me that God’s wonderful grace reached into my life and redefined me. I look back and realise I had a great leadership gift which I can now use for the cause of Christ. 11
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Welcoming sinners O
ne of Jesus’ best-loved parables reveals far more about God’s love than we might at first think.
Most Christians are familiar with Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. Some refer to it as the parable of the lost son. It’s found in Luke 15 in the New Testament. This wonderful story has been read by children and adults alike countless times. It never ceases to inspire us – even tug on our heartstrings as the father in the story lovingly accepts his errant son back. A quick look at this parable reveals the example of a hasty young man who wastes his inheritance with lavish living in a foreign land. Matters are made worse when a severe famine grips his new homeland. Desperate, he hires himself out to a man who lets him feed his pigs. Hungry and humiliated, he decides to go home to his father, who receives him with open arms. But there is more to the story than this – much more. Perhaps that’s why Norval Geldenhuys in The New International Commentary on the New Testament calls this story the ‘gospel within the gospel’. To gain an enriched appreciation and understanding of this best-loved parable, let’s take a closer
This month's theme is RETURN, and one of the best examples is the prodigal son, writes John Partington. Our thanks go to Grace Community International for this brilliant article.
look at the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15. Let’s allow the story to take us back to the time when Jesus spoke what William Barclay in The Daily Study Bible Series calls ‘the greatest short story in the world’. It was another testy meeting between Jesus and the religious leaders of Judea, the Pharisees. In their midst were ‘sinners’ and tax collectors who had gathered to hear what Jesus had to say. Noting the make-up of the crowd that was gathering, the Pharisees and religious teachers began muttering about the kind of company Jesus was keeping, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” This wasn’t the first time they had criticised Jesus and his disciples for associating with those the Pharisees considered to be off-limits. Sometime 0
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earlier, during a banquet given for Jesus by a tax collector named Levi, a group of Pharisees questioned Jesus’ disciples. The Pharisees asked, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus responded by saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Hearing the same criticism later, in Luke 15 Jesus again answered the Pharisees’ reproach. This time he chose to elaborate. He began by telling two parables: the first focusing on a sheep recovered after straying from a flock of 100, the second on one of ten coins that had been lost and later found. Jesus explained each story’s significance: the great joy that takes place in heaven when a person involved in sin repents of his or her lost ways and is restored to a right relationship with God. The third parable was the culmination of his response. For many readers, this third parable focuses on the prodigal son. Perhaps that is the person they can identify with the most. And indeed, in this story Jesus does illustrate a young man who had lived a profligate, wasteful lifestyle and who comes to his senses. But the word prodigal can mean several things – negative or positive: recklessly extravagant, characterised by wasteful expenditure, lavish, yielding abundantly, luxuriant or profuse (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary). The son was extravagant in a negative way, but the father was extravagant in a positive sense. Christ’s parable also gives us a wonderful glimpse of God the Father’s tender, compassionate, even lavish love for those who turn from their sins, as exemplified in the role of the father in the parable. As we examine this father’s actions, we can come to see how differently God views things than we do, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah
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55:8-9). The father of the story complied without any complaint with his son’s headstrong wish to receive his inheritance for immediate use – a request that was rarely granted in the Jewish society of Jesus’ day. The apparent ease with which the younger son’s desire was granted seems to suggest that the father gave his children great latitude in making choices. Likewise, we too are constantly confronted with choices. It is up to each of us to choose our way in life. This is a privilege our wise, loving Father allows us, on the one hand, even while encouraging us to follow his way on the other. Just as we learn through many of our self-willed choices, the son in the story also came to understand that the way he had chosen did not bring him the happiness he sought (verse 17). The son rehearsed what he would say to his father when he returned. He had sinned against God and his father, and he was no longer worthy to be his son. He wanted to be made just as one of his father’s hired servants (verses 18-19). And so he returned home. The father saw his son while he was still some distance away, and was moved with compassion. Some commentaries suggest that the father had been watching and waiting for his son’s return. Then the elderly father did something uncharacteristic for the culture of the day:
'Jesus reminds us through the father's response that God's ways are not ours'
he ran to meet his son. Then he embraced and kissed him fervently, or many times, as the Greek verb also indicates. As the son began to repeat the speech he had rehearsed, his father interrupted. Instead of allowing his son to offer his services as a hired servant – one who, as William Barclay notes, could be dismissed at a day’s notice – the father did something remarkable. He called for the ‘best robe’ (a sign of position), a ring for his finger (a sign of authority) and shoes (reserved only for freemen). The father ordered that the fattened calf be killed and a party be organised to welcome his son home. The father welcomed his son back with great emotion and joy, and restored his son to a position of honour, not to that of a hired servant. It’s remarkable that our heavenly Father does the same for us. When we sin, we separate ourselves from God. We leave the company of God’s family for a world influenced by Satan. Sin consumes us and destroys us – it leads to death. But when we repent, our sins are forgiven and we are restored to a right relationship with God – a restoration so complete that it is as if we never left the family. The older son, upon learning of his brother’s return, was very angry. After all, hadn’t he remained loyal, slaving away for his father? He had never received even as much as a roasted goat in his honour. And “this son of yours” (a not-so-subtle sense
of superiority here) who had wasted his inheritance on prostitutes comes home and gets a fatted calf! The older son reveals a lot about human nature. When we read the story, most of us have a hard time disputing his reasoning. What’s fair about a wasteful son returning home to a banquet while the loyal son who did everything that was asked of him received no such honour? Jesus reminds us through the father’s response that God’s ways are not ours. The father gently acknowledged to his older son that he was aware that he had always been with him, and that everything the father had was his older son’s. When we repent, God restores us to the full honours due a child of God, regardless of our sins. This is hard for human beings to grasp. But the lavish mercy and forgiveness of God, made possible by the perfect, willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is truly amazing. Indeed, one could say they are prodigal. Because if any point stands out in this parable, it is how lavish God is in his forgiveness and mercy. Throughout this parable, Jesus illustrated to the ‘sinners’ (speaking to each of us) that, just as for the wayward son, the way to repentance was wide open for them. To the Pharisees and religious teachers (also speaking to each of us), Christ showed that the people they looked down on so much, the ‘sinners’ and tax collectors, were part of their family, too, and a slavish obedience to the law brings no spiritual reward in itself. It is God, by his grace and mercy, who rewards us. The father in the story reveals the humanly incomprehensible love that God our Father has for each of us, and the earnest desire he has to forgive us and have a relationship with us. Far from being the story of the prodigal son, Luke 15 is more aptly the story of the prodigal God – one whose lavish, extravagant, luxuriant love for us can only amaze us on the one hand and give us great solace and comfort on the other.
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GUESTWORD COLUMNIST LAST
Prayer does not have to be weird or wacko We have to learn to manage miracles, argues James Galloway, leader of Breathe City Church in Stoke on Trent
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love prayer... seriously. In fact, prayer and fasting are not only regular personal disciplines of my own but also as a church, BCC is actively engaged in both.
The reason this interest must be stimulated is primarily because prayer seems to have been hijacked by the ‘weird and wackos’. A younger person really doesn’t want to be ‘weird and wacko’ and thus stays away. But prayer doesn’t have to be weird and wacko… especially when following the model of Jesus. It’s not just the ‘weird and wacko’ that hijack prayer. The church pastor does too! Obviously, I’m aware that I may be causing a little controversy here so I had better explain. Read the story of the feeding of the 5,000 again. There is a very small thing that Jesus did that reveals to me that prayer is only one – yes an important one – but only one of the dynamics that a leader has to work with. Matthew 14:13-21 tells of a story where Jesus initially offers the disciples an experience to show their entrepreneurial skills when he says, “You feed them.” Oh, for sure the people were hungry. Absolutely – it had been a long day listening to Jesus preach. The crowds would have been ready for a meal – or at least refreshments – and the disciples were very quick to point the issue out to Jesus but less quick to do something about it. Right here is the lesson that I think this passage can reveal to a church leader. We are very good at pointing out what is wrong with society, what is not biblical 16
and needs rectifying in a certain community, even what is not working in our churches. We talk to Jesus about it often but he actually gave the disciples the opportunity to do something about it and it totally freaked them out. If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us then I am of the firm opinion that merely talking to Jesus about the issues we face so that he can sort them out is not enough… Jesus is giving his Church the opportunity to spring into action and feed the crowd, solve the problem or deal with the issue at hand. Evidently, Jesus has to step in and show the disciples how it is done. After discovering what resource was available, five loaves and two fish, Jesus did something so simple and yet so profound. The Bible says that he ordered the people to sit down. You see, we all look to the prayer, breaking of the bread and then the miracle but there is another huge ingredient – the management of the miracle. He told the people to sit down! Praying, breaking the bread and then expecting the miracle is not the ‘Jesus way’ of doing things… the miracle has to be managed. Jesus told the people to sit down. What exactly was he doing? Well, first of all he took control of the situation – of the crowd. Anything could have been happening but in telling them
to sit down he took control and established authority. Many a leader, when wanting a miracle, doesn’t take control of the situation. Secondly, when the crowd sat down it then gave him a different vantage point. He could see the situation for what it really was and not for what he thought it was. He would have still been standing and so, as the crowd was sitting, his vantage point was greater. Many a leader, when failing to establish a greater vantage point, also fails to see things for what they really are and prays blindly or from a place of panic. Thirdly, when the crowd sat down, they saw Jesus from a different perspective! This is huge! When a leader doesn’t recognise the importance of managing the miracle they fail to position the people so that they can have a greater perspective on the Lordship of Christ. Praying, breaking bread and expecting the miracle, according to the Jesus model, are always the prerequisites for managing the miracle. I know we need the supernatural intervention of God to feed the thousands of people in our communities and cities. The reality is that God will never do what he has asked us to do… to ‘go and make disciples’ to ‘be salt and light’ and ‘a city on a hill’. Yes, the miraculous happens and prayer works but Jesus first got things ready, positioned the people, and then he managed the miracle.
Reaping the h As the return of Christ draws closer, the Church must do all we can to reap the harvest, writes Glenn Balfour, Principal of Mattersey Hall Bible College
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esus, in the Great Commission, urges us to ‘go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you!’ This is at the heart of the Good News!
We think of the Great Commission as evangelism, something special, something out there. But in actual fact it has its home in the local church. You cannot separate the Great Commission – to make disciples from every nation – from the local church. This is because the local church is the very place where new Christians are discipled and grow. If the Great Commission is God’s standing orders for all time for the Church, then the local church is at the heart of God’s hope for the world. You’ve probably heard preachers say this before because it’s true – evangelism is not simply making Christians; it is making disciples. The local church, yours and mine, is where that happens. I am passionate about it! The local church, then, needs to be a place where new Christians can become strong ones, equipped to make disciples of their own. The local church is where mission should breed mission. I am fully committed to mission and the growth of the Church, playing my part in helping it become all that God intends it to be. That’s why I’m principal of AoG’s Bible College here at Mattersey Hall. We see ourselves as a big part of this. Of course, you can come to Mattersey and get a thorough education and a university degree. We pride ourselves on the quality of our staff and standard of teaching. We believe in excellence and aim to do things to the highest of our ability. But that’s ‘what’ we do, not ‘why’ we do it. Why does Mattersey Hall exist and why has Assemblies of God been run18
ning a college since 1919? The answer is the Great Commission. We exist to train the next generation of Christian leaders, assist in building the local church, and to help keep the Church equipped to make disciples. Mattersey Hall is not a replacement church, but we provide some of the training tools to help your local church make its disciples. We are here to help meet your church’s training needs. Mission requires more than just evangelists. I can think of a lady in my former church who is an anointed evangelist. She goes up to strangers when the Spirit prompts her to and tells them about Christ. She is called to be an evangelist and has a spiritual gift for this to build up the Church. I have fond memories of particular students and staff members going out on college mission trips in recent years to places in the UK, who would quite naturally and boldly tell people the gospel and do it well and in a relevant way. They are exercising the spiritual gift God has given them to build up the Church. Ephesians 4:11-12 is a passage of Scripture that is becoming increasingly important for Christians in ministry. Paul tells us that Christ builds his Church not just by means of evangelists but also by the men and women gifted as prophets, pastors, teachers and apostles. These are the people we think of as church leaders, directly working to build up the Church, doing mission. I believe passionately in missions but I’m a teacher. Some of the visiting lecturers here at the college are local pastors. Someone else may function as an apostle
or prophet. Don’t these people also believe in missions? Do only evangelists care about the lost? Of course not! But what about everyone else, the rest of us? Does Jesus only build his Church using the Ephesians 4:11 ministry gifts, these professionals in ministry? My wife is a good administrator (as many current and past Mattersey students will testify!) You may be good at music or organising or cleaning or something totally practical. Aren’t these people building the Church too? Aren’t you? For some reason we have this idea that if we do something like this overseas we’re a missionary. But what if you do it right here at home? Are you building the Church, your local one? Then you’re doing mission right here. Are you called to be involved in mission here in the UK? Well, until or unless God tells you otherwise, you’re called where you’re planted.
The Return of Christ This is the period between Christ’s first coming and his triumphant return. Every generation of Christians has lived with this hope. All of history has looked ahead to this. The cry, ‘Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus’, needs to be heard as strongly now as it was first heard on the lips of the earliest Christians. We live in the hope that one day Christ will return and bring in his kingdom, like he taught us in many of his parables. This is the future day when God’s kingdom will come in all its fullness in all the earth. But, until then, we live in the kingdom which is already partly here. This tension between what theologians call kingdom future and kingdom now comes over in the Lord’s Prayer. On the 0
arvest
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'We need to build up Christ's Church and his kingdom now' one hand we pray ‘Your kingdom come’ (in the future) yet on the other hand we ask for God’s will to be done on earth, now. While we look ahead to Christ’s return – and we as Pentecostals have always emphasised this – we need to build up Christ’s Church and his kingdom now. This is mission, which is what we are all called, in our own way, to do. We do mission in and for our local church. I really believe that the local church is the expression of everything that God wants to do in his world. This generation more than ever needs to pray for and bring in God’s kingdom, the hope of Christ in the world. We need to keep our minds on the mission field. But the mission field to you and I is not necessarily in the stories of David Livingstone and Hudson Taylor, or even in the ministries of Reinhard Bonnke in Africa today. If you want to see the kingdom of God come in your community and you’re doing your best to make this happen in your local church, then you’re just as much a missionary as they are. Just like Esther, God has called you to this time and this place (Esther 4:14). Here at Mattersey Hall we place tremendous value on our mission trips. Since 2006 we have sent groups of students to places as far-flung as Thailand, South Africa, the Philippines, Zimbabwe and Russia. We regularly support churches in Romania, the Czech Republic and other European countries. Our students have also worked with some great Assemblies of God churches right here in the UK. We’re helping to bring in the harvest with our partners in their communities. However, short-term mission is as much about what it does to the missionary as what it does to the mission field. Our students have always come back to college fired up with stories of God’s power and goodness. Mission changes them and that helps them to bring in God’s kingdom right where they are – in their local church. We’re not all called to be evangelists, but we are all called to mission, proclaiming the Good News by the holy lives we live. To the people we connect with, mission can be as simple as this. The deeds we do, the words we speak and the lives we lead should speed the end times and bring in its harvest. As Peter writes: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Peter 3:12). 20
What legacy are you leaving? Disciple makers are those who build people that have eternal consequence and pass on God’s anointing, writes AoG minister Jim Master
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o often, we feel insecure to reproduce ourselves, just in case someone grows to become a ‘new and improved’ model. However, you will find that in the long run, this growth and succession will assist and mobilise your vision, not stifle it.
The other question we ask ourselves is, “Do I want to subject more of myself, or what I carry, onto other leaders?” The answer is ‘yes’, if you have something to offer. Since what I have gleaned is worth reproducing, I have to be constantly evaluating and re-evaluating my life and making the necessary adjustments in
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order to see other lives change for the better as well. A leader needs to undertake ongoing life assessments and bring all the profitable qualities to the table to make a lasting difference to others. It is essential that leaders regularly appraise their own performance and output, with a view
to this process of ‘reproduction’. Sadly, today, you rarely hear the church saying, “Let’s make disciples.” My job is to be reproductive. Disciple makers are those who build people that have eternal consequence, making a difference to the Church and to society. If it can be said of you in years to come that you left a legacy of followers, who have had an example to follow and build upon, based on the foundation you have laid then you will have fulfilled your leadership
calling. There is somewhere I want to go. Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
the problem. A few years later, I needed to go back and apologise to the senior pastor because of whom I left. That was my Jerusalem experience.
Jerusalem
Samaria to most of us is where we will always face opposition. It is always important to deal with opposition and to face it head on. So often we try to make detours and never deal with the problems that arise. Yes, you can pray those problems away, but you also need to act practically
Jesus gathered his disciples 40 days before his ascension. He starts with Jerusalem, which is the place where they had all failed. He tells them to go there and wait. Often in our leadership journey, we fall at hurdles because we either can’t or fail to deal with the issues which arise in our early ministry. Consequently we leave behind a trail peppered with ill-repute. In many cases, we have caused unnecessary tension as a result of immature attitudes which often necessitates the need to go back to the ‘place of failure’ and put things right. That place of failure is our ‘Jerusalem’. That place, left unattended to, can be a millstone around our neck and, unless we take necessary corrective measures, the effects of the failure can catch up with us. I can remember leaving a church before which, I wrote a letter to the congregation, expressing my reasons for leaving. Leaving was never the problem; it was the manner in which I left that was
Samaria
'A leader needs to undertake ongoing life assessments' on them straight away. Too often, small issues develop into bigger issues because we have tried to divert around Samaria. As leaders, we need to expect, at times, to be faced with opposition. However, I have found that in a godly environment, opposition can often be diffused very quickly.
Judea
landscape, with a few sheep and a few goats. Our Judea is a place of intensely difficult seasons, where it is as if people are not listening or heeding and we don’t seem to be bearing any fruit. These are times when leaders need to find the reservoir or well in these dry places. Ask yourself this frank question, “Am I in the right place doing the right thing, or am I wasting my time and more importantly, God’s time, in this situation?”
Conclusion We can either worship God or doubt him. Worship is a response to the revelation of God. It’s the posture of a servant or a child, to know that it is Christ who ultimately makes things happen. The Spirit of doubt and uncertainty is contagious and we will, however unintentionally, effectively make others insecure if we operate under that oppression.
2 Extract taken from Jim’s book on leadership and discipleship ‘Pass It On!’, available from iTunes.
Judea was a barren place, a wilderness
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Highly recommended reading “This book is not the usual religious jargon, but pulsates with life that is the hallmark of the Holy Spirit. Read it in faith, and you will never be the same again! - Don Double, Evangelist and Founder of the Good News Crusade.
“A brilliant book by Barrie Lawrence. For anyone asking, ‘Is there more to life than this?’ the author reveals a resounding ‘Yes’. He shares his own journey of faith with refreshing candour – and then shows how the reader can experience Life with a capital L.” - Michael Wiltshire, author
and journalist, and a director of FGB, the world’s largest fellowship for Christian businessmen.
“This book is absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t put it down!” - Cameron Duffy, sixth form college student.
£8.99 — Available now at www.amazon.com and www.newwineministries.co.uk Also: visit Barrie Lawrence at www.barrielawrence.com and say Hello!
LAST WORD
God's heart is for the return of the lost... A 99 per cent retention rate might not seem too bad until we look at things from God’s perspective, says Ian Watson
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he theme for this edition of Re is ‘return’, which obviously includes reference to the return or second coming of Jesus. On December 2 2012, being away from home at the time, it was my intention to visit one of our nearby churches. Circumstances prevented this and I ended up attending a service at the local parish church.
The service was completely focused on Advent and its place in the Christian calendar, which immediately got my mind re-focused from everything that I had been dealing with that week onto these very important thoughts around Advent. ‘Advent’ is an anglicised version of the Latin word ‘adventus’ meaning ‘coming’. The Latin word ‘adventus’ is the translation of the Greek word ‘parousia’, commonly used in reference to the second coming of Christ. So, for the Christian, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. Firstly, the anticipation of the remembrance and celebration of the nativity, and secondly, a reminder to be alert to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though we are now well past Christmas, the visit to that parish church re-emphasised to me what we can so often lose in our anticipation of the wonderful Christmas account. Yes, every year we anticipate the reminder and the chance to celebrate the miraculous and incredible incarnation, this great coming of God to earth, whereby Almighty God took on himself the form
of flesh to implement the plan of salvation. However, we must never separate this from the fact that when he had set everything in place he returned to heaven awaiting a time to return again, his second coming. For me both these comings were all about God and his concern for the LOST. Both comings are related to the awfulness of being lost and the awesomeness of being found.
'Do our churches have a strategy for the lost, or are we all about the found?' In the account of Zacchaeus in Luke 19, as Jesus rubbed shoulders with him, the lost was found. In Luke 15 we are given an incredible insight into how God views the lost when one sheep goes missing. For many of us shepherds/leaders that might not seem too bad – a 99 per cent retention rate. It was probably a scratty, stupid, sick sheep anyway, so let’s just concern ourselves with the other less troublesome ones.
God’s perspective was that the 99 fat ones are fine, but the lost one is breaking his heart. The woman lost one of her ten silver coins, so she methodically searched the whole house. For me, she had a strategy to find what was lost. I don’t know if you are like me, but I’m always losing four things – my mobile, my keys, my wallet and my glasses. When they go missing I have a process and strategy to find what was lost, and so far I have always found them. It’s an important question to regularly ask ourselves in our churches – do we have a strategy for the lost or are we all about the found? Both comings of Jesus are all about the Father’s heart, which is the lost being found. This heart is captured in the account of what in my opinion are the two lost sons, one out of the house and one in the house. For me, the heart of God is demonstrated in the statement: “When his father saw him a long way off.” This intimates that the father was looking for his son’s return on a daily basis. The embrace of the Father to his piggy-smelling son, preceeded any bath, shower, aftershave or deodorant – everything was absorbed into the celebration of the fact that the ‘lost had been found’. God’s heart for the ‘lost’ is still the same today and is all about having a people prepared for his return. 25