AUGUST 2013
ISSUE 8
T H E N E T WO R K Discipleship Development Moments What a year this has been so far! It has had highs and lows and the occasional periods of calm! The highs have been seeing prodigals returning, seeing new people come to faith in Christ, seeing our influence spread as national figures have come to Kingfisher to see for themselves what is happening here. Some of those national leads have since spoken widely about how impressed they have been by what they have witnessed. Sir Michael Rawlings (retired Head of NICE) and Duncan Selbie (Chief Executive of Public Health, England) are just two examples of those who have spoken publicly of the impact that Kingfisher has had on them and is having in the community. There have been tough times as well, as Kingfisher church in Brockworth decided to leave the network and become an independent church. This has torn relationships apart and caused great pain. Another low point came when we learned that the County Council had decided not to award us the Chequers Bridge building to deliver our vision of serving the community around us. What have these times taught us? That it is absolutely crucial where we place our hope. Not in buildings, or even in visions of what might happen, but in Jesus Christ alone. Psalm 25:5 reminds us, “All day long I put my hope in you”. When we are faced with hard, challenging times, when setbacks happen and we are facing mountains, this verse
needs to be focussed on with fresh intensity. These are times that we often refer to as 'Discipleship Development Moments'... times when we are tempted to feel our hope slipping away and when we feel like giving up. These times are defining moments, when we can either succumb to those temptations or we can choose to follow the example of the psalmist and choose to put our hope in Him all day long.
“It is absolutely crucial where we place our hope. Not in buildings, or even in visions of what might happen, but in Jesus Christ alone.”
and show us the next move we should take. Waiting on him is, in itself, all part of the Discipleship Development Moment. As Isaiah 40 reminds us, "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength;They will mount up with wings like eagles,They will run and not get tired,They will walk and not become weary."(Isaiah 40:31 NASB). The Hebrew word for wait is Qavah, literally means 'twist together'. Twist what together? It is referring to the separate twines of a rope that are twisted together to form that strong rope. What might those twines refer to? They refer to the Christian disciplines of prayer, reading the Bible, building strong Christian relationships, listening out for the still, small voice of God.
So, we take the opportunities in these Discipleship Development Moments, of renewing our hope and trust in The Lord. We come back to Him and wait on Him - not passively or half-heartedly, but in the true sense of Qavah - we twist together all those things a disciple of Christ is called to do and we wait expectantly for God to take us Discipleship Development Moments forward. are opportunities to come back to The second half of this year is going Jesus Christ in fresh dependence to be an exciting and fruitful time. and with fresh resolve to put all our Remember the threefold theme of hope and trust in him to bring this this year: hope, homecoming about his purposes in our lives. He and harvest. All our hope is in him really is the only one truly worthy as we increasingly celebrate the of all our trust. And so, as we come homecoming of the prodigals and back to him and put all our hope in the harvest of all of His amazing him, we wait on him to lift us up promises!