Rhys Scott

It is an amazing thing that God has largely chosen to limit His work on earth to being achieved through His people, the church. And God’s purposes can only be achieved through God’s Spirit working through us.

An essential ingredient to this is faith.

Faith is the natural result of a close walk with God. As I grow to know God more He becomes larger and larger in my sight. Just like David, when he stood against Goliath, didn’t so much see himself as a small boy and Goliath as a giant, he saw Goliath as an angry ant shaking his godless fist at the God of heaven. From a perspective of faith the situation looked so different to what King Saul saw.

Faith is therefore not simply a moment when we trust in Jesus for salvation. It started there, but the Christian life is a journey of faith. 

What is faith? Faith is an active trusting or believing God. 

It affects the way I make my decisions: because God is with me and I am called into His purposes I think about the decisions of life from a different perspective. Does this career move give me greater opportunity to further influence people for God? By not going for something am I doing it because I feel God doesn’t want it for me, or am I giving in to fear? For my family and I this has meant relocating to another nation to see a church planted. That’s our faith journey - what’s yours?

It affects the way I spend my time and energy. As I grow more intimate with God that which moves His heart begins to move my heart. As this happens I begin to find myself investing my time differently. I begin to give more time to things that have eternal value: building the church, advancing of the Kingdom, caring for the poor, witnessing to those who don’t know Jesus.

By faith I begin to see my time and energy as opportunity for God’s eternal purposes. 

Sometimes God gives us a gift of faith for a specific thing: the salvation of a friend, a pioneering project. However, when we are living in communion with God our lives are lived from a place of faith.

Faith also affects the small decisions we make: I will give financially because I know God can supply all my needs, I will build friendships even when I’ve been hurt because God gives me love for people, I will invite a friend to a church event because I know Jesus loves that person.

Faith spurs us to action. In his letter, the Apostle James tells us that faith without action is dead. If there is no evidence of exploits in our lives for God it surely means that there is little intimacy with God.

Scripture reminds us that it is impossible to please God without faith. The one thing that really frustrated Jesus was the disciples’ lack of faith. Likewise, when He saw the Centurion’s faith He exclaimed, “Faith like this I haven’t seen in Israel!”

How do we grow faith? Two ways:

1. Spend time in God’s presence, and ask Him to help us to get caught up in His mission, rather than living for ourselves. Prayer is therefore key to developing a walk of faith.
2. When you God leads you step out in that faith. Faith strengthens as we use it, but when we stay passive it wastes away.

God desires to impact our city with the incredible news that Jesus offers life and hope and forgiveness to those who are dead in sin. It is the most powerful message ever to be communicated. It has life transforming power!

Amazingly, God has chosen to use us to communicate it! Just like He chose the most unlikely man to win a great battle over Israel’s enemy: Gideon. He chose the youngest son from the smallest clan in Israel, a man hiding in fear from the enemy.

God called Gideon, empowered him with the Spirit, and sent him and 300 unimpressive soldiers to defeat an army so large it couldn’t be counted. And this, Isaiah tells us (Isaiah 9), is the way that the Kingdom of the Son, Jesus, is expanding today: God takes a small, unimpressive people and breaks the oppression of the enemy, bringing freedom and joy to His people.

We all play a critical part in the mission. God calls each one of us to look beyond our own survival, our own challenges, and to invest in a Kingdom that has eternal value. Indeed, as we invest in His purposes we find that our needs are met. We are all called to play a part in His Body, the church. We are all empowered by the Spirit to see the Kingdom advance - we have all received the promise that God will go with us.

The question for each of us to answer is this: will I respond to God’s call? Will I allow Him to re-shape my identity as He did Gideon’s? Will I give myself to His eternal purposes?

Responding with faith to God’s call is key. When Moses protested God’s call on his life God became angry. He was displaying a lack of faith in God.  Jesus was never impressed by lack of faith. It was the one thing that really frustrated Him with his disciples. Yet, when he saw the Roman centurion He was amazed, exclaiming that He had not seen faith like this in all Israel.

Faith is not a ‘mindless trust’ in impossibilities. Faith sees the impossible, but then sees the God who can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.

Abraham saw that Sarah’s womb was as good as dead - he engaged with the reality of his situation. But, he didn’t stop there. He pressed through, believing that the Sovereign God who had promised him a son was both able and faithful. And that was very pleasing to God!

God calls us out, one by one, and joins us together into an army for the extension of His Kingdom. The question is: will we respond to the call, allow it to transform us by faith, and press forward into His great eternal purposes?

Placid

While we were away last week I took a bit of time one evening to read through some of the prophetic words given to us about the church plant before Trinity Central started. I was so encouraged by one in particular that I’d like to share it with you:

Last year, in April, when Trinity Central was still very much a dream in our minds, Sara and I travelled to Fredericton to a gathering of Canadian Newfrontiers elders and wives. Our hope was that we would come away from that time with a decision from the church in Fredericton to partner with us in planting the church here in Vancouver. We were so warmly received, and quickly felt a sense that God was joining us. Incidently, this was when we first met Gary and Barb Gallant.

On the Sunday evening at their church prayer meeting Joe Crummey (who leads the eldership team in the Fredericton church) invited Sara and I to tell the story of how God had spoken to us abut planting into Vancouver. Once we had shared, the church gathered round us and prayed for us. A number of prophetic words were shared with us that evening, including a word from Gary and Barb’s son, Joell.

The final part of his prophetic word was this: “Also, I had the phrase “full steam ahead” on my heart and I believe it is more than just a call to move forward, but I also think that ‘steam’ is somehow significant. This really seems like a reach, but I feel as though where you will be in Vancouver will have ‘steam’ in the name of it. I’m also praying madly as I type this that I’m not crazy for saying that.”

Well, for those of you who haven’t yet arrived in Vancouver, let me tell you a bit about the building we’re meeting in on Sundays: the Roundhouse was built at the end of the Trans-Canadian railway as a place where the trains would be turned around, serviced and loaded. At the front of the Roundhouse there is a large glass-fronted room which is home to one of the original steam engines that was used on the trans-Canadian railway. While the word ‘steam’ is not in the name of the venue, the prophetic impression that Joell had is incredibly accurate in the sense that the place we are meeting in was once a station for steam engines.

Joell has never been to Vancouver, and we didn’t know of the Roundhouse at that stage. I remember in November seeing the Roundhouse for the first time and thinking that it would be a ideal venue for us, but did not recall Joell’s word. It was only last week while reading through the prophecies that I read Joell’s word and realised that God has gone before us and given us a great venue as our Sunday base. What a great encouragement to us all that God is with us, that God is preparing the way for us, and that He will continue to bless us as we pursue Him and His purposes. We didn’t realize it at the time, but choosing the Roundhouse as our Sunday meeting venue was a fulfilment of a prophetic word!

I hope this encourages you as it has me!

For many outside the church the word ‘church’ conjures up images of a cold stone building, an awkward hour when one seems always to be standing when you should be sitting and sitting when you should be standing, where old-fashioned songs are sung and a priest gives judgmental homilies that leave you feeling bad about yourself.

Accurate or not, its unfortunately not an uncommon perspective from those outside of the church. And while we know that this is not what the Bible demonstrates church to be, those we might be seeking to reach may well see it like this, and sometimes for good reason!

In Western culture many young Christians are disillusioned with church, seeing it as something that awkwardly comes along with living for God. Josh Harris has written an outstanding little book called “Stop dating the church”, and in it he contends that many of us believers have a less than Biblical view of church, treating church like a girl that we’re familiar with, even close to, but which we never commit to.

But why would one commit to the church? And, were one to want to, how would you go about doing so?

Scripture teaches us that Jesus has a global Bride, a body, a people, and it’s called the church.  This global church is made up of local church communities, microcosms of the global Body. 

These local churches are where we belong in God’s global church, where we grow as believers, where we work out mission in our everyday lives, and where we develop relationships that sustain us through the difficult times in life.

Paul David Tripp comments:

“Your life is much bigger that a good job, an understanding spouse, and non-delinquent kids. It is bigger than beautiful gardens, nice vacations, and fashionable clothes. In reality, you are part of something immense, something that began before you were born and will continue after you die. God is rescuing fallen humanity, transporting them into His kingdom, and progressively shaping them into His likeness - and He wants you to be a part of it.”

The way God has chosen to do this is through our involvement in a local church community, a fellowship of people committed to living out God’s life in them together.

In Acts 2 from verses 42 to 48 Luke gives us this fabulous little cameo of what the early church in Jerusalem looked like. In verse 42 he tells us that they devoted themselves to “the fellowship”.

The church is ‘a people’. The church is not a meeting. It is a community. You could attend a church meeting every Sunday for the next two years and not be part of the community. 

Sadly, many people are in this very position…

That’s because the church is not defined by going to a meeting, a gathering. It is a relational ‘organism’. It is a community to which I belong. In my church I am connected to people.

Over these past few weeks our little church plant has transitioned from meeting in our home each Sunday to meeting in a venue outside the home. In doing so we have gained something and we have lost something. We’ve gained space for growth, for more people to be part of us. But we’ve also lost the intimacy of being in a home, the ability to eat together and just be together for hours, building friendship, hearing one anothers’ hearts, growing together, discussing God, life, theology….

Luke tells us that the saints in Jerusalem were devoted to the fellowship.

In the NASB we read:

And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 

I love the phrasing of this: they were ‘continually devoting themselves’.   If we want to be part of God’s great purpose on earth we will need to make continuous decisions related to our commitment to a local church community. God is seeking people who will give themselves to the community, not who will freeload off the community.

John Wesley once said:

“The New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion.”

At one level, the local church is where we share our deepest life, it is a safe place among friends who share our passion for Christ, who encourage us to be all that God made us to be, who seek our best, and with whom we reach out to friends who don’t know Christ.

When Luke tells us that they devoted themselves to the fellowship, the word he uses is ‘Koinonia’, and the root of the word is ‘common’. The early church shared a common life, and they did this in two ways:

Firstly, they shared a common faith, they fellowshipped together with God: Father, Son and Spirit. They gave themselves to being together in His presence. They gave themselves to prayer and to worship - there was a common life in God which they participated in together.

Secondly, they shared a common life, loving one another, caring for one another, working out mission together. Intrinsic to this community was a commitment to one another.

Church life is sometimes hard. You might have heard the quip: “If you find the perfect church community don’t join it! You’ll make it imperfect.” We all have our issues, and therefore the church community is going to be a place where we work out some of these issues together.

When we commit ourselves to someone in marriage we don’t commit to never having any disagreements, we commit to resolving those disagreements in the context of a loving relationship. And this is how it is in the church.

Paul describes this people, this church using four analogies:

• A family - we are committed to one another, sharing a common Father. We are relational, in unity,  and we know who’s in the family and who isn’t! A family is a defined group of people.
• A body - together we’re more than the sum of the many parts, and each and every part is necessary to the functioning of the whole. No part of the body is useful outside the context of the body - what value has a lung when it’s not part of a body? But together, these parts working together can achieve extraordinary things!
• An army - we are a people on a mission together, organized and committed to our King’s purposes.
• A temple - we are ‘living stones’ being built together to become a place where God’s presence is, the place where God dwells on earth. What an incredible picture of the church, and what an awesome privilege.

The church is not any one of these things. We don’t pick and choose the parts we like, it is all of these things.

The church in Jerusalem was a unified people, Luke tells us that they were with “one mind.”

Notice how Luke tells us:

And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart

Four things you notice here in this verse:

• Firstly, it was day by day - they were in each others lives throughout the week
• Secondly, it often involved eating together
• Thirdly, they went from house to house - they were all committed to hosting one another, to hospitality 
• Fourthly, they were in one mind - there was a common commitment, there were open lives to each other expressed in joy and sincere or genuine relationships.

We are called to be part of a world changing people, it’s an awesome privilege indeed. It’s a high calling!

And the joy of it is this: when we give ourselves to building this way, the rewards are huge. I can’t imagine not being part of a local church. It’s my family, it’s the body I play a part in, it’s the army I’m on a mission in, it’s the temple I encounter God in.

One of the thrilling things we’ve experienced over this past year has been the partnership of a number of churches working in team together. There is something gloriously ‘New Testament’ about this dynamic!

When we look back over the first year or so of planting Trinity Central it becomes very clear that all that has happened has been made possible by churches linking arms to be on mission together. We couldn’t possibly done it by ourselves, and neither were we intended to!

It all started in January last year year when we told our home church in London (ChristChurch London) that we were feeling a call from God to plant a church in Vancouver. The church stood with us in a remarkable way, not only sending us, but also giving generously and sending others to be team with us.

Across our Newfrontiers family of churches we now have others who have joined with us, being sent by their churches to be a part of our church planting team.

In July 2011 we gathered with 4,000 Newfrontiers leaders from across the world in Brighton, where we were commissioned to go and prayed for.

In August 2011 our small team gathered with 2,500 people from 80 or so churches in North Yorkshire to be sent. Jeremy Simpkins, leading the apostolic sphere within which we’re a part, charged us to preach the Gospel, remember the poor, build the church and advance the Kingdom. An offering was taken up, part of the funding which has made planting Trinity Central possible. 

It has been a joy to be in partnership with our friends in TMP church in Fredericton, who have served the church plant through endless hours of Skype conversations, admin, financial support, legal processes and friendship. They have carried us in prayer and in the practical support we’ve needed. 
We’re looking forward to hosting Gary and Barb Gallant as they come from TMP to encourage and strengthen our little group in March.

Then three weeks ago we hit a hurdle. Because of a technical legal issue it seemed like we wouldn’t be able to meet in the venue we had booked for the church plant from the beginning of February. I sent out a prayer request to our fellow Newfrontiers Canadian leaders. Within an hour, I was contacted by Andrew Fountain with an offer of help. Once again, being in a family of churches saved the day, with Newlife Toronto solving our rental issue.

We’re look forward to Jeremy and Ann Simpkin’s visit in July, knowing that these times of apostolic input will be hugely significant for building strong doctrinal foundations, developing relationships, training leaders and strengthening the church. 

We’ve often spoken of the fact that we can do more together than we can apart. The planting of Trinity Central is just one example of this, a modern day expression of churches working together in apostolic mission.

The apostle Paul hoped the church in Roman would help him get to Spain. He collected money from the churches for the church in Jerusalem. He and his team planted churches. They returned to strengthen and serve those churches, helping to identify and appoint elders in each church. His team was drawn from among those churches, and he caught them up in the apostolic mission he was on.

This is as relevant today as it was then. The model we find worked out in Acts is as valid today as it was in the first century. We ignore it at a high cost: the cost of missing out on the advance of the Kingdom through the planting and establishing of local church communities that genuinely reach their cities. 

The New Testament demonstrates churches working together on apostolic mission. Up for a challenge? Let’s be those who engage with Scripture to define Biblical priorities and values for city-impacting Kingdom advance, and be led by the Spirit into planting many churches together!

Most Christians would agree that understanding and following the Bible is central to living the life of a modern day disciple. 

And this is how many of us work it out: We submit ourselves under great preachers who are learned and skilful with their exegesis. We go to Bible-studies in homes to grow our knowledge of the Bible, and we follow a good reading plan in our private devotions. We seek to be good husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees, applying scripture to our homes, marriages, work practice etc.

All really great things, but are we actually being biblical?

The reason I ask this question is that, on an individual level, it looks like we are. But the community of faith is not simply about a bunch of individuals working out their faith. It is a Spirit filled community - and that means that the Christian life is as much about our interaction with others as it is about ourselves. The local church is meant to be on mission together.

Most of Paul’s letters (with the exception of Timothy, Titus and Philemon) were written to church communities, not individuals. 

Biblical priesthood:

And Paul’s perspective on these communities was that they would be Spirit filled communities, where believers worked out the mission of Jesus together in harmonious relationship and Spirit power. 

When the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost the apostle Peter told the crowd that this was the fulfilment of Joel’s prophetic word from Joel 2: that the Spirit would be poured out on all flesh. 

Previous to this, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was poured out on specific people to do specific jobs. David, Joshua, Gideon, Saul and Moses’ seventy elders are all examples of people upon whom the Spirit came for specific purposes. 

And finally, Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, who came on Him at the inauguration of His ministry when He was baptized by John. Jesus was very clear that it was better that he go, because He would send ‘another’, someone who was like Him, and through Him we would do what Jesus had done, and greater.

Jesus’ final command to the disciples before He ascended was to tell them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit, who would empower them for mission.

In building churches it is good to ask whether this understanding still shapes the way we build. Do we seek to equip all our people to do the work of New Testament priests, filled with the Spirit? Or have we built our churches around an Old Testament model, where there is an anointed man (or woman) of who ministers to the people? Are we communities filled and empowered by the Spirit, or merely preaching centres? 

Peter, in his first letter, describes the church as a Royal Priesthood, and the writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our High Priest. As such, every believer is a priest, representing God to those who don’t know Him, and conduits of the Spirit’s transforming power to believers and unbelievers alike.

Biblical Leadership:

When the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost the 120 burst from the upper room in which they had gathered to pray. Such was the commotion as the spoke in tongues that a tremendous crowd gathered. 

When Peter addresses the crowd he tells them that the promise of salvation and receiving the Spirit is for them, their children, and for those who are far off (that would apply to us!)

We quickly find a very dynamic church growing and developing in Jerusalem, and Luke gives us insight into the nature of the life of this community, how they valued the apostles’ teaching, fellowship with one another, worship, prayer, and caring for one another’s needs.

Across the region some great churches are birthed, examples of which we find in Samaria and Antioch. Paul and Barnabus then head off on their missionary journey, planting churches in a number of cities in the Roman empire. Paul returns on a second visit, planting more churches and appointing teams of elders in the churches he had previously planted. He and his team (Luke mentions a number of them in Acts 20) serve the churches, through written visits from Paul and his team and through letters. 

Paul models and instructs that the church is led by a team of co-equal elders, men appointed by the Spirit (with the affirmation of apostolic ministry and the church body they serve). This team of elders govern the affairs of the church, seeking to release and equip their people, leading them in the mission and teaching sound doctrine so that their faith is well rooted.

The eldership teams do this in relationship with apostolic teams, who serve them. The apostles and their teams help the eldership teams to bring their people to maturity in serving God, and so strengthen and encourage the local churches. 

Notice two things: 
Firstly, Paul wrote the letters to the churches as a whole, not simply to the leaders. The whole church needed his input, not just those who led them, for they are all priests in this New Covenant.
Secondly, Paul didn’t only know the leaders, he knew people in the churches. Often the closing chapters of his epistles refer to people within the churches that he knew personally, and in some of them he gives direct instruction or encouragement to those people.

In this sense, apostolic ministry was not denominational, or hierarchical. The elders were responsible before God for the church. On the basis of relationship they received the apostles and their teams, that their churches may be strengthened. 

When we ask ourselves whether we are Biblical, should we not be testing our ecclesiology too? Does our practice of leadership line up with that of the New Testament?

Are we expecting churches where every member is a ‘minister’, filled with the Spirit and released to the church’s mission?  Does our church model the priesthood of all believers? Or does it, in truth, look like the priesthood of one? Does our leadership structure resemble that which Paul replicates again and again, or do we look more like IBM, a corporate CEO/pastor with associates accomplishing the mission through volunteers? 

Do we invite apostolic ministry to serve us, welcoming it’s input? Does most of our leadership emerge from within the local church, or are we hiring the latest and brightest from the best bible-colleges (and firing those who don’t work out so well!)? 

We are in grave danger if we do not step outside our western individualistic thinking to consider what being biblical as the gathered community means. 

January the 5th has been a big day for us: we have booked our first Trinity Central venue, and our house sale in London has completed!

We have booked two rooms in the RoundHouse in Yaletown, a Community Centre on the edge of Downtown. The Roundhouse is situated a couple of minutes walk from the Yaletown Skytrain station, and is a very well known venue in the city.

And to top it all off, to know that the London House is now sold is a massive relief. 

Thank you all for your prayers, these are two big answers! Let’s continue to pray!

This morning I came across a quote by Irenaeus, one of the early church fathers. The quote goes like this: “the Word and the Spirit as the two hands of the Father in the world.”

Over the past months I have spent time talking with a number of friends about the highly Christological focus of the Evangelical church in North America, and have increasingly wondered whether there is an over-emphasis in this direction, with consequences in how we think of God, church and mission.

God reveals Himself in Scripture as Father, Son and Spirit - the Triune God. We cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinitarian nature, but we can summarize it into three simple statements:

• There is one God
• There are three person in God
• Each person is fully God 

In each aspect of God’s interaction with creation and mankind we find the three persons working in close relationship with one another. 

In creation the Father spoke the Word of creation and the Spirit (hovering over the surface of the waters) empowered creation. In the incarnation, the Father sent the Son, who was born of the Virgin Mary by the impregnation of the Spirit.

Jesus’ three years of ministry started at his baptism, where the Father spoke of His delight in the Son and sent the Spirit upon Him.
Jesus then went out and did (only) what He saw the Father doing, empowered by the Spirit.
In our salvation we are reconciled to the Father by the sacrifice of the Son, through the Spirit.
Jesus promised the disciples that it was better for Him to go to be with the Father, for in going He would send the Spirit upon them. 
Now, Jesus intercedes for us before the Father in heaven, while we are empowered to live as Christ’s body on earth by the indwelling Spirit.

The Trinity is the original community, the source of all relationship. Before the existence of any created thing, whether angelic being or the created universe we know, God existed in His own community, enjoying infinite satisfaction in His own relationships with Himself. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we are now brought into relationship with the Father by the power of the Spirit. God invites us into relationship with Himself, made possible by Himself.

And we are gradually changing from glory to glory, as the Father conforms us to the Son’s likeness through the working of the Spirit.

In His quote, Irenaeus reminds us that the Father’s ministry in this world is worked out through the working together of the Word and the Spirit. Ministry originates with God, whether within the church or outside the church. We are not the originators of ministry, it is God who is and He does so through the Son, by the Spirit.

One of the most incredible realities of our salvation is how we are drawn into God’s partnership with Himself in working out His purpose. We are included in the Father’s purpose of glorifying the Son, and we are empowered by the the Spirit to do so. 

As believers we seek to introduce others to a person, the person of Jesus Christ, the Word of God. We want them to meet Him, and through Him, the Father. We are inviting them into a relationship with Jesus, and this relationship with Him is facilitated by the Spirit. We can’t introduce people to Jesus without the Spirit. (Remember, no man can say: “Jesus is Lord” but by the Spirit. It is the Spirit who gives revelation).

One of the striking things we find as we read through the book of Acts is how the Holy Spirit orchestrated the mission of the early church. We see the Spirit being poured out on the day of Pentecost and immediately there is salvation growth. Across Jerusalem there are healings and miracles, and the result is both that people are added to the church daily, and that the city stands in awe and fear of this people.

The Spirit leads Philip off to Samaria, and then Peter to Cornelius’ house, both ground-breaking events in terms of the disciples realizing that God was not returning the kingdom to Israel, but that the true Israel of God was being revealed among the nations, and it was to include Gentiles.

The Spirit led Paul, having set him aside as an apostle to the Gentiles. And in Acts 13 we see Paul telling the Ephesian elders that the Spirit is warning him that suffering awaits him in Jerusalem.

Paul declares boldly the saving power of the cross of Christ, but is also quick to speak of the work of the Spirit in our salvation. For example, in Gal 4 he says: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Are we, like Paul, quick to speak of the Word and Spirit together, or do we emphasize one above the other? 

If theology underpins methodology, then we must make sure that what we do reflects our beliefs. Our understanding of God as a Triune being should affect not only what we believe, but what we preach and, crucially, the way we build church. 

It may be that some of us aren’t sure that we can trust the Spirit, we are scared of losing control. But surely we want to be in and serve dynamic, life-filled churches, rather than well oiled organizations that we maintain great control over? Besides, Jesus told us that the Father knows how to give good gifts, and so how much more would He give us His Spirit? 

Preaching is vital. Preaching is the method chosen by God to inspire, inform and build up the church, and to bring unbelievers to the truth. But preaching itself needs to be empowered by the Spirit or it lacks the capacity to bring about change in us.

And church is more than a place where preaching happens. It is a community that reflects the community of the Trinity here on earth. If it isn’t filled by the Spirit it isn’t the church as God created it to be! So let’s build great church communities, loving the Father, committed to glorifying Jesus, filled with the presence and power of the Spirit!

Here are a few questions we might find useful in evaluating ourselves:

• Do we expect the work of the Spirit each week during our worship and preaching as the church gathers? 
• Is our church a preaching centre with some activities and ministries built around it, or a Spirit-filled, Christ-centred community on a mission?
• Are we building church programs, or looking to release mature, Spirit-filled disciples?
• Are we helping our people to grow as Spirit-filled ministers, or are we focussed solely on their understanding of the message of the Gospel?

I wonder whether every aspect of out church life and our expression of mission would look the same if we truly understood the Word and the Spirit as the two hands of the Father in the world today?

Christmas provides us an opportunity to sit back and reflect on the past year, before we go full-steam ahead again into the new year. Amidst the hustle and bustle of Christmas, food, family and friends it has been good to sit back and ponder God’s faithfulness and the journey we’ve been on this past year.

For our family this past year has most likely been the most challenging and exciting yet! In January we stood before our home church family to talk about God’s call on us to plant a church. It felt crazy to do it considering we didn’t have visas, a team, or the finances we needed to make it happen. And yet, we were absolutely clear that God had called us to go.

Less than a year later we are living in a house in Vancouver, and beginning to meet together with an inspiring group of young people, with the expectation of many others joining us in Vancouver and from elsewhere.

As I reflect on this past year, there are three things that have characterized this past year for us:

Firstly, our prayer life has grown so much this year. There is nothing like prayer being your only lifeline to make you pray! Day after day Sara and I have found ourselves worshipping God, and seeking for His heart, His provision, and the fulfilment of His purposes. I love the sense of peace that comes as we pray. It has undergirded our confidence in God in a new way this year. Time after time we have found ourselves up against a brick wall, and yet, after prayer, we’ve had an inexplicable confidence that we will find a doorway through, somehow. And any day when we have not prayed in this way I have found myself wishing we had!

Secondly, and obviously related to the first, has been a wonderful experience of the faithfulness of God. As we have prayed God has answered. The fact that we are in Vancouver, that there is a team forming, that so many obstacles have been overcome this year, is testimony to that. It continually amazes me that He is so faithful to me, despite my frailty. I’m sure I test His patience again and again, and yet, the Father is so faithful in leading and guiding, in answering and in providing.
It has been our privilege to talk and pray with quite a number of people since arriving here. In doing so I have been continually reminded how God is delighted to transform us, to forgive us, to move within us if we will just submit to His working. It is a profound mystery that the creator of heaven and earth listens to our prayers and answers them. I sometimes think that it is an even more profound mystery that He brings us into partnership with Him to accomplish His purposes. How gracious is He?

Finally, I have been struck by the importance of relationship. There are so many people who have played significant roles in the planting of this church. Many of them will never be known to those who will be part of the church, but they will have an inheritance with us in it!
Some have walked along side us, encouraging and helping us to find the right approach to take in various situations. Many have prayed for us, again and again. Some have given hours of time to working out the logistical details of how to make this all possible. Some have given financially, and very sacrificially. Some have challenged me to think differently, to approach challenges more creatively. Some have even committed themselves to leaving jobs, homes, friends, family and country to move with us. I am gobsmacked at all this!
Looking back I am convinced that we could not have done this without these many partnerships. I am convinced that the church must operate within apostolic relationships. I am convinced that the Gospel advances as we join hands, supporting one another, encouraging one another to bravery and fearlessness. As we give sacrificially of our resources so the mission advances. 
Being part of a family of churches which values relationship so deeply, and which seeks to genuinely work out what it means to be New Testament church together, has brought us security and the sense that others are watching our backs. What a great blessing these things have been.

And so, as we go forward, we want to continue building on these foundations.

We want to build with an expectation of God’s faithfulness, of His presence, of His power and of His provision. 

We desire to give ourselves more in worship and prayer, finding God personally and corporately, and pressing into Him for His purposes. There are giants to slay in the land, but the authority and power given us by Jesus and through the Spirit is way beyond these giants.

Finally, we want to build relationally. In the church plant: building community on a foundation of the grace of God, full of love and respect, compassion and forgiveness, challenge and inspiration. And in the city: to know and love others who are pressing forward with the message of God’s love for this broken world. And within our family of churches: to love, support, and challenge one another to greater vision, deeper encounter and sacrifice for the sake of Jesus’ Kingdom.

I hope and pray that you have a wonderful Christmas, and that this coming year is challenging and that you may reach out for all God has made you for!

The stadium on another gorgeous day!

Relationships can be either the most fulfilling or the most damaging things we experience in life. A great relationship has enormous power to heal, gives us security and builds us up as human beings. An abusive or parasitic relationship can harm our sense of identity, damage our confidence, make us fearful of trusting and trap us in destructive habits. 

The deeper the relationship the more the healing power, or the greater the damage. Our parental relationships have profound importance in our lives: they have the effect of building in confidence and a well-balanced hope-filled approach to life, or they can crush us. 

Similarly, a long term, intimate relationship with another person, particularly a marriage (or marriage-like) relationship can have enormous impact on us.

One of the things that I am consistently aware of is how little understanding there is of the love and grace of God around us. As my wife and I have chatted and prayed with many people over the past fifteen years there is a constant theme that emerges: a lack of understanding God as a loving Father. 

Few of those we meet have had a great experience of being parented. My own experience was a childhood in the context of a broken marriage, with all the insecurity and confusion that arises from that. If statistics are to be believed, then the number of children growing up in dysfunctional families or broken homes is only on the increase. 

In the ideal family a father and mother model loving and committed relationship with one another to their children. This defines for the child how to love and care for their own future spouse. It gives them an inner ‘radar’ for what a healthy relationship is, and they are able to spot what isn’t a healthy relationship. 

The father and mother communicate value to the children, loving them and caring for their needs. The child learns that they are valuable because they are cared for, they are heard when they speak. 

In this ideal family the parents teach the children to live to the potential God put in them, to serve the community in which they live, to love those less privileged than themselves. They impart dignity and a work ethic.

The children learn that they are not the centre of the world, and they are lovingly disciplined when they sin, and are restored through apology, and restitution where necessary. They learn to value the community of their family, and the wider family at large. 

They learn about authority through their relationships with Dad and Mom, seeing how Dad’s authority is linked to his responsibility for the family, how he serves them and does what’s best for them, rather than what’s best for him. They see the way he loves Mom and always has her best at heart. 

They see the way she submits to him, not in an underdog way, but with the dignity of someone who is treasured and loved. They observe the teamwork that exists in Dad and Mom’s leading of the family, yet the clarity of their roles as husband and wife, father and mother. 

All this sets them in very good standing for life, for building a healthy marriage and having a healthy family of their own. 

Unfortunately, few of us have grown up in this family!

But there is something else that we learn as a child in this ideal family: we learn about the nature and character of God. When our earthly father shows us care, listens to us, prioritises time with us, it reflects on God. We then perceive God to be near, interested and loving. When our earthly father is distant, dictatorial, harsh, we see God reflected through these same lenses. When our father has left our home we see God as untrustworthy. 

Poor fathering and mothering leaves us without a sense of our value to God, it leaves us feeling alone in the world. Sure, we may have friends, but friends cannot substitute our relationship with God. So often we find ourselves talking with people and helping them unpick the view of God they hold in the light of their experience of family. It is so important that we do this, for a jaundiced view of God will lead to legalism, fear and a walking away from our Father.

Where this is the case, God desires to heal us, to bring us to a place of understanding the incredible value He attaches to us. He has imprinted His very image in us. He delights to adopt us as His own, children of His household. He draws us near, desiring that we would live in the security of knowing His love and care. He puts His Spirit within us, that we might know Him as Father and commune with Him. He is a relational God.

Even if your family experience hasn’t been the best, there is healing available for you. 

The wonderful news of the Gospel is this: God loves you so much, and desires relationship with you so much, that He gave Himself up for you through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, making relationship with Him possible. He didn’t wait for you to make the first move. He set His heart towards you, and laid down His life for you. 

What He has done for each one of us will totally transform us if we will choose to see Him as He is, a loving Father who adores us, and gently leads us through the challenges of life. Don’t settle for anything less!