Today’s video may challenge some of your preconceptions. In it Terry Virgo is asked if there is a difference between being apostolic and missional. In it he argues that the main task of apostles was not to write Scripture, and says that most Evangelicals today have only been taught to obey the Bible as individuals and not to obey what it says about the church.

from Jubilee Church on Vimeo.

One of the minor little things that stuck with me at TOAM was a phrase that appeared at the end of each of the video clips they showed on our values. “Who is Newfrontiers? You are.” The truth is that Newfrontiers has always been more decentralized than many movements, and at the same time it is well-known for central strong anointed leadership. There is something of a paradox there, and it means that in some ways no one person can speak for the whole of the movement. We used to joke in the movement that Newfrontiers probably does not exist, and if it does it lives somewhere under Nigel Ring’s desk!

Few if any people in Newfrontiers feel comfortable if someone asks them “What does Newfrontiers think about this?” Newfrontiers doesn’t have a mind, or if it does it is the product of many minds. Certainly, for example, I don’t like it when a few people occasionally think of me as some kind of spokesman for this group of churches. I speak here on my blog our about my own opinions and values. Of course, having grown up in this family of churches for more than 30 years (in other words from before it was even called New Frontiers International) very often what I say does reflect a wider body of thought, but no reader should ever assume that is always the case.

One of my enduring memories of this years Together On A Mission event was Dave Devenish talking about the scattering that is to come in our future. Inevitably such a scattering means that there will be slightly different emphases and expressions of our values in different places. I strongly believe that technology will play a major role in the next phase of our movement as we transition. Through technology we can retain something of a family feel while we are working in every continent of the world. We can learn from each other, and just catch the “feel” of what is happening. We can quickly learn of tragic news and we can celebrate with others.

As a way of staying loosely in touch with your Newfrontiers brothers and sisters (or indeed of getting more of an idea of what we are like if you are not part of this family of churches) may I recommend an unofficial Newfrontiers Twitter list. Twitter is like a telegram system for the web. Most people do not share details that are of no use to others. Amusing or insightful events, links to blog posts (which can be automatically generated by twitterfeed.com), and pithy quotes are the normal fare. You can post as infrequently or frequently as you want. In general if something interests you, it may well be of interest to others. If you just want to be a tweet consumer you don’t even have to join. You can follow the “mind” of Newfrontiers, but even better why not get an account and contribute to the shared thinking? If you are on Twitter and want to get onto this list then public message me on Twitter saying something like “@adrianwarnock I would like to join the Newfrontiers List.” In addition, to join the unofficial Newfrontiers Bloggers list, the easiest thing is to to is email Dave Bish.

Another thing that Dave Devenish said was that some initiatives will continue to come from the center, as anointed leaders take strategic decisions to advance God’s kingdom by planting churches. He also said that other growth, and especially growth in influence rather than organizational growth, will occur as individuals take bold steps for God. I think of John KpiKpi who caught Newfrontiers values whilst studying in Brighton and went back to Africa to plant churches without at first other Newfrontiers leaders knowing about it. Obviously one cannot simply start a church and call it Newfrontiers or the label would be meaningless. But if a group or individual are inspired to begin to dream about what God may do, that in itself is extending God’s kingdom even if it doesn’t in the end lead to extending the Newfrontiers organization.

In that vein, it blessed me to see that one young lady was sufficiently inspired by this years conference to start a Facebook group in the hope that one day there might be a church in Brussels that reflects the values she had seen in Brighton. Perhaps another group of churches will step in (or already has!) to plant just such a church there. God is using many other groups to extend his kingdom. But whatever the eventual outcome, seeing such a dream expressed in such a way thrilled me, somehow. Who knows what that will lead to, if anything. She is not putting herself forward as a leader, and I am not sure if she has ever been a member of a Newfrontiers church. I don’t actually know the girl who started the group, except through a brief “hello” at TOAM and her tweets (From this I learned that she especially appreciated Terry’s comments about grammar in his sermons and likes Aaron Sorkin’s writing including the superlative West Wing, so she can’t be all bad!) But while her name may never appear in some roll call of the great and good, she just might have taken the first step towards a Newfrontiers church starting in the capital of Europe! It would be just like God to use an individual like that to prompt someone else to join a great work of exploit. After all, before God what do any of us have to offer, really? If a young girl can nail her colors to the mast and say, “I would love to see a new Church in this city I live in!” what can you do for God? Somehow the actions of this Facebook group founder sum up this years Together On A Mission. God will raise up an army of people, most of whom you and I will never hear the name of, in order to accomplish his purposes.

But be under no illusion, anointed leaders, singled out and appointed by God to lead will also continue to lead the charge. I have this funny image in my mind of almost a competition between these two groups, of leaders and followers, to see who can extend quickest. Instead of visionary leaders having to propel their people out into the mission field, imagine them instead fielding calls that go something like this “As you know I moved to this new city for work, remember when you said that there might be purpose in God for such a move? Well I have a small group of people meeting in my home now, would you come and help us to form them into a church?” Ironically, Newfrontiers itself in many ways really began with just such a phone call, when Nigel Ring rang a certain young pastor called Terry Virgo and asked him to come and help him work out what to do with a small group of Christians who had begun meeting in his home when thrown out of a local evangelical church for speaking in tongues.” I pray we will always be as much about such small groups as the gathering of thousands to hear God’s word. I thank God that my parents joined that young church more than thirty years ago introducing me to this family of churches that has been my spiritual home ever since. The rest as they say, is history, or in the case of phone calls yet to happen, future!

A year ago at Together On A Mission I interviewed Samir and Jackie who at the time were preparing to move to New Delhi to lead a church plant there for Newfrontiers. I always intended to share the video here, but a whole year goes past so quickly! Now that the plant is up and running (and next week they are running a week of prayer and fasting for this baby church), I thought this would be a great time to finally show you the video. This couple are heroes of mine, and I missed sitting next to them this year at TOAM as they could not be here. There plant was mentioned, however, and thousands of us prayed it would become a significant and influential large church in India’s capital. If you want to know more about what they are doing, join the Newfrontiers Delhi Church plant Facebook group.

Watch on Vimeo.

Mark Driscoll is at his very best in the following clip. Ever wondered how family and mission entwine, especially in a growing church where you don’t know anyone? Ever wished for more intimacy and a greater relational feel in your church? Ever felt neglected and rejected in your church? Ever felt like your church was not your home? Watch this clip and be prepared to be blown away. I love the way he begins: Family is a category of relationship that the world knows nothing about. What’s better than friends? Family. It’s a huge painful annoying mess, family is awkward, trying and hard, but you love the family, and you serve the family, and you don’t give up on family. This sermon speaks about our need to find a way to contribute to our church. commit to it, and connect to a small group. Christians must change from being consumers to being active participants in the mission of God. When you are contributing to something, you will feel connected to it.

The full sermon this clip comes from is available from the Mars Hill Website.

As I have mentioned before, on June 26th John Piper will be the speaker at our second “300 Leaders” event here in London. This is an opportunity to you to hear Piper in a smaller, more intimate setting, and network with other leader from a variety of different backgrounds.  You need to book in now tickets are almost sold out.

Piper will also be preaching at Jubilee Church in North London at 10 AM the next day. This will be following his speaking engagement at the EMA which I understand has now sold out.

This UK trip represents one of I understand only two further sets of speaking engagements Piper will be conducting throughout the rest of this year. Here is a great video trailer which includes footage of our Matt Chandler event:

These notes reflect my own impressions of what Ed Stetzer had to say at the recent Dwell London event. He was doing a seminar for cross-cultural workers to help them understand the current evangelical movement.  There are many of my own comments entwined with what Ed actually had to say. So blame me, rather than him for anything you disagree with, and credit him and not me for anything useful! Anytime I use the word “I” in these notes, this definitely reflects my opinion, not Ed’s necessarily. And, since this was an hour long seminar, you can tell I only grabbed parts of what he said.

Stetzer showed a remarkable grasp of the modern evangelical movement, among which he moves remarkably freely as a friend of many from remarkably different streams. Ed speaks to a broader Christian constituency than anyone else I can think of. I should also mention also that in private conversation this past weekend, Ed stressed to me the importance of each of these groups continuing to feel passionately about their distinctives. Ed argued that if we all try and minimize the things that mark us out as different to other groups we will loose traction as movements. Ultimately the lowest common denominator approach to unity is a road to compromise and liberalism in my view. So I agree with Ed that our best approach to the many and varied movements in evangelicalism is to be united where we can, learn what we can, but still hold strongly onto our own values, always being clear that as Bible people, we are open to being persuaded away from our perspectives.

Ed began by explaining that there has been a collapse of the methodological consensus. Over the last few decades it is no longer the case that an Anglican church looks like an Anglican or Baptist like a Baptist. Now you have moderators. Eg “Pupurse driven,” “moderately reformed,” or “missional.” It is now the case that a Lutheran church that is Purpose Driven will be more similar to a Pentecostal Purpose Driven church than another Lutheran. Thus, a lot of affinity is atheological, rather it is about what ministry you receive.

Ed then spoke briefly about a number of movements that affect the Church today. The pentecostal movement began in early 1900s. Fastest growing movement in the history of Church if you include the charismatic movement also which is not as distinct from it as some imagine. Some of that growth is the movement within Christianity ie non Pentecostals becoming pentecostal. The charismatic is in some ways distinguished from the broader pentecostal group in that they believe in a separate experience of Spirit baptism but emphasizes all the gifts, and tongues is not quite as essential. The charismatic movement was born late 60s early 70s. Then 80s there was the “third wave“. This tends to be continuationist but most do not believe in a second experience of grace. The whole of global Christianity is now influenced by this broader continuationist charismatic/pentecostal movement. Pentecostals and charismatics won the worship war but lost the organizational one. So raising hands and clapping would be mainstream now but rejected before, whilst many would see the movement itself as past its sell by date, at least in America.  The milder expressions of charismatic worship would be mainstream in what would become contemporary churches.

Just to be absolutely clear, this next whole paragraph is an addition to what Stetzer said: As a charismatic, I myself would argue that we have much more to contribute than body language and music style.  I do not recognize worship as charismatic simply on that basis. So it is a shame if some people now think “we are all charismatics now.” The truth is, Spirit-filled worship can occur while hymns are sung and people are in a state of subdued awe, whilst loud modern music can be accompanied by an un-engaged congregation.  I would argue that the far more important emphasis we can help to restore to the wider church is the personal relationship with the risen Jesus, which is something I speak a lot about in my book.  I personally also strongly suggest that the charismatic movement is far from over, even in America.  The USA itself is ready primed for a fresh wave of church planting, especially by those who would are reformed and yet aggressively pursue spiritual encounter with God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Grudem appears to have almost won the theological war with many now at least accepting the theoretical availability of the gifts.  But many of those theological converts to a continuationist position have not themselves seen true gifts operating within a biblical framework. It is time for many more models of a sane charismatic church to be founded.  On that note, it might be interesting to watch Chandler and Grudem on the gifts if you haven’t already.

Now there are different wings of the church currently. Traditional, non traditional or pragmatic, 3rd wave and Pentecostal/charismatic.  Of course one reality which no talk like this can really be expected to fully address is that many churches will try and take good aspects from each of these movements. In my own view this is why books that speak about models for the church are so popular. We are each eager to learn what we can from each other, convinced none of us have all the answers for how to do church in a modern world.

Ed spoke about what he called the pragmatic evangelical movement (using the terminology of Robert Webber in The Younger Evangelicals. Ed nicknamed it the Willowback movement- Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. Big global influence. Saddleback is probably the most influential church in the world. They tend to look like a Calvary Chapel or a Vineyard, are continuationist, informal, but mostly leaving behind the ecstatic expressions in a worship service. There is a drive to de-emphasise anything people would find strange. Many think pragmatic is a bad word. But it just means determining what works. In this sense, I believe that there is much that we can learn from these churches, even if we do not want to fully adopt all their methods.

Traditional evangelicals (also from Webber) would have conferences about for example creationism vs evolution. Must prove these things to be true. For example how should we defend the verse that the rabbit chews the cud when science says it is not quite the same way of cud chewing. Rick Warren is a very conservative evangelical on almost all issues but he says “what people really want to know is how God can change their life or marriage”. Many traditional evangelicals rushed into pragmatic evangelicalism as they were so fed up of dry dead theology.

A decade ago, Purpose Driven was the most influential Christian movement in the world. Very broad reaching. In the the USA, these movements are still influential, but not like they were ten years ago. I have not had much to do with Bill, but I find Rick’s tweets very helpful indeed, and strongly supported John Piper’s decision to invite him to speak. Willow Creek originally spoke about being seeker driven. Stage driven. Take into account the local expressions of music and drama. Willow Creek was also influential but less globally. The seeker paradigm of ministry has declined in influence, and Willow itself has changed their own paradigm. When they realized they needed to change their way to disciple, and announced that they were changing, many people went after them in a nasty way, especially online.

Younger evangelicals (again, Webber’s term) are building on or charting new directions. Younger evangelicals can be found among a number of different groups: 1. Hyper-contemporary . Desire for “in your face,” eg series on sex with aggressive titles that get complaints. Gets media attention and they like it. Eg one church laid out a Seven day sex challenge to their congregation to have sex every day for a week. Newspring Church, a rapidly growing church in South Carolina, had an ACDC song “You’re on a highway to hell” at their Easter service. The idea is that in the modern world it is harder to get peoples attention. So the desire is to cut through the noise and get people to notice. In an all consuming passion to reach the unchurched they often offend the Christians. In a way they are a continuation of the seeker movement but “louder.”

2. Emerging Church.  These should be considered as several different groups: Relevants A lot of this is just about being relevant. Appropriate to the culture. Same understanding of the gospel but engage in a different way.  Reconstructionists want to change the way we do church. They believe in the gospel. Believe in conversion. But believe that much of what had been done in church harms the gospel. So we see, House Church, Missional,  incarnational models. The reality is indeed that many churches do need to change.  Revisionists like Maclaren want to rethink the gospel want a bigger gospel, more societal. Some want to ditch the idea of gospel as a transaction altogether.

3 New reformed. These respond to society by wanting to go deeper. Time magazine thinks that this idea is one of the most influential ideas (including secular ones)  in modern America. Different varieties eg charismatic reformed. John Macarthur and Driscoll are very different for example. A lot of younger reformed evangelicals became reformed in response to more vague churches they grew up in.  There is much to rejoice about, but much to be anxious about also. There is a level of anger in some that is so concerning that they are nick-named the “TR” =truly reformed. Fortunately there are also the “WR” =winsomely reformed. Many in more traditional forms criticize. Actually the new reformed have something in common with the emerging in that they want to correct the common gospel, in this case they want a bloodier one with more emphasis on cross and resurrection. There is a growing evidence of dissatisfaction with evangelicalism. People feel that they are not seeing the results that they thought they would. There is much experimentation that is going on, and coming up with new expressions of church. Stetzer calls this Evangelical angst. People are seeking a model. Unsure about who they are. There is a drive to reclaim the centre, because the edges are fuzzy. We live in a time of Tumult. Many are dissatisfied with the results so far, unsure what the future holds. I argue in my book that one of the reasons for all this agnst is our neglect of Jesus’ resurrection:

“Could our neglect of the resurrection be both cause and effect of the alarming state we are in? Certainly the success of liberal theology in taking hold of many churches after the First World War led to an increase in the number of those who denied the resurrection of Jesus and was also associated with the beginning of the decline in church attendance recorded since then. As a direct result of this, Christians have become marginalized by society and feel uncertain about how to share their beliefs with others in a hostile world. The vigor of our faith has waned, and church attendance is believed by many to be in a terminal decline. The general level of biblical knowledge among Christians is appalling. In a world where more study material is available in books, software, and online than previous generations could ever have dreamed, the Bible has never been less understood by members of the church, and even by our preachers.

Presumably as a direct result for many who attend church today, there seems to be little observable difference from the world in terms of personal lifestyles, values, and beliefs. The old accusation that the Western church is a mile wide and an inch deep has never been more true. . .

There is still a silent majority in the general population who claim to believe in God. At the same time, there is widespread ignorance about the Christian message. . . Many are proposing solutions for the challenges that the Western church faces today.  Some lack confidence in the message of the gospel, arguing that we should speak less about our beliefs in the hope that the world will be less offended. Others go further and quietly deny core Christian values. Some look to marketing techniques, changes in worship style, or modern management strategies. An industry has arisen offering solutions to struggling pastors in the form of leadership books and programs. We should learn everything we can without compromising the Bible, but no single solution will cure the multiple ailments of the church. In spite of this general decline, there are many encouraging signs. This book is written in the hope that if we will faithfully proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus and work out the implications of that message in vibrant, grace-filled churches, the tide will turn.”

Read more in RAISED WITH CHRIST.

The second session of Saturday’s Dwell conference was based on similar material to the most popular video I have ever hosted here. Although I have heard that material before, this was adapted for church leaders, and it did me good to listen to it live and again. I think I will need to hear Terry often on prayer. For I need him to remind me of how essential it is for me to withdraw and wrestle with God.

Prayer is essential to church planting.

Elijah had seen his nation turn from God. 58 years after Solomon it is mow illegal to worship God.

The Queen of England made incredible vows before God. She spoke about ruling under Christ. Now we find in our nation you mustn’t wear a cross or pray for a patient because it is illegal. It’s amazing how a nation can turn so rapidly. If Elijah was here today he’d have prayed that the banking system would collapse. He prayed for no rain. As we are planting churches we plant praying communities. The 1859 revival happened in the background of financial collapse. We can pray that God would do the same again.

Now Elijah is praying that rain will come. 1 Kings 18.

Fire has fallen from heaven. Then we see him withdrawing from the crowd. He refused to allow others to set his agenda. He frequently withdrew to be with God as Jesus also would. Similarly the Apostles devoted themselves to the word of God and prayer. You are not to be shaped by the euphoria. Don’t allow people and things to do to rule you.

Go to the inner room. Familiar place. Shut yourself in. Be with your Father who is in secret. Shutting the door doesn’t shut the world out. Terry finds having a piece of paper with him to write something down helpful if the mind wanders.

Genesis 4 speaks of men calling on a name. Lots of names in the Old Testament, but there is none like Father. Huge privilege to withdraw even from even the breakthrough. Away from the applauding crowd and get close to God.

Prayer was based on God’s promises. He had said he would send rain. Easy to be passive and think if God is sovereign he will do things without our prayer. He’s in charge. But his sovereignty does not take away the responsibility of prayer. Our praying is based on what God has said.

Elijah prays in line with God says. Jeremiah 29. Prayer is stressed as a vital prerequisite for the release of Gods power. Lay ahold on him. We have a God we can cry out to. Daniel had a bible in one hand and a calendar in the other. When he saw that the seventy years were coming to an end, he prayed rather than simply waiting. God loves to engage with us when we take him seriously.

Prayer is about fellowship and communion with God, but it is always about asking and receiving. God chose you to be an asker. We can be very specific with what we ask for. Live relationally with God.

Elijah prayed fervently. Great power. Mighty punch. Pray yourself into prayer says Carson. Praying in the Spirit as another energy kicks in. Another energy. Freedom. Eloquence. I care about this more than I realized I cared. More urgency.

Jacob wrestled with God. He had a passion to get ahold of God. God disowns the people In Exodus 34. He calls the people Moses people. He says “no” they are YOUR people. God offers to start again. Moses won’t leave him alone to judge them. He prevails. He gets through effectively arguing for the honor of Gods name. Loose the idea of wrestling and the idea of a battle of wills you loose the reality of prayer. Prayer is actually about a conflict of two volitions: ours and God’s. We must not neglect that aspect of prayer and move too a passive form.

Elijah persisted. Seven times. The easiest thing about prayer is giving up. Carson says we area like the boy who rings a doorbell and runs away. One of Jesus parables was that someone would give bread because the person wouldn’t give up. He said keep on insisting.

Learn to pray. Cultivate. Don’t let go. Andrew Murray says God longs to give but holds the blessing back. If we are going to plant churches we must lay ahold of God. We provide an earthly base for the heavenly purposes of God.

All authority is given to Christ. He tells us to go. The Sanhedrin tells them to stop. They withdraw and cry out to the “despot”.

CCK Church in Brighton had a 100% refusal from a planning committee for the change of use of their new building. On a TV interview Terry Virgo found himself saying “we are going to appeal and get it.” Then he called everyone to pray! Don’t let go. Sure enough they did get it!

Elijah refused to let the pressures stop him from withdrawing.

Build prayer into the program of your church. There is growth happening in the UK. So for example there were 1000 new churches in seven years in the UK.