Today is the digital release of ‘Higher’ by Phatfish. It is available to purchase worldwide through a variety of sources including iTunes and Amazon.

Watch the video of “And Can It Be” from ‘Higher’ and read my thoughts on the song. You can also visit Phatfish’s website to download the sheet music or learn about their other songs on their new album.

Calling All Leaders

Written by Curt McCutchan

Church leaders have an ongoing need for fresh inspiration in their active lives. As leaders we are constantly in need of renewed vision, training and equipping to lead others in new or better ways and rich times in God’s presence. Leaders also need good friendships that provide joy and strength to their hectic lives. It can be a challenge to find time and resources to get these accomplished.

The Equipped For Mission (EFM) Leadership Conference offered by Newfrontiers USA can be a real oasis for leaders to be envisioned and refreshed by God and other leaders. The conference takes place on September 29 – October 1 in St. Louis and will feature Terry Virgo and Ed Stetzer as keynote speakers.

Why come to EFM?

What makes EFM different from other church leadership conferences? First, you will hear some outstanding messages that are both inspiring and relevant to your life. Terry Virgo who founded the international family of churches called Newfrontiers is one of the outstanding patriarchs of our day. He is a father of a large movement and yet hasn’t lost momentum. He is a marvelous Bible expositor whose love for scripture, for Christ and for the mission of the church has only grown and matured over time. John Lanferman notes, “Terry’s messages are not only good teaching, they will connect with your heart and change your life.” Ed Stetzer is a missional church planter who brings information and tools that are culturally relevant for the church today. He will challenge leaders to get engaged in bringing the gospel into the real life of their community. He will stir church planters and will help established churches move toward a missional approach in all we do.

There will also be practical seminars to help leaders of all levels in serving people. Tim Chambers from Joplin, Mo. will discuss how to help people who are suffering and in crisis. Josh Kouri from Frontline Church in Oklahoma City (an Acts 29 church) will speak on how to bring the prophetic into your church and mission. Wendy Virgo will bring a strengthening teaching for the women.

The EFM conference is a “hands-on” opportunity to experience the Newfrontiers values of the Word and the Spirit. There will be rich times of worship and prayer along with the joy of meeting new and old friends over meals and at the Friday night dinner with its music and fun.

Established and up-in-coming leaders from any movement are invited to join us – you don’t need to already be a part of Newfrontiers to come to EFM. For more information or to register, click here for all the details.

Thanks to http://www.confluenceblog.com for this post.

The Reformed, Charismatic & Missional conference, put on by Acts29 and Newfrontiers was a great success this year.  The speakers for the weekend included Terry Virgo, Jeff Vanderstelt and Eliot Grudem.  Confluence author Bryan Mowrey got a chance to sit down with each of these leaders and ask some questions a lot of people have been asking.

In this video, Bryan speaks with Terry Virgo about roadblocks he has hit in helping people fully embrace charismatic gifts in life and leadership .

Thanks to http://www.confluenceblog.com/

During Adrian’s month away from the blog, he has hand-picked a selection of the most popular posts of the year so far to re-run.

Today we feature,  “PJ Smyth on suffering, sickness and healing.” PJ Smyth’s practical theology of healing and suffering came out of his personal experience of cancer. This was not just another TOAM talk.  Picked up within minutes of posting by Matt Chandler, who has had his own battle with brain cancer, this post is very helpful and has been read by many poeple.  One day you will face your own suffering.  Prepare yourself beforehand by reading this and/or listening to the sermon itself: PJ Smyth on suffering, sickness and healing

A pioneering woman, pt 2

By Claire Musters

Here is the second part of my interview with Wendy Virgo.

How did you juggle supporting your husband and being involved in ministry while you raised such a large family? What were the biggest challenges?

Very early in our marriage, Terry and I redefined what we meant by “ministry”. Everything in our lives was to be seen as under the umbrella of serving God; there was no distinction between “sacred” and “secular”. So my ministry to God included loving and supporting my husband, loving and training my children and creating a godly and peaceful home and all the domestic activities involved in that. It also included praying, worshipping, seeking God for gifts of the Spirit and teaching and encouraging others. So as it was all ministry, I didn’t feel I was having to juggle home and ministry! But I did have to fight for time to study and pray, and I learned to pray while I was doing other things.

I found there were seasons in life, so that consistent times of prayer and Bible study were difficult after the birth of a new baby in the period of night feeds. I had to learn to talk to God while I was ironing or driving to the supermarket. There wasn’t much time for reading so I would learn to “feed” on a few verses of scripture. I also drew strength from being with others in prayer times etc. A young mum can feel very alone, so it is important to make time to meet with others.

As you said above that you had to fight for time to study and pray, could you share what you have found most useful for your own personal devotional times?

I have used different methods of personal study over the years. Sometimes I have followed a year plan; sometimes used daily notes. (I actually write for CWR’s excellent “Inspiring Women Every Day” series). I particularly like using the Bible Speaks Today series of commentaries edited by John Stott. I prefer to work through a book of the Bible rather than to jump about. That way you get a much more in depth understanding of the development of Biblical truth than if you just hop from one topic to another…although topical study can also have its place.

As the children grew up of course, the rhythm of life kept changing and now Terry and I are in the happy season of being able to pray together every day, which we really love!

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You can visit Claire Muster’s blog here: www.clairemusters.com

and Wendy Virgo’s blog here:  http://wendyvirgo.wordpress.com/

A pioneering woman, pt 1

By Claire Musters

I believe you met Terry at Bible college, and both had a strong desire to follow after God with all your hearts – did you ever imagine to what extent He would use your giftings?

You can visit Wendy Virgo’s blog here:  http://wendyvirgo.wordpress.com/

TOAM may now be finished, Newfrontiers has definitely not hosted its last conference, however! For those of you who are on the other side of the pond, and have been enjoying updates from Together On a Mission, now it is your turn!  This September, why not join us for a Newfrontiers conference in St Louis?  I am thrilled that I am planning to attend this conference and look forward to seeing you there!

The Equipped For Mission (EFM) Leadership Conference offered by Newfrontiers USA can be a real oasis for leaders to be envisioned and refreshed by God and other leaders. The conference takes place on September 29 – October 1 in St. Louis and will feature Terry Virgo and Ed Stetzer as keynote speakers.

The EFM conference is a “hands-on” opportunity to experience the Newfrontiers values of the Word and the Spirit.

For more information click here: Newfrontiers USA Leadership Conference 2011

This evening during the worship we were encouraged to make the following prophetic declarations that are all part of our history together. Half of the room called out each promise to the other half who replied “We will!”

• Remember we can do more together than we can apart
• Remember we are called to change the expression of Christianity throughout the world
• Remember we are called to plant thousands churches and churches of thousands
• Remember there are no well worn paths ahead of us so keep pioneering
• Remember we are people of the word and the Spirit
• Remember God’s Lavish Grace
• Remember to build on an apostolic and prophetic foundation
• Remember it is too small a thing to restore the church, bring my salvation to the ends of the earth
• Remember the poor

This was a holy moment as we felt commissioned to go with these promises into the next phase of our life together as a people.

In the video that was shown about the future of Newfrontiers, there was a phrase Terry said that stood out for me: “I am praying that God goes on multiplying this so that what was once a single sapling becomes a mighty forest.”

PJ shared with us a kind of practical and systematic theology of suffering and healing.  There is no question in my mind that this is the best sermon on this subject I have ever heard.  Every Christian would do well to listen to this, study it, grasp it, and prepare themselves for the suffering that will inevitably come our way.  

You can download the audio, read my notes below, or download a briefer set of notes PJ kindly let me share here:

8 ways he has tried to live in response to his cancer this past year (Note that at times in these notes I refer to PJ as “I”!)

1. I reflected on the possible sources of sickness

a. The fall Genesis 3:3. You will surely die. The common pattern of this world is live, get sick, die. Romans 8 we are in bondage to decay. There are no 120 year old faith healers!
b. Foolish living. Sowing and reaping. If you crash your car don’t blame others. Poor diet, pollution, etc.
c. Satan (Luke 13, Acts 10:38) The default option of Jesus and the local church is to treat sickness as the work of Satan
d. Sin John 9 Jesus said “Neither this man nor his parents sinned…” He doesn’t say all sickness is caused by specific sin but it can be. Psalm 32 David is sick because of his sin. 1 Corinthians 11 they were sick because of abusing communion. Usually it is not a specific sin that leads to death but it can be. “Sin deserves death and it is because of God’s mercy that we are not each struck down whenever we sin” Carson
e. Direct from God. Actively instigated or actively permitted.

Knowing that God is in control of God’s sovereignty is very comforting. If it was outside of his rule it would mean he cant heal us. If he can’t prevent it how can he stop it. How can he use it for my good either? We would loose Romans 8. If you try and rescue God for responsibility for suffering then you rescue him from being God, and that is about as uncomforting as things can be.

Some say why pray to a sovereign God? But there is no point in praying to a non-sovereign God as he can’t answer! If suffering surprises God then he is no longer able to help us! He is your sovereign father. Jesus prays “My father” even when in the garden of gethseme. Those two words are precious. PJ said he is so glad that his cancer was not some random attack of the enemy that is uncontained. Rather it represents something God has allowed to happen and something he will work for good.

2. I reflected on the possible sources of healing

a. the power of the cross - the place of victory over sin and all its evil relations- sickness suffereing and death. Matthew 8 “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah” Isaiah 53 is about the cross, so there is a clear link between the cross and healing. Some feel it is automatic. Some say that Christ purchased healing for us and by faith we apply for divine health now automatically. Others say the cross is the source of all healing power but if someone is not healed it is not a failure in the cross or faith because it is not automatic. Believing the automatic link is the primary source of confusion and dissilusionment when healing doesn’t happen. PJ believes completely that God heals today but he does not believe the automatic link. We can have success in healing without believing in this automatic link.

Why doesn’t he believe in “automatic healing” from the cross?

1. it undermines spiritual healing as so often believers are not healed now. Maybe by his stripes I am not actually spiritually healed now. Terrifying
2. It undermines common sense. Most Christians die fo a sicknessfrom which they don’t recover
3. It undermines the gift of healing why is it needed if it is just by faith in the cross?
4. It makes faith impossibly high as so many apparently high in faith don’t get healed
5. It contradicts how Paul dealt with sickness in his friends. Phil 2:27 linked healing to Gods mercy rather than man’s faith in the atonement. 1 Tim 5:23 He doesn’t say no need for medicine boy get your faith up, stop getting sick so often you are a pastor! Galatians 4:13-14 Despite Paul’s illness they didn’t treat him with contempt. If it was simply a case of having enough faith it would indeed by contemptuous. 2 Tim 4:20 he didn’t see it as a disastorous failure of the atonement. They all got sick at one time or another and he did not assume that divine health is our divine right.
6. Contradicts NT teaching on suffering. 1 Tim 3:11 he uses the word persecution and suffering next to each other must be both 1 Peter 1:6, James 1, James 5 shows multiple types of trials. Job is illustrated there, making clear that sickness is in this chatagory.
7. The lack of the use of the divine health now as a right being used in the NT. So seldom is it taught in anything like that way. We are told more about faith in Jesus.
8. Undermines the biblical commendation of physicians. It is Luke the beloved physician not that idiot who had to get another job when he got his theology right!
9. Contradicts now and not yet. Mark 1:14, Revelation 12:10. Here, but coming! 1 Corinthians 15:24 Christ reigns now but opposing authorities are in play. 1 Cor 15:52 death will be destroyed THEN. John 16:33 you will have trouble Rev 21:4 there will be no more trouble then. Romans 8:22. “pains of childbirth” There is definite new life NOW but it has not yet been fully delivered. Matthew 13:28. Wheat and weeds together. You are a soldier of Christ you are supposed to be surrounded. Jesus is leaving us in this place to shine like stars. “If you are looking for easy comfort look for a bottle of port not Christianity” C.S. Lewis

There are succusseful healing ministries that teach this automatic link. God loves faith. He blesses faith because he loves it. But it is possible to have great faith without this automatic link.

b. The power of the kingdom
The Kingdom is here now, not fully but the waves are breaking on the shore now! We have tasted of the power of the coming kingdom and we are authorized to dispense the future kingdom of God here now. The future kingdom can rush out on earth now. We are to pray that what happens on earth now is what happens in heaven. There is no sickness in heaven. Lay hold of the future kingdom and courageously dispense it now!

c. The power of the Spirit

Why would God place the gift of healing as one of the nine gifts? Because God is into healing now! James says “the prayer of faith will raise the sick person up!” It is part of an elder’s job description to pray and anoint with healing. Keep healing front and center, elders. We have a mighty theological basis for faith and action in healing now.

3. I relied on the church

At one of his lowest moments he couldn’t walk much and was feeling down. Said he felt he had nothing to offer. His wife said “stop trying to be superhero pastor dude lie still on your mat and enjoy others carrying you to Jesus.” She also remind him of Ephesians 6 and his need to stand.

4. I refused to doubt God’s goodness

It wasn’t heroic. Romans 8 says “he who did not spare his son…he will graciously give us all things” When God doesn’t answer your prayer for healing, in view of his previous gift to you of your salvation you know it is not because he doesn’t love you. In the really dark days he just could not bring himself to doubt God’s goodness because Jesus has already proved that to us!

5. I reached for both forms of God’s power:

• Power to be on display through my deliverance from the trial
• And power to be on display through my perseverance within the trial.

Power to bear up under a trial is not as evervesant as deliverance from it but it is no less potent. Paul pleads with God to remove a thorn in his flesh. God says “my power is made perfect in your weakness.” Paul says I will boast about my weakness.

Yes we want God to take us out of trials. Paul says “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection!” But the second half of the vers says “and the fellowship of his sufferings” We can embrace Gods power to get us out of suffering, but we must also embrace God’s power to persevere. What this means is that we get to stick it to the devil either way!

6. I resisted and requested

PJ resisted any Satanic element. The early church treated it that way. But he also requested healing from God. Resist hell and request from heaven. He cursed cancer, he welcomed healing, he was forceful and vigiliant. Yet wary of giving the devil more credit than he dserved and wary of shouting faith healing verses at heaven rather asking God to heal him and  listening to God.

7. I rested in the assurance of Romans 8:28. When everything is going wrong everyuthing is going right. This verse is a fortress. Some think of the resting as weakness. Resist and request and rest are two truths that are equally true. And they build each other up. Three men who face suffering (Dan 3:17) say “he will rescue us!” it is kicking. My God is willing and able and will rescue me from this trial. Full stop! But verse 18 says “even if he does not, we will not worship you!” V18 faith is a right hook to the devil! It is not just faith in God and the outcome you want, it is faith in God and the outcome I didn’t want. I don’t want you to think that it is a faith failure when verse 18 kicks in. If you die without receiving your healing it is not a failure. Don’t say “our faith didn’t work” In Hebrews 11 we read about believers who escaped death by faith and who died by faith. “We have a hope that goes beyond the grave…his name is Jesus!” If we only have hope for this life we are to be pitied more than all men. Death is not the end, it is just the end of the beginning.

PJ is convinced that his cancer will not return, he has been told it is in remission. But. if you were to get news that PJ has died, don’t say “Oh..he wasn’t healed!” Because the angels will be crying “Look at him he is completely healed!”

Heaven is the ultimate deliverance. It is the ultimate healing. Do your worst death, all you do is promote us! Death is not our executioner, he is our gardener thanks to the resurrection.

Listen, it is ALL true! God is true. The comfort of God is true. Healing now is true. Healing in heaven is true.

If he had to sum up his expereice of the last year he would say “Its all true!” Before I l knew it was true, now I KNOW it is true. Sometimes when you suffer it is like your voice breaks. It works things in you.

8. I really connected with Jesus One of the greatest thrills for suffers is that God is with us. The psalmist said “I fear no evil because God is with me” It isn’t just poetry. Daniel 3:23 There are four men there! The forth man was Jesus. O the privilege of standing shoulder to shoulder with the fourth man. When a furnace is rightly revived and God is with yo, the furnace doesn’t consume it refines. The furnace of suffering doesn’t shout out forsaken by God it shouts out loved by God!

Jesus came to them in the storm. God will not abandon you in your hour of greatest need. The forth man will come to you in the forth watch. If you feel far from the shores, in the darkest of all watches he will come to you. He is coming to you right now.

In the cellar of suffering the great King keeps his choice wine. There is kind of wine he doesn’t serve up at the regular times. He invites you into the dungeon and personally serves you the choice pickings. He washed my eyes with tears that I might see him. Job said he had heard of God. After suffering he said “I have seen him”

God takes the stage at the end of Job and you are expecting him to explain why. But he doesn’t. He takes four chapters to talk about himself. That’s because comfort is never found in the why, it is always found in the who. He always comes and reveals himself to us.

Job 38:3: I am just a man 38:4 “were you there when I laid the foundation of the earth?” Job 38:35. Do the lightening bolts report to you? Job 38:21: when God resorts to sarcasm you know its time to quit! God will do something you don’t understand. How will you respond? Will you be haughty or will you just say “your ways are higher than mine.” We don’t understand a lot of what happens to us. I don’t understand why you are going through what you are going through.

The mystery of this last year, PJ treasures. Lord it is a source of worship to me that you are God and I am not! It prompts me to worship. Its treasurable.

Job 41:1, 5. Can you make a pet out of the crocodile? If we cant nail a croc how can we nail God? 41:11 “Who has a claim against me that I must pay.” God owes me nothing. The real mystery is not why has bad happened to me, it is why has anything good ever happened to me.

Jesus turned round a question “why does bad happen” and basically turned it around and said “why does good happen at all?” God is replacing PJs sense of entitlement and replacing it with a sense of priviledge and gratitude and worship. He is the God of all comfort. The father of all compassion.

David Stroud explained that he would not be preaching as such this session but instead sharing his heart for the future of Newfrontiers here in the UK. You can download the audio or read my notes here:

He began by saying how grateful he was to be part of this family of churches. We left churches because of nostalgia. So we don’t want to do that. But, there is a difference between nostalgia and gratitude. He explained that he went to one week at the Downs Bible week had totally changed his life. The thing that struck him was the extraordinary sense of destiny those men had. God seemed to have persuaded them that he was going to use them.

When God grips a people he does the same in all of our hearts. Hearing one of the speakers talk about all that God had done in the past in this nation in revival. The following year, Terry preaching on Nehemiah stuck him with the passion for the Church.

It has been deeply personal. Moments over the decades that have been deep impact. He remembers when his wife was bleeding and a third miscarriage was threatened. Dave Devenish came and prayed with authority, the bleeding stopped and the answer to that prayer is now 6 foot tall!

Change to individuals is critical. Heart relationships are also key. We want to go further, faster, deeper but keep the love and intimacy. How do we keep apostolic ministry and make the most of all the blessings?

1. Continue to work together while also recognizing antonymous apostolic spheres.

We believe the Lord has asked us to start 1000 churches in this nation. That would be more than either of the Pentecostal denominations in the UK. We are not impressed with humans. But together we can do something. If we were simply to release spheres we would decentralize to smallness. We would loose the capacity to pack a punch. We’d loose the confidence and faith. Wesleyian revival saw the first generation saw few new churches. About 30,000 were effected by the end of that generation (which would be less than Newfrontiers churches in the UK now). In the second generation there was exponential growth. Generation one clarified identity, and the second one rode on that wave. It was the third generation that was the Wilbeforce and Shaftsbury generation. The whole nation marked its impact. It is not all downhill from now on!  Our first generation might be almost over, but we do have a role to play!

As China rises and Europe falls, one is getting into Christianity and the other is loosing it. We have a job to do. We must do it together.

Plurality is the best way to release apostolic ministry, anyway. In the OT it is all about the individual. In the NT Jesus doesn’t pick one he picks twelve. Paul had a team. There was always a plurality, without debunking the anointing on the individual.

We want to multiply into apostolic spheres. So for example, Guy Miller, Mike Betts, and Jeremy Simpkins are no longer working on behalf of David Stroud, or Terry or the UK team. They are distinct. They have similar values. But they have their own promises, their own characteristics. They are going into different nations. There is commonality but distinct elements.

For every church to be engaged in an apostolic sphere is important. Others like Dave Holden, Colin Baron and others will available also. Some will work across the spheres, a bit like Barnabas in the NT.

This is like a rocket about to take off. The energy will move from the center. The UK team will no longer be the ones to give the energy. The energy will come from the spheres. There will be a sense of ownership that will develop. The rockets fire it, but it needs to be kept on course too.

How will we hold together?

If we don’t do something that causes to ask that question we have not gone far enough. We don’t want to just belong to Newfrontiers for historical reasons. We want to be joined by heart, know that God has called us, and be benefiting from charismatic anointing.

As life gets busy and tensions occur, how are we going to do this? We are convicted that we can do more together than we can apart. We are convinced of this. We have a depth of relationship. We have been together for this long so there is love, turst, accountability, and a covering of each others backs.

David Stroud will be leading in a very different way. This isn’t his team. It is just that he will be gathering the spheres. They will be mutually responsible to each other.

There are a number of unanswered questions. How will we handle money? Websites? Team names? These are such key issues that we want to give the next 12 months to seeking the Lord on these things. Next year there will be no together on a mission. Elders and wives will gather in April.

How should I respond?

1. Give yourself to the Lord and to an apostolic team if you have one you are connected to one. Some of you will feel that maybe you are not connected to one. If so, be patient. Character is very important at these periods of change. When you don’t know the answer to the question, what does this mean for me, it is a challenge. Don’t rush here and there. God is in control. The Lord has built this so far, and will continue to build it. We wait patiently for him. Lets talk lots. Keep talking.
2. Pray for the leaders. Ask the Lord for wisdom for them. Jesus was marveled about, where did he get that wisdom from? Pray for the leaders that they too will have wisdom that is supernatural in origin.

Five challenges for courageous leadership

1. Courageous “everything” leadership. The mission of God started because God created this incredible world. It was perfect. Man and woman were the high point of this creation. We disobeyed God and fell. Every part of life was affected. Everything was cursed. God’s call on Abraham is to reverse the curse and bless in every area. Colossians 1 says Jesus died to reconcile all things. The story of the Bible is that God intends to renew and remake the whole of creation. We are his partners in this great plan to restore all things. Central to all that is that there was one who expressed the kingdom like no one else, and died a substitutionary sacrifice for the atoning of sins. But our job isn’t just to win men and women, it isn’t just 1000 churches. We want 1000 churches that will bless this nation. We want to change the nation not just plant churches! This requires courage because we are nervous that if we give ourselves to “everything” we will loose the atonement or evangelism. Our call is both and, not either or. Either or is often about a shrinking heart. We must handle each dimension of the mission of Christ. We must evangelize, care for the poor, think how we can be salt and light at every level of society. We must think about the streets we live in, the parks that are nearby. We care for the environment we live in. We might get involved in Neighborhood Watch, Street Pastors, mentoring teenagers. How can we make a difference in our jobs? How do we engage in the conversation in the media. We cant let our neighbours and children breath poisoned air.

2. Missional leadership. Builds churches that are shaped by their desire to express the whole mission of God to the community they are in. We are not to be a bomb shelter church. That kind of church is so nervous that they will be affected by the world that they spend as much time together as possible. If they do evangelism it is with a goal of keeping out of the shelter as short a time as possible and then to drag others back. We are to be a party church. Enjoys the presence of God. Those coming are being drawn in. They are where the people are. In the community. It is not because missional is in vogue. We must have a driving desire to see men and women come to Christ. The more focused wet get on the mission we get nervous we loose the gathered church as we also do the scattering. We must do both.

The times are genuinely desperate. 30,000 people every week stopped going to church in the Anglican church in recent years. Situation is desperate. We cannot simply enjoy what God is doing for us so far. We have to allow his mission to shape us. We need to see growth. We must have faith that we can lead people to Christ in large numbers. There are a lot of barren wombs in this room. Apostolic ministry has a lot to do with evangelism in the Bible. When Paul went into a town it wasn’t because he gathered a few Christians who were looking for his kind of church! We have to learn that kind of ministry again that turns people into disciples.

We must consider what kind of language we use on a Sunday. So for example explain the theological terms you use. Unbelievers should be coming to your Sunday meetings. We must keep all that is important to us, but make it intelligible and understandable. We don’t have to stop the charismatic. We need the presence of God. Proper use, not no use.

3. Affirming Leadership Ensure that our churches are environments that are equally liberating for both men and women. We must not change our theology. But we must live consistent to it. We are complementarian which means we believe that men and women are equal but different. We must make sure that we do not stress the difference more than the equal. We must make sure that we recognize male and female gifts, and that we train women as well as men. Keller says “The real challenge is to do things in such a way that even a radical feminist if she was to come into our churches would feel the freedom of the Kingdom of God.” The Apostle Paul speaks of his fellow workers and around half of them are women. How many of us can say the same? We do need to help men to be men.

4.  Self consciously think of ourselves as part of the center ground of evangelicalism more than we have before. We have ended up on the edge. But we are evangelicals. The reason we are charismatic is because it is in the Book. We are more evangelical than the other evangelicals! We do genuinely love the whole body of Chrsit. We are not sectarians. Thirty years or so ago we were being asked to leave churches. If we want to influence we must be close to it. You can impress from a distance. If you want to change things you do so from just off center. It is not a sell-out. It requires courage. We will be nervous of loosing our prophetic identity. But we are meant to not shift on who God has made us to be. We are to be close to them. Watch our attitudes. We must not have superiority or exclusivity. You can love someone without agreeing with the,. Love them and let them close enough to see the grace on our lives. We don’t have to convert the whole body of Christ to our way of thinking. Unity is about relationships not projects. Pray Jesus prayer, “that they may all be one.”

5. To continue to develop naturally supernatural leadership. Spirit fell on some of us in an unlooked-for way. We had to build churches to contain the work of the Spirit. We must engage with the charismatic but do it in a non-crazy way! You are most effective as a leader when you are the person God has made you to be. Don’t have to imitate someone else’s style to get their anointing. You have to go after your own anointing. Impartation is real. But you don’t have to be like others. We must develop a style that reflects a reformed theology and a pneumatology that is deeply powerful and effective, but enables us to be ourselves. The Spirit comes on us to equip us to do things. If we focus on “bless me” moments, it can be self indulging. Spirit comes on us so we can evangelise, pray, lead, etc. The experience is not the point. Are we getting the job done is the point.

Change is inevitable. Our message is the message of the Kingdom. God is here and wants to shape our churches for the mission.

Nigel Ring is a great hero of mine. I love the way he has faithfully served the ministry of Newfrontiers for decades. He has been so loyal, so humble, and so willing to lay his life down that the ministry of others might develop to the full potential. He has personally run every Downs, Stoneleigh and Together On A Mission event. No wonder Terry Virgo dedicated his new book Spirit-Filled Church to this man. But as I point out at the beginning of this interview, he did steal away my favorite Sunday School Teacher. Watch and see if I decide to finally forgive him! Nigel’s blog is well worth a read, and here is some more information about the two books on the poor we mentioned.

Adrian: So here’s the thing, you look at all of that, it’s all going fantastic. And there are points along the line where there’s been these transitional moments. Like Downs comes then you stop it. Then you have an advance. Stoneleigh comes along and 10 years in you stop it and advance. Now the Brighton conference, and thats now coming to an end. This is the last Brighton conference. But there’s other changes as well. But why would you kind of mess it up? When actually it’s worked so well? You and your friends and there’s a sense in which I know you are going to change the way you are going to relate to New Frontiers organisationally. You’re not disappearing are you? But can you just talk a little bit about that because a lot of people out there, I don’t know that they’re necessarily aware of what that looks like. Thinking both of those who are in New Frontiers who are watching this but also thinking of those who are maybe on the outside, thinking ‘how do you transition a movement’ because you don’t want to wait till you’ve died, I think is that the issue? Hopefully that’s a long way off.

Terry: (laughing) yeah, I would like to think that. I think that life changes, and if a thing is living, it changes. So, I’ve had the high privilege of having 5 children, which has been an immense joy. And you watch them change – they grow, they get married, they have children and everything transitions. That’s what life is like. You can’t hold a thing down, ’No! Stay a child, you were so beautiful as a baby’. It’s wonderful to see them grow. And then you meet Pastors and you see them grow into stature and you think ‘Wow, this is wonderful!’. So over the years you see things changes. Not that we are changing them, because there is life, it changes. And I love the seasons.

I love living in England because one of the things I love about England is that the four seasons are very clear. You can go to some nations where the seasons are a bit lost – it is hot all the year round, which is nice! But I think seasons are beautiful. And you see in England now, we’re into early summer and the trees have suddenly gone green, whereas a few months ago they were just branches and there were no leaves – and you think ‘this miracle of life, changing’. Well, I think, we’re seeing now, I’m seeing young men come through, who were young men coming along and now they’re stature.

It says in Psalm 46 ‘your sons will become fathers’. And I’ve seen that – I’ve seen sons become fathers. I’ve seen guys I remember when they were starting and now I see ‘Boy, look what he’s built. Look at these men who look to him’. And so for me, this transition into multiplication is saying ‘Look all these young guys, they’re all now in a place where they need to take responsibility – fly with that’. And so we’re not trying to preserve an organisation or a movement, Terry Virgo’s movement, ‘We need for find a replacement for Terry Virgo to look after this’. No, no, no! That would kill us! We’ve got life that’s pulsating through and we need to release all these ministries into their full potential. So that’s what we’re in the process of doing – releasing guys, acknowledging them, recognising them.

Now, happily, it would seem that they all still want to keep relating as a band of brothers in what we call ‘New Frontiers’. But they will now take the responsibility. It is already happening. It’s not like ‘Terry Virgo, should we plant a church in . . . ?’ I find out afterwards! It used not to be like that, by now, I hear after it’s happened. And I hear of churches here and other people taking fresh initiatives into China, Mongolia. I mean you name it, people are going. And I don’t initiate everything anymore. People are initiating, they’re doing their own training programs, they are planning their own church planting, they’re gathering their teams, they’re invading new cities. It is long since that I initiated everything. So we’re acknowledging what is happening, and blessing it and saying run with it. So I feel more and more that I’m a bit like a grandfather, rather than a father. I want to father the fathers. I want to keep encouraging these men who are moving to new responsibility. I’d love to be an encourager. I feel God’s given me a call also to reach over the wall, outside of New Frontiers, to make more and more contacts, which I feel God promised me some years ago would happen and I feel is happening increasingly. But also, just let these guys fly! So it’s really more like a natural thing. You know like a tree – a seed falls in the ground and it grows. It’s a living thing.

Adrian: Tope, did you want to say anything more about that? Or ask anything more about that whole transition thing?

Tope: Yeah.. I want to say, you make it sound like England has four seasons. We only have three! We have winter, we have autumn, we have spring. We don’t get summer here! So don’t believe everything….

Terry: We had it last month!!

Tope: Yeah, two days last month – the Lord was gracious to us! Every Sunday I wake up and say ‘Where is the Sun?’ Oh, there it is, Praise the Lord!

People like me, who had the privilege of stumbling into Newfrontiers. I got hold of a tape and I played it in my car and I got undone. And by God’s grace I got put back. It was one of your sermons. And some of the things we had in there, we never knew how to articulate by way of church life. We were glued into this thing by God. So this is a relationship. It wasn’t just mechanically put together. Because it is a relationship, it grows. And I have never felt restricted one bit being in New Frontiers. I have felt very free to say ‘Go do whatever God has put in your heart’. I know that this is where God has put me so it’s a joy for me and we all pray and commit the future in the hands of the Lord who started the whole thing in the first place.

Adrian: Great.

Terry: I’m so pleased to have been able to get the book together – the Spirit-filled Church – lately. I’ve been asked by guys a lot, especially our friends in America saying ‘We need a book.’ So many people asking questions, people like yourself said ‘I heard a tape, what are you actually saying, please.’ I had John Lanferman who heads up what we’re doing in St. Louis ‘Please do a book,please’. He was on to me. So I’m so glad that the ‘Spirit-filled Church’ is out there now, it’s gone off to a quick start. And I hope people now say, ‘Look, this is the sort of thing you’re saying’.

Tope: You’re going the States soon are you?

Terry: September, October, November. I’m out there for three months and then into Mexico in the end.

Adrian: Thank you so much Terry, for taking more of your time than we planned. We ought to feed you really. I did say we ought to feed you first!

Tope: It turns out Terry loves Thai. So if ever Terry is in town, work out the best Thai restaurant and take him there!

Adrian: Now I would like to take you right back actually… but sort of partly on route to that, my mum said something interesting today. It was through them, because I was very young, back in around 1978 when I met you first. And she said something really interesting. She said, ‘Back then it was just a tiny handful of people’. I think you were pastoring a church in Seaford and I think Haywards Heath was the very first church you’ve travelled to, if I remember correctly. There we were, a bunch of people had been thrown out of Evangelical churches, and my mum and dad who had come into the Holy Spirit through Capel Bible Week, I think it was. She said ‘you know… how Terry was back then when it was just a tiny handful of people’ Basically Terry and his friends… because you had known everyone, and how he is today, he is no different.’ And for a lot of people who have a big international ministry over a hundred churches, a big author and all that, there’s a sort of aura about them a kind of ‘I’ve achieved something.’ You seem to be devoid of that, you seem to have a humility, I guess, about you. And I know humility is a funny thing because you’re not going say ‘Yes, actually, I am humble’ because then you’ve lost it. But I’m sure that there’s been temptations not to be humble, with all these thousands of people gathering. I think someone once said ‘You should never believe your own press’. How have you maintained that humility of the years? Are there any keys that might help other people? Because even in a small church, the pastor is sometimes the head of a pyramid – everyone’s looking to them – it’s easy to get impressed with yourself if you’re not careful, I think.

Terry: I guess your final phrase holds a key! I’m not very impressed. I’m just not. And I think I live with me. And I have battles, all sorts of battles. But I don’t honestly find that’s one of them. I am not very impressed. And I also, when I first started, I did door-to-door evangelism for two years and I was very bad at it, and it was very lonely and it was gruelling. And I felt that God used that perhaps to show me my own total inadequacy. The end of those two years which were spent on a housing estate area – I mean it was torture. A lot of it was just very very hard. To get up in the morning, pray, and I was living in the home of people who were unsaved. Even if I go home, my parents were unsaved anyway! So there was no endorsement. And you go and knock doors and actually the Mormons were in town, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’s like ‘No. No’. And then you go back home and pray and then get up the next day you do it again. And so it was huge battle and I was aware of great weakness.

And I think, I don’t know, I’ve never been very impressed. I would go back and think ‘That was useless, I did it terribly’. And so I know that God’s been merciful. And I think also God has joined me to remarkable people. I’ve been so blessed by God over the years that extraordinarily gifted people have come alongside and we’ve done it together. So sometimes it’s possible to think ‘Terry Virgo did.’ I don’t feel that is how it’s worked really. I’ve met brilliant people and we’ve been joined in love. And people have done things and things have grown up organically. It’s not that Terry did it all. I happened to get my name, I guess, at the centre of the it all but it’s always been teamwork. There have been people without their contribution, this wouldn’t have happened. I’ve got a wonderful wife, I’ve been blessed with wonderful kids. And I think we do it together, don’t we? I mean, you’ve been around long enough. We do it together. It’s been a relational deal. I don’t think it’s ‘He went away, learned this and presented it’. I think we’ve learned together. And I’ve always known I need people. So you’ve mentioned Nigel Ring

Adrian: It was so lovely to see you dedicating your book to him. That was so wonderful. I know Wendy you’ve dedicated many of your books to.

Terry: Yeah, you know I felt to do that. I felt quite prompted to do that. You know, I always say this ‘I wouldn’t know how to cross the street without Nigel telling me.’ He’s just marvellous. And then I’ve had another Adrian – Adrian Willard. I mean just magnificent. And God has built around me extraordinarily gifted people. So I’ve benefitted hugely from that. So we’ve been a team. And when I moved to Brighton in ’79 to get involved with what was the ‘new church’ – Church of Christ the King. And we started the Bible weeks, I said to Nigel ‘Will you come with me, please?’ And he prayed about it for about 10 minutes, and he gave up his job, he and his wife Janita, moved home and moved about 3 streets from me and he’s been right there from the beginning. And so you know you just had great, great guys who from the beginning said ‘Yeah, I’m with you’. And it couldn’t have happened without that.

Adrian: I think the longevity of some of those relationships is so crucial. I was actually.. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was quite surprised, at the prayer and fasting, you threw on me, with about a 2 minute notice, to talk about your book because you didn’t want to, which is understandable. And one of the things I said there, I asked people ‘I was at the first Downs Bible week, how many others were there?’ And I was expecting just a tiny smattering of hands, really, because it was a long time ago. But it was really interesting to see that there was quite a bunch of people there who’ve been there with you long term, in the broader sense, but also, like you say, some of those relationships like Nigel, it’s not always true. A lot of guys still lose people along the way because they fall out.

Terry: We have been so blessed. You are absolutely right. I go to, what you referred to, our prayer and fasting days – I remember when we first started – three times a year we gather with the Pastors to pray. I remember when it was about 20 men. Now it is about 700! It has been over 800 sometimes! And I look around the room and I think ‘Loads of people here I don’t know’. But there’s loads of people I’ve known for years and years and they’re all Christian name terms. And to be honest the wonderful privilege is I can go out to Guadalajara In Mexico and I can speak to Aturo and Heimi, I’ve been going for decades. I can go to India to Mumbai and I can speak to Samir and Jackie and I just know these friends have been with us for decades. And it’s true – we’ve got longevity, we’ve got relationship that’s right in the heart of what God has done.

Adrian: I think you once said, and it might have been at Stoneleigh, that for you, all of this, when you look out at New Frontiers and all that has been involved, has really been you and your friends trying to serve God together. Is that right? Did I remember that right?

Terry: I really feel it, and you’ve probably got a better memory than I have. I mean, we are friends together, and it would break my heart to lose a friend. So I think we’ve lost one or two on the way and it’s been painful. But to be honest, we’ve had massive loyalty and people moving together for years and years now it’s been a joy.

The following post is from Fathering Leaders, Motivating Mission by David Devenish, copyright 2011 reproduced with permission from Authentic Media.

Many years ago, my wife and I were leading a walking holiday in the Lake District (a beautiful region of northern England) with the youth group in our church. We had been joined by a lad, a friend of one of our young people, who had no previous knowledge of Christianity and certainly not of Christian jargon.

We held Bible studies each evening and had been looking at one of Paul’s letters. On one of the walks, this young lad asked to speak privately to me. We walked ahead of the others and I was excited by the prospect of him perhaps asking important questions about the Christian faith or even of my being able to lead him to the Lord. He said he had been trying to follow our Bible studies but had one major question: ‘What is the difference between an epistle and an apostle?’ He said he had become quite confused on this subject! Of course, I hid my disappointment and answered the question. (Praise God – a few weeks later he committed his life to the Lord and is still walking with God today.)

This teenager’s question is akin to one of the explanations often given of why we no longer have apostles today: ‘We have the Epistles, so we do not need Apostles.’ The argument is that one of the prime reasons for Christ appointing the apostles was so that the New Testament could be written, and once it was complete there was no further need for apostolic ministry. Obviously it is true that the final truths of Scripture were committed to the first-generation church and have been preserved for us in what we know as the New Testament. Jesus said to his twelve apostles, ‘When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.’1 While that Scripture by extension means that we can all know the help of the Holy Spirit to understand the truths of Scripture, nevertheless its primary meaning was that the Holy Spirit would lead those original apostles into all truth – all the truth we need now for our instruction, correction and training, and which is contained in the New Testament. However, it must be pointed out that most of the apostles did not contribute to the writing of the New Testament and that a significant part of it was written by Luke, who, although for a time part of Paul’s apostolic team, was never described as an apostle himself. Thus we can see from the outset that being an apostle is not synonymous with being a writer of Scripture.

Different Views

There are four views of apostles that I want to examine in this chapter. They are as follows:

1. Most of the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in the New Testament ceased after the first century, including the gift of the apostle.

2. The apostles were a very small group of people, comprising the twelve and the apostle Paul. (Some have even argued that the original eleven got it wrong in Acts 1 when they appointed Matthias, and should have waited for Paul.)

3. There were many more apostles in the time of the New Testament, and most spiritual gifts continue today, but not the gift or office of the apostle.

4. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit in New Testament times continue today, including the gift of the apostle.

No Longer Needed?

The first view, that the revelatory and sign gifts have ceased, is based on a particular interpretation of Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians: ‘But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.’2 The Greek phrase translated ‘perfection’ (or ‘the perfect’ in some translations) is to teleion, which is an adjective related to the verb teleioo, meaning ‘to bring to an end, to complete’. It also carries the additional meaning ‘to make perfect’ or ‘to be perfect’. God is so described in Matthew 5:48, where it can only mean ‘perfect’. The same word, however, is used in Ephesians 4:13 in the context of the role of the leadership gifts to equip the church, where it is translated ‘mature’. This first view suggests that ‘the perfect’ in 1 Corinthians 13 refers to the full revelation given in the New Testament, and that once this was complete, there was no further need for the partial forms of charismatic revelation manifested in particular revelatory gifts such as prophecy. The classic exposition of this view was made by B.B. Warfield3 and is reflected in much contemporary reformed and dispensationalist theology.

The problem with this view is that it could not have been understood in this way by those to whom Paul was originally writing. Gordon Fee puts it this way: ‘Paul’s distinctions are between “now” and “then”, between what is incomplete (though perfectly appropriate to the church’s present existence) and what is complete (when its final destiny in Christ has been reached and “we see face to face” and “know as we are known”).’4 In other words, ‘the perfect’ is an eschatological reference to the time when Jesus returns and the final purposes of God’s saving work in Christ will have been accomplished. Spiritual gifts will then no longer be necessary for the building up of the church.

Another variant of this first view is that ‘the perfect’ does not refer to the completion of the New Testament but to the maturity of the church which occurred when more regular clergy had arisen and became the norm for established church life. Fee comments very astutely:

It is perhaps an indictment of Western Christianity that we should consider ‘mature’ our rather cerebral and domesticated – but bland – brand of faith, with the concomitant absence of the Spirit in terms of his supernatural gifts! The Spirit, not Western rationalism, marks the turning of the ages, after all; and to deny the Spirit’s manifestations is to deny our present existence to be eschatological, as belonging to the beginning of the time of the End.5

Maturity certainly implies not just ‘regular clergy’ etc. having been established, but the bringing to maturity of the church in every generation as a result of the equipping work of leadership gifts described in Ephesians 4.

A Limited Number of Apostles?

The second view confines the use of the term ‘apostle’ to the twelve and Paul, and regards the appointment of Matthias6 to replace Judas Iscariot as a mistake on the part of the eleven remaining apostles. However, the New Testament nowhere teaches that the eleven were wrong to appoint Matthias and should have waited for Paul. Although the casting of lots was not a normal means of obtaining guidance in the church after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (though it has been employed by some, for example, John Wesley), it could nevertheless be followed in faith at that time, on the basis of scriptures such as Proverbs 16:33. Furthermore, the qualification for being one of the twelve was not only having witnessed Christ’s resurrection, but also having been with Jesus from the beginning of his earthly ministry at the baptism of John until his ascension. It was important that there should be witnesses to Jesus’ life and ministry, as well as to his death and resurrection, all of which are now recorded for us in the four gospels. There is no evidence at all that Paul would have qualified for this. All we know of him at this time is that he was being taught at the feet of Gamaliel.7

The New Testament text itself refers to several others as apostles, and for some of these, too, there is no evidence that they witnessed Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection. They are as follows:

• Andronicus and Junias.8 ␣
• Apollos.9 ␣
• Barnabas.10
• Epaphroditus (though this reference is usually translated ‘messenger’, a point that we will examine later).11
• James – the half-brother of Jesus.12 ␣
• Silas.13 ␣
• Timothy (though some would argue that Paul specifically excludes Timothy from this role by his reference to him as a brother, but that is a moot point).14

‘All the apostles’ who received a resurrection appearance from Jesus are distinguished from the twelve and Paul.15 The fact that the church had to be on the lookout for false apostles would not have been an issue if the apostolate was restricted to the twelve and Paul.16 The visiting preachers who caused such problems to Paul in Corinth are described somewhat ironically as ‘super-apostles’,17 so it seems that they were taking the title of ‘apostle’ on themselves, relying on self-advertising oratory rather than the humility demonstrated by genuine apostles.18

Some would suggest that the seventy (or seventy two) sent out by Jesus were also apostles. Certainly the Greek verb apostello is used of the commission that Jesus gave the seventy, and there are considerable similarities in the mandates he gave to the twelve and the seventy. Of course, both were also symbolic numbers which would have been clearly understood as such by the people of that time. ‘The twelve’ recalled the twelve sons of Jacob, the forefathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, and were symbolic of Jesus’ formation of a renewed Israel. ‘The seventy’ is doubly symbolic: it was the familiar way in which the Jews of the time referred to the nations of the world, based on the seventy nations of Genesis 10; it would also have reminded them of the occasion in Moses’ time when the Lord put the Spirit on the seventy elders,19 which enabled a wider distribution of responsibility so that Moses would not have to carry it alone. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s commentary notes in relation to ‘all the apostles’ in 1 Corinthians 15 explain that ‘the term here includes many others besides “the Twelve” already enumerated (v5): perhaps the seventy disciples of Luke 10’.20 I am not fully convinced about this argument, but it helpfully illustrates the diversity of views concerning the number of apostles.

Again there is some excellent material available for further study on this point, in particular Herbert Lockyer’s book All the Apostles of the Bible and an excellent essay on the subject by J.B. Lightfoot.21

Footnotes:

1   John 16:13.

2   1 Cor. 13:8–10.

3  B.B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (Cornell University Library, 1918).

4 Gordon Fee, God’s Empowering Presence (Hendrickson,1994), p. 208.

5   Fee, Presence, p. 207. See also Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (IVP and Zondervan, 1994), Chapter 30.

6     Acts 1:21–26.

7  Acts 22:3.

8     Rom. 16:7.

9    1 Cor. 4:6–9.

10    Acts 14:14.

11    Phil. 2:25.

12   Gal. 1:18–19.

13   1 Thess. 1:1; 2:6 (apostles – plural).

14    1 Thess. 1:1; 2:6; 2 Cor. 1:1.

15   1 Cor. 15:7.

16      Rev. 2:2; 2 Cor. 11:13.

17 2 Cor. 11:5.

18    Barrett takes the view that ‘super-apostles’ was actually a reference to those described in Galatians 2:9 as ‘pillars’. C.K. Barrett, The Signs of an Apostle (Paternoster Press, 1996), pp. 37–8. Chrysostom, Calvin and Hodge also took this view. In this case the above comments would of course not apply!

19    Num. 11:25.

20 Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, quoting Chrysostom, Commentary (Zondervan, 1870 and 1999).

21    J.B. Lightfoot, Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians (Zondervan,1978), pp. 92–101.

This is the second part of a set of notes on Terry Virgo’s first session at 300 Leaders.  I have previously shared the video and downloads for the whole talk.

3. There was Barnabus. He had been sent. The Apostles were staying in Jerusalem. People have written about whether that was right or wrong. But they heard about another church coming to birth. Barnabas was sent as an apostolic delegate. He was known by the Apostles, and he represented them. It was rather like Timothy later on. Receive him, like you would receive me.

So this church is touched by apostolic ministry. It is in touch with apostolic revelation and gifting. There is a big debate about whether apostles continue today. Some say there were 12. There were several catagories: Hebrews 3 speaks of Jesus the Apostle. He was the one and only. He was sent with authority which is the root of the meaning. In John’s gospel Jesus keeps saying he was sent. Then there are the 12 who Jesus chose. They are unique. A band of apostles that the church is built on. But there are other apostles. Paul, James, Barnabus, (Acts 14:14 doesnt distinguish between Barnabus and Saul). In Acts 13 they were prophets and teachers, now they are apostles. They were sent by God. Some have argued that Paul should have been one of the 12 but Paul doesn’t say that.

Ephesians 4 says Jesus ascended and gave. From heaven. Barnabus gets called. We don’t know for sure that Barnabus ever saw Jesus after the resurrection. Apostles don’t just write epistles so we don’t need them any more. Only a handful of them wrote Scriptures. Some who weren’t apostles wrote Scripture eg Luke. Apostles were not Bible writers only.

There is a job that apostles do. It is to do with foundations. Paul is a wise master builder (architect). He laid a foundation in a local church. It is not just that philosophically we are all built on a foundation. Rather, each local church has a time when that foundation was laid. The universal church was built on the foundation of the initial apostles. The local church is also built on the foundation laid by the apostles. Sometimes a church came to birth like this one in Antioch, getting before the apostles. The apostles then quickly send either an apostle or a delegate of an apostle to make sure the church is being built correctly.

We are looking for a rainbow of ministries as seen in Ephesians 4. Lloyd-Jones believed that only Pastors and Teachers continued and that evangelists had ceased. Some people will allow for evangelists to continue, or perhaps prophets. Some will refer to people who have died as an apostle or a prophet. I believe God has given a blueprint for the church, why should we reinvent another one. We have tried democracy, we have tried ecclesiastical heirachy, why not use the Bible model we see in Ephesians 4?

4. The list of names continues. Barnabaus was a Cypriot, Simeon was a black African, Lucius is also black, Manian was brought up with Herod. He was raised with the kings son. Like he went to school with Harry or William! He mingled with some pretty high people. And Saul who is a Hebrew of Hebrews. A pretty mixed leadership team. What a strange group. What is this? It is the Antioch church getting away from Jerusalem into a gentile world and saying “What kind of house will you build?”

It is a house that is so different than what had come before. There is continuity: we are Abraham’s children. We feel a sense of unity. But we are something fresh and new. God is creating one new man out of Jew and gentile. It is energised by the Holy Sprit. Very different in education, social background. What gives them unity? It is because they are first called Christians there. What do they have in common? It is Jesus. Not just a definition of doctrine, or an agreement of creeds.

When Peter goes to Cornelius and the pagan Roman starts to speak in tongues, the fire had lept across the chasm. It is only that experience of the Spirit that joined them together. The unity of the Spirit is not just a catchphrase. He has got the same as us. The Spirit-filled church is a phenomenon. It is different to what was before. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. We are allowed to eat Pork and still get to heaven! The restrictions are lifted. There is liberty. We are in Israel’s messiah. We are one. Jesus let women listen to his teaching which was outrageous. Neither male nor female, neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. The early church would have had many slaves in it. Paul tells his friend to receive his runaway slave back as his brother. The twelve were all Jews, but he had a zealot who’s goal was to kill Romans, and a tax collector who collaborated with them to raise money. They sold their souls and were hated. What did they have in common? Only that they loved Jesus. He is the cornerstone where we find one another. The church is a phenomenal manifestation to the world of the way to break through racial hatred, sexual discrimination, social class war.

5. They were worshipping the Lord. Leaders together. Elders come together with a long agenda. Here is a leadership that said “lets worship.” God does stuff. They are ministering to the Lord. Bathed in worship. Not a business meeting. We are besotted with God. Lets raise churches that are besotted with God. We must model prayer and worship as leadership teams to our churches.

6. The Spirit said set apart. A house which is pre-occupied with world mission. A house that doesn’t think it strange that two of its key leaders go off to do something else. It is a global commission. Jesus said go and make disciples. The disciples went and planted churches. That is how people are discipled. A church is a group of disciples. We are called to world mission. Sometimes leaders will go and start again. Church is not a static thing. We are joined in mission. It is not that someone in our ranks goes to a mission society. The Bible doesn’t say they went and set up mission centres. They went to plant churches. Roland Allen urged us to found churches. His book was a radical call that came out more than a hundred years ago. We need churches that are in partnership with each other. Churches that extend God’s mission together. Fellowship is not a religious word, it is partnership in a shared purpose and action.

What kind of house will you build for him? The church at Antioch is a wonderful model. Came away from the Jerusalem base to start over again. Prophets were there, but tested by the Word, Apostolic involvement, great diversity. God’s church is a breathtaking phenomenon. They were worshippers, they fasted and prayed. They were involved in world mission. They saw the church as God’s agent in making Jesus famous throughout the world.

We do not want to just talk about the Spirit-filled church, we cry to God to multiply many of them.

My headache is getting better. I thought I would share with you tonight the video of me speaking about Terry Virgo’s new book. This was me speaking to Newfrontiers leaders at Prayer and Fasting. It will give you a good idea of why I am so looking forward to 300 Leaders tomorrow. I just bought my son a ticket as he decided he’d like to come too, you can still check in now as there are a few places left!

Today’s video with Terry Virgo moves onto the fifth of seventeen values that have shaped his ministry for decades. These values are expressed as the kind of church he aims to plant:

“A church where God’s presence is prized and where God is enthusiastically worshipped with genuine freedom for men and women to worship publicly in the Holy Spirit, to use spiritual gifts and to participate in ‘body ministry’ ”

Here are some extracts from the video, followed by the video itself:

“Church is people, they are friends, they are family. They can enjoy being together in a relaxed way. . .We are enjoying sonship, access, acceptance, so we can be relaxed. . . We are God’s family. . . We want to enjoy liberty. . we have been set free. . .We are enjoying a liberty as a result of what God has done . . . When David danced before the Lord it was after God had judged men for touching the Ark . . . Dancing is not careless, irreverent. David knew God and danced with all his might. . . To be happy in the presence of God is perfectly appropriate. Clapping, celebrating, shouting, these are all biblical concepts . . . Reverence doesn’t stop us celebrating before him”

I encourage you to consider joining us at the next 300 Leaders conference where Terry Virgo will be the speaker.

As you read this I will be at the Newfrontiers Prayer and Fasting gathering. This event is quite unusual, and few movements have something that replicates it. Matt Chandler seemed quite impacted by his visit last year to this event. Anyone who wants to understand Newfrontiers would be well-advised to make a priority of attending one of these events.

Why do 800 leaders gather for two days, forgo food and devote themselves to praying earnestly for God to act? Because we believe it is only God who can do what we need done! We live in a nation which has largely turned its back on God. In that nation we hear God’s call on us to plant churches, and re-evangelize this once great land. It is a massive job. It is beyond all human organization and management techniques. It requires a work of God’s Spirit. The task is daunting and leaves us often feeling empty and unable to make a difference. We gather, empty of food, to as Piper puts it, demonstrate to God that we are empty without him:

An Offering of Emptiness to Show Where Fullness Can Be Found

Prayer is explicitly appointed for this purpose: “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). God responds to prayer because when we look away from ourselves to Christ as our only hope, that gives the Father an occasion to magnify the glory of his grace in the all-providing work of his Son.

Similarly, fasting is peculiarly suited to glorify God in this way. It is fundamentally an offering of emptiness to God in hope. It is a sacrifice of need and hunger. It says, by its very nature, “Father, I am empty, but you are full. I am hungry, but you are the Bread of Heaven. I am thirsty, but you are the Fountain of Life. I am weak, but you are strong. I am poor, but you are rich. I am foolish, but you are wise. I am broken, but you are whole. I am dying, but your steadfast love is better than life (Psalm 63:3).”

When God sees this confession of need and this expression of trust, he acts, because the glory of his all-sufficient grace is at stake. The final answer is that God rewards fasting because fasting expresses the cry of the heart that nothing on the earth can satisfy our souls besides God. God must reward this cry because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

– John Piper, A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1997), 180-81.

So they not only let me into the country, they also let me into the students and twenties conference! Back home in the UK I am routinely banned from going to students and twenties events, even when they call it twenties PLUS as our guys back at Jubilee London do. I suppose that as I do actually turn 40 in just a couple of months, I should not be surprised. Shh…don’t tell my American friends or they might throw me out! Gonna feel a bit old over the next few days, unless I just pretend to be young again . . .

I am actually really excited about today’s conference. To my mind America represents a massive opportunity for churches like ours. I have met over the years many delightful American brothers and sisters from all kinds of church backgrounds. But one thing they often say is that many of them have not really ever seen a good model of a charismatic church that is also solidly reformed in doctrine. It seems America needs many more of such churches. Who knows how many churches might in some ways have their conception at this event as God puts his hands on young people for future service?

Such churches do exist this side of the pond. It is just that, unlike in Britain, there are relatively few churches that have partnered in a nationwide family of churches that is explicitly charismatic and reformed. There are some, however, and I am thrilled to be meeting up today with some very dear brothers and sisters, some of whom I met last year, and some of whom I have yet to meet in the flesh. Wherever in the world I go, connecting with brothers and sisters from the Newfrontiers family is always a real joy. I am also glad that on this trip I will also get to connect with some other non-Newfrontiers friends.

If you are an American reformed charismatic looking for fellowship, you could do a lot worse than attending a Newfrontiers event. I know that there will be a number here today who are not actually members of Newfrontiers. If you are at the event, do come and say hi!

I am here with Tope Koleoso and I will be live blogging most of the sessions. The conference will include material on watching your life and doctrine, prayer, the life of the Spirit and other things. If you can’t be here, I will give you as much of a flavor as I can. Hopefully it will make you want to come to another event, such as for example the International Newfrontiers conference that will be taking place in the UK this July. People will be coming to that from all over the world. If you are a regular blog reader, I would love to see you there!

I have had the pleasure of traveling fairly widely thanks to my job. I travel so often, and at times for such short periods, that I don’t always mention on the blog when I am away. But there is one country that I tend to look forward to visiting more than almost any other. I am of course talking about the USA, often referred to affectionately by us Brits as “the other country”.

I look forward to my trips to the USA because I feel so at home there. I have so many friends there, and so many American Christians from different backgrounds have been kind enough to read my blog.

A year on from my longest trip to the USA and by the time you read this I will be in the air on my way across the pond for just a long weekend. It is going to be a great time, and I am looking forward to traveling with my friend and pastor Tope Koleoso, and to attending the Newfrontiers Mobilise USA conference. This time last year I got to know a number of my Newfrontiers USA brothers and sisters and I am looking forward to seeing them again, and to meeting some more. If you will be there, do come and say hi!  Being part of the body of Christ means you have family on every continent. Being part of a family of churches with a shared spiritual DNA only strengthens that feeling.

A lot has happened over the last year, and I am very grateful to God for it. But I start 2011 excited about the future. It is going to be a good year, of that I am confident. May God bless you richly in it, and may he be close to you, and may he use my blog as one of many means of encouragement in your life.

I start the year with three words ringing round my head: favor, breadth and depth. May these three words be true for me, for those I love, and for each of you as well.

Favor – May we know in the large things as well as the small the good hand of our God upon us. May he find us parking spaces when we need them, and open the big doors of opportunities when we need those. May we experience the carrying power of the Holy Spirit. May our lives hum with the efficiency that can come when we are doing exactly what God intended us to do. May we spread the fragrance of Jesus. May others be blessed as their lives come into contact with ours.

Breadth – May our influence for Christ extend. May our churches grow. May many souls be saved. May backsliders return to Christ. May our words and writings encourage, comfort, strengthen and instruct many more than they have previously. May our careers advance. May we know, in short, great blessing.

Depth – Jesus said “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) We could add to that, ” . . loses his family.” 

Over this blogging break I have found myself feeling closer to my delightful wife Andree than ever before.  I am enjoying married life greatly.  We can’t quite put our finger on what it is that has prompted this, but be very clear, if too much time blogging puts that in any way in jeopardy expect more blogging breaks this year.

There really is nothing to gain for me in being some kind of success outside of the home (and how fleeting and relative any such apparent success truly is!) and a failure within it.  I want this year to deepen my love for my family, for those closest to me, and for my God.  Without deep, deep roots, any blessing God sends in the “breadth” department risks actually being damaging to the soul.    I want to become more Christ-like this year.  I want to know God more in order that I can make him known. I pray that the same will be true for you.

How easy it has frequently seemed to me to neglect the quiet place before God.  How easy to busy myself thinking I am serving a God who I do not honor with sufficient of my time and attention. How easy to forget that my prime responsibility before God is to my family, and then to a small number of people he has put in my life.  This year, with God’s help, and by his grace, I will not neglect those closest to me in order to strive to help people on the other side of the world.

And yet, I am more convinced than ever, that if I do not neglect the hidden parts of my life, there will be an overflow.  We are supposed to put depth before breadth, and yet so often, as even in this list, we reverse the order.  I am more and more convinced that if we resolve to fulfill our private duties better, then grace will overflow and our public duties will actually benefit.

I often tell my children I love their mother better than them.  That seems to give them security.  And, I am sure that because such a statement is true, I am actually a better father to them than I would be if I was looking to them for my primary affirmation.  Putting Jesus first, above family, above church, above ministry, above career, does not rob those other things. For God is no man’s debtor.  If we seek first the Kingdom of God “all these things” will be added to us as well. I don’t pretend it will be easy, and I am sure that I will at times slip back into bad, lazy, habits.  But, will you pray for me as I am praying for you right now as I write this article: 

God please help us this year to put You first, family next, and then content ourselves to fulfill the assignments you have given us, so that we may be truly useful to others.