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.

This morning I again plan on sharing only a short summary of Dave Stroud’s talk.  He spoke about how we are called to be salt and light in the world.

I continue this interview by asking about how someone who believes God is speaking to them about church planting can begin to prepare themselves within Newfrontiers.

During the worship time this morning, Keith Hazell shared an interesting prophetic word. It spoke about a wind coming that would shake things in our land, but also a great time of blessing for us. He felt that there would be new alliances forged and new opportunities presented to the church by the government.

This morning’s preacher was David Stroud. Dave leads ChristChurch, London, and the Newfrontiers UK team. He has been involved in leading churches for over sixteen years; ChristChurch is the third church that he has planted. He is married to Philippa, and they have three children.

More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page. You can download the mp3 of Dave’s talk or listen to it here:

When Saul started trembling on the inside, the people picked up on it. The army panicked and went into hiding. Saul got an appraisal from God via a prophet. He was told that he was getting fired. The next man had already been found. Saul gave into fear three times. When that happens, you think about yourself. When that happens, you end up in sin. To understand this, we must see the contrast between Saul and Jonathan. Saul is bad, Jonathan is good, and we are to learn from him. Jonathan says, “C’mon! Let’s go up!” His amor bearer says, “I’m with you!” Attacking up hill is difficult.

The goal was to go to the outpost, but panic meant the whole army would kill each other. It is all about Jonathan through the entire passage to the end, when it says, “The LORD saved Israel.”

What can we learn from this passage?

Jonathan Did Not Give Up Hope
When you give up hope you do nothing because there is nothing to do. Saul was hopeless, but Jonathan had boldness. Optimism is good, but it’s not enough. Anyone can do optimism, but what God has called us to do is fundamentally different. It is something rooted in God. Jonathan’s outlook was shaped by the Lord, what he knew of God, and what God had promised the people.

We can have hope because of what Jesus has done. The big hope-giver is his resurrection. He wasn’t just a man who lived and made incredible claims. Because he is raised, you realize everything he said is true.

When your God is not in the grave, people get transformed and healed. One man from their church came out of the theater after a meeting and asked a homeless man if he wanted a meal. The homeless man replied that he couldn’t walk to a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken because his feet were so swollent. So the guy from the church went and brought back the food to him. Then he prayed for him and the man’s feet were totally healed. He was leaping for joy, saying, “Jesus healed my feet!!” There is a scene in Lord of the Rings where it is said, “Everything sad is going to come untrue” because of the resurrection of Gandalf. How much more the resurrection of Jesus!!

Jonathan said, “Perhaps the Lord . . .” — He keeps breaking in on our lives!

If you are a man of hope you will gather the right people around you. Then you can stand on their shoulders. Look for faith and flexibility in the hearts of the people you want to draw around you.

Saul was very lazy. Nobody even noticed people leaving the camp. Even the basics were being badly done. The most basic thing is turning up. It’s your relationship with God. How is it going? Easier to be with the Lord when you have hope. Stay good at the basics. Keep your life pure. David was also lazy on the basics (on the roof, not at war). Don’t be lazy. Hope fuels intimacy.

Saul was a maintenance man, but Jonathan was focused on expansion. When Saul saw the enemy running, you would have thought he would rush in. Instead, he took a roll call. He wanted to know who was responsible, what had happened—like a management approach. We should be about breaking out from here and breaking into new areas. Are you keeping everything running smoothly or are you breaking out?

Saul Was Stuck in Passivity
Jonathan was full of action. Saul was not. We can get into cycles where we never get interrupted. We can lead quiet lives of desperation. What stops us from taking the initiative? Mostly not knowing whether it’s the right thing or not. But neither did Jonathan. Sometimes God confirms things once we are moving, rather than while we are standing still waiting. Take action and expect God to speak as you go. Don’t wait to be sure that it is right before you take the first steps.

There were obstacles ahead. Jonathan had an army lacking in motivation, with two swords, an unassailable position, and just one other man with him. You don’t have to know how to overcome the obstacles before you reach them.

The fear of failure. We don’t like failing. But that wasn’t an obstacle. We will massively limit the number of things we do if we think we need to be sure it will work before it starts. The ones who succeed the most are the ones who fail the most. Don’t allow the concern of failing to hold you back. A long list of failings means you can have a long list of successes as well. The LORD had given the Philistines into their hands. He gets going, but is waiting for faith before he takes the really big step.

There is a world of difference between bravado and faith. You need your own faith. We do sometimes hear someone else’s story and our faith is ignited. Real faith is given when we KNOW what is going to happen. The walk of faith—up the cliff. He had no defenses as it was hands and feet. He had to keep going. When they got to the top, they did what they could do, with God’s help. The task at hand was actually quite small. Twenty men were killed. Then God did something far bigger. Panic and an earthquake from God came. They couldn’t have done that!

Dream and ask the Lord—“What can I do that is imaginably more than I could ask or dream?” Our dream is that our nation will feel different. That there will be that atmosphere. We want to see tens of thousands coming to Christ, with vast churches built that are full of the Word and Spirit. We want the appetite for gossip to change so that the newspapers have to change what they print. That the prisons are empty. That more people get married and stay married. That the poor get hope from the Church. That stories and films will be created that are positive, wholesome, and are blockbusters. That people who think develop scholarship that defends godliness and goodness. We want godly artists that make our culture richer. No one of us can do that. But if each of us take our individual outposts, who knows what God will do?

This was a faith-imparting message. It painted a big picture of a vision for a transformed nation. It raised our hopes and encouraged us to take those little actions that God is putting before us.