Falling With Style

I'm concluding yesterday's blog post with part 2 of 'Prayer is....'These headings have been taken from Jason Mandryk's outstanding latest edition of 'Operation World.' Prayer is....... 4/ An act of warfare: We are pictured in the scriptures as soldiers in a battle when it comes to prayer. Somehow, in the plan of God, we have been given the task of engaging on behalf of the millions around the world in our generation who do not yet know Jesus Christ. Mandryk says, ‘The gates of hell will not prevail against the church, but they must be stormed!’ Ephesians 6 instructs us to train ourselves to pray in the Spirit on all occasions, armoured up and ready for action. 5/ An act of sacrifice: Daniel’s prayers resulted in him being thrown to lions. Many around the world today take great risk, even for their lives, in meeting to pray together. My overriding concern is often whether I will miss all or part of a Champions league football game on the TV if I go t...

I’ve been reading the introductory notes in the latest edition of the magnificent prayer guide, ‘Operation World’ this week. Normally, I dive straight into the information sections on the nations and their stats in order to feed our praying, but the notes by Jason Mandryk are well worth reproducing for some additional stimulation in our prayer week. It’s so good, I will simply use Mandryk’s own headings below, and some of his quotes in places. Prayer is : 1/An act of faith: Prayer is light years away from the normal management or administration of our lives. When we pray we are recognising that we cannot operate in our own strength. We realise that we are asking for impossible things from an invisible God – this requires a genuine act of faith. F B Meyer said, ‘You do not test the resources of God until you attempt the impossible.’ 2/ An act of obedience: The Apostle Paul instructs the early believers to ‘pray without ceasing.’ The Psalmist prophesied, ‘Ask of me and I will gi...

I am an averagely slow, heavy, heel first runner, who has been trying to get fit by getting out early in the mornings over the last year since I had to give up my promising football career! Next week, with a team of 15 or so local runners, including one of my sons, I will run a local 10k race to raise money for our Jubilee Initiative, a group of charities which we are personally involved with. Some of these charities are run by my friends, Jospeh and Lillian serving street children in Zambia, or Rod and Diana working for justice amongst girls sold into sex slavery in India for example. I’ve recently read a great little book called, ‘Running with the Kenyans’, By Adharanand Finn. At a time when my training has suddenly got a little more serious, his personal story of transformation through running has made all the effort seem inspirational, almost spiritual. There are some great quotes from his book here which runners everywhere will find themselves identifying with. Enjoy, then ge...

This is the third video blog of the summer, attempting to outline some of the vision and values that underpin how we are working into the nations from our local church base in East Grinstead. For those of us brought up in church on the genuinely inspiring missionary stories of the past, it's hard to imagine a different way of operating. However, this global generation requires new thinking on missions that will be effective into the 21st century. The rapidly changing, ever more connected planet offers new opportunities for mission that are rooted in the strategies of the original church planting Apostles. This third video emphasises a focus on development over aid, and gives some scenarios where this shft is beginning to make a difference. Your comments and feedback are welcome, and if you want to know more about how we are working or get involved, please contact me.

This is the second short video of the summer, designed to give you a taste of some of the vision and values that are shaping our developing work into the nations from our local church base. If you want a recap, part one can be found in the July archive of this blog. So many of the old missionary models which have been unquestioned for generations, are being challenged in this new global, fast moving 21st century. We are discovering that we need new thinking about how to engage with the world and establish simple, effective new testament partnerships. Such partnerships are effectively the same new testament foundations that the first Apostles laid in the early church, albeit, reimagined for our generation. This clip looks at some of the downsides to the old missionary model, and describes the thinking behind the kind of apostolic partnerships that we are now actively engaged in. Let us know what you think, comments always welcome!

1/ High Five whenever you can. I’ve been trying to contextualize this for those of us who are not Olympians. Maybe when you’ve successfully sent an email, put the bins out in the nick of time - just spread the love and success by high fiving a friend or colleague. Even if you’ve lost the point it seems a high five remains appropriate. In moments of extreme tension such as set point, or perhaps dealing with a difficult customer at work, a full chest slam or group hug is now de rigueur. Good to see too that the reassuring bottom pat has made an unexpected return. Reassuring yes, office friendly...no! 2/ London is a truly great international city. With the rise of fast expanding mega cities in the east and the global south, big European cities will no longer be able to compete on size alone over the next 25 years. London has proved that size isn’t everything. The public transport was good, the doomsday reports of gridlock were wrong, the signs and stewarding were excellent. In fa...

The eyes of the world will be on a stadium in East London tonight. A global audience of billions will be watching one city on the planet to see who is the biggest, strongest, fastest and best over the next two weeks. What has been built in the Olympic park is staggering. The sheer hard work and brilliance of the thousands of athletes from around the world just to get there is incredible. As we celebrate pinnacles of human achievement in sport, architecture and a regenerative city legacy, we are in danger of our own Babel moment of hubris though. This old Greek word is ideal for our over confident, self sufficient generation. Hubris, tips us over the edge, over hyping, strutting, swimming in a pool of self congratulation at our own human effort, courage and skill. I’ll enjoy the Olympic spectacle and fireworks tonight, but I’ve been reminded this week to get a better perspective. Reading Louie Giglio’s ‘Indescribable’, he references a photo of planet earth taken by the Voyager s...