Lord, can I go to this church please….. I want to be part of a Church that embraces both Spirit & Word, contemporary excellence AND powerful outpourings of God’s Spirit: … where there is an ebb and flow of the Spirit/Word dynamics. One week you might think you’re in a Joel Osteen meeting, the next…
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One of our Prime Ministers, in recent years, proclaimed that Britain is a Christian country, and that the Anglican church should spearhead a revival of Christian morality. The statements were brave and almost unprecedented from a PM in living memory. While many Christians were celebrating his bravery, some immediately engaged in friendly fire, picking holes…
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I realise this may be an utter surprise to those who don’t lead churches… but us pastors can have bad, bad days. Often, Sundays! Now, lots of things make me grumpy. I know it shouldn’t be so, but sometimes Sunday isn’t so much holy for me, as grumpy. Here are the top ten things that…
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There are endless unity meetings I could be in. As a minister I could literally spend most days in some networking meeting or another. But I feel we actually have a job to do in reaching millions of souls (not reaching each other!)…..and I have discovered…. 10 things Unity is not… Unity is not a group…
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The following is a compilation of Health Check lists from denominations around the world. Amazing how similar so many are: Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches: Natural Church Development 1. Empowering leadership 2. Gift-oriented ministry Development 3. Passionate spirituality 4. Functional structures 5. Inspiring worship service 6. Holistic small groups 7. Need-oriented evangelism 8. Loving…
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Many seek to lead worship and yet they do not have a heart after the presence of God. This is always obvious in their ministries, as you cannot pretend to have something you do not have. You cannot lead people in rapturous worship when you have no personal worship life. You cannot obey the Spirit…
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Jarrod was recently interviewed regarding the Gifts of the Spirit in the 21st Century church: Do you believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still being exercised in the Church in England today? I believe many churches are seeing a small level of prophecy and hearing God’s voice, and some see a level of…
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Church Growth Concepts I was recently questioned by a denomination about the growth of our church. From 2005-2010 our church doubled in size, which I realise is not particularly remarkable, except for the fact that we are based in the city with the lowest church attendance in the UK. Below are some of the answers,…
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I have discovered the greatest hindrance to a move of God can be quite simply right between my ears! My arrogant senses of right and wrong, godly and secular, acceptable and unthinkable. My religious education. My British culture. They can all hinder the divine, eternal culture of heaven from piercing through the dull temporal culture…
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In 1947 Smith Wigglesworth prophesied the following: “During the next few decades there will be two distinct moves of the Holy Spirit across the church in Great Britain. The first move will affect every church that is open to receive it, and will be characterised by a restoration of the baptism and gifts of the Holy…
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1. The Invitation Be clear about what you are offering the protégé. Be sure it is exactly the sort of mentoring relationship you can both sustain and want. How much time and support can you realistically give? Unfulfilled expectations on both sides lead to disillusionment and ultimately, relational breakdown. Don’t make rash, emotional promises. 2.…
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Easter 1997. I was sitting in my apartment having spent all week at the revival in Pensacola. The week of meetings was over, but I had that ‘God-sense’ that something more was still to take place. I lay on the sofa, my feet up on the end arm rest and my head propped up by…
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As I ponder the ebb and flow of the movement of God’s Spirit in churches today, my mind is drawn to an email I received a few years ago. I had spent several days teaching a South African congregation about the presence of God, and then experiencing something of God’s glory with them. I left…
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A survivors guide to ministry and parenting! I’m not going to write to you because I’m a parent, but because I’m a son. My father has been in full time ministry over twenty years. We were missionaries for ten of those. We lived, four of us, for 7 years in a one and a half…
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Coping with the pressures of being a PK in the Pastors Home! A pastors kid huh? Well don’t expect any sympathy. You’ve got it all. Your dad’s a walking concordance, your mum can sing like a canary, no one ever argues in your home, and you; you never feel lonely, lustful, unloved; and you don’t…
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Harry Connick Jr, the modern day Sinatra-like crooner, limbers cheerfully through the “romantic” lines “if nothing lasts forever; then I’d figure I’d better take you forever, for now”, presumably unaware of the significance his wisdom carries. He describes the era in which we live. An era where we are washed daily in a new moral…
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Read the amazing story of an encounter in the African bush that changed me forever. It’s the intro to my book Glory in the Church, now available to download from Amazon for Kindle here Today was the day my worship ministry would change forever and I didn’t even know it. I woke at 6.30am to…
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Stadiums, arenas and the greatest auditoriums will be turned into church buildings. Market places filled with thousands will be overcome by the glory of God.
And yet, throughout the wondrous six weeks I began to realise I felt desperately weak