6:19 Newsletter
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November 2011
Dear Friends
We have three wonderful children who are all very different. I sometimes marvel at the fact that given that the same ingredients went into each of them they look different and have very different personalities. My eldest, Esther, never showed any interest in dolls as a child but has always loved cuddly toys. In contrast Miriam has a vast collection of dolls (over 80 at the last count!) and her Christmas list this year features yet more. Joel, being a typical boy, loves cars and enjoys nothing better than sitting down with a pair of pliers and converting a toy car into a convertible by cutting the roof off! All of them have a wonderful sense of fun and love each other dearly (although there are days when this is hard to spot!!)
My point is this – they can’t help but be who they are and we wouldn’t expect them to hide their true personalities and love for life. The girls can’t help but make music, whether it is bashing out a tune on the piano or singing their favourite songs. Joel will always have a cheeky answer for every question asked and we will always be finding little piles of broken cars around the house!
My Bible tells me that when I put my trust in Jesus Christ on 26th January 1982 I became a child of God (John 1:12), a co-heir with Jesus (Rom 8:17), seated with him in heavenly places (Eph 2:6). It tells me that I became a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), and that the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within me is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead (Eph 1:19,20). In other words in Christ I have been given a new life that should look rather different from the life that I lived before, a life that in essence should look more and more like Jesus. In other words, as Luke leads us to expect in the opening lines of Acts, it should be the most natural thing in the world for me to teach and do the things that Jesus did. In fact I shouldn’t be able to help myself, in the same way that it would be most unnatural for Miriam not to burst into song at every opportunity! It should be in my character to set people free from the oppression of the devil, to heal the sick, to offer people God’s forgiveness and to show God’s love to the poor, the outcast and the rejected.
So the question is: why do I find myself so often denying the person that I have become in Christ and living as if I were not his? Simple: because I choose to believe lies about myself rather than the truth, and when I do I become filled with self-doubt, which then leads to my becoming ineffective for Christ. Satan loves this deception and the fact that I so repeatedly fall for it! But I am determined that I will be the person God has created me to be and that I will never stop pursuing the life that I believe he wants me to lead. I am thirsty to see more of God in my life; I am desperate to know him better and hear his voice more clearly; and I will never sit back and say that I am satisfied with where I am in my relationship with him – at least not until my life and the life of the church that I am privileged to lead reflects the fullness of the Kingdom of God, and I think we both have a way to go yet!
With my love as ever
Simon
Columbia – nearly there!
Praise God that this trip has now been fully funded – thank you. Please pray for myself, Paul Bennison, Mark Marx and Scott Lorimer while we are away.
Parish Weekend in Norfolk
I had great time in Norfolk speaking at the St James’, Thorley parish weekend away at Letton Hall. 120 adults and children came and I spoke about Gideon rediscovering his identity as one of God’s chosen people, and about learning to see himself as God saw him. We all had lots of fun and God blessed us all very graciously. So lovely to be part of it!
Ordination of Andy Economides
It was a great privilege to attend the UK ordination of my friend and mentor at Wren’s Cathedral near Solihull on 4th October.
Please pray with us:
We give thanks to God for:
All the funding for the trip to Columbia
Our wonderful church family here in Bolney
Please pray for:
Health and protection for us all while I am away in Columbia
Wisdom for Esther as she chooses her 6th form college this month
And for the following events and speaking engagements:
Nov:
2nd Esther’s 16th birthday
5th Leading an Alpha Day in Bearsted
6th-18th In Columbia
19th Leading prayer ministry at CVM regional day in Crawley
20th Preaching at BVC
27th Preaching at Winchester Cathedral for St Swithun’s School Advent Carol Service
28th Taking assembly at St Swithun’s
30th Speaking at Hurst College CU
Dec:
4th Speaking at BVC Advent Songs of Praise
10th BVC Men’s Breakfast
11th Preaching at Pilgrim Home, Brighton
13th Speaking at Tinsley House Detention Centre carol service
20th Support Group meeting
25th Preaching at BVC
October 2011
Dear Friends
Last week I was at a day conference in Chorleywood with
the guest speaker Phil Cooke. Phil is a media executive
with a foot in both the Christian and secular worlds – the only
producer in Hollywood with a theology degree! His expertise
is in the field of how to get a message across in a way
that will cause people to listen, in an increasingly crowded
marketplace, and as such he works as consultant to many
major Christian churches and organisations.
Did you know that if you read a newspaper every day for a
week you will absorb as much information as someone a
hundred years ago would have done in the their lifetime!
Did you realise that if Facebook were a country it would be
the third largest in the world after the US and China.
I could go on but I think you get the picture – it was a day full
of fascinating facts and bits of information, and a wealth of
ideas for how to share the love of Christ more effectively
in a rapidly and constantly changing world. By the end of the
day my head was buzzing with ideas and a slight sense of
being overwhelmed by all that I’m not doing but probably
should be doing!
During the day Phil challenged us to think about what it is
that we really feel God has called us to do – what is our
message? What is the niche that we fill that nobody else
does? It got me thinking about 6:19 again and what I feel
God has called me to. I’m sometimes asked why I set the
6:19 Trust up in the first place – if I believe God has called
me to be an evangelist why not work for one of the countless
evangelistic agencies that already exist? It’s a good question
and one that I and my trustees have revisited a number of
times.
So here’s the answer as far as I can discern it: in the mid to
late 1980’s I believe that God impressed on me that the
church was in a season of preparation, prior to a season
of revival on a scale none of us have ever experienced.
I believe that somehow and in some way 6:19 exists to
proclaim that message to the church – the time is short
and the task is urgent. God invites us and calls us as his
people to work in cooperation with him, but in the end he will
work his purposes out with us or without us.
So how do we prepare for what God is about to do? That’s
easy – be the people that God has called us to be! Live lives
and build churches that look like Jesus – that are sold out to
him and reflect his love, holiness and power. As Phil pointed
out last week everyone knows what the church is against, but
what is the church for? As I’ve written before my deepest
desire as a church leader is that the church that I lead
should be known above all else as a place where love is to be
found – Jesus was the holiest man who ever lived and yet
‘sinners’ loved to be with him; they were so overwhelmed by
his love that his holiness did not repel them.
I believe that God is challenging the church to get our house
in order – we have within us the hope of the world, and yet
that hope is so often obscured and tainted by the games that
we play and the division that we display, that a broken and
hopeless world can’t see it. Time is running out and such
self-indulgence can no longer be excused.
So that’s the niche that 6:19 exists to fill – God is about to do
something the scale of which will take our breath away. As
we wait and prepare we must do what the church exists to do-
make known the mystery of the gospel to those who are
perishing. That’s what I love to do, and what I am so
privileged to do. Please pray with me that God will open
doors and opportunities for us all to make Christ known, and
let us pray together that we will see God’s kingdom come
on earth as it is in heaven.
September 2011
Dear Friends
Looking back and looking forward
I hope that you have enjoyed a break over the last few weeks. As usual the summer seems to have flown by, and autumn seems to have returned with a vengeance today, just as the children return to school! For us the summer holidays were busy, but the pace of life was rather more relaxed without any school runs, no lunch boxes to prepare, and few evening meetings to attend. Sarah managed 48 hours at the New Wine summer conference and had a great time, and Esther was similarly blessed at Soul Survivor with a group of 23 who went from Bolney. So we look back over the last few weeks with a sense of thanksgiving for lots of happy memories and special family times together.
But now a new season is upon us, and as you will see from the calendar below, the next few months are full of engagements and opportunities to make Jesus known. At the chapel last Sunday we were preparing for the new term ahead by reflecting on some of the advice that Paul gave to Timothy in his second letter. We focussed on four particular instructions which I hope will be of encouragement to you also:
- Fan in to flame the gift of God (2 Tim 1:6). If we are God’s children then we are bearers of God’s gifts. All of us are good at something! Are you using the gift that God has given you to use for His glory? I remember hearing RT Kendall speak at a conference a couple of years ago, and saying that when we are operating in the gift that God has given us, then we will find that thing easy to do. Many years ago I discovered that I found it easy to stand up and speak in front of a crowd about Jesus, but it took others to encourage me to see that God had given me a gift that He wanted to use. Are we encouraging one another to discover and use our gifts?
- Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you (2 Tim 1:14). I’m an activist – I feel that I should always be ‘doing’ something, and as a result there is a part of me that finds it hard simply to sit and ‘be’, and this even includes time that I spend alone with the Lord and reading His Word. I have to discipline myself to carve out time each day to be with Him and meditate on His Word. In the busyness of life we must guard against being robbed of our time reading and studying the Bible. How will you make time to ensure that you are constantly being filled and refreshed with God’s truth?
- Endure hardship with us (2 Tim 2:3). Surprise, surprise! Following Jesus is costly. Life is not always easy – sometimes simply because life isn’t, and sometimes because following Jesus is not a popular option. Later in the letter Paul writes, “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. So we can be certain that as we go forward things will not always be easy – when that happens let’s not be surprised, but instead draw strength to endure from the presence of the living Christ who journeys with us each and every step of the way.
- Flee the evil desires of youth (2 Tim 2:22). In case you are of a certain age and feel this might not apply (!) I like the NLT version that puts it like this, “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts.” There’s nothing more dangerous than complacency. The verse continues with the injunction to ‘pursue’ righteousness etc. The whole sense of what Paul says is that we should be making strong and determined progress away from those things that ensnare us and drag us away from Jesus, and instead be fully focussed on those things that are wholesome and godly. Something to think about when we are choosing what to read or what to watch?
So my prayer for all of us is that we may enter this new season of the year knowing God’s love and presence as together we seek to fan, guard, endure and flee!
July 2011
Dear Friends
Falling in Love with the Church!
Many of you reading this will know that for many years I made no secret of the fact that I never felt any calling to church leadership and never wanted to be a church leader. Indeed when I was at theological college I tried to see whether it was possible to be ordained without ever having to serve in a parish at all, and when I discovered that it wasn’t I resolved to serve my three year training curacy, and then escape into full-time itinerant evangelism! My perception at the time was that local church life was really rather dreary and tedious, and I wanted to be out on the mission field where the real action was. Even my first curacy, in which I was trained by a vicar who was passionate about mission through the local church, didn’t change my desire to escape the confines of one parish!
This rather jaundiced view of church life was fuelled by my experience of churches during childhood that always seemed rather dull and boring. I well remember sitting with my mum on the back pew of our local church hoping that every hymn we sang would be the last hymn so that we could go home; or hearing tales of church council meetings at which the main item of business seemed to revolve around whether or not to renew the kneelers; or the fund-raising thermometer on the side of the building that had been there so long that the paint at the bottom had started to fade! Such things seemed in very stark contrast to the excitement and immanence of the presence of God that I experienced in my early Christian life down on the Lee Abbey camp field. When God called me to ministry I knew with great clarity that while He might be calling me encourage, equip and change the church, he definitely wasn’t calling me to lead one!
I realise with hindsight, however, that my childhood experiences of less than dynamic local churches became a convenient excuse to avoid having to face up to some of the real issues in my own life. My extreme lack of confidence and poor self-image meant church leadership was always going to be a struggle – far easier to parachute into a place, deliver a message, and then disappear again without actually having to engage with people! I also have to confess to feeling rather superior and arrogant – I would be the ‘expert’ telling churches how they ought to be, without the inconvenience of actually having to live it out myself!!
It has, therefore, come as something of an unexpected surprise to find myself falling in love with the church for the first time in my life, and my reflection is that I have done so at the same time as I have begun to be more at peace with myself. Some 29 years ago I realised the nature of what Jesus had done for me on the cross and how amazing his love for me was, but it is only in recent years that what my heart believes has begun to catch up. Mark Stibbe’s book ‘From Orphans to Heirs’, and Wayne Jacobsen’s book ‘He Loves Me!’ have made a particular impact, and more recently Tim Keller’s teaching on the parables in Luke 15. I’m beginning to realise that my identity does not rest in what I achieve for God, and that if I don’t manage to save the world before breakfast tomorrow I’ll still be OK!
So having spent most of my life trying to avoid local church life in order to do the ‘real’ work of mission and evangelism, I now find myself becoming wholeheartedly devoted to the idea that the most effective evangelism is done through the love of God, incarnated in the lives of Christians living out what it means to be followers of Jesus, and, more importantly, that that is something that I want to give my life to. As is so often the case I sense that God has brought together lots of different moments of revelation, strands of thought, things read and heard over many months, and focussed them into a ‘eureka’ moment, and it was my time away at the recent Missioners Conference that once again provided the opportunity for God to speak clearly. I can best sum it up in some words of Lesslie Newbigin that were quoted at the conference: “An unchurchly mission is as much a monstrosity as an unmissionary church.” Quite!
Still being an impatient person by nature I feel some frustration that it has taken me over half my ‘working life’ to get to this point, and I drew much encouragement from recently being reminded of the fact that there is no such thing as retirement in the Kingdom of God, and that I may actually only be a third of the way through the ministry God has given me!
“A Call to Arms”
Just to say that we had a wonderful day with Paul Bennsion as our guest speaker on 25th June – a day filled with the tangible presence of God and in which we were challenged and encouraged to go deeper into the things of God’s kingdom as we prepare for Christ’s return. I’m now very much looking forward to spending time with Paul in Columbia in November.June 2011
Dear Friends
Careful where you look!
At our church we are currently preaching through the book of Acts, and a few weeks ago I preached on the passage from Acts 3:1-10 where Peter and John go up the Temple to pray, meet a crippled beggar and heal him. It’s a passage that I have spoken on frequently as an example of how we should expect to live as followers of Jesus, but this time I was struck by something that I hadn’t really seen before.
Peter and John are approached by the beggar who ‘asked them for money’. He presents them with a material need and expects them to give him a material answer – money so that he can feed himself. It is at this point that Peter has to decide how he is going to answer the man’s request, and there are two paths that he can take. Firstly, he could choose to answer the request on the level that it is presented – the man wants money and while Peter doesn’t have any with him at the moment, he could go away and get some (after all as we have just read at the end of Acts 2 the church has everything in common and is quite willing and able to meet material needs as they arise). Secondly, while he has been presented with a material need, Peter knows that he has something else to give; something that will be of far more benefit to the beggar than money. The only question is whether Peter has the courage to take this second path!
I find this deeply challenging because so often I come across people who present some kind of material need, and while I know about the love and power of Jesus Christ, so often I respond to such people at the level that they are expecting – a material solution to a material need. It’s the safe option – one that keeps me safely in my comfort zone and avoids having to explain why nothing happened when I prayed! But that’s not how I want to be. It all comes down to a question of confidence and where we place our trust – in ourselves or in Jesus. Which of the above choices we make when presented with someone in need will tell us a lot about where our confidence it truly placed.
In Acts 3:6 I think Peter utters some of the most significant words concerning Christian discipleship in the whole of the New Testament, ‘… what I have I give you…’ Peter had absolute confidence not in himself, but in the power of the risen Christ dwelling within him. He understood that Jesus had come to begin a new period in history in which the Kingdom of God started to break through into the world in a new way. He had heard Jesus speak about the Kingdom of God, and had seen Jesus show people the reality of what that looked like as he delivered, and healed, and forgave, and welcomed. In his own life he had seen that same power at work as he had ministered alongside Jesus and seen the same signs of the Kingdom of God break into people’s lives. Now after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, and after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter understood that his task as a follower of Jesus was simply to continue the work that Jesus had begun, and he knew that he had the power and authority to do it. With that simple confidence Peter steps forward and issues the command for the man to be healed – the power of God’s Kingdom breaks in and suddenly everyone wants to know about the ‘King’ who healed. Within a short space of time hundreds of people have welcomed Jesus into their lives and accepted Him as their king too.
Peter could have gone and got some money for the beggar – the easy and safe option – one man’s life touched and changed for a short while until the money was gone. Instead he knows he has something different he can give – a step of faith, a risk, not something he can do in his own strength or from his own resources – one man healed and hundreds discovering the love of God and the gift of His grace and the certainty of eternal life!
I want to live a life that blesses people and shows them how much God cares for them. I can either choose to play it safe and do so with the resources that I have available and that they will expect me to use, or can do so with the power that I know is within me – the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Eph 1:18-21). I think such a choice is known as a ‘no-brainer’!
May 2011
Dear Friends
Roots
This week I received final confirmation from the Bishop of Chichester that, as a consequence of my move to the chapel here at Bolney, I must surrender my licence to conduct services in the diocese and will not be allowed “Permission to Officiate” status. In effect this means that while I may still be invited to preach and teach in an Anglican church, I do not have permission to take weddings, baptisms or Communion services. I had hoped that it might have been possible to reach some kind of accommodation with the diocese (as happens elsewhere), but ultimately this has not been possible.
In the grand scheme of things you may think that this is not such a big deal (and actually in the grand scheme of things it isn’t!), but having spent 46 years of my life in the Church of England, and having followed my grandfather and father into ordained ministry, I suddenly feel as if some significant roots have been cut. I never imagined a time when I would not be a member of the C of E, and in my own mind I did not come to Bolney in order to leave one church and join another, but out of obedience to what was a very clear call from God. But as we have walked forward in obedience to that call, a door has seemingly closed behind us, and it has caused me once again to reflect on where God is leading us in the future, and why making this step has been a necessary part of His purpose for the 6:19 Trust.
On a personal level I believe that God has been challenging me once more about where I place my security. Trust has always been a huge issue for me and I have written elsewhere about how God taught me so much about learning to trust Him while Sarah was ill in 2004, and the process of resigning from Ardingly in 2005. But even over these past few years that have tested us, and our trust in God so much, there has been a comfort in knowing that, even if in a slightly detached way, I still had an official existence in the diocese. There was security in knowing that I was part of a big organisation, and that if all else failed and the wheels ever came off 6:19 I could go back to being a vicar! So I sense that yet again God is leading me into a place where I have no option but to look to Him as my only security. I sense too that this is an essential preparation for the days that are to come.
But on a wider level too I think God is teaching me something about a ‘bigger picture’ of what He is about. Ultimately there is of course only one church – the church of Jesus Christ – whatever denominational name we might give ourselves; and we know too that His desire is for His body here on earth to be visibly one. If my conviction is right that we are currently in a season of preparation of the church prior to a significant move of God’s Spirit, then it must be the case that even more so than at any time previously, denominational barriers must fall away and the church, known first and foremost as a community of people devoted to Christ and displaying His love, should rise up. As one door has in part closed behind us, all sorts of other doors have opened in front of us and I now have the privilege of being involved in a number of denominational networks that I didn’t before. It is exciting to be in this position and I sense that it is significant that 6:19 should not be associated with any one particular denomination, but rather be the servant of all those who love Jesus. So with the past behind we continue to walk boldly into the future that God has prepared for us as a family, as a church community here in Bolney, and as a Trust committed to preparing the church for the task of evangelism.
April 2011
Dear Friends
On 22nd April I’ll be preaching at an open air Good Friday service in Burgess Hill, so I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what Good Friday means, and about what I’m going to say. At the same time I’m also aware of three people who are very seriously ill with cancer and who each face the prospect of dying prematurely. They are all Christians and have many friends praying for them, crying out to God on their behalf for healing, and feeling the pain that comes with the prospect of losing someone much loved. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
1. Because of Good Friday we know that God does not stand aloof from our pain and suffering, but has entered into it, experiencing the depths of physical pain, emotional abandonment and spiritual separation from His Father. Many years ago I remember waiting with my mother, who was dying from bone cancer, for the GP to come to our house to administer a painkilling injection. She was in agonising pain for several hours and the wait seemed endless. I remember crying out to God and asking ‘Why?’ I didn’t get an answer but I did know that God was there in the midst of what we were going through, and that He knew all about the pain my mum was suffering.
2. Because of Good Friday I know that nothing now stands between me, and the God who made me. Jesus did something for me that I could not do for myself – paid the price that was needed to set me free from the penalty that my rebellion against God deserved. No matter what happens to me in this life I know that I never face anything alone, and I know that He has promised to be with me, even in the depths of suffering. Some years ago, when my wife Sarah was very ill and away from home, I lived through some of the most painful days of my life with no guarantee about what the future might hold. But it was also in those moments of desperation that I experienced the peace and presence of my Heavenly Father.
3. Because of Good Friday I know that not only has death been defeated, but also all the schemes and strategies of the enemy, Satan, who seeks only to ‘steal, kill and destroy’ (John 10:10). Only after the Fall did the curse of sickness enter our fallen world, and on the cross Jesus broke the power of that curse when He “took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Isaiah 53:4). I believe that healing is one of the signs of the presence of the Kingdom of God – we have been given authority in Christ to heal, and I believe that we should have a high expectation that He will do so. One of the most exciting things that I have done in recent years was to set up a Healing on the Streets team in Burgess Hill. What a privilege to be able to meet those who would never cross the threshold of a church but who needed to know that there was a God who loved them, cared for them, and was willing to act in their lives. The apostle Paul reminds us that the power that has been given to us is the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Eph 1:18-20). We must have more confidence in who we are in Him.
4. Because of Good Friday we know that the battle is already won. While we pray for healing as a sign of God’s Kingdom breaking in to the here and now, we know that on so many occasions we don’t get the answer that we hope and long for; and while death seems such a disaster for us, because of the pain of separation that it brings, death for those who are in Christ is the moment of our greatest victory and the moment of Satan’s greatest defeat. We know that as long as we live this life we are caught up in a spiritual battle, and under the assault of an enemy who is unrelenting in his efforts to part us from our Heavenly Father and cause us to be ineffective in extending the Kingdom of God. At times the fight is exhausting and seems almost overwhelming. But in the moment of our death we are finally free, and Satan has finally lost any hold he might have had over us. As Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “Where, O Death is your victory? Where, O Death is your sting?” Exactly!
March 2011
Dear Friends
I am delighted to announce that on-line booking for our day conference on 25th June 2011, “A Call to Arms” is now open. Click here to go straight to the booking page where you can sign up: http://www.sixnineteen.co.uk/event.html
I am also delighted to announce that our guest speaker this year will be Paul Bennison, an itinerant missionary who has been travelling the world since 1988, preaching the good news of Jesus, praying for the sick and dying, teaching in Bible schools, and working alongside churches to help deliver aid in many developing countries. Amongst other destinations, Paul makes regular visits to Cali in Columbia where the churches have seen a remarkable move of the Spirit in recent years leading to considerable church growth (some of you will have seen the ‘Transformations’ videos that chronicled this and other revivals). I have got to know Paul over the last couple of years and am hoping to travel with him to Cali later this year.
On his website Paul has written this about himself: “Paul Bennison is a man who hungers to see the name of Jesus lifted high across the earth, and to see the truth and reality of Jesus’ words reflected in his own life and through his ministry. To see the sick healed, the dead raised, the lepers cleansed, the captives freed, and the work of Satan consigned to forgettable history.” This is also the driving inspiration behind the 6:19 Trust and I am so excited about what Paul will be able to share with us and the inspiration that he will bring. You can find out more about Paul from his website: www.paulbennison.com.
Please pass on details of the conference to your churches and anyone you think might be interested, and if you would like a conference poster or flyers please contact me and I can post them to you.
News from February
The last month has been really busy and I’ve had the privilege of speaking in a number of different contexts – a men’s curry night, an Alpha supper, a café service, a home group, as well as preaching here at Bolney – and it is so exciting on each occasion to see that as the word of God is proclaimed it brings life. God loves to make Himself known and if we place ourselves willingly at His disposal then He will use us. On one of the speaking engagements mentioned above (I won’t say which one!) I set off feeling completely exhausted and unprepared and not sure at all of what I was going to say. But as I stood to speak I was aware of God’s presence, and the feedback I received afterwards was very positive and encouraging – despite my weakness God had spoken to challenge and encourage. How often do we fall into the trap of thinking God couldn’t use ‘someone like me’? When we say that, we make the mistake of focussing on ourselves rather than on Christ who is in us. But it’s not about us it’s all about Him!
On retreat with Philo Trust Associates
Last week I spent 48 hours on retreat at Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire, with my friend and mentor Andy Economides and other Philo Trust (the ministry that supports the work of the evangelist JJohn) associates. It was such a gift to have time to pray and reflect, and also to share with others and to pray for one another. I felt God speaking very clearly to me about a number of things and it was enormously encouraging. Since I have got home JJohn has invited me to become one of his associate evangelists and to have a more formal link between Philo and 6:19. This is a wonderful blessing and I feel very humbled that God has opened such a door for us.
Can you help?
More doors seem to be opening up all the time – your prayers for an increase in the number of speaking engagements I receive are being answered and this is very exciting. But my workload is also increasing as a result, and especially with my responsibilities leading the work here at Bolney Village Chapel. The need for some part-time administrative help is now becoming quite urgent and I would love it if you could pray with us for the provision of such a person. Currently we do not have enough in our budget to employ someone, so we either need an increase in sponsorship to cover this, or someone local who might be willing to offer some time to 6:19 as a gift. If you are local and think you might know someone who could fit the bill then please let them know.
With my love as ever
Yours
Simon
February 2011
Dear Friends
“The Time is Coming 2011: A Call to Arms”
Some of you will know that during the late 1980’s I belonged to a monastic order called “The Little Brothers and Sisters of Christ”. Most of those who belonged to the order at the time were either students or working away in parishes around the country, and what held us together was a rule of life that we were committed to living out wherever we were. One part of the rule was that we spent an hour each morning in silent prayer (on the four weekends a year that we all spent together in community this would begin at 5.20am, but at university I managed a more leisurely 6.30am start!) I look back now on those times spent with God, in the quiet of the early morning, as some of the most precious times of my life, because it was in those times of simply waiting in His presence that I most clearly heard His voice, and during which I believe He laid some of the foundations of what has shaped my life since, and the vision that is behind the 6:19 Trust. There are two things that stand out for me in particular:
Firstly, God showed me that while our world is becoming increasingly secular (and how much more so has it become in the last 25 years) and while the challenges facing the church become ever more severe, we are a most privileged generation to be alive and to be following Christ at this time. I remember at times being overwhelmed with a sense of the presence of God and being so grateful that I was living my life at the time that I do. But why should that be…
Secondly, I felt that God impressed upon me quite clearly that in the years to come we would see such a move of His Spirit, the like of which has not been seen for many generations, and the result of which would be a significant harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God. I also felt quite clear that the task of my generation was to prepare His church for this coming season. The days are short and there is no longer time to waste.
I remain as convinced today as I did then that both of those things are true: we are a privileged generation to be alive at this time, and the task of our generation is to prepare the Church for what God is about to do. The only difference is that now 25 more years have elapsed and we are that much closer to what God has prepared. I am also convinced that God will not wait for the Church to be ready. In His gracious love He has allowed us this season to return to Him as our first love and make ourselves wholly available to Him, but even if we don’t His purposes will still march on.
This has always been the heart of the vision behind the 6:19 Trust: to call the church to be ready for what God is about to do, and to announce that the days are short and the task is increasingly urgent. Last year at our first day conference we nailed our colours to the mast by giving the conference the title “The Time is Coming”, and that remains the overarching theme of this year’s conference that will be held at Great Walstead School on Saturday 25th June. We simply want to press into the heart of God and together hear His voice and respond to His call. This is not a day for those who simply want to come together with Christian friends and enjoy some good worship and teaching (can’t guarantee the latter at the moment anyway!), but it is a day for those who are desperate to see the lost saved, desperate to see an increase in the holiness of their lives, and desperate to see the Kingdom of God come to earth.
So I invite you to put the date in your diary and to come and join us. Tell your friends and bring them too. We are delighted to welcome back Nick Harding to lead our worship, and as last year we are making no charge for the day – we want to offer this as a gift to the church, a day to be refreshed and re-envisioned for the days that lie ahead. If you would like flyers to give out to people at your church they will be available in the next few weeks, and you will also shortly be able to book on-line for the conference. (I’ll let you know when that facility goes live.) In the meantime please pray for us as we continue to plan and prepare.
January 2011
Dear Friends
What does God have in common with my SatNav?
A few Christmas’s ago, when 6:19 was first getting off the ground and I was starting to travel a bit, Sarah bought me a SatNav. It has been a wonderful asset and most of the time manages to get me where I need to be; although on one memorable occasion when I was preaching at a church meeting in a school in Eastbourne it got me within sight of the school, but at the back and on the wrong side of the fence! To get to the front of the school was a 2 mile drive through a modern housing estate where every road looked identical!
Being the person that I am I have on occasion attempted to see whether it is possible to exhaust the patience of my SatNav by deliberately taking wrong turns and disobeying the instructions that I am given – so far without any success. No matter how hard I try and no matter how many wrong turns I take I can detect no hint of impatience or irritation in Jane’s voice. When she realises that I am not going to make that U-turn that she politely suggests I should, she simply pauses and tells me that she is ‘Busy planning route’, and before I know it off we go again until I deliberately take the next wrong turn! I have no doubt that I could carry on like this all day and she would never tire of planning me a new route to get me where I said I wanted to be.
As I look back on 2010, and on my life as a whole, I realise that God is as endlessly patient with me as my SatNav is. No matter how many wrong turns I have taken in my life – some of them through ignorance or misapprehension of His will, and sometimes through sheer disobedience – He has never given up on me or become impatient. Instead at every moment when I have gone off on my own down this or that cul-de-sac that seemed so appealing at the time, He has paused and planned a new route for me to get back on track. I wish I could be as patient and understanding with my own children as He is with me.
At Bolney Chapel we started this new year last Sunday morning by reflecting on Joshua 1:1-8. The Israelites are camped on the border of the Promised Land and on the verge of entering to take up the inheritance that God has promised and provided for them; and as the story goes on we see them take up that inheritance winning victory after victory. But as we know this is not the first time that the Israelites have been here. Forty years before they had been in exactly the same situation but were not willing either to trust God or obey Him – spies were sent in to the Promised Land to see what was there and came back full of fear about their ability to defeat the enemies that they saw. As a consequence not one of that generation was to see the Promised Land – not even Moses – but God did not abandon His people nor turn away from them. They spent a time in the desert being refined and shaped by God until they had learned some more about what it means to trust and obey the living God. This is the pattern of their relationship with God – despite every disobedience and every wrong turn He does not abandon them, and continually plans new routes so that they can return to their destiny.
At the beginning of a new year I find it a wonderful encouragement to be reminded of the character of God once again. I do not know exactly what lies in store for us as a family and as a church in the year ahead, and no doubt we will take some wrong turns along the way, but I do know that if our hearts are set towards God then even when we do get it wrong He will graciously and patiently plan a new route so they we can come back to the place where He wants us to be. I hope and pray that in 2011 you too may know the continuing and gracious love of God for you as you seek to follow Him and extend His Kingdom.
With our love as always
Simon and Sarah
November 2010
Dear Friends
Leading a church
As you can imagine I’m giving a lot of thought at the moment to my impending return to local church leadership (the removal men arrive exactly a month today!) I’ve spent my whole life in churches and Christian communities of one sort or another, and I’ve seen all kinds of different styles and approaches to church leadership. Some have been inspirational while others have been less so! I’ve also spent 15 years as a full-time church leader myself, and if it’s true that we learn by our mistakes then I ought to be some kind of expert by now!!
I well remember arriving in Ardingly in 1999 full of ideas and enthusiasm, and with a guaranteed strategy to save the village and build the Kingdom of God, and all before teatime. A very wise Bishop with a lifetime of experience behind him advised me not to change anything for a year, but simply to live in the village and get to know the church first. It was very wise advice – if only I had had the humility and patience to heed it. From memory I think I managed to wait until about the following January before proposing a radical change to the pattern of worship and services!
As I look back now I realise that so much of what I did and how I led in those days was driven by a fear of what people would think of me, by the need to win people’s approval, and by the need to impress both God and the church with my achievements. Living under the real and imagined expectations of myself, the members of the church and village, and a God I was desperate to curry favour with, proved to be a very stressful way to live, and by the end of it I’m not sure anyone was very much impressed!
In the last five years, since we left Ardingly, God has continued to refine me, sometimes gently and sometimes through fire, and I hope that the way I will lead in the future will look very different to the way it once did. I’m daily learning what it is to rest in God’s love for me – a love that I do not deserve and that I cannot earn, but which He pours out on me in abundance nevertheless. I’m going to Bolney without feeling a need to impress anyone, but with a deep desire to love God and His people in that place, and wait on Him for what He has planned for us.
If I have any agenda at all for church leading in the future it is to seek with every fibre of my being to ensure that everything is done in love, and to have as a goal that that is what shines out of the church and what the church is known for in the community. I have just finished studying Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians – a church that was in disarray and racked with division and selfishness – and his central message was that love for the Lord and love for one another should be the core value behind all that they were and all that they did. I’m also reminded of something that the Roman Catholic priest, Vincent Donovan, wrote in his book ‘Christianity Rediscovered’ following his experience of taking the gospel to the Masai tribesmen in Kenya in the 1960’s. Donovan came to the conclusion that in the end the irreducible core of the gospel was simply this: God loves the world, and He has expressed that love for us in His Son Jesus Christ. The task of Christians is to share that simple good news, and as they do so then the church that emerges will be relevant to, but not conformed to, the culture in which it sits.
So I’m looking forward to leading a church that is based around love for the Lord and love for one another, and which has a heart to share that good news with those around. I’m under no illusion that all will be perfect or that mistakes will not be made, but I am certain that if we cherish and pursue the love of God above all other things, then His name will be glorified and His kingdom will be built.
October 2010
Dear Friends
It’s been an exciting month! Read on to find out about my recent trip to Nigeria and also plans for a return to part-time local church leadership – yes, we are moving (but not far!)
Nigeria :
Water to drink and water for baptism
Two images in particular encapsulate what my trip to Nigeria was all about, and provide a wonderful picture of the work that Andy Economides’ Soteria Trust does there. The first image is of fresh water being pumped from the school borehole for the first time in six weeks. Since the old pump broke, earlier in the summer, the students at the school had only had water from an outside standpipe – quite a pain every time you want to flush the toilet and have to collect water in a bucket to be able to do so! We took the new pump with us in a suitcase and it was installed while we were there. It was a joyous moment when the water started flowing again, and made me grateful for something that I take for granted at home - a practical need met, and one that makes so much difference to everyday life.
The second image also involves water, but this time in the hotel swimming pool. During the course of the week the students at Soteria were told about Jesus and given the opportunity to put their trust in Him. Nine students did so and on the last Friday of our stay we all gathered at the hotel swimming pool for a wonderful baptism service. It was such a privilege to be involved and a great joy to see these young people put their trust in Jesus – a spiritual need met and one that will make a difference for eternity.
The Soteria Business School exists to ‘Make a Difference through Education’ and does so through providing Christian discipleship alongside training in practical skills, so that young people are better placed to get work. It was great to get to know some of the students during the course of the week and see the difference that Soteria makes to their lives. In a country where the state education system is at the point of collapse (last year recorded a 98% failure rate in secondary school students achieving at least five passes in national exams), schools like Soteria are vital. We visited one state school where we were shown the computer suite – for a class of upwards of 50 students it contained two computers neither of which worked. By contrast Soteria has a computer room with 26 working computers.
Many of the students at Soteria, as well as the staff, are supported through sponsorship from the UK. Having personally sponsored children through Compassion for many years, none of whom we have actually met, it was really good to hand-deliver letters from sponsors in the UK and then watch as the replies were written for us to bring back. If you are considering sponsoring a child abroad you might want to consider doing so through Soteria and you can find all the details on their website www.soteriatrust.org.uk
Goat brains and catfish!
There’s nothing quite as guaranteed to get the heart racing as being invited to someone’s home overseas and being greeted with the words, “I hope you don’t mind but I’ve cooked you something traditional!” When our host uttered these words on the Tuesday of our trip my mind immediately began racing back over past episodes of “Help! I’m a celebrity” for any memory of what bug or revolting animal body part might be a Nigerian specialty! In the end my worst fears were not realised but the goat’s head (including brain) certainly took me some way out of my comfort zone, and had an interesting effect on my digestive system for some days afterwards! This wasn’t the only occasion when I felt personally challenged and stretched. For three successive mornings we visited local secondary schools to take assemblies and then lead class seminars exploring what it means to follow Jesus. For me it was steep learning curve to suddenly find myself in front of 50 or so students with an hour to fill! I quickly realised that my usual style of speaking was not going to fit the context or culture and I had to do some very quick thinking on my feet in order to survive! By the end of the week I was feeling much more comfortable and was hopefully communicating more effectively.
At the second school we visited, a Muslim teacher reacted very negatively to Andy’s call for the students to make a commitment to follow Christ, and for a short while it looked as if we would have to leave before taking the class seminars. But the students, including the Muslims, were keen to hear about Jesus and although the Muslim teacher continued to protest, the gospel was preached and commitments to Christ were made.
So by the end of the week when we were served freshly caught catfish with rather too many tails and flippers still attached when it arrived on the plate, it felt like a walk in the park!
Miracle Cathedral and Glad Tidings Assembly
It was my privilege to preach at two churches during our stay and I was left with two particular impressions: firstly the joy (and volume!) of sung worship in each service, and secondly the wonderful way in which collections were gathered – usually several in each service and usually with members of the church joyfully singing their way to the baskets at the front in procession. What a contrast to the rather joyless and reluctant way that we so often give to God! The most humbling moment for me came at the end of the service at Glad Tidings on my second Sunday, when the pastor, Elijah, announced that a missionary collection would be taken – and given to the 6:19 Trust! It was deeply moving to receive such a blessing from those who have so little.
I could write so much more about the trip but will resist the urge to do so. It was an enormous privilege to go and I very much hope to return in the future. I have lots of photos some of which I will try to get up on the website and others of which I will share through facebook – so if you want to see them you will have to become my friend!
Finally a huge thank you to those of you who were at the day conference in the summer and whose generosity made the trip possible, and also to all of you who were able to support us in prayer – Sarah and I were very conscious of your support in this way and it meant so much to us.
Never say Never!
My next piece of news will highly amuse those of you who have heard me say repeatedly that I have never felt a call to be a church leader! I think God listens to such declarations and smiles!
Earlier this year I started to feel a concern that not being directly involved in local church leadership would start to have a detrimental effect on my wider ministry with 6:19. I could see that as time went by I would more and more be speaking from past experience as I spoke with church leaders and church members about how to be more effective in reaching their communities for Christ. God began to stir a desire in my heart to want to be more involved in leading a local church again.
To cut a long story short this desire came into very clear focus at the Diocesan Missioners’ Conference that I attended in July. A number of the missioners that I spoke to combined their diocesan role with also being responsible for a local church, and one missioner that I spoke to, who was in a full-time post, expressed the view that once out of local church leadership you have quite a short ‘shelf-life’ because increasingly you begin to speak from past rather than present experience. God used all of this to speak very deeply into my life and when I got home I came very close to asking Sarah about how she would feel about a return to parish ministry in some form or other! The very next day I received a ‘phone call from one of the elders at Bolney Village Chapel to ask whether I would consider taking on some responsibility for leading the ministry there in return for rent-free accommodation in the manse. This would immediately solve our ongoing budget deficit.
As we have prayed and discussed this proposal with our trustees, support group and family and close friends over the last three months there has been a unanimous sense that God is in this, and we have had a growing sense of excitement about what He has prepared for us in this next season. Our trustees are very much of the view that this new role at Bolney fits well within the remit of the 6:19 Trust and that the two sides of ministry – local and itinerant – will complement each other. I will remain as Director of the 6:19 Trust and my salary will continue to be paid from the Trust, while the chapel will provide accommodation in the manse. This new arrangement puts us in a much more secure financial position and should allow us to move ahead with plans to take on some part-time administrative help as outlined in the goals for the future that we presented at the day conference in June.
All being well we will be moving to Bolney early in December and gradually taking up my new role in the weeks and months that follow.
Thank you so much for all your prayers over these past months as we have sought God for how to close the gap between our income and expenditure. I had begun to sense that God was going to do this by reducing the latter, rather than by a sudden and significant increase in the former, but I had no idea quite what He had planned! We believe that our prayers have been wonderfully answered.
With our love and prayers
Simon and Sarah
September 2010
Dear Friends
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow”
One of the possible downsides of having an itinerant ministry is that I’m often left wondering what happens after I have spoken at an event or a conference and then gone home. I usually get some immediate feedback from the organiser, but what of the longer-term fruit? At one level it shouldn’t and doesn’t concern me – I know that my part is to be faithful to what I believe God has given me to say on each occasion and leave the rest to Him – but on the other hand it is enormously encouraging when I hear of how God has used me and those who come on a team to make a difference. So I was greatly encouraged to receive the following email from a friend in northern Sweden, and I share it with you that you may be encouraged also:
“I had an amazing experience last weekend. Every summer there is a big street festival in Piteå. Expensive tickets, great music and far more alcohol than people can handle. I’m sure you are familiar with the concept. A few years back the festival directors realized that Christians have a soothing effect on messy crowds, so our congregation, together with other churches, were invited to pitch a big tent where we could serve coffee, play soft music and talk to people. A few prayers have been said over the years but nothing spectacular - as usual among Christians...
This year a young woman from a church in town came up with the brilliant (and in some opinions - controversial) idea to put a reading chair outside the tent, with a lit reading lamp right over the head on the person sitting in the chair. A sign next to the chair said: "Have a seat and be blessed".
My sister-in-law called me on Saturday evening and asked me to join her at the festival. She had been there on the previous evening serving coffee and she had witnessed how non-Christians queued to be prayed for, and a limping man (sports injury sort of limping) was healed in an instant. (The only people who were surprised by that were Christians...)
I joined my sister-in-law at the festival church tent and offered to pray for and bless people. We prayed for a couple who had just got engaged. He was wicca but still wanted God´s blessing for their relationship and he gladly thanked us when we had prayed that God would give him a longing for more of Him and his unending love. One woman asked for emotional healing. After the prayer she just said thank you and left the chair but I overheard her saying to her friends: "It was amaaazing! It feels like I just received massage for an hour!" A young man asked us to pray that he would get laid that evening. We thanked God for seeing his need - not for mindless sex but for true love. So we prayed for God to bless him with a good relationship with God, his family and, in his future spouse. He said the prayer experience was big, deep, touching and he left us with tears in his eyes.
I want to thank you, Bob and June for helping me find the courage to join my sister-in-law at the festival.”
The Kingdom of God is extended every time one disciple has the courage to stand on the truth of his or her birthright as a child of God, and in simple obedience show someone the love and power of God as my friend in Sweden did.
Context is everything
After three years of ‘summer’ holidays shivering in various parts of the UK, we were amazingly blessed to have our first family holiday abroad this year in Menorca. The sun shone almost every day and the temperature averaged a very pleasant 30oC. As a result we spent long hours in and around the pool in our swimming costumes, and got to know one or two other families staying in apartments nearby. By the pool it seemed completely normal to chat to one another dressed in this way, but it occurred to me that if, when we got home, we were invited to dinner by one of these same families, and then turned up wearing nothing but our underwear everyone would probably feel distinctly awkward! The context dictates what is and isn’t acceptable – swimming costumes and underwear cover more or less the same amount of flesh, but the context dictates whether or not its appropriate to wear them!
My reflection on all this is that something very similar goes on when we seek to share the gospel of Jesus in the culture in which we live. Most of the time, talking about Jesus to those who do not yet know him is rather like turning up to dinner in your underwear – everyone feels rather awkward. So what we have to do is create a context where to talk about Jesus and issues of faith is acceptable. This raises two issues that we must grapple with if we are serious about sharing Jesus with others: firstly, how does the culture of our church strike those who come amongst us for the first time – is it an environment in which they will feel at home and want to come back to? Secondly, what priority do we give to building relationships with those outside the church and creating an environment in which it is acceptable to talk about Jesus? Since returning from holiday I have been deeply challenged yet again by the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19-end and especially vs 22b “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”
Many of us will be planning towards ‘Back to Church Sunday’ at the end of this month, as well as Alpha courses and other events lined up for the autumn. My prayer that we may all be encouraged to seek every opportunity to make Christ known, for when we have the courage to sow the seeds we can be certain God will grow the crop!
With very much love
Simon
August 2010
Dear Friends
One of the aspects of being in Christian ministry that I have always enjoyed is the huge variety of things that I find myself doing – no two days are ever the same! This has certainly been true of the last month that has included speaking at a New Wine conference in northern Sweden, leading a Christianity Explored course at our church, and this last week speaking at a children’s holiday club, “Rocky’s Plaice” in Bolney. The common theme that holds all of these things together is, of course, the love of God for us expressed through His Son Jesus, and I count it the highest privilege to spend my days speaking of that love, and encouraging the church to share it more effectively.
The conference in Pitea, Sweden drew together about 100 people from different churches, including friends that we first met there last November, and also some from Umea where we visited in February. I took with me this time a wonderful lady from the 6:19 Support Group, June, who led two seminars on the Saturday afternoon and who helped pray for many people at the end of each session. June spoke very effectively about how to avoid being deceived, as Eve was in the Garden of Eden, and how to discern when God is speaking to us; and also about how to leave behind the dead things of the past – learning lessons from the Gadarene demoniac. Over the course of the weekend it was wonderful to see people encouraged in their faith, and also to see many loves lovingly and graciously impacted by Jesus.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was meeting the husband of a lady who I first met in Umea in February. Many years ago he suffered a severe stroke and was in a coma for several months. The stroke has left him severely disabled and this was the first conference that he had been able to attend in the last 20 years. He surprised himself by being able to come to all three sessions on the Saturday of the conference. It was a privilege to meet him because here was someone from whom the love of Jesus shone out. He had such a love for Jesus that was evident in everything he said, and there was not a trace of bitterness or resentment because of how ill he had been and the disabilities that he had been left with. It was a humbling experience to meet someone who had suffered so much and yet had triumphed over suffering in Jesus.
The holiday club at Bolney has been great fun with 30-40 children coming each day to learn about how much God loves them. We pray that many seeds have been sown this week that will bear fruit in the years to come.
Now we are packing to go on holiday for a much-needed rest before what looks to be a very busy and exciting autumn. We trust and pray that you also will enjoy a break over the next few weeks.
With very much love
Simon
July 2010
Dear Friends
Our first birthday!
Some of you will have realised that we have recently celebrated our first birthday as a full time ministry. In fact, although we did not plan it this way, the day conference that we held on 6/19/10 fell on our anniversary weekend. So as is the way with anniversaries I have been looking back and reflecting on the events of the past year and where God has brought us so far.
In common with each of the last few years since we left Ardingly it has been something of a rollercoaster ride with all sorts of unexpected twists and turns. But once again we have been sustained and encouraged by a faithful God who never lets go of us, and by wonderful family and friends whose love and support is priceless. Here are just a few highlights from the last 12 months:
“The Time is Coming”
Despite clashing with numerous other events over 50 of us gathered at Great Walstead School on 19th June for our first day conference. We had a wonderful day together, conscious throughout of God’s presence. The worship was sensitively led by Nick Harding who is so gifted in this area, and it was a real privilege to share the day with Richard Jackson, and my mentor Andy Economides, who spoke about the work that he is doing in Nigeria and the trip that we will be making there in September. An offering was taken towards the cost of my going to Nigeria, and once gift aid has been reclaimed we will have received £1800 – exactly what was needed!
If you were not able to come to the conference the talks have all now been uploaded to the website http://www.sixnineteen.co.uk/. Click on the ‘Listen and Watch’ button to find them. We are also making plans to hold another conference in 2011 and will publish the date as soon as we have it fixed.
One of the outcomes from the conference is that we are planning to open our home for one day a month as a focus for prayer for revival in our nation. Anyone who is near enough will be most welcome to drop in during the day to pray and spend time seeking God’s face and His heart for the lost. We will announce which day it will be in due course.
“Meatballs”
The first time I went to Sweden in 2007 this is what my children asked me to bring back – and I did so! I am currently preparing to fly to Sweden for my 4th visit since last summer. Once again I will be speaking at a weekend conference that will gather and encourage Christians from across a number of churches. This time I am delighted to be taking June McClellan, from the 6:19 Support Group, who will share the teaching with me. Each of these trips is so special and it is such an honour to be able to encourage God’s precious people.
“GAT”
With a combined age of 194yrs, I was part of a team of 3 that flew to Burkina Faso in West Africa last November to teach at two Global Alpha Training events. It was humbling to travel to a country that materially is so poor and yet spiritually is so hungry for the Lord, and where evangelism is top of the churches agenda and every opportunity for sharing the gospel is seized. We have so much to learn from our African brothers and sisters and I am delighted to be returning to Africa in September. I am particularly delighted that this time I will be in an English speaking country, given the paucity of my French!
“Bacon and Eggs”
Men’s breakfasts are one engagement I never hesitate to accept and the year has been sprinkled with a few of these! There is a desperate need to reach men for Christ and I love these opportunities to encourage Christian men to reach out to their friends and see this as part of what it means to follow Christ. Most of these invitations come as a result of being on the recommended speaker’s list for Christian Vision for Men. Once again I will be at the CVM annual conference in September, this year with a 6:19 Trust stand.
“UCB Godspots”
These 60 second ‘Godspots’ are currently being broadcast at points during the day on UCB UK, and will be repeated in a cycle until the end of this month. I have been asked to record a second set of 7 ‘Godspots’ to be broadcast in due course. If you are not a regular listener to UCB you’ll find them on the website!
“Conferences”
It would be easy to become a conference junkie, so I choose with care the ones that I go to. The Evangelist’s Conference, organised by JJohn and Andy Economides in January, proved to be very significant. God spoke clearly to me about the need to be baptised by full immersion as an adult, and when I got home I discovered that He had had the same conversation with Sarah while I was away! We were both baptised in June at a most special service in Bolney with family and friends. In May I was at the New Wine Leaders’ Conference in Harrogate, and God reminded me of what it is that He has called me to and why the 6:19 Trust exists. At our next 6:19 Support Group meeting the following week, one of the group had exactly the same picture for me! Last week I was in France at the Diocesan Missioners conference. Once again it was a privilege to be there, and again God was speaking clearly to me. It is too early to share just yet but I think God was stirring me and showing me something of what the future holds for us! As you can appreciate I’m really looking forward to the CVM conference in September!
I could go on but I hope this snapshot of the year will give you much to thank God for. We remain deeply grateful to all of you whose love, support and encouragement, make this crazy life that we lead possible!
With very much love
Simon and Sarah x
April 2010
Dear Friends
Living Free – the victory of the cross
As a young Christian I was introduced to the Navigators Bible memory verse programme. As I remember it there were 60 verses to memorise in the first box, and I set out with enthusiasm to learn them all! I have to confess that I didn’t learn the whole box, but some of the ones that I did memorise have stayed with me over all these years, and I often return to them now. Two of them are these:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
They are verses that sum up so well all that Jesus achieved for us on the cross and by His resurrection, and they are verses that are full of life and hope and promise. Every time I think of them my spirit soars within me, and I marvel again at God’s amazing love and grace for me.
I have also spent many a long hour wrestling with Paul’s words to the Corinthians that ‘the old has gone and the new has come.’ If this is so then why does the ‘old’ still seem to rear its ugly head in my life so often? It’s a dilemma that Paul wrestles with so eloquently in Romans 7&8, coming to the wonderful conclusion that ‘there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ It’s an inner conflict that every Christian knows all too well, and we have to find a way of living with it as we ‘work out our salvation’. It seems to me that there are essentially two approaches that we can take: we can either leave the ‘old’ behind, as we place our focus on pursuing the ‘new’; or we can seek to enter into the ‘new’ by focussing on and trying to unpick the ‘old’ bit by bit. The difference between the two approaches is very subtle but, I think, very significant, and in different seasons of my life I have tried both.
When I focus on living in the new nature that Christ won for me on the cross, my eyes are fixed on Him and on what He has done for me. As I relentlessly pursue my relationship with Him and seek to draw closer to Him, He shines the light of His holiness into my life and shows me the things that need to change. By the gentle and gracious working of the Holy Spirit He transforms me more and more into the likeness of Jesus. From time to time there are significant issues that need to be dealt with, and I believe that on at least two occasions God has delivered me from demons. I didn’t go looking for them and I would never have known that they were there until God in His wisdom, and at the right time, drew attention to them and they had to leave.
By contrast when I place my focus on seeking to get rid of the old nature I quickly realise that this is an endless pursuit, because on the day that I die one thing is sure – my old nature will still be imperfect! No matter how hard I go after it I will never ‘fix up’ my old nature, and in fact there is no point trying to do so – even though I wrestle with it, the truth is that it’s old and it’s gone, utterly trounced on the cross. (Someone has said that it is like trying to resurrect a corpse that is meant to be dead!) This focus on the ‘old’ also leads me to dwell too much on what the enemy has done, and on my sin that has given him ‘access’. Yes I have sinned and spoilt my life in so many ways in the past but, as Paul says, “Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ my Lord!” Rom 7:25
So may I wish you a most happy and blessed Easter – rejoice in what He has done and the freedom He has won for us! Rejoice! He is risen and so are we!
A date for your diary!
6:19 Trust Day Conference
19th June 2010
at Great Walstead School, Lindfield
A day to: Seek God’s Face, Encourage the Church, and pray for Revival
We hope that the day will fulfil a number of aims: firstly, to bring together as many as possible of those of you who support the vision behind 6:19 – you all know me but most of you have not met each other!; secondly, to share the vision of renewal and revival that is at the heart of 6:19, and give an opportunity for you to invite others to come and find out what we are all about; and, thirdly, an opportunity to meet with God in worship and call out to Him for revival in our land.
The conference – for which there will be no charge - will be held in the beautiful setting of Great Walstead School which is just outside the village of Lindfield in West Sussex.
We would be delighted if you were able to come and wanted to give you the date as early as possible. Further details and booking forms will be made available in due course.
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”
You are probably familiar with these words from Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. It’s a reminder that in the church God has given different gifts to different people, but that ultimately the work is His; therefore, there is no place for competition between members of the church, but only faithful obedience to the God who calls and equips us.
When I reflect on my own journey of faith there are two things that I can see have hindered me, and on so many occasions have held me back from stepping out for God. Firstly, I spent a long time being envious of the gifts that God had given other people, rather than being thankful for, and moving in, the gift that He had given me! How often do we look at other Christians and think, “I wish I could be like them?” Secondly, I have always had a tendency to take responsibility for ‘making it grow’ rather than simply being obedient and planting the seed, and allowing God to do the growing. How many times have we held back from sharing our faith by the fear of what people will think of us? How many times have we held back from praying for someone for healing because of the fear of what we will say if/when nothing happens? I’ve been thinking along these lines recently for two reasons:
Living by faith means living by trusting in a God who is faithful
I’m just coming to the end of a study of the book of Hebrews that, in its later chapters, celebrates the people of God who have lived by faith. The writer, Tom Wright, points out that we live by faith when we choose to believe that certain things about God are true and we decide to live our lives accordingly. If, therefore, God has promised that He will honour those who honour Him, and if it is true that it is His love for me that is all I need to depend on, to give me my sense of self-worth and security, then it does not matter what others may think of me when I tell them about Jesus! In the same way if I believe that God is a God who heals, and that I have been given power and authority to heal in His name, then I should have no hesitation in offering to do so. My part is to share the love of Jesus, and out of that love to pray with sensitivity, gentleness and authority for those who are sick. Not everyone I pray for will be healed – but what happens when I pray is not my responsibility. We must plant or water, or whatever He has called us to do, and leave Him to do the rest.
More news from Burkina Faso
You will remember from the last newsletter that I had the privilege of preaching at an open-air service at the church in Bobo where we spent the second week of our trip. You will remember that on the evening itself only one person stood to give their life to Jesus – hardly a stampede after I had preached my socks off! But the following week three others came to the pastor’s house to give their lives to Jesus, and I have since heard that in the weeks before Christmas three more have done the same. The pastor, Moise, assures me that there will be more.
It has taught me once again a lesson about simply being obedient to what God has called me to do, and not to take responsibility for what happens next. To paraphrase Paul’s sentence – “I planted, Moise and his church family have watered, but God has been making it grow.”
2010 – a year of stepping out in obedience
So my goal for this year is to ruthlessly pursue the God who is faithful in all things; to choose to believe the truth that He has revealed about Himself; and to live my life accordingly. I hope and pray that for you it too will be a year of going deeper in your relationship with Him.
