"A right time to plant and another to reap...."

Chris writes: not many people realise, but yes, the words above do actually come from the Bible (Ecc 3:2 The Message)...and how true they are!! This applies to all things and especially as I was reminded recently to mission.......



I am enjoying my role heading up the ministry section of the English Language Community Outreach programme, teaching many of the future missionaries about mission, at the OM training centre in West Midlands and am currently on my 4th ELCO programme....it is the second team I have supervised in one particular church and the third team we have had actually based there. For the first two teams, nothing much seemed to be happening, we had holiday clubs for children and just a few children turned up and to me, not much fruit was showing. But just like when we plant seeds in the ground and we cannot see much happening on the surface, I was wondering if were making any impact. Now however I can see how wrong I was.


For the current team things really seem to have changed....they are running after school clubs and I can now see how wrong I was before. The first week one child turned up, but last week we had 17 children there!! What a blessing!!


But we must acknowledge and not forget the previous teams work in breaking up and preparing the ground. This work is so important in the garden and just as important in longer-term ministry. We must make a start and in the beginning be prepared to see very little fruit....but we will not see any fruit without someone doing that very important job first. And people will never realise how hard that part was. When someone looks at a beautiful rose they don't appreciate how hard it was to produce that rose they just enjoy the beautiful flower before them.

"Who despises the day of small things?".....and yes that is more wise words, from not just a good book, but the very words of God!! (Zech 4:10).

Blessings

Christmas.... Hope is coming.....The Hope is Here!!

Chris writes: Last summer I felt God was leading me into a deeper love relationship with Him. I felt I had a divine appointment and found in a bookshop an old copy of ‘The Relentless Love of Jesus’ by Brennan Manning. As a dyslexic, I am not a fast reader, but the book took me over a year to read! If you know the book and how thin it is, even to a dyslexic maybe you are amazed by this! I make no apologies. The book is so rich and deep and almost every page I found needed an equal amount of time to meditate on and chew over. So many pages have been marked and underlined, I don’t think I could lend it out or even let it out of my sight! Sorry if you were going to ask to borrow! Don’t worry I noticed you can get it on Amazon!

For the last few weeks, since the operation on my knee, I have been resting at home so had chance to finish the book!

There is so much I could share with you from the book, but as we approach Christmas, let me just share a few thoughts from the last few pages of the book where Manning talks of the: 'Crisis of Christmas'.

‘To be a Christian’ he says ‘means to stake one’s life on the revelation of God in Jesus Christ’. ‘What is our depth and quality of our passion for Jesus?’ At Christmas time it is easy for us to get sucked into all the trappings and tinsel as Christmas, for many, becomes the time to overdo and over indulge, getting ourselves into debt. Will we celebrate Christmas this year by over indulging?

He shares of a priest who visited a 16 year old girl who was dying in hospital. The girl looked into the worried and grief stricken face of the priest and said: ‘“Don't be afraid”. This is the precise meaning of Christian,’ Christmas ‘hope’ Manning says ‘when the dying can say to the living, “Don't be afraid”’. Is that the hope you have?

He says there are three ways we can commit suicide: ‘by taking my own life, letting myself die and letting myself live without hope’. He quotes Thoreau who wrote that: ‘The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation’…. ‘they still walk around……but the fire inside them has died’. Are you still alive?

He asks, if we have lost our sense of fun and enjoyment about life and are missing out on the most simplest of things. ‘Has getting serious about life meant becoming sad about life? Is living just another word for endurance?’ Have we got so ‘engrossed in our own efforts to grow in holiness’ that we are missing out on life?

He says that sometimes we, much like some of the disciples & followers, who lived and walked and learnt from Jesus for three years and still felt let down by Him say: “Messiah, you get our allegiance only when you fulfil our expectations”.

He says that ‘Christmas means that God has given us nothing less than Himself and His name is Jesus Christ’… are we ‘laid waste by one pure passion’, this should lead us to a ‘realistic assessment: anything connected with Christmas that is not centred in Christ Jesus’ is ‘empty gesturing’.

He says we must not be too preoccupied with our own purity of heart…trying to be holy...but that purity of heart means to have our gaze fixed on Jesus and Jesus alone….. To ‘admire Him, rejoice that He is what He is – your Brother, your Friend, your Lord and Saviour’.

He talks about Matthew 18:3, children know how to celebrate Christmas, and Manning says not that we have to become childish but childlike: ‘Children are our role models because they have no claim on heaven. If they are close to God Simon Tugwell says, “it is not because they are innocent, but because they are incompetent.” ‘When Jesus tells us to become like children’ he says ‘He is urging us to forget what lies behind. Children have no past.’

If we asked people in the street on Christmas eve: ‘what they most want for Christmas, how many would say, ‘I want to see Jesus’?

And finally.......

He quotes Rabbi Abraham Heschel, “Jesus Christ is of no importance unless He is of supreme importance”.

I hope these quotes will help you reflect and prepare as we approach Christmas.

Blessings

Recent trip to London: Poppies at Tower Hill

change is hard and can be painful......

Chris writes: it is hard to think that our 21 students are now settled around the world serving God...some of them at home and others on the mission field in some of the most dangerous and unsettled places in the world..to of them are in the Philippines, one is in Jordan...it seems strange to see some of their posts on facebook! Meanwhile five weeks on we have launched into a new ELCO programme and another 22 new students have joined us from the length and breadth of the world.....from Brazil,Thailand, Taiwan, Russia to name a few and even our first ever from Azerbaijan!!

I must admit I was so worried about learning their names!! Praise God I am feeling so confident after day one and am learning them quickly...now we start the process of finding out their English capabilities, putting them into church teams and the ones who want to, giving them driving tests!!

Last week was a tough week as we have finally closed the café and are selling off the items..I felt God saying it was a time for pruning....but when that happens things die before growth comes...but the death can bring mourning and grief......mine did not last long as the following day I found out at last the youth café at our Church in Gjakove has opened......growth has come!! Praise God!! ....the most exciting thing is this is not lead by us but by the locals.......please do pray for this new venture and the community it will be reaching.......please also pray that we can finish things off well with the old café too......

Have put two pictures on my facebook tonight...two very special men........men I am proud to say I had the privilege of knowing...men of God who set an example of grace and love......and so much more besides.....RIP Brother Micky and Faton!.......pray for their families and their legacies

God bless......thanks for your support and prayers

endings and beginnings.......

Chris writes: well we have now been here in Halesowen for almost one year and what a year it has been!! Thank you to so many of you who have travelled with us through our adventures from Kosova to UK!


Sadly the operation on my knee, scheduled for this week, has been postponed but it was bitter sweet.


Last night it was graduation night for our summer 2014 ELCO students. 21 students that we have been journeying with for the last four months are now ready to launch off into their next chapter of service with God. Wow what a joy!! 18 of the 21 students will be going to 7 nations to serve God!!..the others will be serving God of course but are not so sure where. What a privilege to have had the opportunity to invest in their lives. And to think that before we even left Kosova I had a vision to work with missionaries but of course I was not sure in what context....but God knew!!


The exciting thing is that some of these students are going to some of the most dangerous parts of the world so I do not even like sharing their photos as that could endanger them....


Please do pray for these students as they lay their lives down to serve God all over the world.

Great Expectations......!!

Chris writes: well an awful lot can happen in 6 weeks!! We had a brilliant week away in North Wales. When we came back we moved house and are now living just 15 minutes walk away from where we are based. After 12 months here in UK and 8 living in someone else's home it is soooo good to be in our own at last!! Yesterday we had the internet put on and it is great to be in regular contact again.

The week is mission week for our ELCO students. Basically they have no English lessons so spend the whole week with their churches touching the communities, doing mission 24/7.
This afternoon I visited the three churches who are involved in mission with our students across Birmingham. Two of the churches had their programme sorted out in advance and seemed well organised. The third because of illness were not even sure if they would be able to do a mission week even last week. It was a real struggle and a step of faith but the third managed to come up with something at the 11th hour, working with the children doing crafts. I was really surprised at the results as the 3rd church seemed the busiest and was really impacting the community. Clearly I am not saying planning is not important, but sometimes we just need to spend less time planning and more time praying, just listening to our Father...me included!!

It made me think how we have such great expectations for ourselves and for our ministries and so many plans. We think God will love us more because of what we do for Him. God has one expectation of us which is to love Him....the rest we work out as we go along through life.

Brennan Manning, a man who I am sure was like David in so many ways and a man after God's heart, quotes Father Hugh Donlon: 'You cannot earn God's love because He gave it to you before you started to earn it.'

Have a great summer.

In Him

What does the Kingdom of God look like??

Chris writes: so much at the moment from people asking what is mission? What Does the Kingdom of God look like? One thing I know is that it is alive and it actually includes us if we accept and acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Saviour of our lives. Also that it should be making a difference and improving things where it goes/touches. We must try to live this out while on this earth and not always look into the future....also that when it/we comes into contact with people that don't know Jesus it should interest and inspire them and make them ask questions.

Lifehope is a great & loving community but sometimes it can be a bubble of Christians...nice and friendly people...which seems so far away from those that are not.....but maybe it is also a kind of reflection of The Kingdom of God.....over the last week or so I had a chance to see that community going out into the world....the larger community and it was so exciting...such a privilege to see and be a part of........

Firstly the ELCO students very simply took a football out onto the Estate where one of the ELCO partner churches are....this was the result:

It might seem simple but it was quite a lot building up to this and a big step of faith for all.......

Secondly while I was at Bible College one of our lecturers shared how a simple act such as picking up litter, can make such a difference to somebodies day. Close to OM we have a river where a number of shopping trolleys and other items had been thrown so I thought it would be great for Lifehope to do a clean-up of the area......picking up litter/cleaning out the river....this is the result...me and my friend James who really caught the vision and encouraged me and even got down into the river with a few others:

Thanks James!!

What a joy to be a part of this community expressing and working out the Kingdom of God in Halesowen!!

Blessings

Have you been forgiven??

Chris writes: Have you been forgiven? Do you really know what it is like to be forgiven? Forgiveness is something we all can experience whether we have a faith or not. We do something we know we should not be doing and ask for forgiveness. Saying a wrong word or doing a wrong action. If we are a Christian, a follower of Jesus, and of His teachings, then we have a different moral compass and something which maybe is acceptable to others, which is seen as merely expressing yourself or being different, is by God, considered to be going against God's best for you.  As Christians or not often those things are genuinely not the best for us or others around us. So God is merely trying to protect us from ourselves. For Christians we must recognize those things.

Yesterday was not a good day and one that I needed to go back and ask for forgiveness. Feelings of: why am I here again came in. Today however I was able to write in my journal: "Today is another day"....."My failings of yesterday are past...I am forgiven and redeemed by the Blood of Jesus". What does that really mean?? The Blood of Jesus is so much more than just Christian jargon...it is freedom...it is forgiveness or in the worship song we sometimes still sing: 'God's love came to me and set me free'...until we are forgiven we are held captive...forgiveness brings freedom...something we all know and long to experience.......have you been forgiven??

We are doing ok, but continue in waiting on our next step, with regard to our permanent home and all that we hope and pray that will bring... We really need to move forward but are waiting for the right time....covet your prayers!!

Am still working on a video of my time in the Balkans but it is taking longer than expected. The time there was really encouraging and exciting: the Lighthouse cafe we established has moved now and business is going really well. The focus is however more on the adults and less on the children. We have however been able to financially support another cafe, in the same town, aimed at the youth, which is opening very soon. Someone I met in Albania, who was coming to UK for our ELCO programme had his visa rejected which was sad and hard for him. Hopefully he will try again and maybe there will be opportunity for others to come in the future.

Have been quite busy recently....we have finished our Spring ELCO programme:   .......

 .........and at the same time started our summer ELCO programme!! Team building day.....Crazy week!!

Yesterday it was good to be with a special group of people celebrating the birth of a vision which has been a number of years in the making....a new cafe in Brandhall......

looking forward to a few days away this week.....how are you doing??

Appreciate your prayers and support as always and for standing with us....much love xx

wow...blown away!!

Chris writes......well thanks all of you so much for your prayers and it was an extremely profitable and envisioning time!!...there were so many divine appointments...please pray that I can recall them and share the pictures and stories with you in due course!!

Watch this space!!

GOD is good ALL the Time!!

Chris writes: hi all and hope you are enjoying the early signs of spring....so lovely to walk around and see the daffodils coming up and the trees with the spring blossom on them....spring comes every year to remind us of the new start Jesus wants to make in our lives...no matter what happened yesterday whether we did well or not today is a new day!! If we come back to God and are truly sorry He will give us a fresh start...just like a new day.....Wow what an amazing God we have!!

• The last few weeks have been challenging...sadly the guy who was going to buy our flat down south...our perfect answer to prayer...or so we thought...changed his mind and pulled out of the sale...we had some other people look at it but they offered a price under our asking price....at this stage we don't have a mortgage so don't know how much we need to realize from the flat so it seems premature to blindly accept a lower offer...so we are holding on and waiting it out...

• On the Kosova front...we have heard that the cafe is moving to another location...and on Wednesday I will be travelling there!! for the first time since we left last June....am really excited to be able to go back for 8 days...sadly just me...but please pray it will be a profitable and envisioning time...I will also be travelling to Albania and meeting our first student and his family from Albania that will be joining us on the ELCO programme in May....pray that we can inspire and raise up other missionaries from the Balkans....more to follow....watch this space!!

A few pictures from the current ELCO programme...our evangelism day on the streets in Birmingham..I was able to share a short message....and the rain did not stop us!!..and Lorraine with one of our good friends on the base from Holland taking the students bowling....

Thanks so much for your prayers....we love you guys!!

Our God is greater...our God is Stronger.....

Chris writes: we serve an Awesome God!!!.....as my friend says 'never use the word awesome unless you are talking about God!!' God never leaves us and is always there for us. Have been facing our 'Jericho' this week...trudging around 'knocking on doors' to get the mortgage so that we can have our own home back here in UK and settle down into our next step....we also needed to sell the flat in Christchurch....we had been blown away with the valuation but there still seemed so much we needed to do so that we could move forward.....someone who I had been told would be able to help us with the mortgage told me to forget it and we need to just rent...this sent me into a depression.......our 'Jericho' just seemed too big...too overwhelming

Why do we place so much trust in other men?? Why do we wait and try to chase them more than we do God???......surely......He is stronger...He is greater....'what could stand against'???   as someone once said!!

The next day God woke me very early in the morning and my next reading was Psalm 13:

"How long, Lord? Will You forget me forever?" Like David I was feeling pretty low but how does the Psalm end?

"I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD'S praise for He has been good to me".

Whatever happens to us....God has saved us and died for us and offers us an eternity with Him as opposed to an eternity without. He offers us a new, rich and fulfilling life....what more could we ask for!!

Do the problems just disappear?? Sometimes and sometimes not....but suddenly we are viewing them standing on God, our Father's shoulders rather than on other peoples shoulders.........and then they seem much smaller and we can see over them.

No mortgage yet.

.................and the flat....went on the market on Friday after we signed and returned the particulars...two viewings on Saturday.....the first person offered £10,000 under and the second person.............................

...............................................offered the asking price and wants to keep the tenant!!!!!!!!

This morning in church we sung the Chris Tomlin song.........and it is true!!!!!!


http://vimeo.com/43594965

......................maybe you need to be reminded of that fact today as you face your 'Jericho'???

Be blessed and be a blessing

who was/is Jesus?? How much does God love us??...please read on........

Chris writes: lots going on at the moment, the new intake of our international students (ELCO) have now arrived...the last one a girl from Russia had visa problems but is now with us...they are settling in and I am enjoying leading the missional part of their programme.

We have just sent out our monthly prayer letter with some big prayer requests for us as a couple what we are praying to achieve for 2014.....if you have not received it/would like to please let me know and we will send it to you......we would really appreciate your prayers in these coming months!!

Someone once said: 'Faith is not believing that God can. It's knowing that He will'

We believe that God will.

Am still reading the wonderful book  'The Relentless Love Of Jesus' by Brennan Manning

Some people are happy to believe the lie that Jesus was a only prophet and nothing more. Or that He was merely a good guy. Look at the evidence.

We all know and believe He existed and walked this earth.......there is more evidence to prove that than many other people from history.

the Bible says that Jesus points us to God.......He is Son of God??

.....some people say that I look like my dad...no-one else does, I am in direct relationship with him...

Jesus said: "Anyone who has seen me has seen The Father"... i.e. God...in John 14:9 so Jesus is saying He is in direct relationship with God......so not just another guy or even a prophet then....and as CS Lewis says a good guy would not make claims like that anyway.

....and how do we know that The Father loves us..how much does He love us??......as the beautiful song by David Crowder band says oh how He loves us:

The truth is as Manning says:  

"...the torn, broken, lacerated, spit covered, blood drenched body of Jesus is only a hint of the Father's love."

How amazing!! Let those words go deep!!

God bless you

New Year...new start

Chris writes...well only 23 days into the new year and has been such a busy time We have now graduated our international students (ELCO programme).... and the new students are literally on their way....one from Bosnia just arrived this evening.....over an hour late!...the new term/intake starts on Monday....we also have a new church and I have some ideas for developing the ministry programme further......the prayer meeting for the night shelters which are going to be run every night in different churches around Birmingham was great and It was so good to see the churches across Birmingham from diverse physical locations and with equally diverse theologies meeting and sharing together. There was involvement from the URC Church, The Baptist Church and the Anglican Church. it was so exciting and inspiring to see all these people and churches praying together in unity!!

The night shelter itself has now started and the churches are impacting their communities.....people who last week slept rough now have a warm accommodation if they wish.

We had a great week off and felt really blessed, refreshed and strengthened for the busy few months ahead!!

We have been praying much about our future and feel God is saying to enjoy what we have and trust Him for the rest......

...........thanks so much for your prayers and support and hope you can keep up with us in 2014!!