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!!