Furrowed…
7 years ago
In the first of a few posts I want to explore our purpose here, our connection to Salvationism, the Salvation Army and the wider Church. Today we're going to start with our purpose and mission here.
Our mission is summed up well in the mission statement at the top of the blog:
To push back the darkness and claim the land for GodTo Save Souls, Grow Saints, Train Warriors and serve suffering humanity.
I took a quick look over the posts I've made and I was really surprised to see that in the initial rush I never posted anything about our original vision, so let's start there:
We need to go back to about 6 months-1 year before Lucy and I were married. At that point when we were planning our future (where we were going to live, what jobs we were going to do) and were undertaking marriage preparation classes a word was given to us.
I was living in Reading where I was finishing my degree but we didn't really have any intention of staying there. Lucy was from the country and I prefer the country having grown up there, that's what we wanted to go to when we married. Lucy particularly likes the South West but as a realist I was also looking north for a good combination of jobs and low cost of living. I was looking for (and applying) for graduate jobs in Cornwall, Reading (and surrounding areas) and Leeds.
The word was this: "Take St. Martin's road"
It came from a very respected friend of ours. We truly believed this was from God! So I looked for St. Martin's roads in all 3 areas, but due to the lack of jobs in Cornwall didn't really pay much attention to that part of the search.
Anyway, strangely I got a job in none of those places but close enough to Reading to commute (if you like commuting). 6 months later things appear to be going well and we're starting to settle, living the life that everyone else was living (spending all your time getting to/from work and never having time to enjoy the great money you're earning).
Not long after we had moved there the true meaning of the "rat race" started to dawn on me and it was particularly depressing for someone who feels their true vocation in life is full-time ministry. I started to beg God:
"Call me now. Please? If not Officership yet, how about envoy-ship?" (Envoys are non-ordained lay leaders who give 3 years of their life at a time to full-time ministry)
Then a recurring dream and day-dream started to happen (at least to me): quite simply it was Lucy and I standing on a street corner in Salvation Army uniform. Between us we usually had a flag, a drum and a brass instrument of some type. The street corner was in a quaint sea-side village. The calling seemed pretty clear so we started to pray about it, we prayed over maps of Cornwall and we asked a few trusted other people to also pray for this decision.
We eventually found a St. Martin's road in Looe which was our route in. In order to get into Looe we'd have to take "St. Martin's Road". We prayed more, but it seemed clear that this was the place (this has definitely been confirmed since we arrived).
Once we decided that we were going to follow God's call, we had to make some decisions. Our rental contract was up for renewal in August, rather than sign up for another 6 months it seemed like this was the opportune time to go. Why waste time when God is calling?
We didn't think anyone would understand. We hated the thought of having to explain this to our parents. Would they understand? 3 of them are Christian, but we still weren't sure. We prayed that God would tell them for us... He didn't do quite that, but He did prepare the way and most people we told were excited and encouraged us.
Lots of things happened on the way, but we ended up here. First and foremost our mission, as stated in the first post, is to fulfil the great commission to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I [Jesus] have commanded you." So that's the "Save Souls" bit of our mission statement.
We think it's possible that we may end up starting a new congregation or network of congregations along the lines of organic church/simple church/informal church. That covers the "Grow Saints" and "Train Warriors".
We also both feel very strongly about actual spiritual warfare and facing some stuff head on, so we may get involved in some of that if/when necessary. That's the first line "To push back the darkness and claim the land for God".
There's also the serving of suffering humanity, which we'll do as and when.
Finally it's worth mentioning that we're not here to compete with or clash with any of the established church congregations here. If someone else is doing something better we'll work with them and point people in their direction. There's no point duplicating and fighting with other Christians. But I guess this leads nicely into my next post about our relationship with The Salvation Army and the Church universal...
Hey folks!
Sorry for the recent silence! Let me just say that it's not because nothing is happening!
The prayer group meeting in our home every Wednesday 2-3pm is growing and is really exciting. We're able to hear a lot of what God is doing here in Looe, which is great.
We've had a few people asking what we're doing here and what our relationship is to The Salvation Army (importantly whether we've turned our back on it). Short answer(s): we're still trying to determine what we're here for exactly and we haven't turned our back on the "Army". Over the next few weeks I want to explore what we're here for and our relationship to the Army - hopefully make it clearer for you and us ;-)
One other thing, I'm reading some interesting stuff at the moment, so I'd like to distil (sp?) some of the interesting and relevant stuff onto this blog.
Happy new year to you all!
Hi All
Been a while since we last updated you on what was happening. For us personally, not a lot, we're building up relationships with a few people - at the moment concentrating particularly on just a few of them.
There are lot's of exciting things happening in and around Looe related to the Church, which is exciting. Hopefully I'll be able to release some more details about those things in the coming days and weeks.
Also, we've now made contact with The Salvation Army in Liskeard and are hoping to meet up with the CO (Pastor) there to forge some strong links. Also, it looks liek the CO was already aware of Grace Church here and is keen to create some good links there - perhaps this is another facet to our purpose here... more news as it happens!
Can we ask for particular prayer over 2 initiatives we're not involved in as yet: Street Pastors and Rusty Bucket (a Christian Coffee Shop/Community Centre in Looe) and also for those relationships I mentioned above.
Been a while since we last updated you on what was happening. For us personally, not a lot, we're building up relationships with a few people - at the moment concentrating particularly on just a few of them.
There are lot's of exciting things happening in and around Looe related to the Church, which is exciting. Hopefully I'll be able to release some more details about those things in the coming days and weeks.
Also, we've now made contact with The Salvation Army in Liskeard and are hoping to meet up with the CO (Pastor) there to forge some strong links. Also, it looks liek the CO was already aware of Grace Church here and is keen to create some good links there - perhaps this is another facet to our purpose here... more news as it happens!
Can we ask for particular prayer over 2 initiatives we're not involved in as yet: Street Pastors and Rusty Bucket (a Christian Coffee Shop/Community Centre in Looe) and also for those relationships I mentioned above.
The prayer meeting went really well yesterday, thank you for all your prayerful support! There were 5 of us (including Lucy and me) but it was just right.
We spent an amazing amount of time just praising God for who He is and praying for repentance. Revival must start with us!
Whilst we were praising God and praying for Looe, I remembered how just a few weeks ago I asked you all the pray the promise of Jehovah Jireh (The Lord will Provide) over us. Please join with us praying “Jehovah M’Kaddesh” (The Lord Who Sanctifies) – pray that the people of God here will be set apart from the rest of the populace; not that we will be arrogant in our holiness, but that everything about us will draw attention to God. Pray that we will be worthy servants!
One other thing... my daily reading today was Jeremiah 18-21. The passage uses clay to refer to Israel on a couple of occasions: firstly that if the pot goes wrong, as long as it is still malleable the potter can fix it; but also if the pot is bad and has been hardened, all that can be done is smashing the pot. We have the Old Testament to prove that God will not think twice about “smashing the pot” if that is the only option available to us. May we always rest in the potters hands, being moulded by Him until the day of our completion – baked ready for his use!
“Send revival, start with me!”
Yours in the battle,
Dave
On Friday, Lucy went to a prayer meeting for Looe with Grace Community Church (I had hoped to be there but was unable because of work) - they regularly meet in Looe once a month and prayer-walk through the town, but it was too wet and wild on Friday.
Whilst talking to one of the other people there it was decided that a more regular prayer-time ought to be held in Looe once a week. The leaders of the community groups tried to work out where best to hold the prayer meeting, but were sure they wanted it in the heart of Looe itself, so we offered our home and it looks like we'll be holding a weekly 1 hour prayer meeting here in our house for Looe.
Please pray for and with us:
Whilst talking to one of the other people there it was decided that a more regular prayer-time ought to be held in Looe once a week. The leaders of the community groups tried to work out where best to hold the prayer meeting, but were sure they wanted it in the heart of Looe itself, so we offered our home and it looks like we'll be holding a weekly 1 hour prayer meeting here in our house for Looe.
Please pray for and with us:
- Pray for Looe
- Pray for Grace and its members and leadership
- Pray for our home - that it will be a centrepoint in the community
- Pray that action will follow our prayer
- Pray for vision
- Pray that we will listen and follow that vision
Oops... not sure why I didn't publish the below... wrote this last Tuesday, so it's actually referring to a week ago...
Whilst we were at Church on Sunday and being introduced to several people, one member of the congregation handed us a letter saying "this needs to go to one of our members in Looe, they're just down the road from you, now you have an excuse to meet them."
We were a bit scared, after all we didn't know who we were going to meet, but we were extremely surprised when we did meet up with them!
Amazingly this couple were also called by God to Looe!! They also told us that the Church we visited on Sunday have got big plans for Looe (them and God it would seem).
We have just met so many people who aren't originally from Looe but have been brought here... it's extremely exciting and we can see that the Church are extremely outward looking. So on our wavelength about getting stuck in and getting the good news out!
I can't wait to tell you more about what's happening! Keep praying that God will reveal His plan to us and Grace Community Church, pray that we will be faithful and honour HIs will!
Whilst we were at Church on Sunday and being introduced to several people, one member of the congregation handed us a letter saying "this needs to go to one of our members in Looe, they're just down the road from you, now you have an excuse to meet them."
We were a bit scared, after all we didn't know who we were going to meet, but we were extremely surprised when we did meet up with them!
Amazingly this couple were also called by God to Looe!! They also told us that the Church we visited on Sunday have got big plans for Looe (them and God it would seem).
We have just met so many people who aren't originally from Looe but have been brought here... it's extremely exciting and we can see that the Church are extremely outward looking. So on our wavelength about getting stuck in and getting the good news out!
I can't wait to tell you more about what's happening! Keep praying that God will reveal His plan to us and Grace Community Church, pray that we will be faithful and honour HIs will!
Sorry all for the lack of posts recently. Thankfully it isn't just because nothing has happened!
The van was finally finished a couple of weeks back and Lucy's Dad was kind enough to bring it down to us - to be honest, the amount of stuff that happened to it whilst it was in our possession I'm not sure I'd let me have it again... Anyway, so with transport we went to Grace Family Bible Church yesterday - a Church we had planned to visit but had been unable to.
The Church was lovely, we were made very welcome and the people we spoke to seemed interested in what we were doing, which is great. We'll definitely be going there again, just a shame it's outside of Looe...
Since we're on the main street in East Looe, we have the crowds go by at 2-3am on a Saturday/Sunday morning when the club kicks out and we'd been thinking about how we could engage with this group of people (also, how we could serve them) thinking along the lines of Street Pastors. At Grace yesterday morning, they introduced Street Pastors to the congregation, an initiative they're looking to get set up for next Summer (it'll take some time with planning and training etc.). We both signed up immediately!
On top of that, we're getting our own car, after a few months of sponging off Father-in-Law! It's a green classic-style mini!! Woop!
Now that things are gently plodding along, I'll try and keep y'all updated on what we're doing and how it's working!
The van was finally finished a couple of weeks back and Lucy's Dad was kind enough to bring it down to us - to be honest, the amount of stuff that happened to it whilst it was in our possession I'm not sure I'd let me have it again... Anyway, so with transport we went to Grace Family Bible Church yesterday - a Church we had planned to visit but had been unable to.
The Church was lovely, we were made very welcome and the people we spoke to seemed interested in what we were doing, which is great. We'll definitely be going there again, just a shame it's outside of Looe...
Since we're on the main street in East Looe, we have the crowds go by at 2-3am on a Saturday/Sunday morning when the club kicks out and we'd been thinking about how we could engage with this group of people (also, how we could serve them) thinking along the lines of Street Pastors. At Grace yesterday morning, they introduced Street Pastors to the congregation, an initiative they're looking to get set up for next Summer (it'll take some time with planning and training etc.). We both signed up immediately!
On top of that, we're getting our own car, after a few months of sponging off Father-in-Law! It's a green classic-style mini!! Woop!
Now that things are gently plodding along, I'll try and keep y'all updated on what we're doing and how it's working!