A Tale of Two Churches

By Peter | Published: November 9, 2011

Today, I am about to return to my home in Auckland, New Zealand, after nearly five weeks of exhilarating ministry in the United Kingdom. The main focus this time has been the New Generation Church, Sidcup, on the South East edge of London, and the Global Generation Church in Ramsgate, on the South coast of Kent. Having been something of a Father to these churches, they graciously invite me back each year to impart more Biblical foundations and to to have quality time with their Leaders. In forty five years of Christian Ministry, I have never been more excited than I am now, witnessing principles that I have taught for so long,being  fleshed out by these creative, crazy, committed people. Under the leadership of Paul and Paula Weston at New Gen and Mike and Stella Andrea at Glo Gen, they are pursuing the Gospel of the Kingdom on all fronts. This really sums it all up! So many Christians have a Gospel of the Church. Jesus  brought a Gospel of the Kingdom that turned his religious and secular world upside down.

Checkout the church websites to capture the flavour: New Generation and Glo Gen

A focal point each year has been Lark in the Park during the Summer holidays. In Sidcup, this involves a large Tent City  in Sidcup Place at the centre of the town. Fifteen hundred people came during each of the 16 days. They encountered everything from the Park Pastors to the Big Top Events. Numerous clubs for all ages, sports events and competitions; a Fathers and Sons event with the latest BMWs and Minis; a huge Family Fun Day. Ladies Night by ticket only is always over-subscribed. The Gospel is at the heart of everything we do. More than 450 helpers were enlisted from a catchment as wide as local Indian Restauranteurs with their cooking demonstrations, to a raft of of volunteers from the huge BMW dealership on the outskirts of the town.

Special Guests on the site are always popular from J.John to the Bishop of Baghdad, Andrew White, and the World Champion Power Lifter, Arthur White. Arthur usually comes for several days with his wife, Jaqui,and the people love them. After Sidcup, the event moves down to Ramsgate.

Our Church in Ramsgate has the greatest engagement with local authorities I have ever witnessed. Entrusted with the training of Young Offenders; administering Pipeline, a comprehensive youth programme; the Pie Factory, reaching young rock musicians in schools who can’t afford lessons, and have often dropped out of conventional education. The list goes on and on.

New Generation, Sidcup, has now been meeting on Sunday evenings in the local Parish Church, St. Johns, and are helping run an Alpha Course there. Sunday mornings are still at the Multiplex Cinema in Bexleyheath. Midway through my visit, Paul Weston arrived with a set of keys for a school they had just been given! This former Prep School will now be our centre of administration while the building is re-vamped, and then it is hoped to open a Government assisted ‘Free School’, deploying a number of our excellent teachers. Close to a permanent Travellers site and a Council Housing Estate, it is an area in need of massive regeneration. Our New Generation Centre is due for a major makeover and will be used for the expansion of the very popular pre-school programme led by Paula Weston.

Global Generation, Ramsgate, is similarly expanding. Over the last three years, I’ve watched them transform an industrial complex near the heart of the city, into a first class centre for all the community. On my recent visit, the commander of the Kent Police  came with his senior staff for their quarterly meetings in one of the conference suites. Both of these churches have fully equipped Double Decker Buses, kitted out for young people, and able to respond with a team of trained youth workers to potential trouble spots in the community. Both Mike and Paul have gained the confidence of Civic leaders, and are working in tandem with them on various projects. In Sidcup, our local MP, who is a Junior Government Minister, meets regularly with team members for prayer and encouragement.

Hopefully, this will give you an insight as to how these churches are embodying the message of Jeremiah that I have included elsewhere on this site:

“Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have called you into exile.Pray to the Lord for it,because if it prospers,you too will prosper.”[Jer. 29 v. 7 ]

 

Is this the end?

By Peter | Published: August 19, 2011

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, Global Unrest, Financial Meltdowns
HELP! Is this THE END?

Living as we do now in New Zealand this is all very relevant. Our Second City, Christchurch, known as ‘the Garden City’, has been rocked by two major Earthquakes in the last 10 months, as well as hundreds of un-nerving aftershocks. The second quake devastated a lot of the Central City and nearly two hundred people were killed.

The main city, Auckland, where we and a third of the population live, seems to be too far north to have a problem. Scientists have assured us that the plates have moved further south, and we are more vulnerable to volcanic eruption than earthquakes. Small comfort when a few weeks ago we were sitting in our lounge watching TV and an earthquake banged and shook its way through our house! This was apparently centred offshore offshore from Mission Bay, the popular Beach Community, which is just a mile from where we live.

What as Christians are we to make of all this? In 1999, on the eve of the New Millennium, I published a Prophetic Word for the Year 2000. The title was:

THE END IS NOT THE END!

Recently, I have re-visited this word and read it to the Congregation at The Edge one Sunday morning. I am reproducing some of it here, asking once more that as Christians we focus again on God’s Prophetic Purpose, and not on all the nonsense pedalled by the many doom and gloom merchants. The books I have commended elsewhere on this site are particularly helpful in the light of all this:

N. T. Wright – Surprised by Hope

Rob Bell – Love Wins

This is a time for the ‘breaking out’ of the people of God [2Samuel 5 v.20]. Although Jesus declared to Peter the invincibility of his Church, often it has seemed as though the gates of hell have prevailed against us, and we have been hemmed in on every side. Now the Lord is rising up to do his work, His strange work [Isaiah 28 v. 21]. As with Joshua’s victory at Gibeon, and David’s triumph at Mt. Perazim, so the Lord is breaking out before us [Joshua 10 vs 9-14; 2 Samuel 5 vs 17 - 25]. There will be unusual Heavenly manifestations and supernatural signs, and in many situations where darkness has seemed to encroach to the point of snuffing out the light of God’s testimony, so a reversal of this trend will be evidenced, even in nations not known for their Christian tolerance.

This process will be greatly assisted by a fresh wave of understanding among Christians world-wide concerning God’s Prophetic Purpose.

Without wishing to appear cynical, I must say that doomsday style prophetic books, tapes and videos find a ready market. Christians are often both vulnerable and gullible! Paul rightly encourages us to

‘…no longer be infants,tossed back and forth by the waves,and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.Instead, speaking the truth in love,we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head,that is Christ. [Ephesians 4vs 14 and 15]

We need to keep our heads in THE HEAD, and not allow our hearts to be driven by fear and fantasy.

Instead of majoring on the “..darkness that covers the earth”, we need to declare with Isaiah that “…the Lord rises upon you and His Glory appears over you.Nations will come to your light,and Kings to the brightness of your dawn.” [Isaiah 60 vs 2-3]

When Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and gave a Global view of escalating wars, conflicts, famines and earthquakes, he declared that these were the preliminary contractions of an impending birth! “All these are the beginning of birth pains” [Matthew 24 v. 8]. He follows this with the assertion that

” This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations,and then the end will come.” [Matthew 24 v.14 ].

Older translations of scripture, such as the Authorised Version and the Revised Version are somewhat misleading in rendering this as “the end of the world”. W. E.Vine rightly points out that the Greek word ‘Sunteleia’ “…does not denote a termination, but the heading up of events to an appointed climax”!

Paul’s Epistle to the Romans has been described as the Himalayas of the New Testament, with the magnificent chapter 8 being Mt. Everest! Taking up the child birth theme of Jesus, Paul says :

“The creation itself will be liberated from it’s bondage to decay,and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”[ Romans8 v.21 ]

No! The end is not the end! God’s ends are His beginnings! This should give us some magnificent hope for the future. I can’t get excited about the disintegration of everything. I can thrill to the thought of an emancipated creation – God’s New Age. Yes! This much abused term actually does belong to Him.

Just as our Heavenly Father instructed Jesus to “Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance,the ends of the earth your possession” [Psalm2 v.8], so the Church, which is His Body must take up that prayer and determine to see its fulfilment. This is not simply the discipling of individuals, but of Nations. Why should the Devil have the inheritance that is rightfully ours?

Peter’s Reading Top Tips

By Peter | Published: August 4, 2011

Last year, I touted NT Wright’s book Surprised by Hope everywhere I went. This year, it has to be Rob Bell’s excellent book Love Wins.

Love Wins by Rob BellThe title sums up the contents :

A book about Heaven, Hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived.

I gather Rob has come in for a lot of flack about this, but I have to say he rings all my bells (pun not intended!). A few years ago, I participated in the Bible College of New Zealand Road Show across the country. While I was responsible for some seminars on the Kingdom of God, along with a number of other speakers, the main teaching came from Rick Watts of Regent College,Vancouver.

Rick gave the best exposition of the opening chapters of Genesis I have ever heard. I was travelling up to the UK after the conference, and had the good fortune to meet up with Rick in the Air New Zealand lounge before our flight was called. We enjoyed a stimulating exchange, and I asked if he and his colleagues at Regent were considering an equally erudite approach to ‘end time’ issues as we had  just enjoyed on beginnings of creation. He indicated that this was very much a work in progress.

I am so thankful that Rob has had the courage to put into print what so many of us have believed deep down for a long time. We won’t all agree on every point, but the essence of this book is to dispel so many of the horrendous distortions that countless generations of the church has successfully foisted on humanity in the name of Biblical truth. Lets clear away the cobwebs and proclaim once again the good news of God’s Amazing Grace!

PS Rob Bell’s remarkable DVD Everything is Spiritual also provides a first class interpretation of the Genesis narrative.

Celebrating 40 years of Marriage!

By Peter | Published: June 20, 2011

Peter & Linda

On the weekend of May 15th we had a wonderful celebration of this great day! The previous Sunday, Greg Burson, the leader of The Edge, Kingsland, Auckland, where we are members, asked Linda to share her story in the morning service. It brought the house down! Especially the story of our meeting at a Summer Holiday Conference in Exmouth,Devon, where I proposed within three days. A track record,I think!
Now we seem to be something of an endangered species. Still in love after 40 years! Linda regularly appears on Television New Zealand in an advert for a skin treatment. Every week, people stop us and say : “Is it true that she is 63 years old and has so many grandchildren?”

A special bonus was meeting A A Gill, the unique restaurant and television critic at a VIP reception in Auckland. We have long been his fans and were doubly blessed to find he was staying at The Langham Hotel in Auckland where we had our main celebration. At Breakfast on the 15th Linda told Adrian that we had been married 40 years. He said “You must have married when you were 16!”

A A Gill