Pioneer has been contacted by the Luis Palau organisation, inviting connection and participation in an event in Tanzania this summer – August 5th-13th – led by Andrew Palau. Doug and Belinda Horley are already involved with children’s work for the event. The programme will include one week of mission partnering with local churches in Dar es Salaam, including service teams, schools’ work and eyesight clinics. The week will conclude with a weekend evangelistic festival. Obviously time is short, but is a ‘God connection’ stirring inside of you? If so, we encourage you to download the full information sheets (also available from the Pioneer website) and contact the Palau organisation direct.

We are continuing discussions with this organisation regarding plans for a similar festival in Ethiopia next year – so watch this space!

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I had the privilege of attending the annual leaders’ conference of the Groundlevel network of churches. A very different scenario, and yet once again I was reminded about the need for thankfulness, through the words of R. T. Kendall as he taught in one session. Somehow his words hit me in a very powerful way. Easy perhaps to feel thankful for things when they are taken away from me, sitting in a simple house in an African village. But how thankful am I when back home, in the comfort of my own house, surrounded by modern luxuries – and more than one flushing toilet! And yet scripture tells us that we enter the gates of God’s presence with thanksgiving. As someone who wants to live in an ever increasing awareness of that presence, and to take that presence into every situation in which I find myself in the UK and beyond, perhaps I need to discover something more about thankfulness.  How about you?

“Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.” - Corrie ten Boom

Mike Andrea, instigator of ‘Revival Run‘ and leader of Global Generation Church in Ramsgate says: “The great thing about doing this year of prayer together is that it allows all the churches in the network to gather around one thing, pray corporately, and stand together for God’s Kingdom to break out in our communities, through prayer and action.”

Last time Pioneer Network filled a Year of Prayer was 10 years ago. Mike Andrea says: “We feel that that ongoing 24-7 Prayer is the way for the Pioneer Network to get connected again with it’s roots and origins again, in partnership with Kingdom Come 2012. (KC:UK)”

The Pioneer Year of Prayer begins on 1st May 2012 through to the 30^th Apr 2013, and the whole month of May has been filled already! As part of this commitment to pray, ‘Revelation Church’ in Chichester has prayed 24-7 (in January 2012,) we’ve heard that ‘Central Hall’ in Southampton will be praying, and ‘Global Generation Church’ in Ramsgate are already committed to weeks of 24-7 Prayer.

The Pioneer Network says:” We believe that this time will be full of God encounters, stories of answered prayer and so much more so during your prayer week we will be contacting each prayer space and posting stories through the year to encourage the network.”

There will be a journal of prayer that will be carried around all the 24-7 prayer rooms that take place, and one church will pray for the next church, and record it in the journal, in a pass-the-baton style. Exciting stuff!

Click here to find out more information on how Pioneer Network Churches can register their 24-7 prayer room online. 

Whether you are in the Pioneer Network or not, you can pray throughout ‘Kingdom Come 2012.’ Simply check out the KC website, and click through ‘Get Involved,’ to see the KC:Toolbox, full of great, free prayer resources and click on the linking button to register your 24-7 space.

In Swaythling the declining congregation had considered selling its large building as the running costs and maintenance of the building. We agreed to ‘move in’ two of our existing congregations to create a sort of ‘miltiplex’ church with three alternative worship styles each Sunday. However, throughout the week a common approach to mission has been developed.

In Sholing the Methodist congregation had stopped meeting. A group of 6 moved in, started a weekly family focused Messy Church event, a weekly youth club and developed a partnership with the local Oasis Academy to provide an alternative learning provision.

Today, both venues are busy hives of activity.

The success of these two partnerships for mission has led to increasing interest from other Methodist churches, Circuits and Districts – from Plymouth in the south west to Hull in the north east.

It’s exciting to see what God is doing as we seek to serve together for the sake of mission.

Watch this space!

The interviewee was keen to know what the church thought about the matter and was looking for me to respond on behalf of the church.

Having been very aware of recent media exposure around Christianity and sexuality and the present debate over the possible legalisation of gay marriage I was concerned that I may say something that could easily be misinterpreted.

I decided to make a commitment to ONLY speak about what the church was FOR rather than what it was AGAINST.  There is a stereotypical view in the media that the church and Christians are anti drink, anti sex, anti fun and it is unusual to hear reported in the news what the church is positive about.

Obviously by being FOR something, there must be an opposite that we are against.  The challenge is our language and to find ways to express our passion for that which we stand for in a way that is positive but leaves no room for people to doubt what we do not stand for.

I think the interview went well, but I could see that the reporter was not getting what he wanted for his interview but as an individual he seemed genuinely surprised to hear all that the church was doing in the local community and what we were for.

I talked about the church being FOR freedom of choice, that the message of the cross brings freedom for all.  I said that we were FOR life and that as Christians we were called to live life to the full.  I said we were FOR family and marriage between a man and a woman and keen to support local education, single parents, parenting courses, teenagers at risk of exclusion to help create healthy homes for all.  I spoke about being FOR the hopeless, poor and needy, that we regularly provided food for the homeless and vulnerable.  I said we stood FOR the truth of the Bible, that it is still relevant today and has much to teach us.  I also spoke about the Gospel of Good News, which is for everyone, that you do not have to earn your salvation, but the message of Grace is simply that God’s love is freely given to ALL.

Jesus stood FOR the orphans, widows, children, women, lonely, sick, blind and lame.

That is what we need to stand for today.

Somebody once said, “If you don’t know what you stand for you will fall for anything!” – what are you standing for?

We all carry a picture in our minds of who God is. Sadly, that picture is often distorted. A distant or absent father, or an authority figure that we never seemed to be able to please, often leads us to thinking that God is a harsh task master, or someone that we can only please if we’re really good. The truth could not be further – God is a loving, gentle and kind Father, who not only believes in us and is proud of us, but celebrates the fact that we are alive. Having the wrong picture of God can significantly impact how we see ourselves. On the other hand, when we encounter God for who He really is, then we will see ourselves the way He does, and a sense of confidence, faith and victory will begin to pump through our veins. Peter got it right – by revelation, He saw Jesus for who He really was. The result? Jesus not only confirmed Peter’s identity, but He authorized and empowered him to be and do what God had called him to do.

Joshua, Caleb and the other 10 spies are a classic example of this simple truth. They crossed the Jordan to survey the land that God had promised them, but seeing the giants, caused the majority of them to take their eyes off God. They saw themselves as grasshoppers, rather than as the ‘giant-killers’ that God said they were. We all know the result – only Joshua and Caleb were able to step into their purpose. The rest cowered in fear and never saw the power of God flowing through them.

God has a plan and purpose for your life and for your community. But that ‘promised land’ will always contain giants. Either those giants will cause you to run in fear, or they will confirm that this is your calling. It depends on how you see your God, and therefore how you see yourself.

What are you facing right now? What mountains stand before you? What opportunities are in front of you? Look up and see your Heavenly Father who doesn’t just tolerate you… He celebrates you. He is in you, behind you and for you. He is your greatest fan, and believes that nothing is impossible. Knowing who He is will give you the confidence to not only stand secure, but to victoriously take on the giants that stand before you!

On Saturday afternoon, the idea entered my head, that after I had spoken at Baseline, I should go into the Co-op on Garforth Main Street, and offer to pay for people’s shopping!  This is not something I do regularly – in fact I’ve never done it. As an “amiable” style person, I don’t really like taking risks, and I really don’t like the possibility of upsetting or offending people. Sometimes this is a strength, but it can also be a major weakness. I decided not to tell anyone about the idea.

I still don’t know whether I would have gone through with it, if it hadn’t been for Joan Freeman.  As I walked into the pre-Baseline prayer gathering (a bit late), the first words I heard were Joan praying “help us to see Jesus out on the streets and in the shops”!  Whooah!  What else could I say?

So at the end of my talk, I asked for 3 or 4 more volunteers to come with us (Joan had already said she was coming), and we walked down to the Co-op (via the cashpoint), leaving the rest of the congregation singing their worship, as we engaged in a different sort of worship.

When we got there, I suggested Matt, Fiona and John wait outside, to chat/pray with anyone who wanted to know more about what had just happened to them!  Joan and I went in. Going  straight up to the lady at the front of the checkout queue, I said, “Excuse me, would you let me pay for your shopping?” She was a bit hesitant at first!  The young girl behind the checkout obviously didn’t have a clue what was going on, but didn’t seem too concerned.  I explained that Joan and I were from a local church and we wanted to bless a few people at this time of economic hardship. We believed that if Jesus was around today, he would be doing this sort of thing, to show that he loved them and cared.

It turned out that this lady had just come from St Mary’s and that she would rather the money went to a good cause. So we compromised; I would pay for her shopping, and she would put the money she had saved into a charity.  The checkout girl was happy enough as she still got paid for the goods!

Over the next 20 minutes, Joan and I gave away about £125 in paying for 20-25 people’s hopping. Only two people refused to accept anything – so we just spoke blessings to them. Some people felt guilty about accepting money to pay for their ciggies, but I managed to persuade them!  Everyone said thank you, some with big smiles, some with puzzled expressions. It was brilliant.

I asked one man if he was self employed. It wasn’t really a word of knowledge – he was wearing painter/decorator type clothing. I told him that even though times were tough, God was with him and wanting to bless him.

Two people stopped to chat/pray with the guys outside; one was a young woman, and another was a man who obviously had a drink problem.  He is being followed up.

I really felt God’s presence all the way through, giving me the conversation and comments to keep the whole thing light and fun, and yet making it clear to everyone  that we were there because God loved them and cared about them.  A few times I said with a smile that people weren’t allowed to go round again, and that we couldn’t promise to be back next week. One young man shook my hand. He remembered me from when I worked at the Academy and did detached youth work on Glebelands Park in Garforth. We chatted warmly – there was no embarrassement. He’s 32 now, and his name is James if you want to pray.

So thanks to Joan, Matt, John & Fiona for coming with me. Thanks to all those who stayed and prayed and worshipped while we were out. Thanks to all those who have been out on the streets, praying and blessing, for a while. And thanks to our heavenly Dad, who is strong in our weakness.

Toby White

P.S.  So what about the Manager?  Normally, I would have tried to sort everything out beforehand, checking that I wasn’t going to upset anyone (my normal “amiable”). And that’s OK.  Most of the time.  But not all the time.  This time, God said “Trust me”. Ten minutes after we started,  another woman came to serve at the checkouts, so I thought I better ask if she was the manager. She said she was.  “You don’t have a problem with this, do you?” I asked. “Not at all” she said, as she carried on serving and taking the money from Joan.

P.P.S  Here’s a little note I got from Gill.  “I went in the co-op on the way home from Baseline yesterday and the topic of conversation was that people from the church had gone in and paid for people’s shopping – ‘including the fags’ !!”

The Psalmist talks about a table in the famous Psalm 23. A table prepared in the midst of our enemies. In The Message, it is called a 6-course meal in front of my enemies.

This weekend we’re welcoming almost 500 leaders from across the UK to feast again at the table. An opportunity to be encouraged and strengthened, refreshed and revived. We’ve set the places and now we’re looking to the Lord to do the rest.

Bring it on!