What came out when I prayed today

It’s not like me to rant. I don’t often get carried away with things but as I prayed today I felt compelled to write this. I doubt anyone will read it but I felt it needed to be published.

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I want a revolution!

It’s time for change in the UK Christian Church.

How often have I heard that said but does it ever happen? NO!

We have people who are Bible believing who call for revolution in the teaching.

We have people who are Bible doubting who call for revolution in the teaching.

We have people who like more modern music calling for revolution in worship.

We have people who don’t fit the ‘normal’ church calling for radical church.

We have people calling for house church because that’s what they like and it’s Biblical isn’t it?

Every group calls for something different in the church but what happens?

We get church made in our own image.

We get Christians breaking away to form ‘new’ churches.

But where is the revolution? WHERE O GOD IS THE REVOLUTION!!!!

Where are the generations lost to the church? Why don’t they come?

We’ve tried trendy services and new age thinking. We’ve tried everything but who comes?

People already connected to the church – that’s who comes. Very few ever come in from the outside.

Do they then hate Jesus? Do they think Jesus’ teachings are dead and gone?

No they don’t.

Why is every normal Christian ashamed to admit they go to church? Why are Christian ministers called names in the streets?

Why do people who don’t go to church hate the church?

Why do they believe that the church has highjacked the teachings of Christ and used them for their own ends?

Is it the Devil? Perhaps. Is it us? Yes.

Christian Revolution comes only when people are ready to repent.

Is the church ready?

Would we be prepared to go on national TV and say – sorry we got it wrong.

Are we prepared to admit to the world that we have not always followed Jesus?

Are we prepared to say that there is a problem with power hungry people in God’s own house?

Will we admit that instead of washing feet we have often been driven by greed?

Then when we have repented can we be converted?

Can we convert to foot washing and service?

Can we change our worship so the focus is on Jesus?

Can we listen to those who have a different view and then sensitively give ours – as equals.

We seek the broken and miss the lost.

We seek out the worst but have no time for the best.

It is right to help the drunk and the homeless – God expects nothing less than this.

But we pat ourselves on the back while every week we drive past houses full of lost souls who don’t suit us because they are not bad enough yet.

One street full of people in a Town would fill a church with hundreds. People of all ages squeezing through the doors.

Are not most church buildings in a street? Yet they are fit only for carpet warehouses and New Age Healers.

O God when will we change? When will you bring the revolution?

O God how long must we wait? How long must I wait to see this?

My heart is broken waiting for your deliverance.

My heart loves your idea of the church but it is broken as the man made systems fall.

O God bring your new church soon.

Please Lord release me from feeling this way. Let me rest and not feel the pain. I love your church so much yet my heart is broken over it.

Your will be done. Your will be done! YouR WILL BE DONE!!!!

The heart of faith

At the heart of the Christian faith lies the crucifixion and ressurection of Jesus Christ. This one central act defines what Christianity is all about. It is in the crucifixion and ressurection that we come to understand who God is and how much he loves us.

It’s no mistake that Paul says that when he visits the people of Corinth the only thing he knows is Jesus Christ and him crucified (see 1 Corinthians 2:2).

It’s a sad truth that many Christians only ever think about the crucifixion during the Easter period (and even then few ever actually think about the cross).

In my days as a Methodist Minister I always did my best to encourage people to come to church on Good Friday (a public holiday of course in the UK). This was the day to bring your family (although to be fair it wouldn’t suit younger children because it was a preaching service) and think about the central theme of our faith. Invariably the congregation would be small.

Then on another occasion when Christmas was approaching I took the theme of the cross for one of my services. I was taken to one side by one of the important members of the congregation and asked why I had chosen to talk about the cross – which was an Easter theme – when we were approaching Christmas?

Sometimes Christians develop the attitude that the cross was a defeat that God put right on Easter day. This is not true. God was as active in the cross as we was in the events of Easter. Easter helps us understand what was happening on the cross but this is not turning to defeat to victory.

If you ever feel distant from God. Think of the cross. Remember the price that Jesus paid for you.

If you are suffering and feeling that God does not care. Remember the cross and the pain and anguish Jesus took on himself. Remember that God does understand suffering. Remember that suffering does not have the final word as you remember the ressurection.

May God bless you and help you.