St Petersburg

The Joseph Series - Part 1 - The Dreamer

Dreams are important - they drive us on, inspire us, give us direction. Dreams change things. In preparation for a talk I recently did in St Petersburg, before I got to Joseph, I looked at another man famous for having a dream - Martin Luther King Jr. He had a dream to change America, from the country it was then, in the 1960s, to what it is like, in some regards, today.

His famous speech was the "I have a dream..." speech. He was killed at just 39 years old in 1968, but in 1964 had already become the youngest person to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. After his death he was to be awarded both the Presidential Medal of Freedom as well as the Congretional Gold Medal.

He died without seeing the forfilment of his dream - others were to walk in the good of it. But he did stand against the tide of opposition, stood in the gap of injustice and remained standing until he was illegally removed by a gunman's bullet.

At Hope Church here in Russia, we recently looked again at the Old Testament life of Nehemiah. He too was a man that had a dream - a city with its walls restored. His dream was also inspired by God and against much opposition saw the walls rebuilt in just 52 days - a miracle!

But as the title to this four part series suggests, my subject for the remainder of this entry is going to be a man I have always respected and felt connected to - the life of another Old Testament character - Joseph.

He was a dreamer too - dreaming actual dreams and then also able to interpret those dreams for himself and others. In Genesis we get a wonderful account of this man, what happens to him, and how God works through those things to bring about His plans and purposes for Joseph. It is hugely encouraging. So the four sections are The Dreamer, then The Hard Worker, Sin, Temptation & it's Accusing Nature and finally Humility.

This entry will now focus on the first of these sections - the dreamer.

We pick up his story in Genesis 37, which I have pasted below to remind you of the account;

Gen 37:2-11;

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."

⁸ His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹ Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Now we'll jump a few verses to the end on verse 17, where Joseph has been sent by his father to find his brothers, out somewhere with the animals;

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. ¹⁸ But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

¹⁹ "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. ²⁰ "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."

²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. ²² "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.

²⁸ So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. ³⁰ He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"

³¹ Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³² They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."

³³ He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."

³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him.

³⁶ Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.

I've heard many times people using the opening verses of this, talking quite badly about Joseph, giving him a bad account for how he opens his mouth and just blurts out what ever he is thinking. It's as if they assume he is bragging to his brothers, as if saying "Look how special I am...."

I don't think this is entirely fair or true. Yes, he was young (it tells us he was 17 at the start), so maybe there is an element of his youth blinding him to his brothers feelings. Hate is very often hidden though, so their harsh words aside, there was no way for this young Joseph to actually know his brothers true feelings towards him.

But holding this thought, what do we know of the character of this young man, both at this point and from what follows in the latter chapters of Genesis. Well, it is clear to me that Joseph was at least honest, pure, one who flees sin, hard working, he hears from God, he is used by God, he's a great leader and he's very forgiving.

And the brothers? Using the same process, what do we know of them? They are full of hate, have unkind words to say, they even hated all the more, they were mocking, jealous, murderous, plotting evil, lying, greedy and deceptive.

Next to each other, the characteristics of both Joseph and his brothers do not match up; Joseph wins hands down! Given this, the 'bad' account we see in verse two, from which the brothers hated Joseph, we see that what he pointed out to his father about the way they were working with the animals would have been correct. They probably were working badly....therefore their hate was unfounded, based on the fact that their own short comings had been noticed.

Coming back to the story, when you look at what has happened to Joseph, at the hands of his own brothers, it might lead you to ask the following questions;

Did God abandon him to his dream? As if to say, having revealed something to Joseph, did God stand back and take His hands off the matter?

Or had Joseph miss-heard? Maybe he just got it wrong?

Or maybe he should just never had shared his dream to anyone, especially his family?

My starting point to answer these questions is to remember in the Bible it states correctly that God works all things for good, for those that love him. And straight away in the story, even at the end of chapter 37 shown above, we get a glimpse of God already at work, in the way Joseph is sold to Potiphar. Not only is he one of Pharaohs officials, he's also the Captain of the Guard! Talk about rubbing shoulders with people of influence!!

Even before this moment, we see God at work, first through the actions of Reuben wanting to spare his life. Clearly if Joseph had been killed by them (imagining that this option was even possible!) then there would have been no forfillment to his dream. We then see that even through the greed of Judah, God is about to work to bring about the plans He has for Joseph. Because it was their greed at wanting to get something from their brothers downfall that led them to sell him to the passing merchants.

God is always at work and able to forfil the dreams he has for us! Amen

Someone once said "Every great dream begins with a great dreamer", but I feel the Bible says it better when in Ephesians 3:20 you are encouraged that God is able to do more than we can ask or imagine.

As we've seen, Martin Luther King Jr had dreams and God was in them and brought them to be. History has shown us such greats as Vivaldi, Bach, Handel and Da Vinci, who all had great dreams and produced amazing things from them. Yet these last four did things from just human minds.

I personally have dreams, things I know God has said to me but I am yet to see. It's these dreams and promises that keep me pressing on, pressing forward to the day that I see God outworking these things unto completion, all the time knowing that the process has long been started by Him already. And I believe every Christian can have their own promises, their own dreams from God.

The Prophet Joel, which is also requoted in the book of Acts, says "I will pour out my Spirit..." and this we are told will lead to prophecy, visions and dreaming dreams! We are in this time. The Spirit has been poured out on all people and its time to dream those dreams.

With God, all things really are possible, if we submit our plans to his, our ways to his ways, our desires to his, our dreams to his. If we make his dream, ours!

Do you have dreams? Do you have dreams that are personally yours? Do you have dreams for your local church, your city, or your nation? I believe we can each have our own dreams, as well as the corporate ones that include us all. But if we only have corporate ones, God can become less personal, and we just are one of the crowd, hidden behind what covers a much bigger group, safe in our salvation but no danger to the enemy as the corporate dream doesn't take root into our own lives, effecting them as a result. Don't hear me wrong - I do believe we need corporate promises, its just my experience is that if this is all we have, the individual needs to really work at seeing how they can outwork that promise within their own life, thus buying into it, otherwise they tend to just hide behind the fact that God has said something to their church, but nothing changes in their lives, so no fruit results from that word.

Are you a dreamer like Joseph? Maybe you've physically had dreams like he did - maybe you want to? It's been my prayer these last two months that I would have dreams like he did.

Or maybe you feel like your dreams are attacked & shot at like Martin Luther King Jr or Nehemiah? You've shared them to the 'wrong' people and instead of hearing encouragement, you were given harsh words.

Maybe you don't yet have any dreams? To this it just means God has a blank canvas ready to outwork a masterpiece on.

Lord I pray that there would be many dreamers out there - not day dreamers or people that only dream for personal gain, but people who hear you in their hearts. May You put into these people your dreams, and may You breathe life into these dreams. For anyone reading this who has had their dreams attacked and laughed at, please help them to forgive and forget those words, and to once again pick up the dreams you placed in them and give them the encouragement to see these dreams come to reality.

Thank you Lord for all that we can learn from Joseph. Help me to learn so much more from what follows in this series. Amen.

Worship & The Presence of God

One of the real bonuses and blessings that has come out of my elongated time away from St Petersburg has been the chance to travel widely and be in settings that otherwise I wouldn't have been able too.

And probably the greatest thing I've learnt has been to do with the Presence of God - which came after spending two days at a Kings Arms conference in Bedford on the Prophetic, in March. I came away from there different, changed for good I hope. Yet it wasn't (just) the teaching that did that, it was simply soaking in the Presence of God, enjoying Him. Just being his child in his midst. Just being.

Not long after that I found myself at another larger, long establish church.....yet, the worship style was such that it led us in it's own way, in the churches style that really reflected the area they were based and the level of mature Christians they had. Yet their well performed musical slickness didn't have anything on the one man and his guitar I'd just been with and the Presence I'd been so powerfully experiencing. And it's been something I've been thinking about, and pondering ever since. It's not something I think you can formulate, so as to get away from the work of God to trust on human ability, but it is something that I soon know they either have it, or they don't!

It's not even just the song, so as to get super spiritual, but it is amazing the connection between certain types of songs and entering into the Presence of God.

I'm blogging as the start of my own sense of figuring this all out. It's something I want with all my heart for my own life. That intimacy I felt and knew in Bedford has made anything else look poor. I want it more and more!

Not being a musician or singer, it's hard for me to go out and play it directly, bringing the Presence through my own playing, if that were possible. But it's something I know we so need I want to somehow effect the way my church, and others, lead worship.

In trying to communicate exactly what it is I'm seeing, it's hard to fully explain a situation and a feeling to someone who wasn't in that situation and didn't feel that feeling!

So I thought I'd start a series where I also include, by YouTube links, examples of what I mean, in the hope of exposing more people to different songs, which they too might find interesting, useful, or even better, Spirit anointed!

You see it really sort of started with this song for me (though this actually just started my chain of thought!) I believe its not a new song (though this version maybe newer), but it's been redone and re-sung, and has come out of Bethel Church, in Redding, California. And from what I've seen they have a real culture of worship, something that is changing and encouraging churches all around the world. So below is a link to the song I Love, I Love, I Love Your Presence. It is sung by Jenn Johnson. And it sums up so much for me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prbw1s5gVX8

Another one, maybe not that well known either, which I came across at Christ Church London, was Your Beautiful, by Phil Wickman. Here is a link (with a particularly good video);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGlTzH9xkXQ

So I hope you find these two moving and encouraging, and that their words turn you, like they have with me, to praise Jesus even more! He is worthy of all our worship.

Keep following, I'll be adding more in time as I continue to explore what it is that brings His Presence in ever increasing measures....

Finding Treasure on the Streets of St Petersburg

Wow, it's already over a week since I arrived back from my latest time home in St Petersburg, having gone back to help lead, from the church side of things, the Mobilise Team that were coming out to spend some time with us. And having made it back just in time before the volcano erupted that has since closed the skies, and having now got over the worst of my illnesses, I wanted to write something about what happened on the streets of my favorite city!

As an overview, it was quite a tiring week. Emotionally, probably more so than physically, I was carrying a lot during my time there and just kept going.....so on arriving back, my immune system having taken a knock, I seemed to suffer more than I normally do. But that has passed now, thank God.

The team of 8, from various parts of the UK, arrived two days after my arrival, on the 2nd April. I met them with the guys at the airport.

Of course, I was also just adjusting back to life in Russia after a few months out myself. Having traveled all day on the 31st March, I arrived back home at the flat at around 4pm Russia time (I left Oxford at 1:40am UK time that same day). I was not alone though, because working away in the bathroom was a tradesman. There had been a leak, and the repairs were clearly underway. This meant though, on arrival, there was no water, no toilet, no shower. I stayed about 20 minutes and realised I needed to get out, so collected some things together and headed down to Dave & Hannah's, where I was able to catch up a bit, and have a shower! Before leaving, I had seen first hand the 3x3 foot hole in the ceiling left after the water had come pouring in - which would take me the whole week to finally clean up. I hope the repair work is now underway and it will all be finished long before we return as a family.

But what I had gone back for was the exciting extra week and opportunity of mission presented by the arrival of these keen, willing young people from England. And while they were some what eased into the first few days, with more time being given for social, city site-seeing opportunities, the week would soon kick into gear with a lot more structure.

Between the Tuesday to Saturday (which happened on the lunch time on the Saturday but mornings for the rest) we gathered for worship, some teaching and then going out onto the streets of the city, Treasure Hunting. For those unaware of what this is, it's simply asking God for words of knowledge, 'clues', about people we are to speak to, and writing down what we hear/feel/think. We particularly ask for 5 areas - Name, Appearance, Location, Ailment (or illness) and Other, where we put anything we get that doesn't fit into one of the first 4 sections.

I had real faith that some great things would happen (which they did...), helped by the fact that we were going out every day so a momentum could be built (the team from England, clearly warn out by the pace of city life, opted to have a rest on the Friday morning, but I went out anyway, joined by a returning friend who had just spent a week in Siberia doing exactly this - this session, personally speaking, was the most powerful I'd seen). It also helped keep a momentum going for the Saturday, when many from the church were able to join us, learning quickly what happens and then leading (being native speakers, that made things a lot more easier!) It was a really encouraging, final session on the Saturday, and a great platform for the rest of the church to continue with ourselves!

What was encouraging was that by the end of the week, most teams were finding people who matched 4 or 5 clues from their sheets. These starting including names! One encounter, on the Friday, followed a really encouraging chat we'd had with a lady in a Green Jacket standing by some Railings. She had just let us pray for her for a back condition (I can't remember if that was one of the clues, but we aren't limited to what we have written down anyway!).

Crossing the main street through St Petersburg, Nevski Prospekt, we walked straight up to a man handing out adverts, an 'A-board' hanging over his shoulders advertising something. We had intended on asking him where a Chocolate Shop was, another of our clues, but actually, both at the same time but without having the chance to say to each other, we realised HE was our treasure, the man we were to speak with. We asked his name, which we had exactly written on one of our sheets, and then he proceeded to go through the list, pointing out 4 or 5 other clues that also related to him! (We hadn't even spotted the Red Top he was wearing underneath!) We prayed for his Legs and then again, each time an improvement happening. Chatting some more, we asked about whether he had Finance Problems, which he hadn't pointed out from the list but which he confirmed he had. We prayed blessing over him, gave him an invite to church, which he warmly received and said he'd come.

We walked away from those two encounters, in the space of a minute from each other, praising God! Only God could give you someones name, what they are wearing, where they are standing, what is around them and what's wrong with them, then take you to the exact place so that you meet the exact person! Wonderful!

But it wasn't finished there. After a short lunch, I went home. On my list I had the name Sergei, but I hadn't found him. About a mile from home, a drunk man literally fell at my feet (just being a child of God puts us in places where people need our help!) Having helped him sit up, refusing his request to buy him a 'drink', I turned the corner and instantly saw a man begging by some Railings, at the entrance to a church building that had a Yellow, Arched Doorway. His name was Sergei! We chatted (I forgot to say, all the above had to be conducted in Russian...!)

I was able to pray (in English) over him, and invited him to church. (I saw him again on the Saturday on my way home, the first thing he said was that he'd see me tomorrow at church). On the Sunday, he did come, for part of it, though had left before the end, going for a cigarette but not coming back. He is a homeless man. A yet God wanted to reveal His love and heart for him. Be blessed Sergei, where ever you are!

There were many other similar and encouraging encounters - even the most unusual of clues turned out to be accurate - you can't out guess God (anyway, even if some were just made up, isn't God able to even make these ones happen...!)

Some of the evenings were spent going to some university dormitories. Students from another city church here that we are relating into, live in each location and have a group there. So we came in small teams to these, and then, where possible, chatted to the other students living there, giving them a free DVD (the one on the website) and an invite to church.

The final Sunday saw about half a dozen come as a result of this week - on the surface not as many as we may have hoped, but God looks at the deeper work and impact made. It's He that waters the seed thrown out. It's He that brings in the harvest.

I didn't see all the things that I was contending for in my spirit - there is so much more to come. But I saw the beginnings of something that we will continue to walk into as a church. I saw the church catch the vision, the faith to believe God for miracles on the streets as we walk around bringing Heaven to the city.

I'm now back in the UK, awaiting for our family visa to come through so that we can get back home....knowing that we'll be waiting a few more weeks yet.

So pray for all that happened in that week. For those people that responded on the streets, some crying as they were touched, maybe for the first time, by the fact that God loves them as individuals and speaks to his children today concerning them.

The Prayer that Mia prayed

Mia Heath - my beautiful, darling little girl of nearly four and a half.

And yesterday, 23rd February 2010, she prayed with me the prayer to become a Christian. I felt this day couldn't pass, this moment couldn't move on without looking at the prayer that this wonderful four year old prayed, and seeing what impact the same prayer could have on your life.

It was the afternoon and we were watching Aladdin on DVD, after her full day in the nursery she's been attending this term. I don't think the DVD had anything to do with what she was about to say, but very much like Mia, and quite randomly it may seem, she suddenly started saying to me that she didn't want to be old, she didn't want to grow old, and then she didn't want to go to hospital. "When you're old you go to hospital...and you die. I don't want to die daddy," she said as I listened to what she was opening up to me.

I needed to respond. Pausing the DVD, I explained how she didn't need to think such things, but still she was saying the same thing. "I don't want to get old and die."

I then said how for me, I knew Jesus was in control. I knew Jesus promised life beyond death...how in heaven he was at that moment preparing a place for me, to welcome me home. I explained that I had no fear of death...had nothing to worry about.

I said that she might get to the age when she felt she wanted to know Jesus was doing that for her as well, that she could pray to Jesus and invite him into her heart.

She then said "I don't know how to pray that daddy, could you pray it for me?"

I sat down in front of her and got her to repeat each little bit after me, so that she was praying the same prayer herself, which went something like this;

"Dear Jesus. I know you are God. I know you came to this world for me, to take away my punishment. I know that you died on the cross and rose again, for me. I know that you are making a place, preparing a place for me in heaven right now. I know that I do not need to fear death, or growing old. I know that you have great plans for me.

Jesus, I invite you into my heart now. I want to follow you. I want to worship you every day (she said the every day bit in Russian!) Jesus, I want to become a Christian, to become a follower of you. I love you and know that with you inside me I never have to fear again. Amen".

And that was that. With that little prayer, repeated with a huge smile on her face that seemed to grow the further in we got, she had passed from death to life, from this earthly world to being seated in the heavenly world. She was now being rejoiced over in heaven by all the heavenly hosts!

Of course, for her this is the starting point, or better still, a clear moment in her life from which she can continue to learn, as she already has been since birth, about more and more of the love of God in her life. And it was after praying, almost as an after thought, that I remembered I was about her exact age when I first prayed that same prayer, asking Jesus to become my personal Lord and Saviour. And in me, from that moment, I knew I was saved. 100%, totally certain.

In my young years, which clearly hadn't been 'too' sinful (we are all sinners of course), my life was changed from being rooted in the world (which only leads to death) to being rooted in God, which leads only to life! I know I've grown more and more from that point onwards. Because it's not that you have to know all things (who in the world actually does know all things anyway!) before you can make such a decision. It's just the same childlike faith that Jesus openly encouraged in the Bible.

So I'm joining with the angels praising God over the life of this little 4 year old who has prayed the prayer of salvation.

Yes, she has more to learn, has many more questions, and that's what we are there for, to help her, to point her to the answers. But praise God that she has welcomed Jesus into her heart....Lord, fill her heart, help her become the worshiper she wants and desires to become. Be with her in mighty power that she may see you doing amazing things in her life.

And if this is what a 4 year old can understand, then it's certainly something you can pray as well. Is it that you also fear death? Do you worry about growing old? Do you wonder what awaits you? Do you want to know that there is life after death, and if there is life, don't you want to meet the person responsible for it?

Maybe it's peace you need? Peace in a situation you find yourself in at the moment? Fear over a loved one?

Jesus really is your answer as well. You too can pray the prayer highlighted in red above. You too can pass from death into life, knowing that the angels are rejoicing over you while Jesus is preparing a place for you. It really is that simple. It's certainly simple enough that a 4 year old can get it....so what about you?

Russian Traveller - Part 4 - The London Area

Last Thursday saw me leaving again from Oxford, heading to Sidcup to stay at my mums while I met with a few people in the area, in relation to the work we are doing in St Petersburg, Russia.

The big thing that I would be learning about was Welcome, firstly by meeting a guy in Catford, who heads up the Welcome side of the King's Church, Catford, and then also at Christ Church London (CCL), the city center church led and started by David Stroud 5 years ago but already at about 400 or 500 people.

I also had a few hours with a couple who know they are called to northern Europe, and feel that this could mean planting into Helsinki. I wanted to help them with this and get to know them a little more. It was really good to have been able to start a relationship that will continue long after they have moved. When Helsinki does get planted, it will be something that as a local church in St Petersburg, we have real involvement in. So I loved the time with the family.

But my first trip, a one hour lunchtime chat, was to Catford, just 25 minutes up the road from Sidcup, where I met with Ben Welchman, a leader at the church and the man responsible for all the Welcome team.

These guys do this particularly well, which is why I had come. CCL even based all they do on what happens here. So I was again blessed to be in such a context of excellence!

Any visitor coming here on a Sunday, for example, is met warmly on the door. There is a specific welcome area within the church for these people, clearly visible with a wonderful display board by all in the hall. They have their own drinks served, and their own places to sit after the meeting (very comfortable leather sofa's, no less!). There is clearly the message "We want visitors and we want to treat them well!"

Having chatted with the visitor, being warm, not pressuring them but also getting to know where they are at & what has brought them to the church, their details are given and this person is then called, by the same person, within 48 hours - usually on the Monday. They are also sent a post card that just thanks them for coming, and encourages their future involvement.

Each visitor is given a very good welcome bag (I was given one by Ben, and apart from going through the three cards that were in there, as I write this I haven't actually studied the rest yet!)

But instead of over-loading the visitor with loads of information, they are selective. There are just three cards - one is a response card for their details (phone and email), the other is an invite to their Alpha course, and the third, maybe a surprise one, is a card that shows how they are get involved and serve within the church. Because, aside from the obvious leadership/worship/working with children roles, they allow anyone to serve, even if they aren't a 'proper' member of the church yet. They know serving will draw someone in.

But over all these, isn't the faceless gathering of names on a spreadsheet, but the warmth and love of truly serving those that come to visit, to making sure every person who has come to meet God really gets the chance too.

Within the CCL context, it was good again to see this model outworked within a meeting basis, and to see how they have adapted it to meet the needs of a city center location in a venue that is not theirs, which is probably the case for all new city center plants. Through their website, I had seen that they invite their visitors to a local coffee shop an hour before the meeting, to have a free drink (they do a free lunch once a month as well). Here I met the first of 5 teams that work within the welcome context for every meeting. Five teams! The others are on the main doors, on the doors to the hall, within the hall looking for those people on their own (they then sit with them) and another team doing the same in the balcony area. The team on the main door also give out the church's in house magazine. This is probably posted or otherwise to church members, so anyone with one of these on a Sunday, in a rather clever way, shows to those around that they are most likely a visitor! How clever.

And without the church planning ahead (I had turned up unannounced), I was warmly greeted in the coffee shop, then again by a guy on the door (also another Tim), who gave me my copy of the magazine (clever!) and the coffee shop team then led me to the hall, where we sat together.

Now if I was someone who had no church experience, this was a very warm and safe welcome - I could better experience what would follow because I was safe and with people I had got to know (albeit only an hour before!).

Then after, using the facilities that meeting in a central London theater offer, they had a separate bar area just for visitors, and where the church leaders make an effect to go straight out to and chat to the visitors - again, having just spoken from the stage to the whole church, they show by their actions that its the visitors they want to meet first, over conversations with friends (which can happen anytime outside of the Sunday meeting).

As bonuses to my time in London, it was great to be able to meet the guy heading up the Mobilise Team coming to St Petersburg on the 2nd April - I really hope I can get out in time to help with and be part of the week. Only God knows about that one though!

Then it was back to Oxford, a late Valentines Day arrival to my very pregnant wife, and poorly little girl, who had come down with a sickness bug that morning.

I'm now largely based in Oxford, and will write a separate part, in time, about what I've learnt from this vibrant, student heavy church here. But not yet.

Thanks for reading - I really hope you have found this interesting - I want to serve those planting into the cities - whether you are going as the leader or just as a member of the team, whether its a capital city or university city, a big or small city, I would love to be an encouragement and source of information to you. If there is something I haven't covered but you want to ask, do get in touch.

I am working on pulling through my notes and starting a blog series that'll be a rough city church planters 'handbook' style reference - so watch this space!

Russian Traveller - Part 3 - The North of England

I've now finished my travels planned before the birth of our second child, due any time now. These travels have taken me to Dublin, Paris, Stockport, Manchester, Leeds, Matlock, Sidcup, Catford, London and of course Oxford, where I've been based in between.

In parts one and two I looked at the first two cities, and in this post want to look at my trip to the north of England, and especially the time in Leeds at Mosaic Church, led by Matt Hatch.

Arriving up at my Stockport base, I has blessed to be able to meet up for lunch in Manchester with Julian Adams, who was right in the middle of the process of actually moving to the city. Later that day he was waiting for confirmation about the house he was moving into!

And the main thing that came from that lunch, besides a great chat and getting to know him a little, was the opening to come to a conference he's speaking at in March that is gathering a number of prophetic people and should teach me, through practical action, everything I had come to learn. So more on that at another time.

My second day in the north was spent up in Leeds, at Mosaic Church, where Matt & Pip Hatch had moved up to a few years before to plant, as they had felt God leading them. I was there to look at, and see first hand, their whole mission group structure. These are their midweek groups that are as much church as their Sunday gathering is.

I learnt a lot more though.

They are a wonderfully warm people, so honouring like I have not really come across. They gave me their best time, all three elders in turn meeting with me, sharing with me, wanting to help. I felt like a royal visitor...their heart for people so evident in their actions towards me. That left a lasting impression!

As a church, borrowed ideas of course from other well established places, they work along the lines of being a community of Growth, of Care and of Mission. And within the mission area, they breakdown into the three P's - People, Passion & Places.

These three form the basis of their mission group structure, though structuring and naming something that in essence best works unstructured, is always a limitation. But for ease of understanding, I'll keep calling them mission groups.

The Places is easiest understood as being geographical within the city - groups built around specific localities. Passion outworks itself in what people enjoy doing - so they have football groups, performing arts, film groups. People means certain groups - so for example there's a group of women that work with ladies in the Red Light district of Leeds. Other groups work with the homeless.

The heart of mission groups is why should a group meet first and then go out and feed the homeless - in other words, doing 'the church bit' and then the 'mission' bit. This is so often how churches function in the UK. But without meaning to it separates 'church' from 'mission' - but they are, and this is the heart of what they are doing in Leeds, one and the same thing! They would say, go out on the streets first, and then do the 'group' with those you've met and gathered with!

As they are bringing this ethos into an already established setting, they are having to over-compensate in their language to challenge the preconceptions that 'church' is defined by a meeting in a hall on a Sunday.

They long for the day their 'church' is counted by how many people attend a midweek group, and not by the Sunday attendance. They long for there to be 500 in their church but only 400 attending on a Sunday.

They are bringing a fresh new look at what it is to be a people of God in a city like Leeds. Far from watering down the gospel, they are challenging the assumptions people now have, making the church far more accessible for the lost than ever before.

Under this structure, they don't really run anything separately, so even their mum's and tots group is actually a mission group and not a 'ministry' of the church. The one exception is their Alpha course (which they are reshaped and call 'Intro'). These people, once coming through the course though, are most likely to form a new mission group anyway, but it is done not entirely as one group to start with and is open to all.

It's important they decentralise - so that they are neither Sunday focused nor leader focused. The central hub of Mosaic is there to resource what's around it and not the other way round.

It's about putting community before a meeting.

Mission also needs to be a friendship group - it's seeing socials as OK, and nothing 'lesser' than a 'normal' meeting. When friendships are there, they also look within the group and breakdown maybe to 3 groups of three with three separate interests.

They want to become a House church without losing the shop front that is their Sunday morning. And I think that this is the perfect balance - Sunday's will always draw people, certainly those 'used' to 'church', and for these visitors, both Christians and non-Christians, to see lots of smaller focus groups working that can link them in is certainly a great thing. Sunday's are there to serve churches and are vital for that - depending on what culture you are in, they have varying importance as well.

So I came away very encouraged, having gone with Pip to one of their Thursday night groups, seeing first hand what goes on. And it was something that Pip said about the meeting night that also most stuck with me. They would, say for September to December, get the diary out and plan the term's group night based on the following: firstly, any birthdays that the group members have go in. Plus any events, like fireworks night (lets say it falls on a Saturday) - this becomes a big focus event to invite people too. So the night they actually meet on will vary from week to week, and only when there is nothing else will they meet on the default night of Thursday. This, maybe more so than anything else, is radically challenging to the perception that 'group' has to happen on the same night of the week (most commonly Wednesday).

In London, where I was at this last weekend, they have two groups that meet on a Sunday afternoon, before their meeting at the theater! But more on that visit in the next entry.

The Sunday visits to Stockport (in the morning) and Matlock in the evening (where Chesterfield were also present), where I spoke at both meetings, were personal catch ups on our own situation and experiences in Russia. We showed the new church DVD here for the first time - have a look on our new website - www.hopechurchstpetersburg.com

So I returned south, to Oxford, encouraged. Leeds had taught me a lot - going the mission group structure in St Petersburg will have its challenges, but we are small enough to get the correct mindset in place early on.