This little story caught my eye.
Now, there are a few little details to be aware of. First of all, I understand that the church in question aligns with the Exclusive Brethren which tend to be regarded as a sect and that will potentially affect some of their expectations. Secondly, whilst there seem to be examples from the late twentieth and early twenty first century of specific churches drawing crowds coming in coach loads or even from further afield by plane to witness phenomena, this isn’t really what we are looking for in terms of revival. Rather, there should be an expectation that churches will have an impact on their immediate community. I think that’s what is being reported where churches are being encouraged with growth right now and indeed my own experience, not necessarily of revival but of evidence of God working in a church and that church seeing fruit is again that it’s not coachloads of site seers that are the fruit but people from local neighbourhoods engaging and God working in their lives.
Having said that. I think there are two observations from this story to bear in mind. The first is practical. If you are planning to build a new church building or acquire premises then you do need to provide space to grow. It’s easy to feel like you are being successful, just build a little too small. However, if we are serious about kingdom growth then we need to be planning for there to be space for people to come in. And remember that when you hit about 80% of your seating capacity, the rule of thumb is that in reality you are full and there isn’t really space for further growth.
Secondly, isn’t it amazing that the local council are picking up on news about what God is doing in his church here in the UK. In fact, I would suggest that this story of a little village and its counsellors tells us as much about what is happening as does reports of celebrity conversions. But what it suggests is that the World is wiser in its thinking and even maybe has more faith that we do for what is possible. After all, even amidst the news of a quiet revival, how many of us would have faith for exciting things to kick off in a little Exclusive Brethren Gospel Hall in a village in Norfolk? Don’t you feel just a little bit rebuked.
This leaves me wondering whether there are things that the world around us here where I live and worship might at times have more insight, wisdom and faith than we do. What are the people around us seeing that we might be missing?
Faithroots 