White Hot Centre

We have been taking our time recently to ensure we have two cultures in place. The first is an encounter culture. As Paul tells us in Ephesians when we gather as the church we are the living temple built on the foundations of the apostles and the prophets, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone. We host the presence of God. We worship Him and expect to encounter Him. The second is a culture of radical missional discipleship. We are setting ourselves up as a people on a mission, ready to carry the presence of God out into the world.

The last two weeks we have been richly blessed in our gatherings. You could say we have been longing for the white hot presence of God, and we haven't been disappointed. We have seen numerous healings and God dealing with deep issues that prevent us from knowing how to encounter Him. My experience has been that when we expose the issues in our lives that hold us back from entering His presence to the light, we give Him the opportunity to heal us.

There is more to come but it sure is getting hot!

Getting into our stride

Well CityChurch has now been going for 3 months and God has been good to us, as ever. We have been working out what it means to have a radical missional edge and a white hot centre at the same time. is it possible? How do you do it? We are convinced it is possible! A radical missional desire should always come from having consistently been in the presence of God. When we take time put loving God first we can't help but be influenced by who He is, and He is the Father who so loved the world He sent the Son and then the Spirit in order that none might perish! Being with God pushes us out! Mission born of anything else is in danger of being little more than good works done in human strength.

To help us remember this we have found Mike Breen's Lifeshapes really useful. you should check them out. The Triangle is a simple concept and yet astonishingly profound as it reminds us that our lives should be balanced up, in and out. We encounter the Father (up), then love the Body (in) and together we love this lost world (Out). If we remember that always we will stay on track.

We are encountering some wonderful opportunities at present which are a gift from God. They are not as a result of our hard work and we deserve no credit but I believe we will have some powerful stories soon about how the above works out in practice.

Love God first, let him speak, intentionally share that love with the lost and lives get changed!




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