Future I

In 1983 I met Dudley Daniel. At that stage he was the lead pastor at NCF in Bryanston South Africa. And I was a school teacher who was wildly in love with Jesus and yet had just had the trauma of seeing a church planting movement implode. The pain and trauma, from which some have still not recovered, was profound. Dudley became as a father to me. He saved me from the highway of self destruction and set me on a Jesus loving, bible driven whirlwind of apo Christianity.

It was around that time that the Jesus People movement had blurred into many movements. The Charismatic Renewal had began to wane as many young churches were now giving expression to a stronger Holy Spirit journey. We began our new story - wanting to spend the rest of our lives journeying with friends while we set out to disciple the nations. One day I may write these stories but, for now, my new blog series - "Future" I am as breathless with excitement today as I was in those days. There is something fresh, new, unscripted, that lies before us. But it is only for the fragile and the weak. The strong will rely too much on their own ability. The weak will be found in Him - the lover of our souls.

In this series I would like us to explore how we need to do church with the "last of the last days" in view. This I know, the way we did church during the Jesus People movement, the Charismatic Renewal and the Apostolic Restoration of the 80s is not the same as each other, not is it the way of the future.

The Middle East is burning with revolution that is nameless, faceless and facebook driven... but isn't that what we spoke about all those years ago - yet we seemingly cannot help ourselves but create celebrity charismatic speakers, with top down leadership models that are help reproducing the past. What can we explore and discover together, to ready the church for the next 20 years?