CCK Life blog

“I like to visualise the Clarendon Centre as an aircraft carrier, launching different missions for furthering the kingdom of God in Brighton”

Dan Sweetman is facilities manager at CCK and his primary job is managing the Clarendon Centre, where our Sunday meetings take place. Dan is passionate about spreading the good news of the gospel across the City, and also leads the North Hove Zone with his wife, Adrienne. They have two daughters together; Keziah and Emery. Dan chats to Emily Sneyd about his role, and why he is so excited to be part of the Church in the City of Brighton and Hove.

E.S : Hi Dan!  First of all, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

D.S: Well, I was born and bred in Brighton, and was blessed enough to grow up in the Church! My background has always been in IT- it’s not something I studied, but I enjoyed it so I worked up to being an IT manager for a while.

Then, a few years ago I felt God prompt me to work abroad for a year, so I ended up in Missouri, U.S . I worked with a Newfrontiers Church out there. I had a really great year and developed my faith, but it certainly wasn’t easy and was painful at times as God dealt with issues in my heart. My time there ended abruptly when my application for renewal of my Visa was denied, and I was forced to come back to Brighton. I was recently engaged, but my fiancée, being the amazing woman of God that she is, was happy to follow me back to England. In hindsight I can see that God was calling me back to Brighton and it was all part of His plan for my life.

Adrienne and I got married when I returned and then I got a job managing buildings and selling office space. This was an interesting time as I learnt a lot of new skills that have been invaluable in my role in managing the Clarendon Centre.

E.S: That’s quite a journey! Tell me a bit about your job- What does it involve?

D.S: I like to visualise the Clarendon Centre as an aircraft carrier, launching different missions for furthering the kingdom of God in Brighton. The Centre itself is influential because of it’s visibility in the city- It’s a fantastic tool for our mission as it gets different groups of people into the building as well as being able to offer an outstanding space to hire out for meetings and events.

The largest part of the job is our Sunday meetings; we run three services each Sunday so much of the week is spent gearing up to these big events. Another large part of my job is developing new business for the Centre and offering a great service to clients for when they want to hire out the Centre for events. Closely associated to that is overseeing the events themselves; doing the preparation, clear-up and then re-setting for the next event- it’s a lot of work! We are a relatively small team, but the team fires on all cylinders and are doing a phenomenal job. The catering and hospitality side of things is also huge for the department; Church-run events such as the Alpha and Beta courses, serve three-course meals and I again oversee a fantastic catering team.

E.S: That sounds like a lot of responsibility! How would you say your job feeds into your passion for the Church and for the city of Brighton?

D.S: I’m in a privileged position in my role; I am able to see what CCK is doing on both a macro and micro level. On a macro-level, it is seeing how the Church can serve the city as a whole; for example, for the Brighton Marathon in April, we are reducing our three Sunday meetings to just one evening meeting so that over 300 volunteers from CCK can serve at that event. On a micro-level, it is serving our smaller, local communities with the ‘Zone meetings’ that we have, and in the Small Group meetings that make up the Zones, as well as all the other activities that build community. We’re reaching out to the people who don’t yet know Jesus in such a multitude of different ways. I’m really enjoying being part of the plan for Brighton, and actively engaging the community around us. We’re not fully there yet, but God is helping us to achieve this. I enjoy being part of the grand scheme as well as getting my hands dirty.

E.S: So, do you have any influences in your life?

D.S: Jack Bauer!  Ha. He should be everybody’s influence (E.S: for the sad individuals who are not in-the-know, Jack is the invincible counter-terrorist agent in the TV series, 24). I enjoy war movies and I love Band of Brothers, I’m also looking forward to the new Series of Pacific.

E.S: Well, with your hectic job, you must enjoy your weekends! – What would be the ideal day off for you?

D.S: Well, it’s not overly exciting, but ideally I’d be sitting down, drinking a cold beer and reading a good book, maybe by John Grisham or James Patterson- something easy to read.

E.S: That sounds like  exactly what you need! Thanks very much Dan, I hope people realise just what an asset to CCK you are.

Amy Loizides arrived in Brighton 2 years ago to serve on CCK’s Impact team for a year. She then worked as part of the Administrative team, led by Annie Waller.  She has just left Brighton to return to South Africa before moving to America to be involved with a church there. Amy shares with Yohaan Philip about her relationship with Jesus along with some of her memories of life in Brighton.

YP: Tell me about how you came to know Jesus.

AL: Well….! I grew up in a Christian home but as happens with a lot of people, the older I got the less important Jesus was to me and things like popularity, boys, image, parties etc got more and more important. In Cape Town, South Africa (where I grew up) every year Newfrontiers ran a Summer Camp (sort of like Newday but on a smaller scale) for the youth of the churches in our area. I went every single year and every time I went I’d get all fired up for God again; I’d be really excited about the whole thing, but then two weeks later when I went back to school, I’d go straight back into my old habits – partying, gossiping, drinking and all that. Then I arranged to come to England to find a job after I finished school when I was 18 but nothing opened up! So I emailed Joel Virgo and asked if I could come to Brighton (because that was one of the few places in England I actually remembered!) and volunteer at CCK for a little bit while I looked for a job. He said no to my idea because he had a better one – he said I should do Impact for six months at CCK instead! Then on the plane on the way over I was thinking about how messy everything had gotten in my life and how much it had hurt me and I just said “Right God, I swore I’d never go to England yet I’m on a plane to England and I swore I’d never work for the church yet I’m on my way to do six months at CCK, so it seems you’ve got me right where you want me.” There was no point fighting it anymore and pursuing other things so right then and there I just surrendered my life once again to whatever God had in store for me and honestly there wasn’t anything better that I could have done or will ever do.

YP: Lovely story! So why are you leaving Brighton then?!

AL: Haha the million dollar question… In short I feel like Brighton has been sort of a stepping stone, a ‘launch pad’ if you like in the time that I’ve been here. CCK is a great place to come, get stuck in, be a part of, be trained up and move on to advance the gospel further in other parts of the world. So I’m going to North Carolina, USA for a few months…as you do. After that, who knows!

YP: What have been some of the key things you’ve learnt whilst at CCK?

AL: Man this is hard because literally my whole life has changed! Umm…

To try and do everything with your best effort – because ultimately even if you aren’t working for the church, you are working for God and so it’s worth it to get stuck in wholeheartedly and get involved wherever you can.

To trust God completely with everything no matter how big or little it seems. God’s faithfulness shouldn’t surprise me, but it always does. He might not answer or provide in the way you expect him to, but it will always be the way that’s best for you and He will never ignore you.

YP: What are some of the things you’re going to miss?

AL: I sometimes grumble about Brighton but to be absolutely honest there is not a place in the world like it. I will miss walking down the road and seeing a man with blue hair, a tie dye dress, piercings everywhere walking barefoot in the pouring rain. I will miss the Red Roaster coffee house (just by the Old Steine – visit if you haven’t already!). I will really miss the amazing friends I’ve made and the ladies (plus a few boys) who work on the admin team at CCK - they do so much that goes unnoticed, true gems!

YP: Yes they are stars! All the best then and hopefully we’ll see you soon!

Nigel Ring has lived in Brighton and Hove for over 25 years now. He heads up the newfrontiers administration team and serves as Terry Virgo’s Administrator. Nigel served as one of the leaders of CCK for over 25 years. Nigel writes..

The recent Gift Day has included the needs of Kenya as they face severe drought. Let me give you a bit of background about our involvement there.

We first met Edward and Fridah Buria at the Downs Bible Week in 1985. This Bible week, hosted by newfrontiers on the Plumpton Racecourse near Lewes, then had about 7000 people attending. A few years later they brought their 100 or so churches into the family of newfrontiers.

Edward and Fridah are a remarkable couple. He is a visionary, evangelist, and entrepreneur who also has an apostolic ministry. Fridah is a very able business woman and wonderful support to Edward. He grew up in very poor circumstances (little better than slum life); she came from a well-to-do farming family. They met when he preached about Jesus in her school as a young adult (having been healed from a terminal illness). Several months after he first saw her he prayed for a wife for a considerable period and God told him she was the one.

After their wedding and first child they moved to Meru, a sizable town at the foot of Mount Kenya. They lived in a very rough area where there was high crime. After much prayer, they were able to start a church ‘Miracle in the Village’, now numbering nearly 1000 people. It is now the most peaceful area of Meru.

They began starting churches all over Kenya. Edward now oversees about 160 churches.

The drought they now face is the 3^rd this millennium, and by far the worst. I have visited during the previous two droughts (we have raised funds to help) and have been greatly impressed by their protocols and the highly effective and efficient ways in which they get help to the places of greatest need.

I have now just received (Nov 27^th) the following email about the current situation (only extracts reproduced here):

We have just returned back from Samburu (tribal area) where we have been for a few days carrying out relief andmedical operations … From what we have seen and heard … the situation on the ground and deep interior is so grave and not even captured on the National radar. It has emerged that we have whole ‘manyattas’ (i.e. Samburu homesteads) where on top of everyone being in dire need of relief food and other humanitarian supports, they have lost all their animals that succumbed to the drought … their only source of livelihood has been cut off.  In other areas, tension remains so high as communities fight and kill each other over cattle rustling and / or over the scarce either available vegetation and water. These intertribal skirmishes are so bad as they create a state of insecurity even on the roads in the affected areas.  It is also very clear that many people are dying as a result of the famine and through bandit-related incidents, and that such deaths go un-noticed or not recorded with the authorities.

The situation has even been complicated further by the continued failure of the much awaited rains … the weather people had predicted would be El-Nino Rains (i.e. torrential rains).

To our friends outside of Kenya, keep on praying for and with us and where it is possible to help in giving a smile and hope to a family in Samburu over this Christmas, please do so!

Like all other times in the past years, I and my able team remain so committed to standing and supporting our friends in Samburu and areas that have been affected by the on-going famine.

With every blessing.

Edward Buria

Thank you for giving sacrificially through the Gift Day. Please pray for them as the situation comes to mind.

Annie Waller heads the Administration department at Church of Christ the King. Along with her highly efficient organizing skills, her cooking prowess has blessed many over the years! Over the years, Annie has been an outstanding role model to many young women at CCK. One of them recently described her as ‘an inspirational woman of God who has such a big heart and much wisdom to share.’ Yohaan Philip, recently interviewed her, and writes..

YP: Tell me a bit about yourself, Annie.

AW: I’m married to Nigel and we have two children, Adam (22) & Frankie (17). I grew up in a non Christian home in Hertfordshire where my parents(and one brother) would call themselves atheists and now, humanists! I trained in hotel reception and worked in the hotel world for a number of years. I worked hard and played hard. I met Nigel here in Brighton whilst working at The Metropole. We married and two years later along came Adam.

My first encounter of Church of Christ the King was about 20 years ago when a friend from the hotel days invited us to her baptism. I remember laughing hysterically as it all looked and felt so weird. I filled in a contact card, and subsequently began having bible studies with a neighbor. Nothing dramatically happened, and I didn’t really change my lifestyle until years later.

I spent the next few years in a troubled and unhappy marriage. Nigel and I were both seeking legal advice regarding a pending divorce. One Sunday evening, Nigel was invited to go along to church and God broke in on his life! To cut a very long and complicated story, we began an amazing journey to restore our marriage. This year we celebrate 25 years together.. woohoo!

YP: What has been the effect of God “breaking into your lives” ?

AW: I no longer feel insecure as I have learnt to trust Jesus wholeheartedly, respect my husband, and let him take the lead in all areas of our life together. So releasing!

YP: Tell me a bit about your work. And your role in Church.

AW: I am foremost Joel Virgo’s PA. I also lead the Office Administration team at CCK and jointly oversee the personnel department. Along with my responsibilities at CCK, I play a key role in the 2 annual newfrontiers‘ conferences, Together On A Mission and Newday.

As a part of CCK, Nigel and I oversee four small groups in the North Brighton Zone. We are also involved in preparing young couples for marriage and get along side those who are either in the first few years of marriage or are just needing some input. We thoroughly enjoy doing this together.

YP: What are some of your dreams/ aspirations?

Oh to be mum who gets it right all the time!! But wouldn’t that be boring?

Being a mum of two is a huge privilege. I just love having family time – the four of us together. It’s incredibly special particularly as they get older. I know I don’t always get it right but by trusting Jesus and keeping the lines of communication open, we get through the tough times and have fun in the process.

I like spending time with young women not only in my home but also outside of work and family life. I just be myself, keep it real and give wise encouragement as we go along.

YP: What’s a dream day for Annie Waller?

AW: Wow wouldn’t that be amazing well my dream day would be.. a day to myself, walking, talking (whatever is going on in my head at the time) and listening to God.

I often walk along Brighton seafront taking in all the different cultures, ages groups etc., its such a great spring-board for prayer.

I love musicals so a trip to London to see a musical would round my day off nicely

Main Seminar 9: PJ Smyth – Keep it RAW

PJ leads the newfrontiers church in Johannesburg, South Africa. PJ began his preach with a video of elephants rushing through the jungle making new paths which put into graphic context John Groves’ landmark prophecy for our family of churches.

1. Risks

Elephants charge into the jungle taking many risks – falling into holes and breaking a leg, crocodiles eating the young.
Charge to young men : Glorify God, stand firm and act like men, be brotherly to your sisters, love your wife, raise children
Don’t sink your manliness in church.

2. Authority
Elephants know they’re elephants! In Acts 17, Paul addresses the men of Athens. Athens was a big city, but we have a bigger God! The city is an excuse to preach the gospel. The Earth was created so that man would reach God. Don’t get caught up with the various facilities in a city inappropriately, but use them to glorify God!

3. Wild
Elephants are wild.
A. Let mission motivate
B. Let mission create structure
C.  Be wild about transition

Mobilise Main Seminar 3: Dave Stroud – The Cross sets us Free

Dave preached from Ex 12:1-13,29,30 on the power of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. We have been freed to worship God.

1. Freedom from sin
Sin is worshiping any other god than Yahweh.
3 trios of idols we need to watch out for:
1. Sex, power and money
2. Narcissism, hedonism, relativism
3. Our service to God, family and friends, our search for a partner

2. Freedom from punishment
God’s wrath demonstrates His goodness
God’s wrath demonstrates His righteousness
God’s wrath demonstrates the wonder of God’s salvation

3. Freedom from evil
There are spiritual and demonic forces behind evil. Satan’s greatest trick has been to convince the world that he doesn’t exist. He also seeks to undermine moral values and accuse.
Jesus didn’t come to negotiate, He destroyed the devil.(1 Jhn 3:8)

Main Seminar 8: Terry Virgo – Newfrontiers part 3 – Future

The epic conclusion to Terry’s 3 part series at TOAM on newfrontiers- the past, the preset and the future. If you have the privilege of belonging to our international family, you don’t want to miss this (the video and audio files will be made available online soon)! There was such a sense of wonder  of all God has blessed us with as once again, Terry glorified and honoured the Lord Jesus as he spoke about what the future had in store for newfrontiers. This is the end of the beginning! Last year at TOAM, we were served brilliantly by Mark Driscoll and he urged us to honour the future and prepare for it. Terry responded to this and laid out the plan for us..

Terry began by showing us what the Bible spoke about apostles and apostolic spheres. Briefly, an apostle is someone sent with authority. Jesus was an apostle, so were the Twelve along with others like Paul, Barnabas and James.

1. The apostles provided the foundation of the Church

Ephesians  2 talks about the new Temple being built on the foundation of apostles. These men gave identity to the Church. The early church gave themselves to their teachings. They were not simply scripture writers. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul writes to the church that he is the master builder who laid the foundation of their church. They were proof of his apostolic gift.

2. The relationship

There was an ongoing affectionate relationship between Paul and the churches he laid foundations for. he developed a father-son relationship with them. It was not a static relationship, but a dynamic one. And it was by their dynamic involvement that his apostolic sphere saw expansion. The effective functioning of the church will impact global apostolic thrust.

3. The future

There are men who have gone out from us, who are not representing Terry, but who are now growing in their own apostolic gifting. We have been commissioned to fill the earth with sons who become fathers who in turn have sons who become fathers. Jesus did not hand over to a successor. Pentecost was Peter’s moment, not his movement. When Paul became an apostle
- he didn’t come from the Jerusalem stable
- he had revelation of the gospel
- he did not want to run alone
- he wanted recognition and affirmation from those before him
- he challenged Peter but did not walk away. He wanted unity

We must believe for the emergence of apostles. Jesus is the head of the Church and He gives apostles, teachers, evangelists, pastors. We will pray that He gives us laborers for the harvest. Newfrontiers may go but it is more important that apostolic spheres grow and that churches are in dynamic relationship with apostles.

What could hold the spheres together
- fellowship a lot ( you can accomplish more together than apart)
- unity of doctrine and values
- promises that God’s given us to change the expression of Christianity across the world

God has done an amazing thing with one apostolic sphere, imagine when a dozen kick in!

Leadership Main Seminar 7: Joel Virgo – The Armor Bearer

It was a proud moment for Terry as he introduced his son to the preacher’s pulpit. It was also a proud moment for all the Church of Christ the King delegates to see our beloved leader take the stage and do what he does best! And boy did he deliver!

Joel preached from 1 Sam 14:1-15, 20-25 to highlight the role of team players who are not team leaders. He did this through the story of Jonathon and his armor bearer as, together, they won an unlikely victory over the Philistines.

Introduction: There is strength in plurality. There is God given power when you’re joined. God reveals Himself to us as a team with distinct  roles. The Son is constantly demonstrating clear submission to the Father. In eternity past and future, the Father has a glorious position of supremacy. It’s just as God like to submit than to lead. In today’s world authority and submission is seen as evil. But it was good before the fall. We must never see submission as imposed. At CCK we have moved away from one man ministry to plurality in leadership. But that doesn’t make it some sort of an egalitarian system with no clear cut roles and distinction. There also needs to be a balance between humility and headship. We need team players who will give themselves to a God given vision.

3 key points
1. Catch his heart (:7)
“Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” There was freedom for Jonathon. But be careful of who you say that too. You need to know that they have grasped God’s heart. One way of catch his heart is by praying with your leader. Allow him to grow in faith.

2. Watch his back (:13)
The leader can see God, can see the vision, but sometimes can’t see what it looks like! Let him set the trajectory, you go about getting it done. You bring skills to the table and without you it won’t happen! Covers his back during his absence. If he’s not there don’t try to do it your way. Aaron dropped the vision when Moses was on Mount Sinai. Cover his weaknesses. When a leader is feeling vulnerable, that’s not a time to swoop down like a vulture. Press in to cover him. Work as a team. Sometimes it means confronting but we have to.Leaders should be able to trust their armor bearers. Paul writes of Timothy, “He’s of proven worth.”

3. Share the victory
The rest of the army joined in. Jonathon and his armor bearer did not seek personal glory.

Conclusion: In 3 John, John writes, “but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us.” There’s a sense of laying down which often may be painful for the armor bearer. But he has One he can follow. Jesus’ humility and submission is evident right through His life on this earth. Right from Him being born in the most humble of circumstances to His humiliating death.

Thank God for the privilege of knowing Him rather than the privilege to lead.

Mobilise Main Seminar 2: Tom Shaw – Exposing Idols

Tom leads the newfrontiers church in Canterbury. He also leads the team that runs Mobilise. Tom preached from the story of God delivering His people from the oppressive slavery of the Egyptians to parallel the freedom that Jesus has won for us today. His preach aimed to answer the question posed by many young people, ‘how do we therefore enter into the reality and experience of the total freedom Christ has won for us?‘

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Gal 5:1)

1. The Truth about our Freedom
In Exodus 15, we read Moses’ glorious song of worship unto Yahweh who has delivered His people from the Egyptians. Jesus paid a massive price for us to have our freedom – He died. We have been taken from a place of captivity to incredible freedom. The contrast between slavery and our freedom is incomprehensible.

2. The Lie about Idols
- it’s silly
- but it’s subtle

Some key questions in helping us figure out what idols we have in our lives: what do you  worry about? What do you rely on to cope with suffering? What are some of your release valves? What do you day dream about? What are you proudest of achieving? What do you want people to know about you?
Anything that occupies the place that should belong to God is an idol in your life.

4 key idols
1. Comfort – crave: lack of stress, responsibility and suffering; fear – responsibility
2. Control – crave: self discipline, certainty, standards; fear – uncertainity; emotion -worry
3. Power – crave: sucess, influence, winning; fear – humiliation; emotion – anger
4. Approval – crave: affirmation, love, relationship; fear – rejection; emotion- cowardice

3. Solution for the future
Through the power of the Spirit, we have one to immitate – Jesus. He did not give into sin, but obeyed His Father. He deserved all power but did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but gave it up for us all and humbled Himself to being a servant. He was drenched in the Father’s approval so He did not seek approval from man.

Main Seminar 6: Terry Virgo – Newfrontiers part 2- Present

What a preach!! Make sure you download the video, this is something you don’t want to miss out on! There was such a sense of wonder as Terry glorified Jesus and His Bride, the Church in the final session of Day 2 in a way that only he can. It really is such a privilege to be a part of a family that has such a biblical understanding of the Church as God meant it to be.

1. We must treasure the Church
It must have been an incredible revelation for Paul when he heard a voice say ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’ Great is the mystery of the unity between Christ and His Body, the Church. In Phil 4:1 Paul’s overwhelming exuberance is sensed as he refers to the church as “my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, dear friends.” Great grace was on them all. They were a people overwhelmed by God’s grace.For freedom Christ has set us free. We have to preach grace.
2. The church is where we loose our individualism and personal agenda
If you want to find your life you have to loose it. How? In the stuff of relationships. In stuff of Church building. The fruits of the Spirit grow in the ‘one another’ context. The most magnificent things about Jesus are not meant for theological books, but to transform you. The cross transforms. God wants to build leaders He can trust. Sanctification is impossible alone. We are called to make disciples. We are called to serve. Don’t use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another (become a slave).
3. Joyful obedience
God is worthy of obedience. It is the best thing to do, otherwise it becomes rules and legalism. Satan lies that God is holding back. The church not only consists of individual obedience, but corporate obedience as well.
4. Utterly committed to building biblically
We’re on a mission around the world to build biblical churches. Churches that are transformed by the guidance of the Spirit. Democracy may be the way to run countries, but it is not the way to run churches.
5. Restoration
Nehemiah rebuilt the walls and the city. We need distinctives back.Restoration also means the return of the presence of God.
David wanted the Ark back. He could not run the nation without God’s presence. The Church is the dwelling place of God’s Spirit where He is neither quenched or grieved, but revered and glorified. Peter was with Jesus all the time – that’s what being a Christian was to him. Being with Jesus is breath taking; being with the Holy Spirit is magnificent. Jesus went back to His Father and sent His Spirit in His place. We’re to be with Him. His presence makes us distinct.

The Church is a community of love worked out in relationships where the presence of God loves to dwell.

Main Seminar 5:Stephen Van Rhyn – Grace

Stephen leads the newfrontiers church in Cape Town, South Africa, supports Manchester United and delights in poking fun at Brighton in comparison to Cape Town! He is also an outstanding preacher and a very gifted communicator.

Stephen began his preach with a story – the gripping tale of Abraham and his son, Issac. He started off with the promise and miraculous birth of Issac and then lead us to Mount Moriah where God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Issac. He then compared this to Calvary – A similar story where a Father had to sacrifice His one and only Son, only this time, His hand was not stayed.

What are the implications of this grand story for us as a family of churches together on a mission?
From Phil 1:1-11, Stephen brought out the following 3 key learnings.

1. Grace to you
God’s grace must touch us personally before we seek to touch anyone else. Grace is the centerpiece of Paul’s gospel. Salvation begins with God and God finished what He starts. The day of completion is when Jesus returns in all His glory. Does your confidence lie in this great truth? Or do you place your trust in numerical growth or manifested Holy Spirit power?
2. Grace on display
Even though salvation is an intensely personal affair, Christianity is not private. Without the gospel we have no church. God is after communities of people who will demonstrate His glory and power.
3. Grace to the nations
Churches impact cities. In Gen 20, God promises Abraham that through his offspring, the nations will be blessed. The gospel is communicated through relationships. Churches should be connected to apostolic ministry in mutual love and respect and humility. The question is not “who will succeed Terry?”, but “who are you connected to?”

Mobilise Main Seminar 1: Andrew Wilson – The Cross and The Cosmos

One of the brightest minds in newfrontiers kicked off Mobilise today morning. Mobilise is the training track for students and twenties with aim of raising up leaders  to plant churches and affect campuses and workplaces for the glory of God.

Andrew used 5 story lines that run through the Bible and showed us how they found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ on the cross. Colossians 1:1-15 was the text for Andrew’s preach.

Story 1: The creation story. God made man in His image. Man rebelled and chose to usurp the authority of his Creator. The problem of evil arose. A new man made in the image of God was needed.

Jesus: A Man who is the image of God. (Col 1:15)

Story 2: God calls Abraham and sets a part a people for Himself. But the hope for the world (Israel) turn to sin and become the problem not the solution. A new covenant was needed.
Jesus: In Him, we have been qualified into the Kingdom of God. (Col 1:12)

Story 3:The exodus. Yahweh ransomed the Israelites from slavery and crushed their oppressors.A new redemption was needed from a more powerful enemy.

Jesus: On the cross,  He rescued and delivered us from sin and death. (Col 1:13-14)

Story 4: The exile. The Temple was destroyed and Israel wept because Yahweh had judged them. But there was hope – they believed Yahweh would forgive them their  sins and raise them from the dead.

Jesus: One the cross, death was undone. (Col 2:13-14)

Story 5: The Roman oppression. Israel was ruled by the oppressive might of Rome. Under the cry, ‘Roma Victor’ the Romans would steal people’s countries and impose their government on them. The cross a symbol of Roman authority. It made a bold statement - If you rebel against our authority we will kill you.

Jesus: And having disarmed the powers and authorities, Jesus made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Col 2:15)

To read an interview with Andrew Wilson which I had the privilege of conducting, please click here.

Leadership Main Seminar 4: David Stroud – Daniel: affecting society

David Stroud leads the newfrontiers church in the West End of London. David used the life of Daniel (from Daniel 1) to show us how we need to engage with society in way that glorifies God’s name. He used 5 questions followed by 6 key learnings to communicate his message.

Q1. What does God value? (Dan 1:1-2)
God cares about everything that happened in Babylon. God created everything and loves everything.

Q2. How should we get involved? (Jer 29:4-7; Gen 12:1-3)
Look similar but differ in your heart. Take confidence that God has promised that you will be a blessing to the nations.

Q3. what should we be thinking? (Dan 1:6-8)
Be wise and sensitive.
- what should we accept from culture?
- what should we redeem from culture?
- what should we change in culture?

Q4. what should our vision be?
Influence but not ultimate transformation.

Q5 How will things end? (Dan 1:21)
Isaiah prophesied that Cyrus would set the Israelites free. Be faithful until the end.

6 Key learnings from Daniel
1. Daniel said yes and gave himself whole heartedly
2. Daniel was part of a team (dan 1:7)
3. Dan did not allow the cost to deter him (dan 1:13-14; 5:17)
4. Daniel and his team were outstanding candidates (1:20)
- encourage people to work hard
- value education and secular learning
- look for the favour of God
5. Dan continued as a man of prayer and the Spirit (1:17)
6. Daniel became someone who was listened to (2:24)

Together On A Mission is an annual gathering of over 5,000 men and women from over 35 different countries to worship Jesus Christ and hear the Bible preached. The conference is hosted by newfrontiers, an international family of Churches, in Brighton from the 7th to the 10th of July. Over the duration of the conference, Yohaan Philip, chief editor of the ccklife blog, will review the various main sessions as well as some of the seminars. Complete audio and video files will be made available on the website as soon as they are ready.

Main Seminar 1: Mbonisi Malaba – God’s Global Heart

Mbonisi (or Bones as he’s affectionately called) leads the newfrontiers church in Bulaway, Zimbabwe. What a dynamic preacher this guy is! Bones preached from the book of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet in Israel who God used to speak to the people of the surrounding nations. Bones paralleled this to God’s command to the first man, Adam, of filling the earth, and God’s promise to Abraham that the nations would be blessed through him. God has a concern for people and He wants to share His global concern with us.

• Go to where people are
• Have a global strategy
• Target cities

In conclusion, Bones looked at Acts 19 and drew out 3 key learning’s from Paul’s time in Corinth

• Tent Making – have a practical skill to find employment. This will help you advance with integrity (demonstrates that you are not peddling the gospel for profit)
• Paul stayed a bit longer. Press through for break through. Know when to go and when to stay.
• Paul won a victory for Christianity in Rome

Main Seminar 2: Stef Liston – Go back to Gallilee Mr. Big and a bruised reed He won’t break

Stef leads the newfrontiers church in North Central London. Stef regularly preaches at the annual conference for teenagers, Newday. Stef began by sharing the aim of his preach, to captivate our hearts with awe and wonder towards who God is and in doing that pull down the proud and lift up the humble. The text for the preach was Ezekiel 34 in which God reveals His anger towards the leaders of His people because they had misused their God-given authority. From Matthew 18:1-6 (being child-like to enter the Kingdom of God), Stef brought out the following points to help leaders wisely steward the responsibility given to them of looking after God’s people.

• God is child – like
• a child likes to please his father
• a child likes to follow his father
• children aren’t after the complex, but are satisfied and delight in the simple
• There’s something medicinal about children. Be a pleasure to be around.
• Kids copy. Imitate!
• Kids ask for lots Pray pray pray!
• Kids sing. Worship God
• Kids trust

Main Seminar 3: Terry Virgo – Newfrontiers Part 1 – Past

Terry Virgo is the founder of newfrontiers and is based at Church of Christ the King, Brighton. Terry began his highly anticipated 3 part series on the past, present and future of newfrontiers today. I have had the privilege of praying with Terry over many a lunch break in the build up to the conference and have witnessed his deep desire to see the Trinitarian God glorified through this series. And boy did that happen!

Terry used Eph 2:1-10 as the text for his sermon.

1. Word and Spirit movement
Our start: we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead people don’t bring anything to the table. But God loved us, rescued us and made us alive with Christ. We are a new creation in Christ: His workmanship. He works on you because you’re His work of art. He has ambition for you.

Ephesians 2:10 talks about the works God has prepared in advance for us to do.  Terry reminded us of 2 key prophesies that had been spoken over newfrontiers:

1. A herd of elephants crashing through a jungle making new paths. What are some of those new paths?

• Spirit filled churches
• International family of over 600 churches across 50 countries
• Newday – 6,000 young people gather annually to worship and be taught about Jesus
• Finance has been raised to plant churches as well as to aid countries in need (Kenya famine, Zimbabwe)

2. We would change the expression of Christianity across the world. How have we done that?

• legalism to grace filled freedom churches
• independent to interdependent churches
• secessionist  to charismatic  churches

2. Life in the Spirit

Eph 1:13 says that we were marked in Jesus with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. At newfrontiers, we aim to be theologically biblical and to experience the explosive power of the Spirit. The seal of the Spirit is to authenticate and as evidence of our new relationship with God. It is experential. Not experiencing the Spirit robs the Church of it’s joy of knowing the presence of God. When we cry “Abba, Father” by the Spirit (Rom 8:15), it is an intense and experienced cry.

In conclusion, Terry briefly spoke about praying in tongues from 1 Cor 14. Praying in tongues is a vehicle of worship you don’t understand. We use our physical apparatus to move in a different realm, like when Peter walked on water (Matthew 14).

Fittingly, we ended the meeting praying for those who had never been filled with the Spirit to experience this indescribable joy. And God made His presence felt.

Scott Thomas is the Director of the Acts 29 Network which is a church planting network (in many ways similar to Newfrontiers) that works out of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (Mark Driscoll’s church). Scott is also an Elder at Mars Hill Church and before that was a construction worker and then led his own Church before joining Mark in Seattle.

Scott will be joining us this Sunday at CCK along with Pastor Jamie Munson from Mars Hill Church. After the Sunday morning meeting, we’ll host a short session with Scott from 12.30 through to 1.30pm at the Clarendon Centre. If you can make it we suggest you bring your own lunch to church and we’ll eat together.

To read an invitation to this event by Joel Virgo, please click here.

Andrew Wilson is an Elder at King’s Church, Eastbourne, husband to Rachel, father to Ezekiel and author of Deluded by Dawkins and Incomparable. Andrew holds degrees in Theology from Cambridge and London and is not someone you’d want to engage in debate with if you’ve only read the introduction and conclusion to The Origin of Species! Yohaan Philip recently had the privilege of interviewing him and writes:

It’s quite interesting that the setting for this interview is not a massive room, with walls filled to the ceiling with a wide assortment of books and a plush brown leather chair behind a stately oak table as would befit a man of the intellectual calibre that I am about to interview. We are seated in the children’s playroom in the Clarendon Centre, surrounded by dolls houses, plastic balls and a Hot Wheels garage set. It leads me to my first question.

YP: Congratulations Andrew (call him Andy and you incur his wrath!)You’ve recently become a dad for the first time! How does that feel?
AW: It’s absolutely amazing! Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Jack James Wilson is his name. He’s reading all the right books. He sleeps well and he’s just beautiful. It’s life changing. It has also been a spiritual thing – it has shown me more about God. You get home at the end of the day and wow there’s this other person. Your family has doubled, it’s just extraordinary! The passion you feel for this person and how you want the absolute best for him – it’s fantastic!

My mind drifts to Andrew’s book, Incomparable. Andrew does well to make lofty truths on God an easy read without losing a sense of awe of the God he writes about. How does he do it?!

YP: You are quite the intellect across the Newfrontiers family of churches. Everybody raves about Incomparable. What has helped shaped your thoughts?
AW: I was blessed early on. Academically sound thinkers who had a God saturated view of the world came across my path. Though some of them disagreed with each other, they all began with a very Theo-centric (God-centric) view of reality. John Piper’s been more influential to me more than anyone else. I read books by Judson Cornwall and Tom Wright at a formative stage of my thinking, where I just suddenly realised that if there’s a place of studying hard and working hard it has got to come from a God-saturated view of the world.

I remember listening to an eight message series Judson Cornwall preached on Psalm 8:1 “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” He preached on the names of God. This really fired me up. I began to think that this guy is making the character of God something very important that I needed to know, not by him saying you need to know God, but by him telling me who God was. Then I began to notice this trend reappearing in other key writers and thinkers (like Piper) that I interacted with, and I thought “there’s something about knowing who God is that has dramatic application in and of itself.” It’s almost like I can preach on God and not give an application, and it does the work for me. You preach on holiness and people will feel convicted of sin. You preach on love and people will feel overwhelmed with the compassion of God. You preach grace and people will be able to stop sinning. These doctrines of who God is, in them have true power. I think probably some people may occasionally think, “if I don’t apply this all the time instantly, then maybe it’s of no use to anyone” and I’m not sure that’s true. I think there is sometimes power in just saying ‘behold your God’ and that became a specialization for me. I felt God saying that I should preach on nothing else but the character of God, which I did for about 2 years. This God-lead initiative for me to just preach on Him has been foundational for me.

Andrew is almost jumping out of his seat, alive with passion. It’s contagious!

Andrew also oversees Phase 1 of the Future Leadership training programme run by Newfrontiers in Brighton and it has been here that I have grown to respect and adore this spirit-filled young man who engages with God with his heart and mind. I’ve had the privilege of worshipping God along with Andrew during training, and his heartfelt prayers are filled with such a depth of an understanding of who God is that you are immediately drawn into intimate worship.

YP: As someone who loves to study about God, how do you personally ensure that you aren’t relating to God on a purely cerebral level rather than living being filled with the Spirit  – we can know lots of things but the Holy Spirit is the one who underlines reality.
AW: I’m not sure if I do all the time, if I’m honest. I think sometimes I am aware that my devotional times with God have such a strong emphasis on the Word that often I feel like times of praying and enjoying God can suffer. I find my way of approaching that over the last year or so is to realise that I need longer chunks of time and to spend a day or a morning just spending time with God. I told my wife last night that I prefer ‘hanging out with the Trinity” and she laughed at that! Sometimes I don’t even take my Bible with me but just talk to God because my bias is to read and study and find revelation and excitement. It could stay at just a cerebral level if I didn’t spend those times worshiping God. At the same time I’ve come to a place of not being ashamed that the main way I connect with God is through my mind, and that’s ok so long as it’s being expressed in praise and joy and love. The risk I would have is if I was just studying for debates. The crucial thing is spending your time studying on God, the gospel, the great truths. If I spend my time mugging up on eschatology, as important as it is, or Calvinism or Arminianism or whatever debates are on the table, I would have lost that.
Also, being in a charismatic church helps and being surrounded by people and the pressure of “pray for me for healing.” I can’t do that just from having read the Word. I’ve got to be devotionally in step with the Spirit, otherwise I’m going to flunk this. I’m not going to be able to show you any power of healing. I’ve got to be in line with God otherwise this wont work.

I throw a cheeky question in..

YP: What are you doing in Eastbourne?! I heard you moved from London to Eastbourne. I hear from a reliable source that the average age group at Eastbourne  is 45 – 60 years. You make an impact with young people so why Eastbourne?
AW: It’s amazing to me that Steve Boon is now a reliable source! (laughs)
YP: (laughs) But he is a very reliable source!

AW: I moved to Eastbourne to marry Rachel, but I stayed there because I felt God lead me to staying there and being part of the work there (Kings Church, Eastbourne), and particularly about Eldership – which I came into about 5 months ago. A friend of mine said that when you become an elder somewhere you basically raise the bar for God to speak to you to move you along. It’s no longer ok to just say “I feel like doing something else now.” I believe in the sovereignty of God speaking, and having a high view of God being able to prophetically speak to me personally has in fact increased my likelihood to stay where I am. So without being super-spiritual I’d have to say this is what God’s got for me now. But if you ask my wife or me, I don’t think we’d anticipate being in Eastbourne our entire lives or ministries, but for the moment we’re there until God moves and we’re thrilled about that.

And just in case anyone in Brighton thinks “full of old people”, we’ve got 700 plus people on a Sunday and a lot of them are young who need discipling and teaching. But having said that I love coming to Brighton and sitting in Borders and drinking coffee and reading in Starbucks. I love the city.

On that positive note, I bid him adieu and leave feeling quite enriched.