Transformation Thurrock : Big Society? BIG CHURCH!

Big Society? BIG CHURCH!

A challenging message to the UK church from Ian Cole at the World Prayer Centre in Birmingham.

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A CALL TO PRAY
We are currently in the middle of a week of prayer and fasting at World Prayer Centre, and I thought that I would take the opportunity to send out this article which I have recently posted on our website (see below) and also to extend an invitation to join us at the end of our WEEK OF PRAYER on Saturday 9th October at Birmingham Christian Centre, Parade, Birmingham, B1 3QQ. Each of our days of prayer run from 10.30am to 3.00pm and we encourage people to bring sandwiches for lunch, although there are plenty of eating houses nearby.

We would obviously love to see you as we conclude this strategic Week of Prayer for WPC, but please don't feel under any pressure to be there..... why not stand with us where you are for some time during the day.

Ian's article...

DEATH OF THE CHURCH
There is much being said at present across the media about the death, dearth, demise of the Church and religion in the UK. However, even the amount of debate and discussion taking place would indicate that the declaration of death, dearth and demise is rather premature, just as it has been in the last two thousand years.

The accusation levelled at the Church is that it has become a minority grouping in the nation, that it has no relevance in today’s society and that its message of a God who created the world and mankind and who loves the world and everyone in it, is no longer being listened to.

THE TRUTH
However, the truth is somewhat different. Researchers tell us that 7% to 10% of the population go to church on a regular basis. In simple maths terms that is between four and six million people. So if the church is a minority, where does that leave political parties, football and all other sport attendance and any other institution that gathers people together on a regular basis?.   If relevance is based on attendance and commitment, who comes out on top?

If the church’s message has no relevance in today’s society, what is the motivation that inspires hundreds of thousand Christians to be involved in the care and well being of communities the length and breadth of the country, following the example of great Christian reformers like Wilberforce, Barnardo, Booth, Mother Teresa and so many more?

Are our critics so arrogant to presume that we are so advanced that we do not need the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount or the many other teachings of Christ that have been the foundation of our laws and guided and inspired millions of His followers down through the centuries and continue to inspire today?

UNPRECEDENTED TRANSFORMATION OF LIVES……
Here at World Prayer Centre we get regular reports of the advance of God’s Kingdom around the world in these days.   In fact it is true to say that from the global picture we see the church is growing faster today than at any time in its history. Every day thousands upon thousands of people in practically every part of the world are asking Jesus Christ to become their Saviour and their lives are being transformed as they follow Him.

In recent years aligned with this growth, the global Christian prayer movement has exploded across the world with hundreds of millions involved from every tribe, language and people group, children, young people and not so young people. Despite the fact or maybe because of the fact, that every week hundreds of martyrs die, and Christians are imprisoned for their faith in Christ, loosing their homes and churches under terrible persecution, still the church, the Body of Christ grows and grows. Today bibles are being printed, distributed and read in unprecedented numbers in hundreds of languages around the world.

So does all this make us complacent? By no means. The UK and across Europe, the Continent that sent the Christian gospel to the ends of the earth, stands in need of another great spiritual awakening. We are a Continent that has worshipped mammon, having been told by our political leaders that if the financial state of a nation or nations is right everything else will be right.   Well that lie is now being exposed. The Western world is beginning to reap what it has sown.

WE CAN NOT GO ON LIVING THIS WAY…..
We have all known, including our national leaders, that we could not go on living the way we have in the last thirty to forty years. Success has been measured by what is in a man’s wallet rather than what is in his heart. Ladies have been assessed by the shape and size of their bodies rather than the beauty of their characters and our children are being assessed by target and result.   As individuals and nations we are reaching a point where we will struggle to repay the debts that we owe. Someone said recently that if we had spent $1million each day since the day Jesus was born, we still would not have spent $1 trillion; America owes $13 trillion, and who knows what the EU owes.

RADICAL 21st CENTURY LIVING
As Christians living in the global village, we have a call on our lives to love God with all our heart, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves. There is no doubt that we are entering a time of extreme challenge, as a generation of people who have lived on debt, in a throw away society, realise they must drastically change their lifestyle.

In that call of loving God and our neighbour, the Church will not only continue to be salt and light, but also in a rapidly changing political and social environment, demonstrate a spirit of generosity, hospitality and care in both word and action. There will be a need for 21st century Wilberforce’s, Booths, Nightingales and thousands of people from all age groups who will willingly give of themselves in acts of kindness, going the extra mile, prayer and service.

BIG CHURCH
Our politicians are calling for big society, alongside that we will need big church, not necessarily in the size of our buildings or in the size of the congregation, but in the size of our hearts. Maybe the church in the Western world will learn what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”

We are entering a time of great challenge, great change and great opportunity. The call to the church as Jesus said is to “be a house of prayer for all nations.” We do not have time to think up any more new programmes and catchy ideas. We must mobilise prayer, be it 24/7 prayer, prayer and fasting, sung, said or silent prayer. Days of prayer, weeks of prayer, healing prayer, worship prayer.

GRACE & MERCY
We need to see a calling for God’s mercy and grace in cathedrals, churches, on the streets, in our schools, colleges, in prisons and in homes. Spiritual and social transformation is taking place in towns and cities across the world, sometimes in the midst of extreme difficulties, spearheaded by millions of praying Christians. We believe the same can happen here. Our simple call to our nation and the Christians across our family of nations is, its time to pray.

“Father in heaven, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done here in our community, in our nation, across Britain and Ireland, as it is in heaven”.

Will you join us…..?      Email me at: ian.cole@worldprayer.org.uk

Ian Cole & the WPC Team

Ian & Pauline Cole
The vision for the World Prayer Centre was first given in 1990 to Ian Cole, who is founder and chairman of the Birmingham-based charity Cornerstone and formerly leader of the national prayer network Pray for Revival.
Pray for Revival started in Birmingham in 1986 with a group of leaders who met to pray for the city, but whose vision over the nineties was extended to the nation and then to the world.
Cornerstone also started in Birmingham in 1980, developing a ministry of outreach to homeless young people and families in need, with an emphasis on the poor.
Pauline Cole is the World Prayer Centre Administrator.

Website
www.worldprayer.org.uk

Ian Cole, 06/10/2010