On Saturday 25 April 2015 the Transformation Thurrock Firestarter Training Tour began with a morning’s training in the art of Treasure Hunting.
What is Treasure Hunting? Quite simply, it’s looking for the people God wants to speak and minsiter to using the clues that he gives to believers.
Some 60 people gathered at RCCG House of Praise in the centre of Grays to be equipped, empowered and enabled by a team from North Kent Community Church (aka Eastgate) in Ebbsfleet Garden City. The training was led by Alan Cass (below right), a former head of two of Thurrock’s primary Schools, and consited of ‘brave and bold’ Sue, Mark, and his 15 year old son Nathan.
Worship was provided by Neil & Laura Frost (left) from All Saints in John Street, Grays.
Each of the team told their stories and gave testimonies of their experiences in Treasure Hunting. Then Alan taught everyone there the very easy process of preparing to go on a teasure hunt. All that is required is to pray, trust in the mind of Christ – which all believers have – and write down the following 5 things:
Location- Name
- Appearance
- Need
- Unusual
LocationIt was emphasised that this exercise is not about getting people to church – it’s about taking the kingdom to the community. It’s about the disciples of Jesus making disciples – and leaving it to Jesus to build his church.
So we all split into groups of three or four and took our lists out into the Grays Town Centre, the High Street and George Street.
After 40 minutes, everyone returned and there was testimony after testimony of how God had led indivuals and groups to people using the ‘clues’ that he’d given. A substantial amount were completely accurate and people were prayed for or blessed in some way. The photo below shows 82-year-old Dave Matthams of All Saints telling his story of the day.
We hope to publish some of these stories in the near future.
The training closed with some worship.
The aim is to make this a regular feature in Grays. The opportunity for churches working together only adds to the opportunity for God to relaese the blessing for life evermore (Psalm 133). House of Praise, Grays Baptist Church and All Saints can link with New Covenant Church, who already have permission to put up a gazebo in the High Street for prayer on a Saturday morning.
But everyone was encouraged to take Treasure Hunting back to their fellowship, wherever that is in the borough. It’s not rocket science, and it’s incredibly liberating. It’s the people of God realising their identity in Christ.
Saturday’s Treasure Hunting in Grays was also a wonderful demonstration of black and white going out together in the love of Jesus, making a statement to the world and to the powers and principalities of the air that we’re not going to let a few differences of culture and style get in the way of kingdom unity. It’s coming in the opposite spirit to what certain divisive and fear-centred elements of Thurrock’s society would have us believe.
Fires were not just started in Grays on Saturday morning, but in the hearts of the church.
The next
