Give Me 20 Minutes of Your Time

11-08-2019 | Leading People to Jesus | Ralph Turner from Chroma Church on Vimeo.

You're a Christian. You're keen to share your faith, but not sure how.

Here's five points and some encouragement to do just that. Give me 20 minutes of your time. It could bring eternal rewards.

The Best Prime Ministers We (N)ever Had

There they are. In an alternative universe, the best Prime Ministers we (n)ever had.

We could be waking up today to a second Labour term for David Miliband, off the back of successful middle ground governments under Owen and Jenkins, as we enjoy a close and financially successful relationship with France and Germany. Instead, we’re waking up to Boris.

We could have had a very early contender for first woman Prime Minister with Barbara Castle. Instead we got Thatcher.

We could have enjoyed stability, peace and prosperity with sensible Tory governments under Heseltine and Patten. Instead we got Thatcher (again) and Cameron; so worried about his internal politics that he sold the nation.

I posted the photo on Facebook yesterday to see what response I got. It was a pretty good response. A couple of friends suggested I missed John Smith and Shirley Williams. I agree.

We’ve lost the centre. Politics has become extreme. My choice today is a right wing/Brexit Tory government or a left wing/can’t govern Labour one. I can vote for the smaller parties, but our voting system doesn’t help – look at what happened to the extremely well thought out policies of the Change party.

One of my Christian friends on Facebook said I shouldn’t worry and that God was in control. That’s a cop-out. As a Christian, I am called to pray for my leaders – and I do – but that doesn’t mean I agree with them or should just assume it’s what God wants. That’s the road to not voting, a loss of democracy and the rise of extremism. At least three European countries have what appear to be racist policies and propaganda…. And what to make of our cousins over the Atlantic?

So, I’ll continue to wonder what could have been. And to vote for what could still be.

REPOST: Soon I Will See the Lines on His face

I recalled the words from this book today. A re-post from April 2008

I've been reading a really interesting book by Donald Miller called 'Blue Like Jazz'. It's his own journey towards faith. Here's a great quote:

'I am early in my story, but I believe I will stretch out into eternity, and in heaven I will reflect upon these early days, these days when it seemed God was down a dirt road, walking towards me. Years ago He was a swinging speck in the distance; now He is close enough I can hear His singing. Soon I will see the lines on His face.'

How wonderful. May I always hear Him singing. And one day, too, I will be so close as to see the lines on His face.

Stories

Stories are powerful.

Yesterday I interviewed a lady for a new book. Incredible stories of lives changed in Kenya and Pakistan, all because she stepped out in faith that God would meet her needs as she met the needs of others.

Today I read stories from the Mission24 team that has just come back from Uganda and Rwanda. Stories of healing and of lives transformed.

I serve as a trustee, helping an organisation to change lives in Eswatini. In one location, over 400 children have been rescued and given a hope and a future. My youngest daughter worked there and tells stories of horror changed to stories of hope.

I work with friends in India, helping rescue girls from prostitution and human trafficking. Every smile tells a story of a life changed.

I'm in awe of the wonderful people at The Wall, compiling a million stories of answered prayer.

And as Chair of the Leprosy Mission, I see incredible stories of people who overcome the most severe discrimination, with love and forgiveness for those who shunned them.

Jesus told stories all the time. The ultimate storyteller, He wove them into his teaching – and lives were changed as a result.

How about your story? If you’re reading this as someone with a Christian faith, do you tell your own story to your friends and family? It’s the most effective way of sharing your faith. People can argue over theology but they can’t contradict your personal narrative.

Why not prepare your own story? Put it on paper. Read it back to yourself; see how it sounds. Rehearse it so that it’s there when you need it, and you can share it at a moment’s notice. Have a long version and a short version. Be ready to tell someone how Jesus has changed your life and what He has done. Put in illustrations from your own life – whatever your story, whether it is dramatic or seemingly ordinary, it will tell others in a compelling way that Jesus is alive today.

Singing in the Rain - Living in Revival

As a church historian, it’s hard to see the age we live in, in any other way than as an age of revival. These things don’t reach our secular news programmes, but large parts of the globe are celebrating a revival in the truth of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of the world.

There are pockets of revival right now in churches, towns and villages in nearly every nation. In parts of South America and central and southern Africa, the revival is more clearly seen on a nationwide scale.  In nations where Christianity is restricted, there too, God is on the move. In places where it is hard to preach the gospel of Christ, there are many stories of people having dreams and Jesus meeting them. There was a recent report from Iran, not the easiest of countries to hold to a Christian faith, where in the last 40 years, there has been a numerical growth in Christian numbers from around 500 to over one million. Despite persecution in Islamic nations and in countries such as China and India, the church continues to grow - much of it underground and out of plain sight.

In our nation, the UK, best described as post-modern and sceptical of religion, faith in Christ is on the rise. People are open to the supernatural, so when the Holy Spirit moves through miracles and healing, lives are changed. One report from friends in Derby last week speaks of over 150 people asking Jesus Christ to change their lives - most of them out on the streets rather than in organised meetings.

In church meetings there is an increased awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit. In my own church in Leicester, you can almost touch the sense of God’s presence as we worship.

The church observers at Operation World note that in nearly every nation of the world, the Evangelical/Charismatic/Pentecostal wing of the church is growing at a more rapid rate than the birth rate. Many leading pastors and theologians are beginning to write of coming revival.

Today, there are estimated to be around 2.3 billion Christians in the world. It’s by far the biggest faith group, and it continues to grow.

A good friend of mine put it this way:

“We are truly in a now season! No longer are we standing in the desert longing for the rain; the first drops have begun to fall and the season has shifted. It’s time to pray for rain in the time of rain…. it’s time to start singing in the rain!”

If the 1500s were a time of renewal in the revelation of faith through God’s Word; if the 1700s were a time of renewal in the revelation of Christ as Saviour through evangelism, and if the 1800s were a time of renewal in the lost art of compassion and care, then the century we live in is best described as a time of Holy Spirit revival. From the small church to the changed nation, the words of Jesus Christ are sounding out. He is the way, the life and the truth. And millions are finding that to be true every day.

The Moment

That’s the picture. That’s the moment. I’m walking my younger daughter down the aisle in the idyllic setting of a Stellenbosch vineyard. And suddenly it’s very real.

Lois is trying to hold back the tears. We can see Dewaal awaiting her arrival. The biggest grin.

The picture shows me more stooped shouldered than I would like. Maybe that’s the price of bringing up four children. And is that grey hair behind my ears? I had no idea. Well, I don’t look there do I?

But mostly it’s a moment of intense happiness. All the tension of the days before the wedding dissipates. Friends smile and cheer. Roh and I say a resounding ‘We do!’ as Greg, the Pastor, asks who gives the bride away.

But even that’s not strictly true. We don’t lose. We gain.

On the way in to the country, I explained to the South African immigration officer that I was here for the wedding of my daughter.

‘Congratulations on your new son’ she said.

I didn’t understand.

‘Pardon?’

‘Congratulations. You’re not losing a daughter. You’re gaining a son!’

Such wisdom from unexpected places.

We have a son. And a wider family. We have smiles and memories. And we have that picture. That moment.

Trust

We’re in a crisis as a nation. At least that’s what all today’s newspapers tell us!

The issue is trust. Not Brexit. Trust.

We all have different ideas as to our utopian nation. But we’re jaded. No longer trusting those we voted for.

Someone once said that when trust is broken it’s incredibly hard to repair. And that’s what has happened.

We had two sets of ideas at the Referendum. Each side exaggerated. But the winning vote is the one under the microscope. And some of the ‘facts’ turned out to be lies.

We have a Tory party in disarray. No longer governing; a lack of trust between factions within it has created crisis.

We have an opposition party with a weak leader who has allowed the extremists within to override common sense, resulting in some of the best MPs leaving.

We have a lack of trust in Europe. We’ve been so unclear in our dealings, even if we turned around and said we wanted to stay in Europe, it would take a long time for trust to be restored.

We all know this feeling. We’ve all experience it at one time or another in our lives. People we trusted let us down, betrayed us, spoke against us. It happens in the workplace. It happens with friends and family.

For us personally, last year was one of broken trust. Lies were gossiped and as a result of others believing it, we had to leave friends we had worked with for nearly 20 years. It’s hard to come back to a place of trust. But we are grateful for one overriding answer: Others may not be faithful, but God always is.

We’ve found that to be true for us personally. And that’s my prayer for our nation.

In the darkest of times, our nation has turned to God. When there is a lack of leadership. When there is a surfeit of false political answers. When there are too many false escapes from the world around us, whether that be drink, drugs, entertainment or other distractions.

It’s not taught in our schools, but we live in a land of revivals. A land that has regularly put its trust in God. A land that in the past, has declared Jesus to be the way, the truth and the life. We can trust.

My prayer for the Prime Minister (and I’m not sure who that will be over the next few days) is that he or she will trust. Trust in God.

‘But as for me, I have trusted in your gracious love.’ Psalm 13:5