Shaving by iPod

One of the joys of writing is coming up with titles! For the past week I have been at The Falls Church in Washington DC, with a group of emerging Christian leaders exploring faith, culture and vocation. This was a very challenging time and I was greatly blessed by the presence of wise men of God, but also by the young men and women who represent India, China, the Middle-East, Africa, US and UK and whose work ranges from leading growing churches to translating and publishing Christian books in China!

A key theme that we kept coming back to was that of “story”. What is our story? Where do we fit into the life that surrounds us? What are the eternal consequences of our story? The more we discussed these matters the more I realised again how important the gospel is to our society. We know it has moral strength, is a guide to our behaviour and is the basis to much of our law. Yet the bible offers something far greater than this, it gives us all a story that we can be a part of. It is something to which we all belong, and in it we all find a narrative for our lives: that we were designed by the Father since before creation; that He knows us and has set our days before us; that we can live in relationship with Him and have purpose. We are part of the story of failure, grace and redemption. We are part of the story of restoration of the world around us by a loving God. I began to see that the hopelessness that we see around us in far deeper and more tragic than I imagined; that the secular, relativistic post-modern descriptions of life and truth only enable this lack of story, lack of belonging, lack of hope and again the gospel stands as the answer. And we must answer, for the lost will look for hope: in the New age, in religions of tight legal prescription, in drugs, acts of hatred – anything that can either offer a story or dull the hopelessness that lurks in their spirits.

But let me return to the title. Arriving at Heathrow at 7:00 am, waiting here for the day to fly out again, I showered at terminal 4 and discovered that an iPod touch’s mirrored back is a wonderful shaving mirror. And while in transition in Heathrow, I encountered the hate. Relaxed after my shower, sitting to drink a coffee, a man sat down at the nearby table and became angry at the political news detailing the latest comments by the major UK parties in the run-up to the UK elections. He began to swear prolifically. After a while I asked if he would mind not swearing, for the sake of all those around him. This provoked a fierce reaction and I spent the next ten minutes being harangued as a foreigner in his country, being blamed for Apartheid, Mandela’s imprisonment and a host of historical events. If he hadn’t been so angry the hypocrisy and appalling historical record would have been amusing. But this exchange raised two key issues for me. What was this man’s story? He was English, proud of this fact, but his story was one dominated by hatred, aimed at every foreigner that had come into and ruined “his” land. His story had a beginning (if somewhat mythic) but it was its end that worried me. I had spoken during the past week that a key part of Ephesus’ vision is to encourage the Christian community to help bring God’s love to the West, and in so doing, to deny efforts to use our faith and England’s Christian heritage as part of patriotic hatred against the “others” in the UK as well as other Western states. The Christian message of love, hope and redemption must be told in acts of service and encounters with God that bring people back into the eternal story to which they all have a right to belong. If we do not work to bring people into encounters with God, then we must not be surprised if our God is taken up by others who will fiercely misrepresent Him.

Interestingly, when I realised that this was not a man that could be reasoned with, I spoke gently and softly to him of honour, decency and courtesy – not for me, but for his shocked woman companion. He barked abuse again, but this appeared to rock him significantly as he very soon became quiet and left the restaurant. People came to me afterwards and apologised, saying “we are not all like him”. This was reassuring, but why were they so quiet, backs turned away, as he spurted forth his hatred? Do we as Christians do the same to the lost and hopeless all around us?

"What can we do against such reckless hate?"

Last week I spent several hours researching hostility against Christians in western countries. It is not a pleasant subject. Two things in particular concern me. One is the hatred that emerges, the other Christians’ blindness (I will write on the second later this week). The hatred that is aimed at Christians who stand for traditional Christian values is worrying and we see in this the successful result of a strategy to intimidate and enforce intolerant values against Christians. We must realise that many changes in society are not accidents but the result of orchestrated campaigns, campaigns which have a goal of misrepresenting Christians, re-branding them as bigots, fundamentalists etc even as they themselves are the victims of hatred and abuse, verbal and physical violence. At Ephesus we have a specific goal of not trading on fear - this is not my point in writing. My point is to ask, “what do we do against such hatred”?

I asked God about this on the train yesterday and was reminded of a line from “The Lord of the Rings”, when the king of Rohan asks something similar “what can man do against such reckless hate?” The hatred of others alarms me, not only for what it means for Christians but because we know that the more society pushes Christ away the more it will suffer – in this sense it is truly reckless. How do we stand against it? Given this line I watched to hear Aragorn’s response. He says “ride out with me, ride out to meet them”. A simple response, but it is a bold one. Not foolish bravado, but an awakening of something great. The odds are heavily against them, but this is a king in waiting that will fight and not cower as he steps towards his destiny. Gimli then notes the sun rising, reminding Aragorn of Gandalf’s words “look to my coming” a promise of help to be fulfilled at this time. I do not equate Gandalf with Christ, but is this not a wonderful reminder that as we advance for Christ against hatred and evil, that He is with us?

Matthew 10:21 is instructive to us here: "When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don't quit. Don't cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you've run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrive” (Mat 10:21) (The Message)

The Son does rise over us, but not if we sit on our hands unwilling to advance. While we have Christ we have hope. While we have Christ we have power. Never forget the battle is against the spirit of this world and fight, fight with all our might. Do not be content to let people coast through this life. Do not let people live unloved and unmoved by Christ. How do we deal with hatred? We show the greater way. We show love. Love manifests in the miracles of service and self-sacrifice, healing and friendship, deliverance and help in need. Do not get caught in arguments of doctrine if you cannot first point to Christ, in your works and in your faith. Let us like Aragorn see our destiny, see our potential in Christ and step out against hatred and meet it with love.

Radio Interview

Nicholas was interviewed for the first time on Premier Christian Radio on Sunday 7th March. It was a great experience for him, and the starting point for many more opportunities to engage with the public square. We know many people are keen to hear the interview, and we will have a link available as soon as Premier Radio update their Listen on Demand site. Subscribe to our blog by entering your email address in the space on the right of this page, and you will be notified by email as soon as the link is live.

Blessings!

The Way Forward

Dear friends

The last year has been a challenging one as we have set up a new ministry, while struggling with Cath’s illness. We are so grateful for all the support from our friends and family. It is a miracle that we have been able to make such progress during a difficult time. And we have never had so much home-cooked food in our freezer as in the last year!

From September, we have been able to focus our energy on pressing forward into the vision of The Ephesus Initiative. The initial emphasis of the work was to monitor and respond to growing hostility towards Christians in western secular societies.
Nicholas has been travelling and building relationships with people who are influential in our area of interest, including politicians, academics, church network leaders and businessmen. He has met some fascinating people, and has learnt that being a Christian means something very different to some than to others! He has been challenged and encouraged by many outstanding people.

We are blessed to have a board of directors who are passionate about the work. They are highly experienced in running non-profit organisations, and are Spirit-filled men who can guide us and keep us accountable. If you would like to read about them please see our website www.theephesusinitiative.com

A Challenge to Our Hearts

In the last two months, the Lord has been speaking to us clearly about the way we run the ministry. Cath was led to re-read Loren Cunningham’s book on the founding of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), and here we were reminded of the mission heart - obedient and service-orientated. The Father has gently but powerfully shown us that our hearts have been misplaced and that he wants us to be missionaries to the West. He is drawing us back to seek His voice every day, giving Him control and acting in obedience. Meetings, connections, networks, etc. will follow, but they must be by His hand. It is easy to write these words, but the process has been hard! Our work with The Ephesus Initiative actually started in May 2009 In Hong Kong, at a global mission gathering, Call2All. Millions of lost souls, and the inheritance of the sacrifice of so many missionaries past, cry out for us to turn our eyes and hearts to our own culture. Our heroes in the faith have always been people such as Jackie Pullinger and Heidi Baker, who have laid down everything for the lost, rather than the wealthy mega-church leaders. We have been challenged to assess our heart and our focus. Do we want to chase after political influence and worldly connections?
This challenge was brought to a head during Nicholas’ time in Washington DC at the National Prayer Breakfast, where he was disturbed by the hold of money and political power on many Christian ministries represented there.

We have prayed earnestly into this, and we want to move away from the “corporate non-profit” structure and emphasis that we had originally pursued. We do not want our work to be a 9-5 occupation. We feel that this is our vocation and as such is something we are giving our life to, and following as a whole family.

The Way Forward

From this point, our aim is to run The Ephesus Initiative as a mission organisation. We see our vision as being “Mission to Secular Society”. We will use our research to identify key strongholds of hostility towards Christianity in secular institutions or areas in the western world, and focus on breaking them down through Spirit-led prayer, sacrificial service, believers moving in Spirit-filled power and a culture of honour.

We will train volunteers for missions targeting secular institutions or areas. Through learning to hear God for specific strategies, ministering through sacrificial service, and being “naturally supernatural” in the secular world, to spiritual warfare and growing favour through honour, the team will be equipped to make a difference in key areas of hostility in their area.
We are producing training and guidance material for Christians desperate to know how to respond in situations of hostility. Our training is divided into the following areas:

- Personal responses (repentance and prayer as a weapon in dealing with anger, rejection, mockery and judgement; historical knowledge; basic Christian world-view)
- Prayer responses (hearing God – focussed prayer, spiritual warfare, intercession)
- Influencing culture (representing Jesus, service, sacrifice, honour, power, passion, purpose, Joseph and Daniel as examples)
- Corporate responses (all of the above in a corporate strategy and practice).

Through these responses we will see Christians awaken, not to defend themselves against secular culture, but to go on an offensive of Christian service, love and power.

Through this approach we see the church moving from reaction and judgement, to active service in secular realms. Christians will regain ground for the Kingdom and fill the moral and spiritual vacuum that the church has allowed to ebb away in the last 60 years.

We believe this will be a positive and powerful way to combat the spread of hostility towards Christianity in the secular world. Mark Anderson of Call2All, the international missionary movement, said this in a recent letter:

“The United States of America still sends out workers in foreign fields, but it has also become one of the largest mission fields. Over 200 million people don’t walk with Christ. Church attendance has rapidly dropped over the last 3 generations to the place where less than 4% of this latest generation are involved in church life...Many are coming from across America, but I would like to ask you from foreign countries to pray about joining us as well. The USA needs help now from nations around the globe.”

Short-Term Goals

Our aim is to build up an organisational base in the United Kingdom over the next six months. This will involve drawing together a team of trainers and advisors experienced in practical ministry, producing basic training materials and identifying key areas of hostility to target with planned short-term missions that will lead to long-term local Christian engagement. We will make use of volunteers from our church networks or local Christians to run these missions, and we will provide support and training for the missions and follow-up.
We have sensed the Lord calling us to run this organisation in much the same way as YWAM:
- listening to God for clear guidance for each strategic step and acting in faithful obedience;
- raising funds in faith from friends who believe in us rather than from faceless super-funders whose support often comes with an underlying spiritual agenda;
- encouraging each person involved in the work to raise their own funds in faith;
- training and raising up leaders all over the world so that the work is decentralised, empowering and global in focus.

Nicholas and I began this journey in faith nine months ago, when we decided to pursue the work full-time. Since then we have sold our possessions of value and lived off the proceeds, as well as investing much of our savings into the setup and operating costs of the organisation. We have been supported financially by one-off gifts from friends and family and anonymous donors who believe in what we are doing. The Lord has been so good to us, and we have never been in need! We are now looking to fund the next six months of our work after which we will reassess and ask the Lord how he would like us to continue in terms of our support.
If you would like to be involved in supporting our work, any gift will make a huge difference to us. The bank account details for the Initiative are listed below. If you would like to make a secure online payment from overseas, please go to www.ephesusinitiative.blogspot.com and click donate. If you are willing to make a monthly commitment that would be an added blessing!

Your heart-felt prayers are the most valuable thing you can offer us. We do not want to “spam” your inbox, so if you would like regular updates of how things are progressing please reply to this email with “Ephesus” in the subject, and we will add you to our email update list. We particularly need a keen knowledge of the Holy Spirit’s leading, wisdom and protection over our family.

If you do not want email updates, but would still like to keep abreast of our progress at your own leisure, you can always find the latest news at our new blog site www.ephesusinitiative.blogspot.com and on Facebook and Twitter.
We look forward to testifying of God’s work in breaking through into secular cultures with his power and salvation!

Blessings

Nicholas and Cathy


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