No well-worn paths

Over Christmas some wonderful friends took me to their church. It is called City Church and is part of NFI. At the end of the service their pastor Simon gave me the biography of Terry Virgo as a gift and I have spent the last month reading it.

If you want to be inspired by a truly amazing leader and also to be given a potted history of the Charismatic/ House Church movement then No well-worn paths is for you. This is testimony that there is no limit to the amount that one person sold-out for Jesus can be used for his glory. There are some real nuggets of wisdom to be gleaned from reading Terry's story. I also learnt recently from Terry Virgo's blog that he is moving to Kingston so we are to be neighbours. If I were to sum up their secret as a movement it might be that they fast and pray.

If you want to listen to as good a talk on prayer as there is around then listen to this.

There are so many non-C of E churches in this land and many of them are doing wonderful work for the Kingdom. I had the joy of teaching last weekend at Ortford Manor for a local church called The Vineyard. I gave five talks on love from 1 John 3, 4 and 5 and it was such a blessing to spend time with these wonderful saints.

1. Love that is lavished (1 John 3:1-3)
2. Love that has competition (1 John 5:21)
3. Loving that pays for each other (1 John 3:4-23)
4. Love that has an enemy (1 John 3:24-4:6)
5. Love that has paid for it all (1 John 4:6-end)

We had people from France, Spain, South Africa, Poland and America as well as all us Brits. As Keller says, if you have the nations gathering it is a mark that you are preaching the gospel. If your Church is homogenous then perhaps the converse may be true?

I am very excited about a couple of books that are pending. The Kings Cross by Tim Keller and also Eugene Peterson's new memoir The Pastor. You should have both on pre-order.