The Power of Surprise

For a number of years when asked what God has called me to, I’ve tended to sum it up like this: that the church would be radiant. I believe the church should be the most life-giving, love-oriented, creative, inspiring collective on the face of the earth! It’s where culture should emanate from, where the next great contributions to society should originate, and where the challenges of our time should find innovative solutions. The reputation of Jesus in the church should be such that church is the first place people would think to come when they need healing, or breakthrough, or purpose. It should be known for being the epicentre of real life.

I have loved moments over the years where I’ve encountered surprise at the church. The moments where having refurbished our church building at St Mary’s and launched our Fuel youth congregation, parents would come to collect their young people at the end of a Friday night and their jaws would drop as they looked inside an old stone building with stained glass windows, and found an open space inside, full of colour and life and young people. Surprise gets under our skin like few other things. Surprise forces us to reconsider our preconceived ideas and reevaluate our worldview. The church should be ever surprising to the world.

In this time, in this season, it is time for the church to be radiant! When things are at their darkest people are looking for light and we steward the light to the world as a church! We have a unique moment in which to bring the surprise of good news to those snowed in with bad news. 

Why not use this fantastic song by Jenn Johnson as a prayer today for Holy Spirit to work through you? You may not be able to step out of your front door but if you’re reading this blog, you can certainly contribute to an increase of kindness on the earth.

And I’d love you to pray for me today, as I continue to work out my next step, to go with the kindness of Jesus to another place when travel becomes possible again.