Adventures with God

Z is just the beginning!

Z is just the beginning, because with Jesus, the last will be first.

Through what God has called me to do with my life, I’ve traced the story of Gen Z for more than the past 10 years. This hasn’t been planned on my part. When I began my time as youth pastor at St Mary’s and Sale West in Greater Manchester, I said to the Lord that I wanted to be there long enough to see an entire generation through the youth ministry. What I meant was that I’d be there at least 7 years – the length of time it took for a young person to travel through high school. I spent almost 9 years at St Mary’s. Almost all the young people I worked with there were part of Generation Z. Then I spent three years at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, the third year of which I mentored 11 students of all ages – around half of them Gen Z. This was a setup from Jesus to prepare me for leading St. Marks Academy, where the majority of our students are young leaders who are part of – you guessed it – Gen Z.

To state the obvious, I have observed that my calling seems to have tracked with the growth of Gen Z. I was working with this generation when they were teenagers and am still working with them now they’re in their 20s.

In March 2023 I wrote Shaken: Revisited, where I told the story of earthquakes that underlined my original post Shaken. In March 2023 a movement of prayer began sweeping through US university campuses, and I believe the movement of God that began in a particular way at that time has continued to build since!

In the past few months, we have witnessed many Gen Z people showing up at St. Marks seeking God. Believers have a fervent desire to pray. University students at the church are often the most committed attendees of prayer meetings. At a summer camp with the church family, I was moved as I heard them softly singing worship songs late into the evening, opting to give more attention to Jesus rather than just attend the ‘fun’ activities on offer. Gen Zers who don’t even know God have been turning up at church because they realise they need Him. And this isn’t just happening in Coventry: I’ve spoken to people elsewhere in the UK who are seeing exactly the same kind of things happening. Those who had a nominal faith as children or teenagers are showing up in church and telling us ‘I know now’s the time to start taking my faith seriously’. I look around at our 5pm gathering and see 60 or so Gen Z people sandwiched between a few older people like me (yes I’m serious! I’m one of the oldest members of the congregation!) and think, This is what I dreamed of seeing years ago… this is what countless faithful believers prayed for for years… it’s happening!

Recent articles in The Times and Premier Christianity

Back in March 2023 I realised this: Generation Z is not an anxious generation that God is responding to with peace, rather it is a peace-carrying generation that the enemy has tried to steal from, because it is the good news of peace that is our footwear. If he steals peace he steals our forward movement. The feet of those who bring good news and proclaim peace are beautiful.

Why is Jesus the Prince of Peace, not the King of Peace? Perhaps it is because of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, and so the Kingdom has come, but peace is still coming. The King is here, but the Prince is a King who is still coming.

In the past 2 years we are seeing the steady rise of Gen Z believers; a new revival wave of Jesus followers who are unconstrained by the past limitations on believing God, and are ready to explore a new landscape of faith like we’ve not seen in our lifetimes.

And recently, I was at the Revitalise Summit, and before a session from Stephen Foster, Rector of St Aldgate’s Oxford, about what God is doing with Gen Z, I had a moment of God speaking to me first thing in the morning: “Gen Z is just the start, because the last will be first.” What God is doing now is just the start of something that’s coming. Generation Alpha is next (those born in the 2010s to round about now) sociologically, and I believe they are next spiritually: what God has been beginning with Gen Z I think we will see continue with Gen Alpha. The world had a bleak view of the prospects for Gen Z, and a crushing diagnosis of mental health issues… but God saw something different. He saw a peace-carrying generation. He saw those whose heels turned the tide of history, whose footprints tread a new path of prayer and bring good news. He saw the start of something new! And Gen Alpha comes next.

Just the other week a church leader of a semi-rural parish church told me their church of around 80 was just about to begin a Youth Alpha course with 20 participants. This is a healthy church with good leadership and a heart for God. But it’s still remarkable. Their youth leader subsequently told me that this Youth Alpha course was requested by the Christian young people, so they could invite along their non-Christian friends! Think about it… Gen Alpha. Requesting Alpha… for their non-Christian friends. Gen Z are just the beginning. Gen Alpha are coming, and evangelism is a huge part of what’s coming.

I’ve been in the UK ministry scene for 20 years, and I know for a fact it’s not always been like this! Something is happening right now that I’ve never seen before, on this scale and with this regularity! So if you’re part of a church, pray for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Get ready to welcome them. Get ready to disciple them and be discipled by them. They are teaching me right now, of worship, of evangelism, or the importance of being ready for Jesus to return.

What are you seeing God do among Gen Z and Gen Alpha? Leave a comment and let me know!

This is a Homecoming Year!

As the hours counted down to the New Year, I had an interesting experience – a conversation with a friend that opened a window into the heart of God. It was 31 December 2023, and a friend who’s a church leader told me about a young man who’d recently started attending church, simply because he knew he needed to find God. No one had invited him. It was as if God had given this man a direct invite. I sat there on the phone, racking my brain to think why this atypical story sounded familiar. Then it dawned on me – only days earlier another friend of mine who also leads a church in a different part of the country had told me an almost identical story of a man facing some challenges in his life, who had showed up at church wanting to find God.

Some prophetic statements in Macy’s, NYC

Now it should be the case that if someone wants to find God, church is one place that would hopefully be top of the list. In fact, in a previous post from April 2020, I wrote that church should be “the first place people would think to come when they need healing, or breakthrough, or purpose”. But we have perhaps generally not thought that Generation Z would see her that way. Yet, in each of the two stories these church leader friends told me, it was Gen Z men who were showing up searching for God. What really got my attention was that in one case, it was a 23-year-old man and in the other, a 24-year-old. Both stories were in close proximity to the change of year, with the second being told to me on New Year’s Eve – as the year was about to turn from 2023 to 2024.

23 and 24. 23 to 24. I had a familiar sense that God was speaking, tantalising my mind with a riddle like I told about in my post Shaken: Revisited. Perhaps the prayers of God’s people at the turn of the millennium were about to be fulfilled? Were those born at that time heralding a homecoming?

Since January, as I’ve met leaders of churches, from sleepy villages to fast-paced cities, I’ve felt a stirring in my heart to speak out a prayer of declaration: this is a homecoming year! And as I’ve connected with pastors this year a familiar theme has emerged – people showing up at church because they’ve realised they need God. Myself and others in our church team at St. Marks have had multiple similar conversations with young adults showing up at church because they know they need to know God, especially in the past few months.

Have you seen something similar in your context?

Whether you’ve witnessed it yet or not, I want to encourage you and stir you to pray for those who will be drawn to church this Christmas. In my 20 years of church ministry, I’ve never seen a time like the one we’re in this year: people are ready to come home! If you’re involved in Christmas services that welcome guests, get ready! Put out extra chairs! Speak over your church, “this is a homecoming year!” And be prepared to welcome and follow up newcomers who will tentatively sneak into midnight masses or cheerily show up at Christingles – especially Gen Z people, who God is on a special campaign to welcome home at this time.

Christmas is always a time of increased openness. It’s in the very nature of God’s movement to earth to make a home with people. But this year, I wonder if we could be about to experience the climax of this homecoming year in ways we’ve dreamed of – seeing many, many people come home to Father God.

He’s the One who readily welcomes home every prodigal! Let’s join Him in sealing this homecoming year and being ready for what He will do next!

Sent

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””
‭‭— Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Since my last post, I’ve made another move. Thousands of miles, and a shift in culture, currency and community. Back to familiar. Although it’s not so familiar, because of course I’m different than I was back in 2020 when I left the U.K. to embark on an adventure at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Northern California. Now I’ve returned to the U.K., and in fact, to my hometown – Coventry.

This is a place that seems new and old at the same time. From its ruined old cathedral to its concrete new, it is a city that carries medieval history and modern-day history makers. It’s the city where I spent my childhood and the city where I spend my working days again now. Landmarks from my former life collide with my current-day calling on a daily basis. It’s quite bizarre.

One of the phrases some people like to use is ‘sent to Coventry’. It certainly seems as if God has directed me here, after almost 20 years elsewhere, opening a series of doors for me to return. I am now working as Academy Leader at St. Marks Academy, a leadership and discipleship programme for young adults based at St. Marks Church – a church that was planted 6 years ago, reoccupying a discarded church building that emptied decades ago. Now, it’s full of worshippers each week, being called into a great commission to see people find faith, find freedom and for Coventry to flourish.

So I may have been sent to Coventry, but God has been speaking to me about what He’s doing here. Coventry isn’t a place people are sent to, it’s a place people are sent from! It’s not a prison town, but a freedom city, where the captives are released and become the ambassadors for a new Kingdom! In this time, an increasing number of mission organisations are relocating to Coventry for their central offices and operations. Why? Perhaps, could it be that Jesus is drawing together people who will be sent?

St. Marks Academy, which I lead with my boss Dr Rachel Atkinson, exists to send leaders out to lead and plant churches and new worshipping communities in our region and beyond. We want to invest in young adults who are exploring how to walk with Jesus and carry His Kingdom wherever they go. We are partnering with an increasing number of other local churches to provide ministry placements so students can learn as they practice ministering to Jesus and to others.

To find out more, watch this video where I explain more of the vision and how it works:

I am so grateful to so many of you who have supported my move to California and my ministry there. I received so much. I can never fully tell of all I gained while at Bethel, but among many other things, I gained experience in ministering to and mentoring leaders that has laid an invaluable foundation for the spiritual formation I do with our students at St. Marks Academy.

I would value your ongoing prayer as I adjust to a new place, for
⁃ friendships to be built here
⁃ us to be able to recruit new students to the Academy to fill our many placement opportunities
⁃ protection and focus in my walk with the Lord

And if you know any young adults who are exploring what’s next in life, and who love Jesus, direct them to stmarks.academy where they can find out about being equipped and being sent out, fully alive to God!

Shaken (Revisited)

On 20th December 2020 I wrote a blog post entitled ‘Shaken’. (You can read it here.)* In a nutshell, I wrote about how much of the ‘shaking’ seen in the Scriptures is actually a positive thing. Many times when there are earthquakes, they precede a moment of the glory of God being encountered. Some have also pointed out to me that there was an earthquake at the resurrection of Jesus, when the angel rolled the stone from the mouth of the tomb, which was a pretty dramatic example of this that I missed in my original piece.

Anyway, just before Christmas I was due to get up early in California to head to the airport, embarking on a trip to my friends in Canada. In the night I was woken up by an emergency alert notification that there had been an earthquake in Northern California, just off the coast. Thankful that I was largely unaffected except the alarm waking me, I moved on with my day. But over the Christmas holiday I began to wonder about the timing of this earthquake.

It took place on 20th December 2022, a magnitude 6.4 quake. Wondering if God was speaking, I did some research. I discovered that there have only been two other earthquakes greater than magnitude 6 in California since I wrote my post ‘Shaken’. And one of them was on 20th December 2021.

So I wrote on 20th December 2020, then on both 20th December 2021 and 20th December 2022 there were significant earthquakes in almost the exact same location – the same latitude as Redding, where I live, but on the coast. God had my attention.

I have lived with the sense that in a particular and unusual way, God’s glory is going to be seen in the earth. This countdown of quakes has been alerting me, even as we come out of a pandemic which shook the foundations of our global way of life. I don’t think God is causing destructive earthquakes, but the recent devastating quake is a sign of disruption in the spiritual realm as simultaneously God’s glory is spreading like wildfire. In recent weeks, a movement – a revival – of prayer and worship has been sweeping university campuses in the US. I’ve personally heard many testimonies increasing, of people becoming Christians, miraculous financial provision, visions, people being freed from years of mental torment, and more. Wow!

As I have written this post, one detail stood out to me that I hadn’t noticed before. Both earthquakes in California happened in the same location just off the coast. In the book of Revelation, the land and the sea have prophetic meanings – the land being the Jews, the people of God, and the sea being Gentiles, non-Jewish people. Perhaps the glory of God that is coming is going to touch at the intersection between believers and non-believers. And in Haggai’s vision of the glory of God following the shaking of the temple, we are told that the land and the sea will be shaken.

Please be praying for me as I spend time ministering in Ecuador and in Mexico within the next few weeks, as part of teams from Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. God is moving, and I want to move in step with Him! Pray for God’s people to be protected as we advance the Kingdom of Christ and carry hope to those who need it. Thank you!

*The more observant readers may notice that my post ‘Shaken’ is date-stamped 21st December 2020. This is because I submitted the post to my blog in Pacific Time while the blog is hosted in UK time. For me, it was 20th December 2020 as I was in California!

Wonder

“His name shall be called, Wonder”

Those of us familiar with the Christmas narrative in the Bible know well Isaiah’s prophecies of the coming Messiah, 500 odd years before He graced a manger or a stable. In one of the most beautiful pieces (Isaiah 9: 6), Isaiah declares, “His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Only, there is actually no word for ‘wonderful’ in Hebrew. So most translations add the ‘full’ to the ‘wonder’. And certainly, we could agree that Jesus is wonderful.

But this passage would more accurately read, “His name shall be called Wonder, Counsellor, Mighty God…”

Wonder is a name of Jesus only visible to those who can come like little children. Children live with eyes wide open in wonder. There is part of wonder only accessible when we recognise we don’t understand everything, or even many things.

Losing wonder is like losing part of what it means to be truly alive. We all need to find wonder.

“Wonder is our natural environment, just as worship is our native tongue.” — Michael Thompson

This Christmas, may we discover His name is Wonder. In the mystery of our unanswered questions and the twilight of our disappointments, Wonder rises. May we learn to treasure Wonder, just as Mary did on Christmas night, surrounded by perplexing visitors and challenging circumstances, but with the Word of God echoing within.

—
I am grateful for the understanding of this Hebrew phrase and many of the ideas in this piece, from guest speaker Michael Thompson at Bethel church earlier this year. I’d encourage you to watch his powerful message, ‘Guard Wonder’ from Sunday morning 23 January 2022, available on Bethel.tv

Sounds like Christmas

I love Christmas! During my time working for St Mary’s church I was known on the staff team for my love of Christmas. At my request we began moving forward our Christmas services planning meetings to begin in June or July. One year I even went early into the room where our meeting would take place and sprayed a Christmas scent across the seats so it would smell like Christmas when we met! (The White Company’s Winter home spray, in case you wondered. There is no better Christmas smell. Trust me, I’ve been round all the stores and smelt a lot of candles to be sure.)

Not only are there a lot of distinctively Christmastime smells, there are a lot of sounds we associate with this celebration: the ringing of bells, the singing of carols, the crackle of a log fire, the clink of glasses, the snap of crackers, well worn tunes on the radio…

But that original Christmas had sounds too (and smells of its own, but we’ll leave that subject alone for now).

Prior to the birth of Jesus, the people of God had been waiting, longing and anticipating. Knowing God would show up, but not knowing when, the silent expectation grew. Oppressed by a Roman regime a longing for a redeemer stirred. But all was silent. It seemed like the sky was made of iron as hundreds of years rolled by without the word of a prophet.

The early rumblings of a new season collide with the quiet in two interesting interactions between angels and two men, Joseph and Zechariah. Joseph planned to divorce Mary quietly, when he discovered her pregnancy. Zechariah was made mute by the angel Gabriel, until the time his promised miracle son John arrived.

I love the carol Silent Night, but the reality is that Jesus arrived at the end of 500 years of what seemed like God’s silence, a crystal clear Word that shattered the quiet of the night. (And thankfully he has embraced the whole human experience except for sin, so little Lord Jesus, definitely crying he did make!)

Throughout the nativity narrative we discover the sounds of Christmas: a heavenly display of joyful announcement fills the skies, shepherds glorify God because of what they saw and heard, wise men rejoice, and Anna speaks about Jesus to all who would listen. Even before Jesus is born, Elizabeth shouts for joy when she meets Mary who is carrying the Christ in her womb, and Mary sings her stunning song of praise to God.

Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, in the time of the prophetic voices of the old covenant, Isaiah looks forward to the day when the sounds of Christmas will be heard, and he prophesies of Jesus: ‘He shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’

He shall be called.

There is a sound to Christmas, and it still rings out. Those of us who know this Saviour have good news to proclaim!

May you hear the sounds of Christmas in your life this Advent and Christmas. And may we carry news of great joy, to everyone everywhere!

Revival Starts With Simple

Revival starts with simple.

I had this thought the other day, following my blog about simplicity. A revival is a bringing back to life, and when I use that term I mean a recovery of eternal life. This is recovering the purpose God has for every person, life and life in its fullness. Bethel Church use the following definition for revival: the personal, regional and global expansion of God’s Kingdom through His manifest Presence. This is a great definition, I think. It can happen within just one person, but when it does it always expands and is about God’s good rule increasing on the earth. This happens through the making clear of God’s presence – He is everywhere, but often in the world’s eyes He is obscured. In revival, He is obvious.

Many historic revivals have begun with the simple. The simplicity of John Wesley’s preaching to the ordinary people ignited a fire that jumped across communities. The revelation of the Father’s love and His absolute ability to meet people however He chose characterised the Toronto blessing of the mid 1990s.

But perhaps one of the simplest beginnings to a revival with huge impact was at the beginning of the Welsh revival of the early 1900s. An early spark in that great fire was lit as a young girl, Florrie Evans, stood up in a young people’s meeting at her church. The preacher had asked who had experienced God, and she simply said “I love Jesus Christ — with all my heart.” His Presence rested in that chapel and a flame of revival was lit, that went on to touch Evan Roberts and change the culture of Wales.

A declaration of simple, heartfelt love for Him can be all it takes to light a fire so large that generations and history pivot.

Jesus is doing something with what seems simple. Love. Communion. Unity. Joy. Prayer.

No hype. Nothing flashy. Just little sheep and a big Shepherd.

Revival starts with simple.

We Belong

Three years ago I wrote a series about one of my favourite subjects: Advent and Christmas. This was a church resource and after reworking and rewriting and reformatting, it’s now available for other churches to use.

I believe this series is timely. When the pandemic began, I looked back in wonder at how God had spoken to me and the team I was part of, in us crafting a series and whole church experiences that emphasised the value of connection and the message of Emmanuel, God-belonging-with-us. Even the visual arts we used were about representing our connection and belonging — just three months before the pandemic plunged so many into isolation and disconnection.

As churches gather together for the first ‘normal’ Christmas since three years ago, I am releasing this series of sermon resources, small group discussion notes and questions, and publicity resources and artwork to help churches proclaim the message that Jesus came so that we would belong.

They are available for free here, from the resources section of my consulting website. If you would like to support me to help resource more churches with resources and writing, I am looking for supporters still — leave a comment below if you’d like me to contact you, or you can donate to me using PayPal at this link.

I’m especially asking for anyone who enjoys these resources and would like to support me in a mission field dear to my heart, working with migrant people who have fled violence and are gathering in Tijuana, seeking entry into the US. I will be returning there along with a team from Bethel Global Response for the third time this year, just before Christmas, and need to raise $400 (£350) to do so. Please join with me in supporting those seeking to find a new place of belonging, as I minister practically and relationally the love of Jesus, who is preparing an eternal place for each of us to belong.

Simplicity

“Crisis gives you the opportunity to reduce your options to what’s wise.” — Bill Johnson

There are things that don’t matter when you’re in a crisis. If the world comes crashing down, combing your hair seems futile. In an emergency, life takes priority over high culture. A few years ago I experienced this, as I came out of a season of grief. I have never lived through a season like this before or since, but that story is for another time.

Suffice it to say, I had many questions as I emerged from that time. What did faith in God really look like, specifically? What should I hope for in my future? What were the right ways to reach people through church? I had a sea of unanswered questions. I felt I had no walls left. But what I did discover were my foundations.

I found that there were four things I really knew with every part of my being:

God is good
He will never leave me nor forsake me
Nothing can separate me from His love
All shall be well

My walls were gone, but I knew my foundations were good.

One of the things I loved doing in my previous job was planning Christmas services. As I prepared for Christmas services in 2018 I felt that there was only one thing I could talk about. Now, I’ve always been big on talking about our experiences of God and life, and developing life-shaping teaching that relates the good news to facets of contemporary life. But that winter I felt that there was only one thing I could speak of: Jesus! This might sound obvious, but actually most of the time I talk about a lot of other things. Not for Christmas 2018. I can only describe it as an intense purity of the message within me, only Jesus. I felt unsure of so many things, but I could speak of the One my foundations were built on. All I wanted was for the hundreds of guests attending services at Christmas, as well as the hundreds of believers, to see the beauty and wonder of Jesus.

This year, I am back in Redding California at Bethel Church as part of the third and final year of the school of supernatural ministry. I am working alongside an incredible pastor called Dean Ras, who heard a word from God for this year: simplify.

Our focus in leading first year students has been to keep it simple. We opened the year by welcoming students at a booth with a white table, white backdrop, a glass of wine, loaf of bread, and an open Bible. Everything else was stripped away, just the essentials remaining. We then discovered Bethel music were about to release a new album, entitled ‘Simple’. Its cover art features a loaf of bread and a glass of wine on a white background.

Our world has been through crisis in the past few years. A financial crisis looms. Political crises come and go. For a while during the pandemic, at a societal level we grappled with what was essential, and realised the necessity of gathering again with those we love. Hidden amongst the horror was an invitation, to simplify. To find what mattered and turn our attention again to that.

I believe God is stirring and wooing His church again to focus simply on Jesus. There is a refining of focus. A gathering together around His table, learning to love in spite of our differences. Because in the end, only three things remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.

Interested in supporting me? I am still trusting God for food, petrol and car insurance costs. If you’d like to be part of this journey for me financially, you can donate at PayPal.me/adventureswithgod – thank you so much!

Radiant

A couple of years ago I wrote here about a driving passion in my life: that the church would be radiant. Recently, I’ve been overcome by particular gratitude for the church and the incredible church people who have impacted my life. Since I’ve been a believer (and before) I’ve been part of churches. I’ve seen some ugly moments and sometimes I’ve seen the ugly moments in me. But many, many more times, I’ve seen the beauty in this crazy God-idea of people gathering in a way like no other. This is not just a social club. This isn’t just for the good people, nor just a hospital. It’s for good and bad, saints and sinners; it’s a hospital for healing hearts (and bodies) but it’s also a bootcamp for life and the most joyful place on the planet. It’s family. It’s the first place people should think of when they need hope, healing, purpose, and life.

I had the privilege recently of travelling to San Diego, a beautiful city in southern California. (I drove there which took 11 hours. I didn’t feel so beautiful when I arrived.) There’s an amazing park in the centre of the city, and in the centre of the park I saw all sorts of food stalls and so on – and a stall which was staffed by people advertising the humanist church. So fascinating. People who’ve rejected the claims of Christianity and claim not to believe in God nevertheless have a belief that something is needed: the church. Granted, it’s their own ‘church’ which doesn’t talk about God. But they have recognised something that is innately woven into our being: the need for a family that transcends blood relatives; a brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity; a sharing in our human being-ness.

Jesus believes in the church. He once said that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, because He is building it. Gates can only prevail against something that stops at them. Gates are not able to take territory. Jesus builds us. He builds a family that won’t stop at the gates of hell but will storm them, to see the Kingdom of heaven advance. Jesus believes we are radiant. In His close friend’s John’s introduction to His life, it’s written ‘The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.’ Of course – darkness cannot overcome light. Light is more powerful. Light moves through space and time. Darkness does not. Light encroaches on dark territory, like the sun peering above a hill at the break of day. The church is radiant and we’re getting brighter every day.

I believe we’re living in a great time of opportunity for the church. The world has been shaken and we have a foundation nothing else can match. People are searching for light and we have Him, hidden within us like jars of clay. For the past year I’ve had on my heart to help churches without any youth ministry get started by offering a simple consultancy service. This will help those churches who’ve never done youth work and also those whose work may have faltered through the pandemic. And I’ve also had an idea to help churches within another area of passion for me – creating beautiful and welcoming and useful rooms and spaces where people can encounter the love of God.

This week, I’m launching a new consultancy service to help with these two areas. If you know of a church that might need help transforming a space for their mission and ministry, or may want to launch or relaunch youth ministry, please spread the word and direct them to my consulting website – radiant.consulting – where they can find out more. Please take a look too and let me know what you think!