Multiplication
‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.’
Matthew 28:18-20
My last five weeks have been taken up with a lot of international travel. Shortly after returning from Poland in January, where I was speaking at Andrey Bondarenko’s conference for European lead pastors, Deb and I were off to southeast Asia for a 3-week trip. The first part was spent in Singapore visiting Redemption Hill Church, led by Simon Murphy. This impressive church was planted just 17 years ago by a small group of believers meeting in Simon and his wife Tarryn’s flat. They have since grown to become a church gathering over 1600 people on a Sunday and growing fast. As we talked with their leaders about some of the challenges raised by such rapid growth, we gave thanks for each of the believers behind these numbers – they are a church living out Jesus’ last words to his disciples in Matthew 28. From Singapore we travelled to Thailand where we were hosting a conference, before landing back home last Sunday.
It was fantastic to have Alan and Rynelle Frow from Southlands Church in Los Angeles with us last week. Alan is lead pastor of Southlands and also heads up the Advance Global Team. Alan and Rynelle served us brilliantly during their time with us, bringing some very helpful input at our pastoral staff 24 hours away on Friday and Saturday. Then on Sunday Alan brought an excellent message to King’s out of 1 Thessalonians. You can catch up with it here if you were not able to be there.
Finally, we would greatly value your prayers over the next week. From Saturday Deb and I will be hosting the Newfrontiers Together Team here in London. Friends from Africa, America, India and Europe will be gathering for a few key days to pray and discuss the challenges and opportunities our global family is facing. It means that we have the privilege of having Edward Buria, Vinu Paul and David Devenish speaking live at King’s this Sunday – definitely one not to miss!
