God Speaks!
This is an exciting time. The mission team arrived to Arna on Friday, made up of Radical Networkers, students from Durham and led by Phil Tate. It's been great to see him again and to get involved with the mission, especially the evangelism. It's actually been the first cold contact evangelism I've done in Norway, just approaching people in the street and trying to share something about Jesus with them, and it made me feel a bit challenged actually. I always felt like that kind of evangelism is somewhat counter-cultural in Norway, that people would find it to be very unusual. And I was right, it is counter cultural. But that's what we're supposed to be! I saw God use our efforts yesterday enough to convince me of applying myself to it more in the coming months.
Phil had heard of a certain church that would pray before evangelising and try and hear from the Lord about who he wanted them to speak to, and seeing as his personal motto is "don't be shy, give it a try" we accordingly gave it a try. The pictures and words that we got were impressively accurate and one in particular stood out. Testify!
I heard that there would be a group of teenage boys who wouldn't be interested but that there would be a someone in the group who would be. As I shared this, Phil felt that it would be someone in a grey hoodie. So, we wrote it down and went out in pairs. Phil and Tim Stone wandered over to the fountain and saw a group of teenage boys (hello...) filming each other doing street dancing. They didn't seem to be interested (could it be...) but as Phil and Tim passed them they saw, remarkably, a grey hoodie! Disco! It was an American girl who was hanging around with this group of dancers. Given the prophecies that we'd had before we set out, Phil challenged her: was she truly and genuinely interested in knowing Jesus? She said yes! She'd been studying the Bible for the last few months, encouraged by a Christian friend and the belief that knowledge can lead to faith. Phil and Tim were able to show her the piece of paper we'd written on - "GROUP OF TEENAGERS, NOT INTERESTED. ONE WILL BE, GREY HOODIE." It must have been so encouraging for her to know that the God that she was looking so hard for was also actively seeking her out.
God is good, all the time. All the time...
Phil had heard of a certain church that would pray before evangelising and try and hear from the Lord about who he wanted them to speak to, and seeing as his personal motto is "don't be shy, give it a try" we accordingly gave it a try. The pictures and words that we got were impressively accurate and one in particular stood out. Testify!
I heard that there would be a group of teenage boys who wouldn't be interested but that there would be a someone in the group who would be. As I shared this, Phil felt that it would be someone in a grey hoodie. So, we wrote it down and went out in pairs. Phil and Tim Stone wandered over to the fountain and saw a group of teenage boys (hello...) filming each other doing street dancing. They didn't seem to be interested (could it be...) but as Phil and Tim passed them they saw, remarkably, a grey hoodie! Disco! It was an American girl who was hanging around with this group of dancers. Given the prophecies that we'd had before we set out, Phil challenged her: was she truly and genuinely interested in knowing Jesus? She said yes! She'd been studying the Bible for the last few months, encouraged by a Christian friend and the belief that knowledge can lead to faith. Phil and Tim were able to show her the piece of paper we'd written on - "GROUP OF TEENAGERS, NOT INTERESTED. ONE WILL BE, GREY HOODIE." It must have been so encouraging for her to know that the God that she was looking so hard for was also actively seeking her out.
God is good, all the time. All the time...
posted by Dan at 11:21 pm
10 Comments:
Now I am a sceptic when it comes to these kind of things but that is a very impressive story. Maybe its time to modify my worldview.
It may be, there's nothing like listening to God. I know I don't do it as much as I should but it's always better when I do.
Congratulations on getting your own place by the way Jon.
Seeing as it looks like it's just me and you...
On the subject of hearing God, is it you that got a word from God for someone at a bus stop who was actually planning to commit suicide? What's the story?
It happened a long time ago. Was walking through a bus stop and I felt that God was asking me if I wanted to be used by him there and then. It was quite a scary feeling. I prayed yes and then sat down reading my bible in the corner of the bus station wondering what was going to happen.
Anyway, a lady approached me, asked me if I was a Christian. I said yes (naturally) and she asked me what my faith meant to me. I shared the 'gospel' with her (whatever that means), and she opened up. She said that she had a load of ibuprofen in her bag and she was going to overdose on them when she got home. Her kids had been taken off her by social services and she had recently attempted suicide on a number of occasions.
I gave her my bible, told her I would pray for her, and encouraged her to carry on. She said that she probably didn't need the ibuprofen anymore. I never saw her again.
When I lost my faith, I deconstructed the experience and wrote it off. However, hearing your story and thinking again about my own has got me wondering about the prophetic. Cheers Dan.
That's a pretty amazing story Jon and I'm glad that you're maybe becoming more open to the prophetic. I know that you value the metanarrative of Christianity and the history of the church, and God speaking directly to individuals is something that runs right through both of these. We do, afterall, believe in a living, personal God, not a Greek-style, distant deity.
Lucie, I'm not totally sure I understand what you're saying about rocky terrain but that's okay - thanks for finishing the call-and-response anyway...
Hi Jon. I test prophecy first against the Bible; if a word contradicts scripture then it's way out. Other than that, I think that finding where to draw the line is often a kind of equilibrium between the risk (or perceived risk) of saying or doing what you believe you've heard and the strength of conviction that God spoke.
For example, I remember Mike Pilavachi, the leader of Soul Survivor Watford, saying that when one of his team was praying for a teenager in a ministry time, they felt God was saying "God hates mummies and daddies". He understandably decided not to share it at first but the conviction was so strong that in the end he told the youth. It turns out that one of their relatives had sexually abused them, calling the act a game of "mummies and daddies".
It seemed to be a wrong thing to say in many ways but the man was sure enough that it was God's voice (not his imagination or whatever) to take a brave step. As it happens, he was right to do so.
As for working out when it's God's voice, I believe that listening trains the ear.
Yes, the biblical narrative certainly does point in that direction. However, church history seems to point in the other direction. As far as I am aware, the spiritual gifts slowly died out at around the 4th century, and we had to wait until the pentecostal movement evolved in the late 19th century for them to return. That is 1500 years of our 2000 year history without them.
Anabaptists, moravians, quakers, spiritual franciscans?
You're so ready for RadNet Dave... I was going to dig out my Radical Church History notes from Roger last year but it looks like I don't have to now.
Jon the First, it is true that after Constantine's less-than-bright idea of Christendom and Augustine changed loads of doctrine, having been influenced by Greek thinking, the mainline church drifted away from the example set by the first century church regarding the gifts of the Spirit. However, it seems that there has always been some radical group (radical meaning "going to the roots", not "cool") that has held to the standards of the Bible and the early church. Dave mentioned some of them.
Hi Dan, I am the same Phil who joined you on the Mission and I just wanted to encourage jon (Hi mate) that I am just myself opening up to the prophetic and it's power to change people and situations, one of the best examples I believe in the Old Testament is Abraham and Isaac, if Abraham only believed in the revealed words and works of God then he would have sacrificed his son. It was only because he was open and believing in the word of God in the present tense that his son was spared and the rest as they say is history! The prophetic is a wonder that i am now experiencing, I loved your story Jon, I have no doubt God used you in that moment to save and change that woman's life! Bless you
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