I often start my ramblings with this phrase, "Dear Black Countryites". I realize that some of you may not see yourselves as such, and some may even feel a little offended by this. I am very sorry if that is the case.
But I also know that many of you are proud to be known as such, and it is to you that I write primarily at the and of this wonderful year. Whilst we in no way limit what our God is doing to a geographical boundary, we also recognize, both historically and in recent prophetic words spoken over our region that Jesus has a very specific and strategic plan for The Black Country. We also believe that there is only ONE CHURCH in this area, despite the way that things may appear on the surface.
And so I want to close off this year with a very special message to you.........to you as individuals who make up the true Church of The Black Country, as Jesus or Paul would have written to in the early years.
The Body is made up of individual units, as clearly expressed in Paul's letter to the individual believers who made up The Corinthian Church. Yes, they had elders and specific gift ministries in place, but I believe that Paul was talking to every single person who held Christ in their hearts in that region or city. You are very significant.
You may not feel that today. The world in which we live will certainly not be sending out that signal to you, and in many ways, we can duplicate the celebrity culture and misplaced empahases inside the Church too. But we must never forget that Jesus did not die for a crowd, He dies for ME. He was not crucified for the nations, He was murdered for ME.
Yes, there is the sense that He died for the sins of the world, but if I take myself out of the picture, a personal Saviour will never be found, and a personal walk with that Saviour will rarely transpire. Hence, personal discipleship to be transformed into His likeness will never happen, and we all become clones of some religious system instead, becoming more religious yet more irreleveant to those that we love around us.
So, at the end of yet another year, and at the dawn of so many new opportunities coming our way, we want to remind you that you are a very Dear Black Countryite.
We may not know your name or your inside leg measurement, but Jesus does. You may not be an "official leader" or carry out any specific duty inside of a church building, but Jesus knows you, and His Church is not limited in any way by buildings, programs or being recognized by any man (or woman). You are called to be YOU, a unique living stone as part of His Temple. The last temple was destroyed by Romans, as Jesus predicted a generation earlier, but the current one will never end.....never......and YOU are a part of that.
I could list loads of things that WE are planning for next year. We could put up a very impressive roll of achievements from this year too. But who are we?? If you do not see yourself as part of US, then we are fundamentally failing in our vision.
WE would be far more successful if we thought more about you, and sought to release more of you, and more in you. Please pray that this fundamental principle will come to life in 2007 in YOUR CHURCH, both local and regional.......and in you too!
Our overall vision is to see 1.2 million souls in our region come home. The only way this will happen on any scale is when WE do it TOGETHER. Yes, we love it when congregations and church groups come together, but these are only made up of people like you, INDIVIDUALS, who make up the whole..................and so many of you do not as yet feel part of the whole, or even worse, you feel that your part IS the whole.
My prayer for you is that you will walk into 2007 with a renewed revelation of this wonderful fact, and that you will walk with Jesus more personally and more purposefully than ever before.
We need you.......we really need you. Please see below Paul's prayer for you as a vital member of The Black Country Body, as written to individuals like you in The Philippian Church, some 2000 years ago.......and below this a few thoughts from some of our net core vision team as they look back over 2006 and ahead into 2007.
My prayer for you is.......
"So, this is my prayer; that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush.
Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus attractive to al, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God".
(Philippians 1---The Message translation)
Much love my fellow Black Countryites and oxen,
For The Kingdom,
Tim
On behalf of The Net Core Vision Team.
When reflecting we face the tension between looking back and facing the future! Paul writes ‘forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead I press on’. Don’t get me wrong I thank God for all He has done with us in 2006, but I look forward to the opportunities that God will provide us with in 2007 to make our dreams become a reality. How can we work in an even more joined up way to touch the 1.2 million people of the Black Country? I sense 2007 is a year in which we will see the favor of God with those who govern our Boroughs and are in places of influence. My prayer is, help us Lord to see the connections you want us to make to prepare us for the coming of your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
For me 2006 was a great year for the Black Country. Great not so much because of what was seen on the surface (although there were some really good things!) but for what was happening under the surface in terms of relationship, vision and direction. We saw the leaders' net meetings gather in momentum and focus, we saw some great prayer happening at all kinds of levels culminating in a prayer and prophetic conference in May. Perhaps the greatest thing to happen in 2006 is that my heart grew for what God could do in the Black Country. That together we could see a move of God like we dream about, sing about and preach about….perhaps this could be the place where God moved? Perhaps together we could pray, join and work to see it happen? Why not?..........
I believe that this last year there has been a real sense of 'God with us' in the Black Country. It has been evident that the Holy Spirit has been uniting hearts and bringing down walls. I am very excited for the future. I belie 2007 will be another milestone for us. Lets take nothing for granted and keep pressing into the Lord and into each other too. The prophecies over the area, and the prayers of so many will reap a great fruit.
In 2006, we saw God captivate the imagination of hundreds of people through the prophetic conference, ‘the baby is in the delivery room’! In The Black Country, and in 2007, my hope is that we begin to see this movement gather momentum – a people movement that infiltrates every area of our society with the faith, hope and love that Jesus infected this world with 2000 years ago.
2006 was the year that we began to see many Black Country churches working together in a far more joined up way across all the 4 boroughs and across all ages too. Getting more than 120 church leaders from over 60 different churches together regularly at leaders.net, seeing 300+ at the Gerald Coates and Stuart Bell conference and with many youth gatherings throughout the year has been fantastic. Watching churches work hand in hand on existing projects and pioneering new ones together and seeing best practice, working on funding bids together and winning them has been great! Next year we are all praying that many more churches engage with the vision of 1.2 million people in our area who need to hear the good news so we can work Together for the Black Country.
I love the fact that we are learning to work together, learning to think about the harvest and learning to hear God's prophetic destiny for our region.
The last twelve months has challenged many of us to seek harder, pray more aggressively and believe for massive shift. What an honour to participate in the mission of God for our Nation, to lay down historical obstacles, pull down spiritual strongholds and build firm foundations. We have a lot to be thankful for .A blessed new year to you all.
Well what can I say? 2006 has been a great year with loads happening and many relationships being formed!! I am so excited to see what God has for us all in 2007!!!
With Leaders Net, Business Net, Prayer Net and ourselves (Gen net) all going through major exciting changes we look forward to seeing some of the outcomes next year!!
We also have the Community Profile taking shape and the evangelism strategy being worked on, and when you throw in the gatherings of Social Entrepreneurs, that has to excite you!!!
There have been many highlights for me this year with Martin Scott being one of those. Martin spoke some amazing words over the Black Country from God, and I for one am seeing some of this come to pass already!!
We also had another two Gen Net weekends away with the one in December gathering over 100 generational leaders together, a Prophetic Prayer Conference and a Leaders' Conference!! I am going to stop now or I could go on all day and then the e-mail would be to long!!
What can we believe for in 2007? What can we see?
Love
