Notes
of AGM 2002 address
given by Steve Morgan
Pain - Vision - Gain. (Steve was being provocative, as usual; and cryptic with
it.) While there’s
death there’s hope! (Work that
one out!) Just now, most of the
trees have lost their leaves, (that’s true, it’s November).
Are they alive or dead? How
can you tell? You could look
at the season and wait until next year and see if they sprout again.
Or you could cut off a branch and see if it is green inside - is it
alive? Can we do this with the
Church in Wales? And when you look
inside, what do you see? While
there’s death there’s hope turns the crucifixion upside down.
The
tactics of the enemy are divide and rule. There
are more denominations in Wales than anywhere else in the world.
(Are there really?) Is
God in control of history? Yes. Then
why has he allowed this? Wales
birthed more revivals than anywhere else. In
John 17:20ff., Jesus prayed for all those who would believe as a result of the
spread of the gospel, therefore this land of revival will be so again. But God must allow the Church in Wales to be utterly
fragmented. Then when they come
together it will be the greatest indication of unity. How does God achieve that?
All wrapping must be stripped away and we must become a mission church.
Bishop
Barry said we have nine years before the Governing Body stops paying clergy.
Parishes will have to provide everything.
We anticipate that in nine years’ time, three out of four clergy will
have to be tent makers. In
Merthyr they have to budget for eleven clergy now, but it will be only three in
five years’ time. And the
fourteen churches will be reduced to five.
We need a radically new understanding about cutting off the branch.
In the time when leaves are falling and things look dead - churches will
close - we say this is Winter - and a new Spring is due.
In
India intercessors were praying for whales, when told about Wales they
were greatly chuffed. Paul
Yonghi-Cho told his people to pray for Wales because people from Wales started a
church in South Korea and he expects a come-back.
God is going to feed us in new ways.
See the video Raising the dead.
Jesus is the same - yesterday, today and tomorrow - anything that
happened in the Bible can happen today. Jesus
said: “On this rock I will build my Church” (Matt 16:18).
The bench of bishops now believe in the ministry of the Priesthood
of all Believers. In Argentina
two million people are praying daily for revival in Wales.
There has never been a revival where people overseas have been told to
pray for it.
Why
this land of Wales? It is unique:
It is the only country never to have had its own government.
What nation is going to be saved? - Israel. There are many similarities between Israel and Wales.
Steve has been asked to lead a party of politicians etc. to visit Israel
to see Sharon, Netenyahu and the Knesset. Just
think, of all the countries in the world, God has caused You to live in
this land. Here
is a prophecy: “there will be a call going out for training two hundred
thousand pastors to deal with a population of 2.8 million people; that means a
ratio of one pastor to fourteen.”
So
what kind of church does Jesus want?
The answer is house churches, just as the Early Church met in houses -
usually 30-35 people, and also smaller groups.
To prepare these new churches we need books, three books particularly
impacted on the bench of bishops of the Church in Wales. *(see below)
We
can’t plan things of God but we must move in behind God’s plans. We should use our cash for 21st Century research
centres in the Church of God; working out how to birth 21st Century
churches. We have nine years left,
there is no subsidy. God is in
charge. We also need a stewardship
campaign. In Merthyr, giving is
higher per capita than
anywhere else. We didn’t ask for
money but simply gave parishioners the reason why they should give.
Usually the last part of a person to be converted is their wallet.
Paul said he came to the Corinthians in fear and trembling (1Cor
2) - conversion rests in the Holy Sprit. Can
ARM(Wales) accept this vision by facilitating people who want to do research
behind what God is doing. Can we
formally commission someone, such as Phil, for example, to go round Wales on an
apostolic mission, establishing research centres.
Post-Modernists want experience before they believe and commit themselves
to marriage, for example. But it is
the way for power evangelism - it is what Jesus did, and now is an ideal
opportunity for the Church - proclamation and demonstration.
Afterwards there was some
discussion: Phil Rees said we need to get hold of these principles.
We hear bishops and others saying, “go ahead”.
We do things because we are expected to do them; now the Church is
saying, “Do more productive things”. Ruth
Taylor asked, “What about people in those parts of the Church where the
leadership is not thinking along these lines?”
The answer was - “they
need discipling”. Brian Waters
said, “You can find groups of such people in every congregation - they are
Anglicans who want to move on”.
* The books Steve
mentioned are:
Leslie Newbiggin. The Gospel
in a Pluralist Society. 0 281 04435
X
David Bosch. Transforming Mission.
Stewart Murray. Church
Planting. 0 85364 825 5
But see also:
Michael Nazir Ali. Shapes of
the Church to come. 0 85476
8912
Michael Moynagh.
Changing World Changing Church. 1
85424 5163
Rob Warner. 21st
Century Church. 0 85476 8917 3