There once was a community

There once was a community of people that were completely devoted to God. The life they led together was wholly charged by the power of the spirit. These communities loved each other with a radical kind of love. They took off the masks of insecurities and shame and shared their lives with one another. They wept, sang, laughed, prayed and worshipped in authentic relationship. Some who had more gave, some who had less gave more until any form of socioeconomic construct crumbled. They formed drawbridges that joined the gender and racial ravines and celebrated the uniqueness of how the loving creator created them. This community is the early Church; the Church that offered jew and gentile a vision of life so incredible it took their breath away. It was inventive, creative, bold, dynamic. So revolutionary that unbelievers could not do anything but fall at the knees of the King and praise him. This is not a lament nor a far off dream; this is a vision to see the first century Church restored in the modern-day. This is a captivating hope to seize the reality of God beckoning England to a groundbreaking revival; A planet shaking vision to the bride of Christ that embraces the grooms call to live in resurrected freedom.

In 2016 I had an experience with Jesus that split my life into before and after. I approached that evening as if it was like any other night, slouched, scarred, bored and addicted to the ways of the world. In that unsuspected evening I wasn’t just changed by him but I was captivated by him, i was seized by a vision to see the Church come alive. As I felt the heartbeat of God breathe resurrected life into my veins I felt the chains of addiction, shame, and death fall by the wayside. His heartbeat became mine. His relentless love for the broken became mine. His hope for the restoration of peoples souls became mine. I am His. I sit here preaching this four years on; still embracing the pulsating heartbeat of his freedom running through my body. It’s been hard, its been sacrificial but boy has it been the best decision I have made.