Nearly five weeks ago, I had to dash home from my work with a temperature. I was convinced it was Covid and despite a negative test, am still convinced. I am only just fully better, but want to praise God for my healing. Yes, even though it took nearly 5 weeks, I still want to praise him, and here is why…. in fact I wrote this whilst in the midst of feeling terrible, nearly five weeks ago.

The challenge of being a rational thinker

Before I get into this, I need to confess at times I can be a very rational thinker and rational communicator. 

I simply can’t say ‘wow that’s my absolute favourite’ about something…..unless it truly is. When my kids would tell me 'you're the best dad in the world!' (that was before they were teenagers), my response would be: ‘aww thanks.’ But on the inside I’d have this internal monologue thinking... ‘I’m the only Dad you’ve ever experienced so it’s not much of a competition’ or ‘It's highly unlikely that I'm actually the best in the world, but thanks, I appreciate the sentiment.’ That’s what goes on in the head of a very rational thinker - can some of you out there relate to it? Whilst the rest of the world feels sorry for us literalists!

So when it comes to healing, I’ll be honest that, at times, when someone has been healed in a seemingly non-supernatural way and someone else says ‘Praise God’ I used to struggle with that. I used to struggle that people would attribute to God and prayer what just happened through science, medicine or natural causes.

But then it was last year, as I was walking along a beach on holiday, I was praying and talking to God and listening to what he had to say to me, when I just got a sense…. ‘It’s all a miracle’ and ‘Praise God’ is exactly the right response for every healing that every happens. Every healing, however it comes about, deserves a 'Praise God!' Here's why I think this.

The miracle of the human immune system

It’s a miracle that the way he has created our bodies is such that our bodies are constantly fighting off infection. I wish I was a scientist and could explain it better, but the way that our bodies fight back against colds, viruses, yes there might be a few days of feeling rubbish, but most things get beaten off simply because we’ve been wired and created to fight back. As I lay in bed with a fever fighting off Covid - I thanked God that this fever was a sign of my body’s immune system fighting back. This is a miracle!!! It’s stunning, absolutely stunning. Praise God for my healing!

The miracle of science

As I continued my walk along the beach, I got to thinking about science and medicine and the role it played. Before I knew it I was bursting out in praise to my God. God created us and gave us brains so amazing and so advanced that, especially in this day and age, we truly understand the workings of the human body. Have you ever stopped to wonder at how amazing that is? That we understand, to the tiniest detail, of how the body works. That when a new virus like Covid comes along, we can seek to understand this tiniest of things and then work a way for some form of medicine to fight back against it, or even protect against it? Praise God for amazing brains that work that out - because he made those brains! Who gave these scientists and medics that ability? Him alone. So the next time someone is fully healed purely as a result of medical intervention, I’m going to say ‘Praise God’, sure I’ll be grateful for the medics and scientists, but praise our amazing God for giving them the ability and knowledge.

The miracle of the mind

I realise this might be a new thought, but have you ever thought about how ‘faith’ in its generic sense heals people? I know Jesus said ‘Your faith has made you well,’ but a year or two back I read a fascinating science book on how people got well if they believed they were being made well. You’ll have heard of it before, it’s called the placebo effect. This is where a new drug is tested and some people are given a fake drug whilst others are given the real thing. If the success of the placebo is less than the real thing, it’s generally considered a success (please, I’m no scientist, but that was my understanding.) Not uncommon at all for a new drug to hit 80% success rate and the placebo 60%. Isn’t that incredible, that 60% of people would ‘heal themselves’ simply because they think they’ve taken something that has healed them?? I think as Christians we’ve maybe reacted against this, but once again why shouldn’t we shout ‘Praise God’ that he has made our minds so incredible that by thinking the right things we can, sometimes, release healing into our bodies, remove pain by the power of the mind etc. Talk about the renewing of the mind, that is truly stunning and when we pray for people there may be times when that is exactly what is happening. It might make it feel less amazing, but maybe that’s because we are not amazed enough at our how amazing God has made us?

The supernatural

I don’t know about you, but having considered all of the above, I almost feel like saying, surely that is all supernatural??? Well yes, in that it’s truly amazing, remarkable and wonderful, but no… dictionary definition of supernatural is this - attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. Well our scientific understanding is off the charts isn’t it - Praise God for that! Our understanding of the laws of nature is off the charts isn’t it? Praise God for that too!

However, on top of having the most amazing immune systems, the most incredible science and medicine, minds that work to heal us - there are moments when our God, having done all of that, and let’s be real here - that would be enough - steps in and does something totally unexplainable.

Like Kelly who had a hematoma in her womb that was going to kill her unborn baby. Josie prayed for her, the next hospital scan, it had totally disappeared.

Like Anne, a CAP client, who went totally blind, yet got prayed for and her eyesight was perfectly restored.

Like Carrie who couldn’t read because of her dyslexia yet came out of the baptism pool able to read fine.

(All people I’ve met and can verify first hand)

None of that is the immune system, nor science, nor the mind - this is God breaking in in an extra special way.

Now if we’re being honest those don’t happen very often do they? Certainly not in the ‘western’ church? I know it’s not a very faith filled thing to say, remember I’m a rational thinker, I’m just being honest. It tends to be a combination of the more natural healing processes and God working through those at times to speed up our healing. That is why, when I pray, one of the ways I pray for healing is that God’s spirit would accelerate the brilliant healing he has already programmed into the body. Just like adrenalin does the same in a natural way, so God’s spirit can do it in a spiritual way.

But when it does happen - wow - it’s amazing isn’t it? We can really let ourselves go in praise to God. But I guess my point in writing this is to let ourselves go in praise to God when it happens through natural/scientific means too, because he’s responsible for every single one of those as well!

The mystery of faith and healing

Let’s face it the whole area of healing and faith is a real mystery. When I think of those in our church suffering with long term illness, with Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Josie with her thyroid condition, Eye conditions - people who are waiting for a miracle - each of these beautiful people need us to have both a gift of faith for them, and a sensitivity that we must acknowledge that not everything gets healed in our timing, or even, at times, this side of the grave. There are times when it’s right to declare full healing and be rammed full of expectation and faith and times when its right to simply journey with love and compassion.

For those of you full of faith all, or most, of the time, I hope I’ve not dampened it at all - we all need you! You inspire us and challenge us to believe for more.

For those who struggle at times with being too rational, like me, I hope this helps you to join in with the ‘Praise Gods’ next time someone has successful surgery, gets over a cold, or has a top drawer supernatural miracle that simply can’t be explained, but for the goodness of God.

Introducing the leadership changes in the Light Church - Part 2

Light church family - Who is leading us, and where do I fit?

As already mentioned, we believe that God has not only led us to a new structure, but also to some new people being called into leadership roles within the church.

We have created a pyramid diagram to pictorially demonstrate this - (scroll down to see.) As you will see from the diagram, we have deliberately inverted the structure of leadership within the church. This reflects our belief and desire that as your leaders we are not ‘over’ you, but rather we want to serve you, strengthen you, uphold you and equip you.

So what do all of the terms mean and who are these people? (We recognise there is some repetition here from the document detailing the changes in leadership structure, but have left them in, so it can exist as a stand alone document for future use.)

Lead Pastor​ - Matt Barlow became Lead Pastor of the church in Feb 2020 after God called him away from his role as CEO of CAP to serve the Light Church. This means he is the person primarily responsible for receiving and imparting a God given vision. He will seek to lead and serve the church so we are all equipped to disciple each other and for works of service to fulfil our vision. This means everything from overseeing the teaching of the church, the spiritual practices, disciple making, pastoral care of the church and all of our many outreach ministries. Matt will do this in conjunction with a leadership team and under the legal authority of the trustees.

Trustees -​ comprising of David Bullen, Kate Hart, Pete McMahon, Peter Snell.
The first key decision we made was to establish a separate group of trustees who are independent from the spiritual and day to day leadership of the church. Trustees are responsible for the oversight and decision making on all things legal, financial and regulatory involved in running the church as a charity. They are specifically there to ensure that the charity (i.e. the church) fulfills the purposes for which it is set out, and is it doing it in line with both legal expectations and best practice guidelines.
We are so grateful to this group for their willingness to serve in this capacity, and if you don’t know them that well, we will be introducing them to you very soon.

Leadership Team​ - This second group will be referred to collectively as the Leadership, however different roles will be played within this:
Oversight team​ - comprising of Matt Barlow, Helen Watts and Steve Restrick.
Firstly there will be a group that will be an Oversight team, whose job it will be to work with me as Lead Pastor to oversee the spiritual life of the church. This will mean playing a vital role in discerning what God is saying to us in terms of vision and direction, ensuring the church is being led according to sound biblical interpretation, carrying a sense of pastoral burden for the church amongst other things. Helen has faithfully served on Light Church

leadership for the last three years and as pastoral team oversight. Steve, was a pastor, church planter and served in pastoral ministry for 20 years and thus brings a wealth of experience in church life. They also both bring a strong emphasis on pastoral leadership, which I am convinced will be a helpful support to me as I continue my personal journey of transformation.

Pastoral and Operations​ - comprising of Matt Barlow, Josie Barlow and Tarzan Almas. This team is responsible for the ‘running’ of the church. They will work closely with the employed staff team, key ministry leaders and other servants of the church to practically ensure we are fulfilling the vision and strategy of the church.

We recognise the valuable leadership roles both Josie and Tarzan already fulfill in different ways. Josie as one of the founders of the church is a teacher and preacher as well as someone heavily invested into strengthening the sense of family and community, but also on the cutting edge of our outreach. Tarzan has demonstrated an amazing pastoral heart and serves the church tirelessly in both providing support and equipping and supporting others in their pastoral gifting and ministry.

It should be noted that we intend to add to these teams over time, but felt it right for now to start small and build a relationally strong team. We are aware the team is not the youngest group ever, and we intend to invite some younger leaders, initially to apprentice, to ensure we are equipping all generations.

Ministry Leaders - t​ hese are the point leaders who have overall responsibility for a specific ministry or key function within the church. (We recognise there are many serving as leaders of sub groups or as part of a team under these overall ministry leaders)
Pastoral - Tarzan Almas

Home Church Leaders -​ part of the Light church ethos is one of being family and community and this is very hard to happen in a church of nearly 300 adults and children. Here at the Light church, small groups, that we call Home Church, are just as important, if not more important than ‘Big Church.’ We value both highly, but want to be clear that Home church is central to our vision and growth. Thus your Home Church leaders are key in creating a healthy spiritual community that enables people to grow as disciples and find their place to serve in both the church and the wider community.

The church body that we are called to serve

All the roles above have one thing in common - they are all people who are called to serve and equip the church, both you the people and the wider mission of the church. They are servants first and foremost, and secondly they are equippers. Equipping God’s people for works of service (both inside and outside the ‘church.’)

Moving forward, we believe it would be useful to use the following categories to identify who is a part of our church family and how engaged they are. We also think it’s fair to be clear what ‘commitment’ to the church looks like. It is our prayer that in our discipleship journey, we would all show a solid commitment to the church family that we call home.

To do this we look at the three areas of Time, Money and Energy, defined as follows:

Time ​- giving your time by turning up and engaging in various areas of church life.

Money ​- giving some of your money to support the work of the church.

Energy​ - giving of yourself in service to the church, be that within a specific area of gifting/calling or simply serving.

We believe that everyone can give something in all of these three areas, we all have something to bring in each area to make the church effective in its mission. Though we totally acknowledge that some people have more to give than others in all of these three areas, dependent on life stage and life circumstances. There is grace for all of this, we are not looking to introduce some form of legalism.

It is our hope that by setting out what commitment looks like it will both empower you and inspire you to be really committed to the life of the church.

Committed

You demonstrate a healthy level of commitment in these three areas:

• Time - demonstrating a commitment to frequent attendance and engagement in either home church or big church, but ideally both.
  
• Money - demonstrating commitment by being a regular giver into the church. Whilst we encourage everyone to tithe (give 10% of income), we believe that anything greater than 5% of income demonstrates a clear financial commitment to the Light Church.
  
• Energy - using your talents to serve the mission of the church - we recognise this might be serving within the church or serving God in the wider community, bringing his kingdom to bear.
  

Connected

You’ve called the Light Church home, you have made steps to say ‘I’m in, I’m part of this family’ - awesome - welcome!! However, we recognise that when joining a new church family, it can take time to warm up and to really engage your time, money and energy. We will do everything we can to help you towards that, though of course we recognise this is as much about you choosing to throw yourself in. Picking up a standing order form and filling it in, volunteering to serve in a ministry and turning up to a home church or big church. Take the time you need, though remember that it will more quickly feel more like home the more committed you get.

Curious

This group is simply everyone from those who are checking us out to see if this could be home, to those who maybe connect through our various outreach ministries, whom we are inviting to come and be a part of our church family, and, more importantly, the family of God.

To conclude

We hope and pray that the above explanation and framework will truly serve the whole church as we seek to fulfill the words of Ephesians 4:15-16 that we might be.. ‘...g​ rowing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.’

We recognise that this is a significant change for us as a church, and don’t want to underestimate how much time it might take for you as church family to adjust to this new approach and also the new faces. As we said, we do believe that God is doing a new thing, we are excited about this new season, the new emphasis that this team will bring and the sense of fresh vision and perspective that will flow from that. We say all of that with total respect for all that has gone before, we trust God’s timing in it all and that what was right in the past is not always what is right for the future moving forward.

Our God is doing a new thing. The Light church has been and is an amazing church, a vibrant expression of God’s heart for this city, and it shall continue to be exactly that. But God has more for us, so much more. More in terms of fruitfulness, more in terms of knowing Him deeply and experiencing his presence. He has more people to bring into His family and He has more and better ways for us to help people grow into their identity as His children and His co-labourers. It will now be our job as the new leadership to establish what that means for us and to lead us forward into all that He has for us.

Please, please, please will you take some time to stop and to pray for everyone mentioned above. Pray prayers of thanks for those stepping down and prayers of equipping for those stepping up. Having announced it, we will now create some space to pray for all of those stepping into new spheres of responsibility and to commit this to God as His church family.

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