"...But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

     - Acts 1:8 

Simply put, The sole purpose of the church is to glorify God through the witness of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. This purpose is fulfilled only by God, the Holy Spirit, through His redeemed people, the church. 

It's God's glory, God's revelation, God's witness, and God's work through the agency of God's people. 

And so we must remind ourselves that as the church, we are God's instrument, God's vehicle for the accomplishment of God's mission to the nations. 

What we need then is not more self-generated power of plans, programs, or personalities; we need the power of God through the person of the Holy Spirit. We need more of God, the Holy Spirit in us, to drive us, to use us as His instrument; like a microphone in His hands to amplify His message to the world. 

" Unless the LORD builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the LORD guards the city..."

- Psalm 127:1

We need the power of God in us, driving us, and using us to achieve His mission!! 

We must, therefore, with all we have, seek God to permeate every part of our lives. knowing simply that the more we surrender to God, the more He will be able to use us as His vehicles of blessing. 

This is our prayer. We want God to use us for His glory, as we were created for that purpose. We must wait expectantly, in faith, knowing that it is God's will to fill us and use us. We must wait persistently, knowing that God has spoken, that His promises will not be broken, that He is at work in this world, and that He will answer us when we call. Finally, we must wait actively, in worship, responding to God in active surrender and repentance as God reveals Himself to us, stepping out with faith in every opportunity presented to us expecting God to work. 

God is on mission. His mission is salvation to every tribe, tongue, and nation for His glory. His means of accomplishing His mission is the church. In every testimony of salvation in the New Testament there was a human instrument used by (God) the Holy Spirit to bring life to the dead. 

We are desperate for God. Pray with us.       

    "The coming together of the saints is the first part of Pentecost, and the gathering of sinners is the second. It began with 'only a prayer meeting' but ended with a grand baptism of thousands of converts."   - C.H. Spurgeon  

As 'Church-planters' our first plan of action really a reaction. We don't initiate anything in this whole process, which is a truth we gladly embrace. Jesus is the beginning and end, and Jesus spoke loud and clear that HE would build HIS Church. 

Planting Churches isn't our mission, it's God's mission, and we are simply partnering in that. God is the true 'pioneer' missionary as He came into this world to bring the Gospel and is calling us to take part in His mission today. We are only responding to what Jesus has already begun in this world and more specifically in our city.  

God works, we respond. 

That said, as man's response to God always begins (and continues) with prayer, we are engaging in a prayer meeting corporately on a weekly basis. Prayer is the lifeline of the church and we will live and die together in prayer if nothing else. If reality London is forever known as 'only a prayer meeting' than we would be one of the most notable and effective churches in the world as far as God is concerned. So, we will pray. 

As a church there are two foundational points, or pillars, that we are endeavoring to lay through all this. These foundational truths are our very heart and lungs, are of equal value, and must never be neglected lest we die a slow death, Which are:

I. JESUS holds the POSITION of Preeminence in His Church PERSONALLY.   

I. PRAYER holds the PLACE of Preeminence in the Church ACTIVELY. 

I. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church Positionally (Col.1:18) and personally. Therefore, the supreme purpose for our gathering together is to seek Jesus and Jesus alone. Jesus holds all the authority, and deserves all the glory. Jesus is the source of our life and salvation (personally & corporately); therefore we will seek him and wait upon Him alone. Our faith is founded on and sustained upon our relationship with Jesus. Ultimately, If you could sum up the purpose of the Church in one word, its Jesus. The position of Jesus Christ in His Church is the position of Preeminence. 

I. Our relationship with God begins with prayer for,"Whoever calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved" The church, as revealed in the Book of Acts, was born through a prayer meeting, making prayer both the lifeline of the church and the primary call of the church. Jesus, echoing the voice of the father declared, "My house shall be a House of Prayer." Over and over, the scriptures declare the first and primary activity of the Church is prayer. The place of prayer is the place of preeminence. 

And so we are beginning as a church by responding to God in prayer with our eyes upon Jesus alone, and will continue in this fashion until He returns. We believe it will be upon this foundation that God will build His church in this city as we partner with Him in His mission to the world. 

A New Season

The Last three years of our lives have been one of the most incredible testimonies of God's grace, love, and faithfulness. We couldn't have even dreamed this up! 2008 was truly a year of new beginnings for us as we left Los Angeles in transition to London in February of '08, at which point we really started to get that sense of independence that can be both liberating and terrifying all at once. It seems that God has had us on some kind of "one year step plan" up till now. Let me explain: 

Lizzie and I started working full-time in Los Angeles during the summer of '06 and got married :) It was then that we started praying about church-planting in Europe, but primarily the U.K.. Now, it was during the Summer of '07 (one year later) that we got to scope out the land during Creation Fest  in Devon and spent some time in London where we heard the call to move over. Naturally, we started taking steps towards making the move landing us here a year later in July '08. That leads us to the current time, as we find ourselves at last in central London at Notting Hill Gate. It was exactly a year from when we left L.A. to when we landed our place in the middle of London. And now we are praying about starting church services in Aug. Lord willing, which would make it around a year since we made the move over. HA! Whatever the case, we can say for sure that it gets better and better every year.

So, here we are in a new year entering into an exciting new season of ministry without loosing any time. Since Christmas we have been floored with ministry and moving. During the month of January to kick of the new year we filled in at C.C. Twickenham while the Dingman family made their U.S. visit. That meant four Sunday morning services, where we studied the Epistle to the Philippians , followed  up with a weekly prayer meeting and Bible study. We had a great time with the church and learned a ton. We were also looking for flats in London during that time as well, which took us to a level bordering Chaos,  but exciting none-the-less. We will spare you the details of our flat hunt, but in summary just about when we were ready to give it up for awhile, God led us to the perfect place. 

It was just a week after we found a place and finished filling in at Twickenham that Britt and Tim (our pastors from California) came for a visit. That was an awesome time of hanging out and sharing in what the Lord is doing here. We spent one whole Sunday visiting four different churches from morning till evening, which was both extremely encouraging and extremely concerning. It was  encouraging to see that God IS moving in England and that there is a faithful remnant here serving Jesus and preaching His Word and that there is also a MASSIVE need for more of that in every way. However, it was also terribly concerning to see and hear some of things that are being declared as the Word of God and done in His name. For this reason we are praying and trusting that God will use us in any way to help fill the need here and bring some Biblical correction with truth and in love. 

We had an awesome time visiting with those guys. It was so nice to connect with them and share about how the Lord is leading us. They are some of the coolest, most encouraging, and hilarious people we have ever known, and we are so blessed to have them as brothers and to be partnered with them in ministry. 

And so here we are in our new place looking forward to a new season of life and ministry with Jesus. We had our first official reality london prayer meeting last week, which has left us so excited and encouraged about what the Lord has in store, but we will save that for the next update! 

Thank you all for your love and support! 

Much Love, 

M&L