Firstline

By Terry Virgo

Running up the down escalator may be great fun for small children – and you know that you have secretly wanted to try it yourself – but I wouldn’t want to embrace it as a lifestyle! After a while the relentless downward pull must make it an exhausting and depressing exercise. Climbing the up escalator is a different matter altogether. It’s great to go with the flow!

My recent book, The Tide is Turning, expresses my honest opinion that although church buildings continue to close, particularly in the UK, the fact is that a wonderful change is taking place. God has spoken to us about the chill wind being replaced by a warm, life-imparting breeze, and prophetic words have been given to us speaking of a ‘new era’ and a ‘second half’ that in many ways would outshine the first.

It could be argued, of course, that everything changed on the great resurrection morning when Jesus conquered death for ever, or perhaps on the triumphant day of Pentecost when the powerful presence of God was poured out on the waiting disciples. New creation began! The long awaited eschatological kingdom was inaugurated! But the fact remains that throughout church history (and indeed observable in Biblical history) there seem to be seasons of blessing and favour, and times of setback, testing and trial. I thank God that at the moment there appear to be many signs of change; the tide seems to have turned.

I was in New York in August and enjoyed arriving at Grand Central Station, walking down 42nd Street, crossing 5th Avenue and walking down Broadway, and indeed several other famous streets. What was noticeable was that the whole area was peppered with Starbucks coffee houses. Every time I saw one I was reminded of the Daily Telegraph’s recently published statistic that in the last seven years in England 1,000 churches have been planted, way surpassing the opening of fresh Starbucks, who were reported to have opened 450 coffee houses in the UK in the same period.

It really is a staggering statistic to know that 1,000 churches have been opened in the UK. We tend to live with the awareness of church buildings closing all the time. The fact is that many of the church buildings that have closed in recent years actually stopped preaching the gospel long ago and their closure represents the final step in a sad journey.

Meanwhile, as you will notice from our article on what is happening in London, there are signs of life appearing on many sides. Praise God for the Alpha phenomenon – now even invading China. At Front Edge in South East England we saw over 230 responding to the gospel on one day. A similar number responded to the gospel on one day at Newday. We are seeing literally hundreds saved and undoubtedly experiencing a breakthrough in healing. This last year we have seen hundreds healed, something that was completely unknown to us in the past. In previous years some of us have managed to ‘squeeze out’ the occasional healing but now we are beginning to see multiplied healings. For myself, I have had the thrill of seeing people healed most weeks during this last year and have a growing file of letters from pastors who testify that on the Sunday following my visit people were on their feet testifying of how they had been healed.

We have just enjoyed our largest ever leaders’ meeting at Together on a Mission in Brighton, and Mobilise nearly doubled in size from the previous year. We anticipate passing the 5,000 mark next year.

Catch the tide!

If the tide is turning, what should be our response? It’s not within man’s power to cause the tide to turn but, if it is growingly apparent that God is blessing us in a fresh way, let me urge you to catch the tide.

Our Front Edge weekends have led not only to an immediate breakthrough in reaping evangelism, which has taken place at the actual weekend, but several churches have pressed through and enjoyed the blessings of continual conversions in their Sunday meetings.

Let me encourage you to expect more to happen. Expect friends to respond positively to invitations to Alpha events. Expect people to respond to gospel invitations. Anticipate that they will be healed when you lay hands on them in Jesus’ name. Rely on the fact that God will supply financial needs. Plant churches in the certainty that it’s God’s will to do so and that He is thoroughly with you to give you success.

I hope you like the new magazine and appreciate the articles, most of which reflect this theme with positive illustrations of the fact that the tide is turning – and don’t forget to read the book!

Terry Virgo
Editor and leader of Newfrontiers