Unashamed And Unafraid

By Simon Virgo

Biggin Hill, UK

What a great experience it was to be at this year’s Mobilise event, along with 1,100 students and 20s passionately worshipping Jesus! We had a fantastic time, enjoying the presence of God and receiving profound and authoritative teaching from His word.

Passion and mission

It’s always exciting to be amongst enthusiastic young people, exuberantly praising God with no inhibitions! You’d have been hard pressed to find a more vibrant party in Brighton! Once again Simon Brading led us as we unashamedly celebrated the glories of God and the gospel.

But it’s even more exciting when you realise that this passion isn’t limited to the liveliness and joy of worship times, but is also expressed in a radical and sacrificial commitment to mission. The reality of what Mobilise is all about hit home as Tom Eaton stood up and fearlessly testified to all that God is doing in Japan, where he and his wife Julie have now made their permanent home along with their two daughters. Their single-minded vision of planting churches in the Far East again indicates that hidden in the atmosphere of excitement is a deep and very real dedication to what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus.

From Tom Shaw’s excellent opening word about the sometimes painful birthing of God’s promises, right through to P-J Smyth’s closing rally to war, there was a realism about the cost of the battles that lie ahead. There’s a growing excitement about the awesome promises God has given to this emerging generation, but there’s also a growing awareness that these things won’t come about without a fight.

A word brought in a main leadership conference session also confirmed that God was taking us up a notch, as the theme of ‘graduation’ was spoken over us. The appetite for substantial teaching and the genuine hunger for God evident in the sessions all hinted at a depth and maturity developing amongst us.

Stability and spontaneity

It was also wonderful to find that in a crowd of young people there was such a willingness to receive from the generation that goes before us. Rather than the arrogance that can so often mark youth, there is a genuine desire to benefit from the wisdom, love and experience of those who father us in God.

The fruit of this is stability in our ranks. And who better to help ground us securely in the authority of the Word of God than Wayne Grudem? To be taught on the inerrancy of the Scriptures by someone so massively qualified was a great privilege.

Stability in turn provides an ideal context where spontaneity can be encouraged. This was beautifully demonstrated when Sibs Sibanda (Zimbabwe) abandoned his seminar on the devotional life midway through and led us into an unplanned time of worship. His teaching had essentially been a good, long look at the theology of our reconciliation with God won at the cross, and Sibs felt it best that, rather than merely discuss the wonder of this, we instead enter into the actual experience of intimacy with Jesus. It was wonderful!

As Peter Brooks once said, ‘Rootedness in truth can lead to recklessness in living.’ Those most fully persuaded of the reality of God’s promises are those who can do the boldest things for Him. This is part of what is motivating us to be a generation that doesn’t pay lip service to the word of God, but rather sends roots deep down into it and soaks up its truth. The young people at Mobilise love truth!

Mind and heart

Another encouraging feature of the seminars at Mobilise was the rigorous engagement with contemporary issues. Far from being an escapist retreat where we chewed on favourite Christian topics, it was a place of training, provocation and equipping. These weren’t merely theoretical, academic exercises to tickle our intellects; they were practical teaching sessions where we were helped in how to bring the gospel to the world.

It was so refreshing to hear clear, intellectually robust teaching coming from people whose primary loyalty is to Jesus and His church, not just ideas and theories. Joel Virgo set an excellent example; sharp and uncompromising in his treatment of contemporary culture and the Kingdom of God, and yet far from cold intellectualism, as he spoke of ‘the uncommon preoccupation with Jesus’ that so often marks those who have done great and lasting things for God.

We want to be sharp in our thinking and devoted in our hearts. It is inspiring to think that Paul, one of the greatest intellects in history, was also the author of some of the most eloquent words ever written about love.

Unashamed and unafraid

There is great pressure on our generation to dilute the unpopular message of the gospel. Accommodating the trends of our sin-soaked society is an appealing option, but we would do so at the cost of our purity and, therefore, our potency. A heart divided between God’s desires and sin’s pleasures is no witness to a world that needs clear answers.

But the flip side is that clear allegiance to what God says keeps our consciences pure and gives us great courage. As Proverbs 28:1 puts it, ‘The wicked flee though no-one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.’ Allowing God’s word to determine our convictions makes us fearless, having nothing to hide, regardless of what our culture affirms.

It was, therefore, thrilling to see Wayne Grudem’s clear, Biblical teaching on gender being so enthusiastically received by young people living in an age in which such truths are not only neglected but, sadly, despised. As Wayne said, our view of manhood and womanhood is a watershed issue that tests our obedience to the Bible. How wonderful to find such obedience in our young people.

What marked Mobilise, the whole leadership conference, and really what marks Newfrontiers is an unashamed and confident commitment to being a people of both the Word and the Spirit. Being unashamed of both emphases enables us to be truly unafraid as we present the gospel to our culture. We celebrate a great hope and, as Paul said, ‘Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold’ (2 Cor. 3:12).

This year’s Mobilise was a fantastic time of enjoying these truths and celebrating the goodness of the One who is our hope! Now it’s time to put into practice what we learnt, maintaining our loyalty to Jesus and looking to Him for courage as we do His work. Roll on 2007!

Dates for next year: 10-13 July 2007

Make a note of the dates in your diary!

Downloads from Mobilise 06 now available
Praise is Rising, live worship from the conference is now available, click here