Well, what another amazing night.
God is doing great things in the lives of so many young people. I am sure you will agree.
How great it is to hear young people share their story, to hear how God is moving and challenging us. We need more of this. I really want to encourage all of you guys who come to Mannafest to think about sharing your story. God wants to use what each one of us has experienced to encourage those around us. Maybe it's not at Mannafest, but what are the opportunities we have each day to share our story with those around us and we choose not to.
Let's step up to the plate like Davy Beckett said and start to live radically. Lets not be ashamed of our faith and who God has called us to be. Let's sort living 100% for him. Let's tell the WORLD.
Yes, we might go through persecution and difficult times because of it, but is our God not worth it. Our faith that we have built our lives upon, is it not worth it. I believe it is. Let's stop denying Jesus with our lives but let his light and his love shine through us. Go on, i dare you.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED - MAY
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Mannafest was amazing that night- i loved it! the worship was amazing (as always lol), Davey was class too. So many people crossed the line and stepped upto the plate, and it was amazing to see. :). can't wait for U + 1 next month.
mannafest was so good on saturday night. i was one of those people to cross the line and it was one of the most amazing feelings ever. i have never felt so emotional, i couldnt even express how i felt in words. hope everyone else had such a good time. as per usual, blue tree were brill!
mannafest was amazing once again!!!!! i love it!! davey beckett was great and bluetree rocked as usual!!! x x <><
Summer Madness, youth ministry and the "i think your hot will u go out with me" culture
I was talking to mike yesterday for up to 3 hrs about this very subject and as we were talking something just popped into my spirit that id never thought of before regarding the above subject....So please read on and i ask u to not be easily offended at this but pray into it and see what is revealed to u ...
The problem.
Me and mike were talking about roots and branches yesterday , something that i never thought of up until yesterday...In northern ireland we have alot of "youth groups, ministries and teams of people who minister in schools and such for example, Summer madness "irelands biggest youth festival" Mannafest run by youth for christ which is worldwide and so many many more. Now what is my problem with all of these ministries? the answer is at the core nothing...I believe God birthed every single ministry that i have just mentioned. I praise Jesus that people can come and be involved and perhaps meet the Lord in all that they attempt to do. In essence the root or motive of each ministry is pure before the Lord. wow! did u expect me to be somewhat different in opinion!! Well ok let me ask another question are there things that i disagree with that goes on within each ministry? the answer is surely yes. I will touch upon that shortly.
If u are looking at anything from the outside ie a church or youth group it would be natural for u to form an opinion on that ministry, u cannot make anything more than a surface opinion simply because u are on the outside looking in. If indeed u were deeply involved with that ministry your opinion would be rather different, as u can see the bigger picture.
Let me pick on the " FIRE" ministry for a bit...As u are well aware over the years that we have had so many people (youth) come to hang out at the church and come along to the outreach on a friday night...mostly of the goth variety but not always..Many times they have defaced the church , vandalized the church and surrounding area. Looking from the outside in this would appear to reflect on the ministry. for example "whoever leads that church should have better control of those kids!!" "thats not a well organised youth club at all", like i said before all that can be made is a surface opinion if we look at it not from a branches perspective but looking at the roots we see a different picture. Our motive is to see those kids be birthed into the kingdom of God and with this birthing process comes alot of mess that needs grace, patience and love to cover it . To sum it up the roots or core motive is pure before the lord though simply looking at the ministry from an outside perspective u dont really get a clear picture. Now a similar thing is to be said about youth ministries as a whole. Summer madness , mannafest etc from an outside perspective may have some things that i disagree with (bad branches) but the core or roots are pure (in my opinion) I guess u would really need to sit down with the leaders of these groups and find out that their hearts are motivated to bring the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Branches...
Many ministries have bad branches..what do i mean by that? well most ministries , youth or otherwise have things that perhaps need pruned shaped or restructured. Let me say that im not saying the ministry that i belong to is perfect because it really isnt.
Christianity is a counter culture movement , well it should be anyway and my issue with alot of these branches is that instead of confonting the works of darkness they tend to come along side a dying genration and rest the cold hand of compromise on its shoulder! For example Summer madness is Irelands largest gathering of christian youth est 4000 or so .... 4000 thousand people praying and seeking God in praise and in worship. Lets flip the coin for a second. If a leading homosexual , feminist, and openly pagan leaders got together and said "were gonna have a conference is the kings hall" what do u think would happen? Every free pres , God loving Christian would bombard that place with banners and protests and u name it!!! So my question is this? when all the major christian youths in their thousands gather monthly for their meetings y doesnt the pagan come down on that place like a tonne of bricks, y doesnt the pagan or unsaved individual really care?? its really open to debate. I would say lack of power and lack of threat.
My heart breaks when i hear of "foam parties" at christian festivals,so called wet tshirt comps, rave discos, new age infaltration, lack of prayer in meetings, devils advocate type debates, New years eve raves for so many hrs. ,guys coming along to meetings soaked in aftershave for a night of "pulling" girls dressed to arouse the desires of whoever looks at her, yearly pregnacies and sexual promescuity (sp) . We look around and see Northern Ireland as a place were people are depressed , suicidal , adiicted to drugs , pornography, other spirituality, lonliness and are desperate to find answers and we are simply dancing in foam!! We see radikal pagan revolutions happening all around us were the christian is being forced into the closet and the Homosexual agenda presses onward and we are dividing the camp of God with useless debates. We see people desperate for a helping hand in life , not knowing were to look and we are so busy chasing after our next boyfriend or girlfriend, someone for our arm that the lonely arm goes on wanting! Northern Ireland is full of people claiming to Know Christ but the truth is that if we all really knew him then a revolution of biblical proportions would take place, the devil would awaken cus lets face it hes relaxing right now in terms of anybody threatening his kingdom. If we would only pray!!! New years eve 2006: lets just say that christian youth didnt meet to dance but to pray! I mean come on! what difference would that make! One could only imagine! Its pants! it really is!
Conclusion..
My apologies if all that was alittle scattered.. Let me repeat myself ....I am not hardcore againt youth ministry i simply hold this over it "i looked for the world and i found it in the church, i looked for the church and i found it in the world" All the youth ministries i have mentioned are doing alot of beautiful things for the kingdom though equally i pointed out the bad things which need to be looked at and prayed about! We need to confront this dying world not simply walking along side it , play a christian cd just so loud that they can hear it that they might get the hint. But shining so bright that either they are offended or converted! and birthed into the kingdom! Let me stress that love is the essence of everything that we do!!.....We need people who arent afraid to be unpopular. How can we expect better treatment than what our saviour recieved!......We now live in a society were it has come to this "We either take ground or we lose it " its as simple as that , the battle will never stop until the Lord returns in glory. I said the word battle which might be unfamilar today. For so long we have settle for playground christianity playing in foam and arguing with oneanother when all we appear to be is the laughing stock of devils!!
Its time for a revolution!! I know i say that alot but i have no choice ..the question is "will u fight"? u really dont have any choice if u want to carry on in God.
Stevie b
Please pray about showing my previous post. It is wha the Lord has put on my heart for a Jesus revolution. I know it isnt exactly pro youth ministry as such though id aprreciate it if u guys would pray into wjat i said and also let the viewers of this blogg pray also
Jesus bless u
Stephen Brown
revbrown1@hotmail.com
Post a Comment