Resources
Towards 400
At a team leaders’ gathering we were praying for the nation and asking for a multiplication of churches and ministries, when God spoke to us very clearly through a prophetic word from Martin Charlesworth (Barnabas Community Church, Shrewsbury).
In his vision Martin said that he could see the Himalayas in the background, and a smaller mountain in the foreground that our party was to climb. He said that he felt this would prove to be a considerable challenge and would require new paths to be forged, rivers to be crossed and rock faces to be climbed. Importantly however, he felt that it was the next step on the way to conquering the Himalayas.
Martin then explained that the Himalayas represented the goal God has given us for a thousand churches in this nation. He also felt strongly that the mountain in the foreground represented 400 churches. This was, he believed, the next step that God was laying before us as we move to the bigger goal.
Focusing on 400 gives us a reachable goal to aim for. If every church we are currently working with was to be involved in planting one other in the next few years it would take us there in no time at all!
However, this will also require faith. It has taken us many years to gather 200 churches in the UK. To double this number should not be taken lightly. We are all familiar what happened to the people of God at Ai when they stopped relying on God for every battle they fought.
We’re not suggesting either that we lay aside the challenge of the thousand churches - on the contrary, we feel the importance of this more deeply than ever. We do not want to lose the awesome challenge that this represents or the capacity to do something that would truly change the nation. However, to focus on something a bit nearer to home along the way will help us build towards the next leg of the journey together.
Comments