BrianIngraham.com | ASPIRE

I was laughing on the inside yesterday. First of all, it was mothers day here in Scotland. Secondly, we had many visitors at church because we were doing some baptisms. Thirdly, our passage for the week was God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. You try tying baptism and mothers day into a message on Sodom and Gomorrah and see if it doesn’t send you laughing on the inside. (if you want to hear the message click HERE.)

Even though it seems like a terrible idea, God moved.

My favorite part was baptizing 6 people (three in the morning and three in the evening.) I always find it so powerful when we baptize people. I look each one in the eyes and ask them if they have dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ. I look them in the eyes and ask them if they are going to follow Jesus NO MATTER WHAT all the days of their lives. Each of them answered unswervingly, “Yes.”

It is powerful to see changed lives. It is amazing to hear what God is doing in their lives. And it is an honour to be apart of what God is doing in them. May God continue this good work that he has begun in them and carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

What a great day!

2008 was the most unexpected and amazing year of ministry I have ever experienced. On Tuesday my team and I made a HUGE list of what we considered some break-through components and moments of clear Divine Intervention. Here are a few of them in no particular order…

• The amount of numerical growth we experienced in 2008 has stunned all of us.
• In the Spring we brought our tools and put on our work clothes to transform the front of the church by removing the old stage and theater curtains and rebuilding a new stage that suits our needs better. The changes both aesthetically to acoustically have been phenomenal.

• In the Autumn our puppet ministry for the children was launched. This involved building a huge partition wall in our large room beneath the sanctuary and building a western style Scottish cowboy town (?), recruiting a bunch of quality volunteers, assembling  teams and a plan, developing patience, endurance, etc.. The result has been amazing.  The children and volunteers are having a blast.

• Our team has taken huge steps forward in maturity and focus. I have never participated on such an effective, focused, proficient, and spiritually deep team. Each year the maturity of our community is enriched and deepened. What we have is unique and I love it.
• We are still renting our great building. Things have teetered on the edge from time to time as to whether we will be evicted, but here we have remained.  God continues to preserve us in this place!

• Our team’s influence continues to expand. From working with future ministers, to speaking at several university Christian Unions, to the preparation of the upcoming ReAwakening conference, to modeling a Bible focused church for a new generation.
• Our leadership structure continues to mature.  We have appointed Elders and begun Deaconship. This represents a continued move toward health and maturity in our church structure.
• Prayer is on the rise. I have noticed the increase in conviction of sins and compulsion to change since we have begun having prayer intercessors praying throughout the services. Our prayer times also have become stronger. People continue to be baptized.  I believe most of what has happened this year is not a reflection of giftedness but of the answered frequent praying of a growing few.

(photo by Megan)

• Our worship team continues to get more complete and mature. Andy and Kirsty have done a great job raising the bar of worship in our church. We have seen the influx of some highly talented musicians bringing strength to an already solid team. We know worship is not about having the best band, or passionate singing, but about directing and leading people to exult and adore our triune God together from our hearts. But having a great band sure helps a ton.

I could go on and on about the miracle of our boiler heater coming to flame again, our feasts and bbq outreaches, our Halloween Fair outreach for children in the area, new people coming to church, the beginning of diversity in ages, a Christmas choir, a great women’s bible study this Autumn, internship program expansion, a doubling of people reading their Bibles, but you get it.

In years past God has blessed us with obstacles and setbacks, teaching us about faith, patience, prayer, and trusting God. Great years. But this year he has chosen to bless us with huge steps forward. What a great year! Thank you Father.

I have become convinced our church is under the most subtle and dangerous of spiritual attacks and it is coming at the most sneaky of times. It comes at a time when we are growing, things seem to be thriving, people are excited, and the services are going well. On the one hand God is moving, and yet at the same time our adversary is at work attempting to “cut the power.”

For the last six weeks or so, our times of prayer have been slowly drying up, there is a noticed loss of urgency and enthusiasm. Our Tuesday night prayer time has gone from thriving to just a handful of people in the shortest of time. It had even entered my mind to just stop the Tuesday prayer altogether. Last Tuesday it was so bad, some of the people were silently searching, in prayer, for the reason of the dramatic decline in this area, and the dramatic rise in sleepiness, apathy, and faithless praying. We now are certain of Satan’s hand in this. He knows how to kill a good church, take the heart out of the praying.

I ‘randomly’ picked up James Frasier’s Biography this morning and was greatly encouraged by what I read. James was reflecting on Ephesians 6 about standing firm in Faith, Righteousness, Truth, in readiness, and in prayer, so that we can stand in the day of evil. Out of his circumstance he writes:

“I am not, however, taking the bleak, despondent view I took yesterday… the opposition will not be overcome by reasoning or by pleading, but by (chiefly) steady, persistent prayer.”

“I am now setting my face like a flint; If the work seems to fail, then pray; if services, etc., fall flat, then pray still more; if months slip by with little or no result, then pray still more and get others to help you”

“In every battle there are crucial spots. Get near and stay near to your Divine Chief until He turns and points them out. And at those points face and force the fight.”

I am convinced our ‘Divine Chief’ has pointed out this crucial battle for us and our church. It goes with out saying that we have chosen not to stop our Tuesday night prayer time. Join us in praying against this attack, that the enemies’ strategic attack would be fully defeated, and that again prayers would flow passionately and with faith. Thank you for standing with us. Prayer is powerful. God still hears prayers and God is still moving!

3 weeks ago, our church took a big risk and went to two services, one at 10:30 and the other at 6:30. We are doing the exact same service twice and are, in a sense, splitting the church into two groups.  It was a risk because we just didn’t have enough people to justify two separate services. Some of my fears were that one service would thrive and the other would be tiny and loose all momentum. Also, as with any change, you loose people.

Now here we are, three weeks into it, and I can say it was clearly the right move. We are growing twice as fast, this past Sunday was our largest attendance ever, the services are basically the same size (+/- 3 this week.) Both services have energy and momentum.

Sure, the service changes weren’t the only factor. We are in the midst of teaching through what is arguably the greatest short story in all of the bible, the book of Ruth. It is about hope, being heroic, redemption, relationships, manliness, femininity, courage, risk, etc.. I am loving this book. (To listen to the series you can go to THIS PAGE.)

Bottom line, it is an exciting time at the church. Continue to pray that God continues to allow us to remain in this building. Continue to pray that we ‘bear much fruit’ in this city. And pray for me also, that I may be ever better at communicating the message of Christ as clearly and effectively as I ought.

(Yes, I know the picture is a bit random, but here we go again having fun together at church.)

One of the oddities of Re:Hope is the high amount of men who regularly attend, especially single men. It may be the only church in Glasgow with obviously more men than women on any given Sunday. It is not uncommon to hear people joke about our church being “Man Church.” I love it that we are reaching the men of this city, but were someone to ask how we are reaching men I wouldn’t have had a clear answer.

Last weekend, I was browsing a bookshop and came across a book by David Murrow entitled “Why Men Hate Going to Church.” I looked at it and thought to myself this could either be the biggest waste of time and money, or it could help me understand the unique phenomenon happing at our church.

“Why Men Hate Going to Church” turned out to be the most insightful and encouraging book I have read in years pertaining to evaluating church. I think the book contains not only answers on how to begin reaching men, but also how to reach the emerging generation as a whole.

Some good lines include:

“Men fantasize about saving the world against impossible odds. Women fantasize about having a relationship with a wonderful man…. Is the purpose of the Christian life to find a happy relationship with a wonderful man, or is it to save the world against impossible odds?”

“Men regard churchgoing like a prostate exam; it’s something that can save their lives, but it’s so unpleasant and invasive, they put it off.”

“Please, don’t gauge a man’s commitment to Christ by his tears (or lack of them)… some men are genuinely broken by God without ever shedding a tear. Sometimes the Holy Spirit works without Kleenex.”

“If you want your church to attract men, you must put a high priority on developing leaders…”

“Today’s church doesn’t need Greg because it doesn’t need his gifts, in fact masculine gifts often gum up the works of the ministry machine. If only Christianity required risk taking, boldness, aggression, and heroic sacrifice, Greg might find his place in church.”

If you are in some leadership or influence capacity in a church or intend on moving that direction, especially working with the emerging generation, pick this book up. Even if you find yourself effective, read it. I am glad I risked it.

Well, thanks to Doug Crozier and the folks at Church Development Fund, we finally have what we need to have a first meeting with our solicitor (US- think real estate agent.) Our official meeting is scheduled for Monday afternoon. I had a brief chat with him today about the building and he is going to have initial chats with the selling agent between now and then.

Why now is a good time to pray:

• These early discussions have a large impact on final price zone… pray for cheap.
• We are still attempting to raise a bit more monies for our down payment.
• Things are moving… a good time to praise and be thankful.

If you are interested in giving towards the building you can give by clicking HERE.

I am so excited to see what God will do…

After all this time God has allowed us to move back into the red church building this week as of Monday. In celebration of our first week in the building we are reading through the bible, outloud, cover to cover. We are reading it 8am-midnight Monday through Friday until we are done. At this rate I anticipate being done late afternoon Friday. People are taking turns reading sections in 1-hour blocks, or teaming up with a few people and changing every chapter.

One girl, new to our church, asked if every church did this… “It just feels right.”

Another said, “It is like we are reminding this place what it is made to be about.”

Along with this reading, we are slaving away getting it ready for Sunday, stuff moved, things cleaned, a baby room prepped, bathrooms ready…….

I have had this silly grin on my face this whole week, because of how incredible it is to be back in this place. God has been so good to us!!!

I woke up yesterday morning having not heard anything about the Red Church building since our bid was rejected last October. All I knew when I woke up yesterday was that I still wanted God to let us be in that building. Around 2:15 yesterday I wrote this in my journal:

“Father, I am asking for a building I cannot afford. A building that is not for sale. A building whose owner has different plans for it.

Father, I ask for this building as a testimony to Yourself that…

1. You still hear prayer
2. You are still moving
3. You are the provider
4. You are powerfully at work with our church.

I am confident that as You lead us into this building, You will make yourself look amazing by…

1. Providing the funds that we don’t have to purchase/rent a building we can’t afford.
2. Leading the owners to entrust us with this building.
3. Not only provide the funds to be there for now but also to maintain the old building.

I will not doubt the ability of an infinitely rich God to provide for His Son’s bride.

Make Yourself shine though Your workings!
We trust in Your power and wisdom!
In Jesus Name, Amen.

90 minutes later, after not hearing anything for months, the new owner called to set up a meeting about us purchasing the building. She seems unimpressed with how much we have to spend. There is a business and a theatre group also interested. Yet, today I am filled with peace. Let God be God. Let God make a name for Himself or choose not to. I am not able to bring this together and everything should fall apart today, except for the single fact that God is aware of what is happening and who knows… maybe He is intervening on our behalf to make a name for Himself again! It is a good place to be. Keep praying with us I know He is hearing our prayers!

I found this quote from a man who lived over a hundred years ago. The following was part of a description of the kind of preachers he desired to see Scotland full of. So much of this resonates with what I wish for this land as well.

“…Let him preach with a thrilling heart; let him preach like one amazed at the glory of the message; let him preach in the tone of wonder and gratitude in which it becomes sinners to realize the great work of redemption, –not only will the congregation listen with interest: they will listen with profound impression… We greatly need preachers for the people. A preacher to the people needs to be very clear in his views, homely in his style, full of illustration, direct and courageous in his application, rich in brotherly sympathy, and very warm and vigorous in his delivery. Alas! They are not common.”

W. G. Blaikie (1820-1899) said this about the kind of preachers he wished to see cover Scotland. Over a hundred years latter, I concur. If only Scotland were blessed by such preachers in our day… people who love God, love his word, and preach like that. What amazing days we might see.

A few years ago I was on youth staff at Rolling Hills Community Church. During those years I learned big lessons that have shaped both who I am and how I do ministry today. Rolling Hills had 8 full-time staff in the youth department with very focused area’s of specialization. Mark Began (the boss, a.k.a. ‘The big shooter-downer’:-) had quite a challenge bring unity to his staff. I remember it was a season of particular tension, we didn’t seem to be getting along well, and he took us all to play Frisbee golf at a local park. We spent the afternoon chucking Frisbee’s and just playing. It was fun.

The next staff meeting, people walked in with smiles seeing each other, I even think there was some hugs and some, “it’s great to see you’s.” It was a learning moment in my life that made it into my first written draft of my philosophy of ministry.

“Never underestimate the power of play.”

That day I saw tensions on church staff dissolve. I saw people giving a bit more grace to one another. I saw increased love. That day I learned that love and grace are cultivated in play. This is the driving reason for game nights at church. This is the driving reason for video game nights with church people. And deep down, I am thinking the genuine unity and love for one another that is continuing to grow at Re:Hope could be the natural symptom of things many might consider to be a waste of time.

Last night, our video game night at Microplay Gaming Centre was electric. There was a great group of people from church and so many people who have never gone to church in their lives having a great time. It sounds so stupid, so pointless. Yet, it was blazingly obvious that camaraderie was being build, friendships were growing and the unifying power of fun was at work.

BTW- “I killed Dan.”