Transcription
Adrian, a very warm welcome to HGB. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you're seeing in Canada.
Well, first of all, I'm not from Canada. I'm Mexican. Uh, yeah, but I, I, I, I just want to say what happened is a couple of years ago. Um, I'm an architect by profession and I have my own office back in Mexico. And my wife and I decided we had a calling to leave everything behind and take our family, my, my wife and my girls, and and go to Canada to study theology. So I, I went there and I encountered Alpha. I went to Alpha, I loved Alpha, and I became involved. I was actually, I became actually the director of Alpha in in our church. I've been running Alpha for five years and, uh, and it's, it's been a blessing. I have to say it's an amazing experience and opportunity.
And what are you seeing happening in some of the churches that you're, um, partnering with and working with?
Well, first of all, I represent a Catholic church and we, we don't have that in our context. The church planting, you that might be something that you, you all understand, but for us is new. What we are doing actually in the growth because of Alpha, we're sending people, our own congregation, to another church to build it from the from the bottom again, from the inside out. And we run Alpha there as well. We started that that six months ago. The pastor there hadn't done Alpha, so he did Alpha with us in the fall. During the the Holy Spirit, he encountered the Holy Spirit. He's been a pastor for years and he encountered the Holy Spirit so powerfully. The past, the Holy Spirit told him that he will have a moment of suffering, but that suffering will bring a lot of fruit. The thing, long story short, right after Alpha, he was diagnosed with cancer, with terminal cancer. Two months after, he passed away. This is again, we partnered six months ago. Long story short, the the congregation there was, we, we had 20, uh, people coming every Sunday. Six months after, in Easter, we baptized 12 people in that church and the congregation was more than 200 in six months. So and that's all because of of Alpha and how Alpha brings brings that it's welcoming so many things. It's like you're actually inviting a friend to discuss the big questions of life without judgment, without any, uh, yeah, being listened and and welcome.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
[Applause]
Liz, from the Philippines, come and talk to us. Where are you, Liz? Liz, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you're seeing happening in your region.
Right, I, I'm not from the Philippines myself, just, just clinging on to that narrative. Um, but I, I look after the office in the Philippines. And, uh, during the pandemic, everything slowed down for us. And when I took over in early 2021, one of the things I said to my very small team who couldn't go out to visit any parishes or churches was, just call all your pastor friends and say hello, check in on them and see how they were doing. And in one of those conversations, one of the elders of a very big community called Light of Jesus in the Philippines said to my team, you've got to check out this young man in Barili in Cebu. He's doing incredible things. And we said, oh yeah, we'd love to meet him. So we got onto Zoom and we met Jason. Some of you may have seen his video, it's, it's on YouTube. But what we found out from Jason was that during the pandemic, when all of us were stuck at home, Jason ran 66 Alphas, reached a thousand five hundred young people, and in the process, raised 55 young leaders.
And since Jason ran all those Alphas, what have you seen happen?
I think the gift of Jason's story is that it's not been contained to Jason. So what we're seeing now is many young people that Jason invited to those Alphas had come from broken homes, some had suicide tendencies, some were battling addiction, but they all found Jesus through Alpha. And, and I think the story doesn't stop there. They've been so inspired, so empowered, so filled with the Holy Spirit that they've now gone on to run their own little Alphas all across Barili, which is in the mountains.
And is there anything you want to say to encourage, um, us today?
Yeah, you know, we've got a very small team. When I took over, we had just two ministry staff, both located in Manila. And in Cebu's thousands and thousands of miles away from us. We had no presence in Cebu. We had never met Jason, never talked to him, never trained him. I believe that the Holy Spirit had gone ahead of us to prepare their place for us. And I just want to encourage you because today, we've got it in Jason's own words, an explosion happening in Cebu. And we're slowly getting funding to be able to stop people there. So I just want to say the power of prayer and the power of faith can do wonders.
Thank you so much, Liz. Kingston, from Kenya, come and tell us. Kingston, what's happening in your region, Kenya?
Welcome, Kingston. Hello, good morning. My name is Kingston. I come from Kenya, but I look after Africa. And God is doing amazing things. When I came on staff in 2018, we just ran about 78 churches were running Alpha. By last year, we had 881 of them running Alpha. Wow. Yeah. And, uh, this year, by last week, we had already 501 churches running Alpha. And so we're seeing an explosion of what God is doing and amazing things that he's doing there. Wow. Yeah.
And, um, in terms of the number of churches, what are you seeing in terms of the needs on the ground in Africa?
Uh, three things that I see. Number one is capacity, uh, just the ability for us to be able to go down, envision, train, and ensure that churches are running. Uh, the second thing is being able to help them understand how do they reach now. Africa has a big bulge of young people, 60% of the population is young people. And so being able to transition from the traditional methods of evangelism and reaching out to this young population with contemporary tools of evangelism. And then the third thing is being able to make sure that this gospel is passed on generationally. You know, because sometimes people get comfortable in their space because churches in Africa, when you have a thousand people, with a small church, yeah. And so we get comfortable whether our churches are full to realize there are many more people outside there who need to hear the gospel. Yes.
And have you seen any lives transformed in your time there?
Yes. Let me give you one, uh, story. There's a young, there's a young man, uh, not too young though, young because he's younger than me. He's a, a pastor from Liberia who came for theological training in Nairobi. And then he came and volunteered in office for two years. And then 2021, he felt the call of God after he finished theology to start a church. And then he reached out to a slum area which is full of drugs, alcoholism, and crime. And one Rastafarian young man called Prince came to the Lord. He went through an Alpha. When he finished, invited another young man called Moses. He's 22 years. Moses has been on drugs and in crime, very high crime for about eight years now. Moses last year came on Alpha, finished it, has to be baptized, was baptized, gave his life to the Lord, invited his mother who got born again, invited his sister, got born again. He invited his cousin who got born again. Now the entire village that feared him because he was such a tough guy are beginning to come to church. And so we are seeing amazing things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Hi. Thank you. Thank you, Kingston. Um, it's just a tiny snippet of just some of the amazing things that God is doing. And we'll be hearing a little bit more about this over the coming few days at the leadership conference. But Alpha, again, as some of our friends have said, is a space where you can explore the big questions of life, faith, and meaning. And we want to encourage everyone to invite their friends to come along. And Alpha, the next Alpha course starts on the 17th of May. And we'll talk a little bit about that in the next couple of weeks. But, um, without further ado, our speaker today is Archie Coates, our vicar. So would you join me in welcoming Archie Coates?
[Applause]
Hi everybody. It's wonderful to have you here. Welcome again. And to everybody as well, watching on the online on live stream, uh, fantastic that you could join us today. And on the eve of the leadership conference, this leadership conference Sunday, I want to talk under the title, "Everyone a Leader." And there's so many models out in the world about what leadership is. But this morning, we're going to look at what God has to say about leadership. And I've called it "Everyone a Leader" because if you think about it, everybody is a leader. If you think about leadership as being helping people, inspiring people, moving people towards more of what they're meant to be in life, then we could all do that. You can do that with people at work, you can do that with friends and family, with God, children, with just connections and acquaintances. Imagine if everybody stepped out of here today, this message is for you, and you thought, I'm going to take my leadership in life to another level in that way. So, should we pray together? And then we'll look at that topic.
Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for each one of us gathered here in church, watching online. Thank you for the stories that we've just heard about what you're doing around the world. And we ask now that you would speak to each one of us. You know all our different contexts and situations. You know our positions. And we ask that you would have a word for each one of us today. In Jesus name, amen.
So, what do the following have in common? Stay hungry, stay foolish. Never be ashamed of trying. The world needs a lot, and we need it from you. Be strong and courageous. The answer is that they are all commencement speeches. First three were given at university graduation ceremonies, launching students out into a world of leadership and work. The final one is found in the Old Testament, God's commencement speech to Joshua as he launches him into a life of leadership. As he's been a student under Moses, and Joshua 1, where that's from, is a lot of people's favorite Old Testament passages. But today, we're going to look at it specifically through the lens of leadership and what God wants to say to lead us. So, here it is. I'll read it for you.
Joshua chapter one. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses's assistant, "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the River Jordan into the land I'm about to give to them, to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the Great River, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful whatever you do. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. So have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
On the eve of the leadership conference, God wants to say that leaders are about four things. Leaders do these four things. The first is step out. God tells Joshua to be action-oriented. He says, "Get ready to cross the river," and he says, "I will give you every place where you set your foot." The American pastor, Rick Warren, said that leadership is not waiting for somebody to call you, but is picking up the phone and calling someone else. And sometimes stepping out can be a bit scary, which is why God says, "Be strong and courageous." Nim's Purja is the Nepalese climber who remarkably in 2019 climbed all 14 of the world's peaks that are over 8,000 meters, called the Death Zone Peaks. And he called that project in 2019, Project Possible, because everybody who knows about this kind of thing said that it couldn't be done. And he did it in six months and six days. Now, I imagine that Nim's Purja is very courageous. I'm not like that. I get frightened of cold water swimming, and I'm frightened of karaoke, and frightened dogs. Not your dog, obviously. I mean, your dog would never frighten anybody. Your dog's lovely. But that's okay. I, I have to be, courage doesn't have to be scaling mountains, crossing rivers. Courage is to do whatever God is asking you to do. Sometimes it's courage to confront a pattern of behavior in oneself that is holding you back. Sometimes it's courage to have a difficult conversation with a friend, or courage to stand up to injustice. And I like that God says, "I will give you every place where you set your foot." It sounds like God's plans for us are going to be revealed step by step. Just find enough courage for the first step. For Joshua, it was crossing the Jordan. Then the step after that was Jericho, and the step after that was a town called Ai. And before he knew it, step by step, he was in the Promised Land. Maybe you've got stuck, you've become passive, and this weekend, it's time to get moving again, to take the next step of what God is asking you to do. Everyone a leader.
Second thing that leaders do is they serve others. "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them." God is quite clear about what is the purpose of leadership. It is to lead other people into their inheritance. It's not about our position, our status, our comfort, or reputation. One time, a mother of two of Jesus's disciples came to Jesus to talk to him about her two boys' position and status. And Jesus said to her, "You know, there are rulers in this world who lead a bit like that, but not so with you. Rather, whoever wants to be first must be the servant, and whoever wants to be greatest must be a slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Think about this for a moment. The responsibility of leadership. The responsibility of leadership. If you and I don't find the courage to step out in any way that God is asking us to do, then what is it at stake? Is the people around us not entering into the Promised Land that God has given us, their inheritance? See, if you look at my own life, if I track back in my own life, significant pivotal moments when someone has had the courage to step forward and pray for me, or to speak into my life, or to lift me up, or invite me in, or to encourage me. May have been in church, it may be as a young person, it may have been in a world of work, it may have been at the leadership conference in the past. And I don't know whether in doing that, that person needed great courage. But what they did, step by step, is that they pulled me into the calling of God on my life. And that's the responsibility of leadership. It's something that all of us can do. That's why I'm so grateful to all of you who pray, who have prophetic words for people, who are on our ministry team, who lead connect groups, who welcome people on the cafe, or people who lead in kids church. Most especially, maybe this weekend, people who invite and lead on Alpha, both here at HGB and globally. Maybe when you do these things, you think you're just signing up on a rota, or giving a bit of spare time, or making a space, or doing it because somebody asked you to. No, it's much more than that. What you're doing is you're leading people one step closer into the promised land of joy, of purpose, and salvation that God has set out for them. And of course, it's not just in here. You can do this anywhere, anytime, with anybody. The people you work with, the people you live with, your friends, your family. John Maxwell, the leadership expert, he said, "Success is about you, but significance is about others." He says, "Every day, do these three things: value people, believe in people, love people unconditionally." He says, "Every morning, look at your schedule for the day, who you're going to see, and work out what you're going to say and do for that person that will add value to them." Everyone a leader.
Third thing that leaders do is stay holy. "Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." We don't just need courage and boldness. I imagine bank robbers are bold. We need virtues. If you can't lead with compassion and integrity and right relationships with the people around you, then maybe you need to slow down a bit and be less focused on smashing it, crushing it, getting the job done, and let who you are becoming in the process catch up. Sometimes they're called soft skills, but there's nothing soft about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. They are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which are developed daily into us through its intimate walk with Jesus and through his word. My own method, for what it's worth, is most every morning, I read a portion of the Bible in one year. And I have with me a pen, and I make a point of always, every day, underlining something that I've read, a phrase, a verse, something that I can take into my day with the help of the Holy Spirit that will change me. So earlier this week, the Bible in one year reading was Psalm 51. "Create in me a pure heart, oh God." So I underlined that. I pray, "May that be me today." This morning, as Proverbs, we're in Proverbs, and it was "God guiding the integrity of heart." Now, the point is, if you do that one morning, it may or may not make that much difference. But if you do that morning in and morning out over a lifetime, what will emerge in you is distinctive Christian leadership. Stay holy.
And then fourthly, leaders, be secure in Jesus. The story that God has scripted for your life is not inferior to Joshua's or to anybody else's. I am a Joshua, so are you. And the reason I know that is because these words that God says to Joshua, "I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." They are the same words that Jesus says to his followers in the New Testament. Matthew 28, he says, "Go out into all the world." There's your stepping out, you see. And then he says, "And I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." Christians and Christian leaders should be the most secure people on the planet because everything that we will ever need in life has already been dealt with on the cross. In Ephesians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul says that in the ages to come, God will show us the riches of his grace in the kindness to us in Christ Jesus. In other words, in a hundred billion years from now, we'll still just be scratching at the surface of the truth of how God loves us and everything that the cross has won for us. So there, let that feed you with self-esteem and all the confidence that you need. Leadership doesn't have to be sharp elbows, jostling for position, getting one up. It doesn't have to be power gains or unrealistic expectations and schedules. We're leading from the cross, from a settled, certain place of a victory already won. So relax, breathe. You are secure. And with that said, we come, I guess, full circle. Because if our lives are truly anchored forever and for all time in God's love for us and in what Jesus has done for us on the cross, then it stands to reason that we can trust him. And if we can trust him, then surely that means it stands to reason that we can afford to step out a bit and risk without fear of letting him down, or fear of failure. And so, can you imagine a group of people over these coming days at the Royal Albert Hall, at the leadership conference, or week by week here at HGB, or watching online, who are so secure in the love of Christ that their whole lives are oriented around exploring what might be possible in our lifetime towards the evangelization of the nation, the revitalization of the church, and the transformation of society? Everyone a leader. Amen.
Let's stand together if you're able, and let's pray.
[Applause]