Steve McGanity

What an amazing week the New Wine conference at Newark was this year. This was my eighth New Wine (the last two on the Leadership Team) and I think this has been the best so far. It just seemed like God was at work every where. There must have been around 25 people saved (which in a Christian event isn't bad!), literally hundreds of healings, people sensing God's call to go - either into the difficult areas of this country or abroad and others just getting refreshed by the presence of God.
I have always New Wine to be a consistently positive experience, but this year I was just blown away by the grace and mercy of God in the way that he used me in different ways throughout the week.
There are three particular things in the week that have really encouraged and challenged me. On Tuesday night I led a policeman called John to the Lord. He then came to my seminar on Friday. He arrived early and sat at the front writing in a notepad. We had a chat and when I asked him what he was doing he said he was keeping a journal because he didn't want to forget a thing about that week. I just love the passion and desire of new Christians.
The second thing was Thursday night. We had Baroness Cox speaking in the evening on the persecuted Church and, to be honest, I really thought that this was going to be the low point of the week in terms of the evening meetings (there always seems to be a low point, except for this year!). How wrong was I!! Baroness Cox was an absolutely amazing and challenging lady who does incredible things for God. The worship and the ministry that night were just filled with the presence and power of God. To top it all we had an offering that raised £70,000 for the Message Trust to develop Eden projects across the nation.
Finally, I loved working working with the guys from the Message. For the first time we had set up an alternative venue for the morning Bible Studies which would have a more Urban feel. Andrea and I were hosting the event - which basically means we gave the notices! - and then handed it over to the people from the Message. These guys were talented, committed and amazing people of God who have given their lives to reaching people in the estates and city centres. Every day I was impacted by the challenge they brought, they just loved God and loved people.

With all that God is doing in Church at the moment I'm so glad that it doesn't depend on me! This video sums up what God does for us.

A son asked his father, 'Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?'
The father who, despite having a heart condition, says 'Yes'. They went on to complete the marathon together.
Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying 'Yes' to his son's request of going through the race together.
One day, the son asked his father, 'Dad, let's join the Ironman together.' To which, his father said 'Yes' to.
For those who didn't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island ..
Father and son went on to complete the race together.

We've been having a great year at St Andrew's this year. There has been a growing sense of expectancy and hunger. We've seen more people healed this year than any other year and we've seen people come to faith. This last Sunday though was something else!
I knew all week that it was going to be a good Sunday. I'd had a sense that God was up to something. The main service started off with a real sense of the presence of God in the place that just grew throughout the service. I always enjoy preaching but that day it just seemed so easy and comfortable. The sermon was part of a series on 'When Heaven Invades Earth' and the theme was exploring what it means to have the presence of God in us and whether that internal reality should effect our external reality (to use a phrase from Bill Johnson).
After the sermon we moved into ministry and I invited anyone who wanted ministry to the front. Probably 2/3 of the congregation came forward. That's when God really seemed to turn up. I had never before seen a response like it in just and ordinary church service. These people were desperate for more of God. The presence of the Holy Spirit was manifesting in more powerful ways than we had seen before in Church. I was awesome to be in the middle of it praying for people.
My colleague, Mike, was leading the service and it was one of those times that just seem hard to bring to an end. Afterwards there were people praying for each other all over the place. It is always hard to 'encourage' people to go home at St Andrew's, after this service it was even harder.
As they were leaving someone asked me 'What do we do now?' Someone close by said 'Yeah, what's next Sunday going to be like?' For me the answer is really what is Monday going to be like because that is what really matters. But then again it does raise expectations for next sunday - what a downer though, I have to preach elsewhere that day.

I originally started this blog as a way of putting up some thoughts and ideas while I was on sabbatical. This was for my own use and for people at my church, St Andrew's, to keep up with what I was doing and thinking.
Having had over 6 months off from blogging I think it is time to take it up again. So I've given the blog a new look and will be trying to update it on a regular basis.

I've been asked if I will be making changes when I get back to church and if I have a new vision for church. The answer to both those questions is yes. However, before I do anything with regard to what I feel God has been saying to me over the last four months, the first thing I want to do is find out what God has been up to in Church while I've been away. I don't want to come back to church with ideas and plans that I feel are from God and then actually cut across what God has been doing in the life of our church. So my first task will be to listen.

I'm also still working on some aspects of what I feel needs to be done in Church. Some of the changes I have in mind are small, others could be quite difficult to develop, others you may not see come into effect for a couple of years and there are changes that will effect every area of church life. So probably for the next 4-8 weeks I'll still be refining some of my thoughts. As I have mentioned in a previous post I am writing down how I see things developing in Church and this will include a timed strategy . This document will then be shared with the leadership of the church. It won't be secret and it will be open for discussion.

I am really looking forward to getting back to church. You'll never know just how much I missed everyone there. I can't wait to find out what God has been doing, so don't hold back on telling me your stories. I also know that a number of people have been working incredibly hard during my absence - Mike, Sue, Julia and Anna, - to name but a few. I hope you all appreciate what they have done for you.

At the beginning of my sabbatical I had two things in mind. Firstly, how were we going to develop a process that allowed people to grow in their faith in a practical and intentional way. The second thing was really just a hunch that real discipleship happened best within a framework of small group and one to one relationships.

I really liked that word 'intentional', it kind of caught my imagination, perhaps because it was what I saw of Jesus discipling of the twelve. It was by accident, it had purpose and direction. So I started to use the phrase 'intentional discipleship' in my thinking and when I talked to other church leaders on my travels. This was a phrase I was quite 'proud' of really, I'd never heard it used before - that was until I got to page 73 of the book I'm currently reading (Transforming Discipleship) and there in bold lettering is the phrase 'Intentional Discipleship'. I was gutted!! This was my phrase - I'd thought of it all on my own. In fact I'm writing down the things I believe we need to work on out my sabbatical in a document I'm calling 'Intentional Discipleship'. But there really is nothing new under the sun is there?.

However, despite being gutted, I'm also really encouraged by this as I feel it is confirmation from God that all that I've been thinking of over the last four months is really from him. Interestingly, the book (which I bought in America) is all about using relationships as the main focus for discipleship and even goes on to say some the very same things I'd been inspired by at last weeks conference (There really is nothing new!). I didn't know the book was going to say these things and I hadn't been inspired to read until this week. So I really feel God is confirming things to me.

Everyone, Christian and non-Christian, is being discipled by someone! A person is either being discipled into the ways of the world, the flesh and the devil or into the ways of Christ. In our discipling of others we are constantly in a battle against these other disciplers (media, influential friends and family, tradition etc).

Individuals have responsibility for their own discipleship. They should be looking to learn and grow in their following of Christ at every opportunity. However, it is the responsibility of the Church to provide the time, resources, relationships and encouragement to ensure that everyone has the right opportunities to grow. The Church needs to create an ethos in which everyone is expected to grow in their faith and is hungry to grow.

What I have realised more than anything else in my time off is that radical discipleship happens within a type of relationship that we see don't see enough of in Church. It is the kind of relationship Jesus had with his disciples, that Paul had with Timothy, Titus and others and that Barnabus had with Mark. Yes, we can grow through all sorts of ways - Bible Study, Cell groups, sermons, training events and courses, the list is endless. But what we see in the New Testament is discipleship through relationship. The kind of relationship in which one person takes a small group of others and invests something of themselves into that group of people. Within that group there is honesty, love, authenticity and accountability.

I see discipleship as being about the formation of the whole person into the likeness of Christ in terms of character, purpose, motivations, action and destiny. It is helping a person discover who they are in Christ and to live in that discovery for the rest of their lives and in every area of their life. This is a huge task and one that no person can do on their own - all the evidence of the New Testament says that. I know some people would want to say that they are being discipled by Jesus through his Holy Spirit. That is true - but it is absolutely clear in the New Testament that this only happens through the mediation of other people.

So who are you being discipled by? Very few people in our church would be able to answer that. However, it is my intention that, within a few years, anyone who is serious about their growth as a Christian would be able to give a very clear answer to that question. To actually get to that point will require some changes in Church life and it is really hard to say just how big a change will be required.