Come with us!

I made a brief visit to Copenhagen at the weekend to witness the opening of Copenhagen Community Church’s new premises. Well, it was outstanding from every point of view – and I’m not just talking about the excellent building that they now have!

Firstly, it was so good to be back amongst friends - with David & Margit Bjerre, and with the whole church family who have become such good friends. I have been very touched by the way that they have prayed for me as I face health challenges, and once again, they insisted on praying for me in the meeting – and God spoke to me very helpfully through that time.
Thank you CCC.

Then the building – it is outstanding! They have changed the layout and refurbished it to a very high standard, and as well as being a meeting place for CCC, it will also serve as an excellent conference facility. It is such a great building to be in – which could not be said for their previous premises!! Although it served them well in days gone by, their place on the 3rd floor above the Irish Pub in the centre of Copenhagen had outlived its usefulness (and the ceiling was falling in – honestly!!).

As we stood in the new place, with the sun streaming through the glass frontage, it was as if the church had come out of hiding, from up there on the 3rd floor, and is now on street level, open, accessible and visible for all to see. And that, of course, is just how it should be – not that the building is anything in itself, but figuratively, the Church of Jesus Christ, His Body, is to be seen and HIS presence felt through us. That is one of the things that I pray most, not just for CCC but for us at Kings as well, that people coming into contact with us will sense that God is with us.

In the words of Moses to his father in law: “Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has promised good..”

Goff

Special!

What a memorable weekend! It started off with an early morning flight to Copenhagen on Friday to spend the day in Copenhagen Community Church’s new building, exploring how we can develop it for all that we want to do there. Last Sunday was CCC’s first Sunday in the new building and David Bjerre tells me that it was a very special occasion, with a great sense of God’s presence.

Friday evening we enjoyed a great meal with all the leadership team and their wives, celebrating God’s goodness and reflecting on plans for the future. I do so enjoy ‘doing church’ like this, taking bold steps of faith together in the context of great friendship. If you were at Pakefield for our ‘Together’ event a few weeks ago you will have heard of our Relational Mission initiative, that is, our desire to keep these 2 key values of mission and relationship clearly in view in all that we do. We are friends on a mission together, and isn’t that very New Testament? We think it is – and it is a very enjoyable way to work, as we witnessed Friday evening in Copenhagen around Alun and Joanna’s meal table. Special!

Speaking of special, mid way through Friday evening I received a very special text – no, not a verse, but a message on my phone! It was from Ali my daughter, announcing her engagement to Dan – he had come and asked my permission a week or so ago so it wasn’t a total surprise, but it was special, sharing her joy.
So Saturday it was back home to Norwich to join in the family celebrations, and then to preach this morning on (you’ll never believe this!) Adam & Eve: All you need is…? That just happened to be where we’ve got to in our series from Genesis! Doesn’t our God do things so very well – and I’m grateful!

Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. Psalm 63:3

Goff

What does Jesus want from us?

Let me introduce my friend Josef to you. Josef is a great Dane, that is, he’s a great guy and he’s from Denmark! Until recently he has been leading Copenhagen Community Church (CCC) which meets in the heart of Copenhagen, but in the last few months he has been spending most of his time in Antioch (modern day Antakya, Turkey) doing what he does best! (and I have been helping CCC!). I recently received the following which was written by Josef, and as you read it, you will get a feel for the kind of guys he is….

“What does Jesus want from us?” This question was given me yesterday from a young Afghani girl, who together with her mother and sister, had just accepted Jesus Christ to be her Saviour.

She asked this question, I believe, because she had tasted God’s goodness when she was prayed for. The Holy Spirit was touching her deep, and she had been crying for joy, as she felt the deep love from Jesus Christ touch her inner being.

She was used to living in a religion which set up rules for how to live, and if the rules were not followed, she could be in trouble – not only from God, but from other people of the same religion. The problem with rules is, that even if you follow them on the outside, you can still reject them on the inside.

How could I explain to this precious family that true Christianity is not another religion with a set of strict rules? Christianity is, when it’s taught properly from the pattern of the New Testament, a matter of coming to the end of our own performance and religious pride. To humbly say: “I could never do enough for such a Holy God. By my own nature and sin, I was an enemy of God who is good. Therefore I surrender to Him, and accept what He has done for me, when he paid for my sins.”

Jesus Christ died my death and paid my debt. He suffered my pain and bore my shame and my guilt on the cross. Nobody forced him to die, but he willingly died on that cross because of his love for sinners like me.

What a loving and caring God! Not only did he condemn sin and shame and guilt, but when he righteously had done so, he himself removed the punishment from the sinner and made him righteous, clean and pure by his own blood. We are forgiven. That is called grace. We received something we did not deserve.

But that’s not all! There is more. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, when he died on the cross, we are now cleansed by Jesus Christ. We are pure and clean in the eyes of God. If we believe in Jesus Christ, we are made righteous.

But there is even more! The bible tells us that now we are not his enemies any more, but he has even adopted us to be his sons and daughters. That means: Our filthy old cloths are taken away, and we have been given royal new clean cloth to wear.

God has, by Jesus Christ made us new inside and outside. We are now his children, his sons and daughters, and we will never be anything else. We will always be his children, and no one and nothing can ever separate us from Him. We are now and will always be His children. And like children we can honour or, as children sometimes unconsciously do, dishonor our father, but we will always be accepted and loved by God our father.

When this is clear, and we are secure in the knowledge that we can never lose our new heavenly citizenship as children of God, and that we are loved and accepted by him forever – then we can we answer the question “What does Jesus wants from us?”

He does not want us to do anything to be accepted by him. We are already, as you just have read above, accepted by his love and forgiveness, when we believed in Jesus.

So what does he want? He wants his love to be received, enjoyed, consumed and appreciated. Like a costly gift he wants us to admire it, look at it, embrace it, and then show our gratitude and love to the giver – Him.

God bless your day.
Josef

Josef will be preaching at Kings on Sunday 12th July

Working together in Copenhagen

Angie & I are here in Copenhagen for the weekend to once again spend time with our friends at Copenhagen Community Church (CCChurch). We began with a leaders meeting yesterday evening and we have quite a packed agenda for the next few days, including a brief visit to Malmo, Sweden, on Saturday. Having said that, there’s no question in my mind that we won’t have a lot of fun along the way! Josef has put a strong foundation of friendship into the church here with the result that they enjoy eating together and generally enjoying one another’s company almost as much as we do at Kings – so tonight we have a social with the leaders and their wives. Great!
Jim Drew and Jon Mullender arrive shortly to help with some of the administration and publicity needs here, so there will be quite a gang of us here from Kings!

This is so much a part of our vision as we do church; we are friends on a mission together, and that is very New Testament. Just think of the language of the New Testament… ‘my dearly beloved..’, ‘who I long to be with..’ I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.’ or how about this one: But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 1Thessalonians 2:17.
The church is not an institution, it’s a family, it’s people from every walk of life and every nation, whose lives have been impacted and changed by the grace of God discovered in Christ. And He is the One who is gathering and building His church across the nations. Just the other day I was speaking with my friend Byron in Beijing, and shortly Josef and Elin will be returning to Turkey, tomorrow will be a new experience for me – my first time in Sweden, and so it goes on!

I love being just a small part of this - the most significant endeavour in the whole universe: God’s redeeming purpose in a broken world, saving and restoring, healing and transforming, and bringing together a people, a family, for the praise of His Glory! That’s the Church!

See you next week,

Goff & Angie

Copenhagen and sounds of Beijing...

It’s been an eventful few days – Thursday and Friday in Copenhagen with Josef and the leadership team of CCC (Copenhagen Community Church) and then back to Norwich where we had Mark Tedder with us to lead worship at Kings City Centre.

First, Copenhagen. I travelled with Steve and we arrived in time for some catch up time Thursday evening with Josef, David, Finn Allan, Joy and Bono over a good meal together. Josef has recently returned from Antioch, Turkey, and it was great to hear of the progress that he is making there. As for Copenhagen, it was really encouraging to hear of the things that have been happening at CCC - the visitors that have been finding their way to the meetings lately, and the sense of the presence of God. Great!
Part way through the meal we heard the news that the hotel where we were staying was burning down! In the end it turned out to be the building next door, but it made for a few moments of interest! Life is never dull when with these guys!
Friday morning we went looking again for a new venue for the Sunday morning meeting. At present the church meets on the 3rd floor above the Irish Pub in the heart of the city, but they are full to bursting. Last time I was with them we came upon a great location on the ground floor, just around the corner, which could accommodate 300+, so we went back for another look and had a very encouraging discussion with the manageress. This could be great – do pray about this! It’s a Hospitality School that specialises in catering…. Sounds to me like a great place for a church to meet!

Then back to Norwich, and Mark Tedder. Angie & I got to know Mark & Carrie when we were in Beijing. Mark was leading worship at BICF, and we became good friends, so it was great to meet up again, exchange news, and then have Mark lead worship at the City Centre site this morning. What a great time – a wonderful sense of God’s presence as Mark taught some songs from his new album, The Door, recorded live in Beijing. Outstanding! If you want a copy, be quick because we’ve nearly run out. My favourite track so far? Track 8: ‘Be Still’

Have a good week!

Goff