After more than a year of uncertainty, of feeling unsettled, God has confirmed to Edwina & I that it is time to move on. We are not leaving Bristol, as far as we know, but our time with Bristol Christian Fellowship (BCF) has come to an end. In much the same way as when he told us that our previous church of 25 years, Fishponds Baptist, was no longer our spiritual home, he has told us we are to move out but hasn't told us our destination yet. We have been members of this lively, exciting fellowship for almost 20 years and the leaving will not be easy, but as the scripture quoted in the last church bulletin said "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance." Deut 1:6-7.
We have so much to be thankful to BCF for and life would be very different for us if we hadn't become part of this church. We wouldn't be living in the lovely house God put us into, we wouldn't have three wonderful honorary grandsons, work for both of us would be very different as we would never have encountered Jubilee Property and we wouldn't have met so many people who have encouraged, challenged and believed in us and enabled us to grow spiritually. But most of all our spiritual position would be so different.
Through the church's involvement with the Toronto Blessing and its outworking in Telford we were introduced to a whole new dimension of our faith. It opened our eyes to a more radical supernatural realm, to a God who doesn't conform to our preconceived ideas of normal Christian life. More recently, through visits to Revival Fires in Dudley and messages downloaded from many well-known speakers, God has been challenging us to step out and expect more.
Whilst I have been more focussed on this and have been more active in pursuing all that God is doing, Edwina is most certainly with me on this journey and she knew before me that now was the time to leave. It will be difficult to say farewell as we have become accustomed to meeting with so many of these people on a regular basis. But the decision to split BCF into three parts has helped our decision as we have become used to seeing some people far less frequently already, yet still remain friends when we do meet. This will just be an extension of that process.
We are excited about the future, and at the moment that excitement outweighs the apprehension. There is a sense of something special, something new around the corner and we are at the stage where we long to know what that is. I'm sure it won't always be plain sailing, but whatever happens, we know we are doing what God has asked of us and have that confidence that he will guide and protect us every step of the way and will, as I posted previously, walk beside us.
Over the coming days, weeks and months I intend posting some of my thoughts on this page, with the hope this will keep those of you that wish to follow out progress up-to-date. Some thoughts will, hopefully, be significant, others may be lighthearted, others just what is on my mind at that moment. But in all of it I want to encourage you that even if you are getting older, like us, God is still very much interested in his people and has plans for our future. Please feel free to add your comments: I may not agree with them but I promise to read them, and maybe enter into dialogue with you. It would be good to know there are friends out there who are interested in our journey.
We do hope that if you are in the locality you will feel able to drop in. And if not, please give us a call, or even just follow what God is doing with us through this blog!
