Arnold Bell – a life well lived

I spent this afternoon at the thanksgiving service for the life and ministry of Arnold Bell, who, until his death shortly before Christmas, led City Church Sheffield. The service had a number of tributes from different people who knew him well. Clearly, this was a life well lived.

One of the Elders of the church spoke from Hebrews 11 and described how the writer to the Hebrews talks about these men and women of faith. They were just ordinary people, he said, believing in an extra-ordinary God, and living accordingly. Arnold was an ordinary man who believed in an extra-ordinary God and certainly lived accordingly. His life was an example to many and even his Thanksgiving service was a challenge to us to believe God and live accordingly.

Here’s what I wrote recently on his tribute page:

My first meeting with Arnold was when he was my lecturer when I was studying on FIT for Leadership, and then FIT2 (the forerunners to Leadership Training Foundations & Advanced). I remember being taught to think Biblically and not make assumptions; to look at what the text actually said and not to be afraid to say, “we don’t know” when we really didn’t know!

I remember preaching class with Arnold and also remember what he thought of my sermon! His honest feedback was invaluable and helped to shape my preaching in both content and delivery.

On FIT2, there were only a handful of us and I well remember how we used to try and get him onto Monty Python or other such subjects on a Friday afternoon! His impressions of comedy moments were quite something!

More recently I have had the privilege to serve with him on the ChristCentral team. He always brought such wisdom and insight to situations and will be sorely missed. Arnold – thank you for all you taught me, modelled to me and encouraged me in. Your legacy lives on.

So my question is this – are you believing God, and are you living accordingly?

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A review of North 2011

Over August Bank Holiday weekend, 2,500 people gathered in North Yorkshire for North 2011. We went as a church and had a good number of people staying both on and off site. Despite generous amounts of rain and mud, the weekend was a resounding success. Such a powerful sense of God’s presence and power; outstanding preaching from Terry Virgo, Guy Miller and Jeremy Simpkins; inspiring worship; excellent kids and youth events and a great time away with friends, old and new. Once again, Paul Mogford (Jubilee Church Teesside) and his amazing team served us outstandingly well, by turning a working farm into a venue fit for such a momentous gathering.

In addition to the powerful preaching, God also spoke to us through some very significant prophetic words. Including, being shaped like clay in the potters hands, with North no longer being a holiday camp, but a boot camp where God was raising up an apostolic army!

On the first evening, Jeremy set the tone for the weekend by setting out the key distinctives of the North team and our sphere:

• Being Friends enjoying God together
• Building Churches empowered by Word and Spirit
• Advancing The Kingdom, transforming the world
• Reaching Nations, making disciples

You can watch a video of us as a team discussing these distinctives here:

Terry wonderfully served us, with 3 morning preaches from Ezra, which culminated in taking an offering which currently stands at £132,000! A very tangible example of how North was moving.

Guy Miller brought a challenging word to us, to believe God for significant growth, and he could see us becoming like a runway at an international airport with many thousands of people coming and going. He felt God challenge us to have the nations firmly in our sights and to dream bigger dreams. Guy’s presence and chemistry with us was also a very tangible foretaste of how the new emerging apostolic teams can and would work together in the future.

North 2011 was so much more than just a weekend conference – it felt like God was fashioning us together, building an Apostolic people, an army who can advance His church and His Kingdom across the nations of the world!

You can download all the main sessions and the videos shown over the weekend from www.north2011.com

(This article was written for and first appeared on www.newfrontiersuk.org)

A visit to The Comedy Store

I like visiting other churches. I find it personally refreshing and always seek to learn something, so yesterday, I took a morning out from Jubilee and visited Christ Central Manchester. This young, vibrant church is being newly led by Jeremy Simpkins who also leads the Newfrontiers North UK Team. It was also great to see my good friend Matt Cernik of Etherscape Design, who having spent the last 10 years in Derby and part of Jubilee, moved to Manchester earlier this year to be part of Christ Central.

Yesterday was the second Sunday in their new venue, the Manchester Comedy Store in the City Centre. This is a great venue! And whilst they were working to overcome the technical challenges of a new venue, it still worked really well and they were served well by the Comedy Store staff.

Jeremy preached from Song of Songs. This is not a book most preachers preach from very often! It can be read in two ways, both equally accurate. Firstly, it is a love story of a man and woman. Most commentators  agree this is most likely King Solomon and a young woman. It is the story of their love and their relationship. It reminds us that God created relationships and marriage. Secondly, it can also be interpreted as a description of Christ’s love for the church. In the Bible, the church is often described as the Bride of Christ, and the relationship between Christ and the church is portrayed in terms of being like a marriage.

Song of Songs is certainly a book full of passion! Jeremy talked about the importance of passionate worship, and how, if our worship is not passionate, we have probably not fully understood God’s passion for us. Song of Songs talks about a kiss – an intimate expression of love. Similarly, God has expressed an intimate and passionate love for us. The question is, what is our expression of love for God like?

As a child of God, God has a passionate and everlasting love for you. So what is your response in life and worship to this wonderful, passionate love?

Central Cities 2010

Central Cities 2010 is an initiative to strengthen local churches in the North Midlands and to resource future Church Planting in the area.

Are you interested in moving to join a young, vibrant Newfrontiers Church in the North Midlands? Are you thinking of being part of a church plant in the future?  Then join us in Derby for Central Cities 2010 on Saturday 27th November 2010 to find out what the Newfrontiers North UK Team are planning for this part of the UK. For further details check out www.centralcities.org.uk or view the video below.