The Church of Tomorrow

Pray for courage and strength to be a witness for Jesus. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you. My friend Michael Harvey has a simple way to help us engage in this every day and it is an acronym that spells ACORN: - Ask 'Lord, is there anyone beyond the church you want me to connect with today?' • Call - be ready for God to call you to reach out to a particular person. • Obey - contact them and ask them how they are, do whatever you think is an appropriate sign of God's love and good news. • Report share what happened with another Christian and support each other. • Notice - together discern what God is doing and pray about what to do next. Have a go at praying like this every day.

when they focus on God's word they use a tool called Discovery Bible Study (DBS) which is used by many churchplanting movements. DBS involves reading a passage of Scripture and then asking someone to retell that passage in their own words to help people engage with it. Then they ask four simple questions: - What does this story tell me about God? - What does it tell me about human life? - If this really is God's word, what will I do in response to it? - Who am I going to tell about what I have learned from this? The simplicity of these questions is the key

I would regularly ask church members, 'What is God calling you to do?' And I would receive the same reply: I've never been asked that question.' When Christians are simply expected to support the church's programme and fulfil slots on its rotas, no one asks you what your calling is.