Does the future have a church?

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In a land rich with church history, and of course the well documented account of the Welsh revival which saw thousands come to Christ and churches build and filled today the face of spirituality in Wales is very different.

A census was taken and showed that less than 10% in Wales went to church or chapel. Which is less than in England and Scotland. Yet 71% claimed to be Christian in a population of 3 million people. Which means 2.1 million people in Wales claim to be Christian and only 300,000 attend a church or chapel. 

Where are the 1.8 million people?

Luke 10:2
  "Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest."

(KJV)

Does the future have a church depends not on the harvest but upon the laborers. I want to submit to you tonight my firm conviction that the challenge ahead of us is a lack of leadership.

Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society and the church stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, anointed leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

The crisis we are faced with is this;

We have hundreds of church buildings some very large capable of holding hundreds of people. Many of these churches have money sitting in the bank doing nothing. They continue to maintain what little congregation they have left and have not seen conversions for decades. Some are more concerned about keeping what they have as memorial to the past at the expense of seeing God move again and see the gospel transforming sinners.

Why are we faced with this crisis?

We are faced with this crisis due to a lack or in some cases of no ‘Leadership’. We have a generation of young people who are more concerned about making it in this life than preparing for the kingdom that is to come.

Far too often I hear of churches in a mess and most of the time it’s down to bad or unhealthy leadership. It’s been harassing me for the last 2 years that leaders often blame their people/church members for their own lack.

The need for leadership amongst churches in South Wales is more serious than we think. Churches cannot be run by managers or those called to wait on tables, they must be led by God given leaders. The call to pulpit ministry is not a job, its a divine call from the corridors of eternity to serve the masters will.

The need is evidenced by the fact that there are many churches without Pastor’s and in some cases churches who have opted to appoint a leader who is not called to pulpit ministry.

This crisis of leadership is due to the fact that a new breed of evangelicalism has been born that seeks to be relevant and culturally cool and has excluded the previous generation of leaders that God used to raise up strong and healthy churches. The early fathers of the pentecostal church in this country were men that were mightily used by God and to suggest they are no longer an integral part of the church’s future as their uncool is the biggest mistake we have made in this country.

Churches now don’t want the power of the Holy Ghost but want to entertain, they don’t want to pray but want to play, their more concerned with importing programs from some other mega-church has they don’t have anything themselves to say. 

So we have been left with a church that has no leadership, no power and no growth. Is it any wonder that many of these buildings are being sold off to property developers or becoming derelict warehouses.

Taken all this into consideration the time to raise up leaders cannot be neglected, the harvest in plentiful, but the laborers are few. We have to turn the few into many and stop what Peter Brierly the church statician called the nosedive of Christianity.

Victory Outreach UK in the last 2 years has grown and expanded and continues to do so, with our church reaching a wider audience and having key relationships with churches all across South Wales I believe God has called us to raise up ‘Leaders’ for the future. 

In September we will be starting Victory Academy which will span over period of 36 weeks and will include 3 main modules, Theology, Leadership and Church Planting. The academy will be very intentional in raising leaders to turn the tide and see churches restored and planted across Wales.

The lectures will vary from the team here to ministers who are retired who have years of experience and a wealth of ministry still to give. The academy is open to all who have a really desire to be trained and used by God for the work of the ministry. At the completion of the academy a graduation service will be held in the summer as each graduate receives their certificate.  There will be a optional module of Church planting which will be a further study and placement for those called to pulpit ministry.

We are also launching ‘Equip’. Equip is the church planting and church network arm of Victory Church. Through Equip we will look to resource churches and where we deem possible place leaders/pastors in churches. Equip will also provide churches with more information on how they can turn the tide on the downward trend and become part of Victory Church and it’s future.

Our ministry of reaching the lost will always be our passion, through the work of our homes, visiting prisons and combating addictions. However unless we have an avenue of raising up those who come to faith in Christ then all we are is short term fix. We must now focus all of our efforts in producing quality leaders, full of the Holy Ghost who are more passionate about Christ and His mission than anything else.

It’s time for God’s people to rise out of apathy and once again return to the ancient paths, rediscover our purpose and bring in the harvest that awaits us.

If you are interested in the academy contact us by phone 08454092449 and we will send you further information of the course content and cost.

If your a church leader and want to know more about Equip then again register your interest at our information table in the foyer.