This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
– Ephesians 5:14
Have you ever rolled out of bed,bleary-eyed and feeling unprepared for the day ahead? If you don’t start theday off right, it can feel as though you’re sleepwalking through the rest ofit. No wonder, then, that coffee is the preserve of so many in their dailyroutine. When I can muster up the courage to go beyond a customary caffeinatedcuppa, I like to kick things off with an ice-cold shower. The shock ofthe water’s impact on my face and body is more than enough to wake me up andimbue my being with fresh vigour and focus. It may not be pleasant, butgoodness me is it effective.
I’ve lived more than half of my life in theUK and witnessed its great beauty and many strengths as well as its vast,glaring shortcomings. I’ve learned of the historic revivals that have sweptthrough the nation and across the seas. I’ve heard the names of those who havegone before and marvelled at their love and passion for Jesus. What motivatedthem? What led them to go? I’ve looked around at the current state ofaffairs and mourned the lack of such bold faith and desire to see Jesus knownand His Spirit freed amongst the peoples of the world.
The UK needs to wake up! It is asleeping giant in great need of the intercession of the saints. The land thathoused the Hebrides and Welsh revivals, raised faithful heroes like GeorgeWhitefield, John Wesley, and J Hudson Taylor, and spread the fire of the gospelEast to China and West to Azusa Street is now a slumbering shadow of its formerself. A mere 5% of the population attends church with any regularity (as of2015) and most of the population professes either irreligiousness or a vague,undefined belief in ‘something, somewhere’.[1] Caffeine cannot save the country of myearthly citizenship; only the biting, perhaps unpleasant water of the HolySpirit can stir its people into a living, active faith once more.
What might this burst of life look like?Where could this outpouring come from? I prayerfully believe that we must askGod to restore past currents of His Kingdom here – to pray that we mightreconnect with those who have preceded us and the work they have faithfullygiven their lives for. The UK must wake up and remember who it is and whoseit is.
“Isaac reopened the wells that had beendug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped upafter Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.” – Genesis 26:18
The upcoming Friends Around the Tableconference in the UK is a glorious opportunity for such prayer, however smallit may seem in the midst of the global pandemic. We may not be able to gatherin large numbers this time around, but if we can take a leaf out of Isaac’sbook and the re-dig ancient wells of our forebears, we can release God’sintended will and blessing on the people of this nation and indeed the wholeworld. This will require prayer that ploughs up the land to prepare it forharvest, prayer that removes the debris the enemy has been dumping into andaround the sources of our spiritual life, prayer that restores the treasures ofold the British were given to steward.
I am mixing metaphors; hopefully you canexcuse me for that. What I do know, however, is that we will need a diverse mixin order to see the kind of change I am writing about here – a mix of generations,cultures and strategies of partnering with God to see His Kingdom come in thispart of the world in new ways and old.
Over the last three years, I have been doing some Kingdom ‘mixing’ of my own with my father and grandfather, both of whom are based in the UK and both of whom have a heart to see God move in ways that speed the Lord’s soon return all across the earth. Most recently, this has involved partnering with my grandfather to help him write Growing Leaders – an autobiography with his lived reflections on servant-leadership sprinkled throughout. Before that, I worked as a consultant with my father’s social enterprise and not-for-profit, Authentic Business and Authentic Lives, which run values-based initiatives that foster greater relational connection and awareness of meaning and purpose on a personal and corporate scale.
What connects us as three generations in the UK, even though we have slightly different callings and expressions in our walk with the Lord, is a heart to see God’s beloved children equipped to go to the nations – to change the direction of their lives and to walk in a new way. In a country that has accepted the status quo (an inward focus, gradual decline and muddled pluralism) we want to see people discover a heart for relationship (loving one another) and live lives that show God’s outward, passionate, sending love, even as we are loved. We are all excited for the upcoming Friends conference, however small it may end up being. It brings us great joy to think of Kingdom friends from around the world joining us to pray for a shift here: to call this people to repentance and rediscover its great corporate calling once more.