Posts from Dave Holden's Blog

Encounter God

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:50:23 GMT

Last night we had an Encounter God evening and it was so encouraging! Judging by the turnout we have a "very hungry for God" church - how good is that??

To have time to take up the themes from Sunday on Romans 8 concerning Fatherhood and being adopted children was so beneficial. To also pray for one another without having to rush on was valuable. We want to remain a church that gives the Holy Spirit time to minister to us and for us to line up with God's desire to fill us.

Enjoying God's presence is such a privilege and we want to be a "presence shaped church " in every way.

Several people who were at the meeting asked if we could have more of them than we currently have: what do you think?

We need testimonies from people who met with God on Wednesday, especially related to encountering God as Father, perhaps in a new way: feel free to leave these as comments on this blog, or contact the office.

Becoming a Diverse Church

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:47:37 GMT

What a privilege to have Owen Hylton with us the other Sunday. He spoke on being a ‘diverse church’ and I would really love you to download his sermon from this website if you were unable to hear it. The theology we agree with, but now it's time to become more intentional. I was greatly challenged by Owen's thoughts on multicultural worship and was even more convicted about having a diverse leadership team. I believe we have made a steady start but we have really only just started to become diverse.

How amazing it would be if NCC was to become a truly diverse community in every sense: diverse ages, colours, classes, languages and backgrounds.

Only the gospel does this and only the Holy Spirit keeps us together in the midst of such potential variety. I sense this rejoices the heart of God and makes a prophetic statement to the world, that in an age when society is falling apart, God's people (of all colours) are coming together.

I long to see that on display here in S. E. London and not just reserved for Heaven!

Trip to Holland

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:37:40 GMT

Great to have had a weekend with the Newfrontiers church in Berkel in Holland recently. This was the first Dutch church to become part of the Newfrontiers family well over 20 years ago. They came en masse to Stoneleigh Bible Week for many years. The church is full of wonderful people who have such a heart for God and such clarity when it comes to building a church on New Testament values.

I really spoke on the need for clear vision for the future and to not let go of the promises that you know God has given you. I hope they received the word because on the Sunday morning they "sent " 10 people to the Hague church plant and it was obvious that these people had all been key in the Church and that it was very costly to see them go. Actually it was also very emotional, but done with an excellent spirit. Liz and I also had the joy of praying for and seeing several people wonderfully healed as well as speaking prophetic words over a number of individuals.

Following the weekend we stayed overnight with Chris and Karin Taylor in the Hague. God has provided them with a wonderful home with plenty of room for a growing church plant. It was brilliant to see them so settled in the Hague and exciting to realise that the church plant is now underway. Steve, Ann and Joel Blaber recently visited them as well, so the cross-channel mission is now well and truly happening. I'm sure they would love to see any of you who would like to visit.

I look forward to helping this church become a significant community, not only for the Hague, but also with the potential to reach many nations.

Let's keep praying for the Taylor family and for Holland, that many more churches will be planted there.

The Centrality of Worship

Tue, 11 May 2010 11:03:53 GMT

Prayer and Fasting in January Evening Session

By now many of you will know that I am really being stirred about the vital role that worship plays in almost everything. I have spoken in several settings to leaders recently about making personal worship a priority once again in our lives and ministries. Judging by the response that I have been getting I seem to have "touched a nerve". I think there is definitely a correlation between being a worshipper and an effective leader. If worship changes your perspective of God and therefore of everything else, if it ushers in more of the presence of God, fills you with joy and peace, lifts your burdens, brings solutions to problems, raises your faith level; why would any leader think that he could continue to lead without it? Sadly, many do, citing being too busy with other things as the reason! It's time for a radical rethink... watch this space for more on this subject.

At prayer and fasting I made the comment that worship should be something that becomes more central corporately as well. I also said in passing that whilst we go through times of transition (and we do not know what is going to happen next) we should just stop everything and just worship. I said this may seem a bit of a "non-strategic thing to do" but still looks a good thing to do. Later another leader came to me and pointed out Acts 13:2 which says "while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said ‘set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’"

So it seems I was right after all. The context for one of the greatest transitions in the New Testament was a context where people were just worshipping. Keep it central!!

Dave Holden: The Centrality of Worship

Baptisms at New Community AGAIN!

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:22:29 GMT

God has answered prayer constantly as we have prayed that we would have baptisms every month. We have had the joy of baptising people every month since last September and in April we had baptisms on two separate Sundays.

I really want to challenge people out there to be more intentional about having regular baptisms because when you do, God seems to honour it. That has definitely been our experience!

Last Sunday we baptised Doris: she is 90 years old. Can anyone beat that?

You can watch Doris getting baptised here. Or you can watch Fiona and Rach getting baptised here.

Last week I heard the remarkable story about a lady called Sue from Town Church, Sevenoaks. She was baptised last Sunday and being a recent convert she wanted to bring all her friends. Having spent the good part of a day on the phone to people the great day finally came and, listen to this...she brought 149 people to the meeting!

This has to be a record as well as an evangelist's idea of heaven. People in the UK are spiritually hungry, maybe Revival is nearer than you think!

Roll on the next baptism. Watch last months NCC Baptism's here.

Dave

Gateway Church Dubai

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:40:19 GMT

What a privilege to have a five-day trip to Dubai and spend time with Gateway International Church. For over four years, Clive and Heather Cernick faithfully gave themselves to this growing multinational congregation, gathering a very diverse group of people into an expression of one new man in Christ.

Having felt that their time in Dubai had come to an end, I must admit to having been somewhat nervous at the prospect of them leaving at a time when the church was flourishing. God, however, had the whole thing in his hands (as usual!!) - Steve and Heather Oliver (your wife must be called Heather if you want to lead in Dubai!), from the Free State in South Africa, heard God's call so clearly to move to Dubai and lead Gateway on into the next phase of Church life.

Liz and I visited them to see how they were settling in and to see how the church was adjusting to a new style of leadership. We found them to be in great shape even though the move for them as a couple must have been far from easy. Having seen them at work in Africa, I can honestly say Dubai could not have provided a greater contrast to their previous existence, but their joy in being in such a new place was so obvious from day one. The church have welcomed them with open arms, embracing Steve's apostolic call to the nations and supporting them in every way that they can.

I have never been in such a multinational church. It seems as if all the nations of the world are there. I preached on being a church with a heart for the nations and it was like seeing the message already in action. If anyone has the chance to move to Dubai, this church is one good reason to go!!

From Gateway we will look to plant churches all over the world as well as build a large and significant church in Dubai that will model apostolic mission. There are many challenges ahead but God's purposes will surely prevail. Due to fly back on the Saturday, a certain volcano decided to erupt and we ended up staying in Dubai for an extra six days. It was a weird experience. Friends kept sending us messages saying how lucky we were to be "holed" up in a place like Dubai. In some ways this was true and yet when you don't know when you will be able to return home, or how, it means that you are not able to chill out and you do feel very vulnerable. However, we were amongst friends and were able to hang out with the Oliver's a lot more (I think they had had enough of us when we finally did leave!). We also spent more time with a number of leaders in the church, I spoke at a life group meeting and Liz took a women's morning so we had plenty to do.

I look forward to a growing relationship with Steve and Heather: we both sense that God is calling us together in a joint venture to impact nations and also to visit Gateway to encourage them in all they are doing.

When In Rome

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Liz and I have just spent four wonderful days in Rome staying with our friends Mike and Katrin Taylor. Rome is a great city, full of unbelievable history at every turn and full of thousands of fun people.

It was about 70 degrees, but most Romans were still wearing their coats and scarves to keep warm. It is so great to sit outside a café and watch these expressive people as they converse with one another...what are they all talking about? Many drivers seem to be on their mobiles as they drive (against the law!), but their real problem seems to be that they cannot talk on their mobile and not use their other free hand to "express" something, hence no hands on the wheel. Makes for interesting driving.

We had the privilege of meeting up with the leaders of "Footsteps," an interdenominational group of ex-pats that Mike and Katrin attend. We are gently pursuing the possibility of fellowshipping with the group. Our main passion at the end of the day however, is to plant a Newfrontiers church in Rome and we are praying about the best way to do this. I do not think that I have been in a European city (the size of Rome) and witnessed such little evangelical presence. The place is screaming out for a "word / spirit” church and there seems to be so little expression of this that we can find. Meanwhile, many Catholics are full of questions about the church and a whole new younger generation are rejecting it and have never heard the gospel. They need to see a new expression of church life that vibrates with the power of the risen Jesus.

I spent part of my time there preparing for a preach this Sunday at NCC. Interestingly enough we are preaching through "Romans".

It was weird preparing a sermon in Rome written originally for Rome and I could not help but wonder how far the present day expression of church has become removed from the people that Paul originally addressed.

Perhaps we could see this change? Anyone for church planting in Rome?

Dave

"Our beloved channel islands"

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Liz and I, together with Derek and Jenny Gibbs have just had a great weekend in Guernsey with Church on the Rock (COTR). We enjoyed their wonderful hospitality as we were entertained by various elders and wives throughout our time there. We also spoke at a preaching group, a broader leaders gathering on the Saturday evening, where Derek, Jenny and Liz all spoke about different aspects of New Community life and on the Sunday morning where I spoke on Intimidation! The church has been through a somewhat difficult time with a number of people leaving in autumn last year, but I really felt that they had turned a corner and are looking to the future with anticipation and faith.

New people have joined recently and it's amazing how many nationalities are finding their way to become part of the church.

I am hoping that COTR and NCC will find ways to partner together in the coming year and that as a church we will be able to help our friends in Guernsey feel that they are not isolated because they are an "island", but rather they will know that they are a key part of the wider international scene.

Steve and Ann Blaber on the move

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:00:00 GMT

After 30 plus years of being a part of New Community, many of them with Steve as a full time elder, God has called them to move from us and become part of the team at King's Church, Eastbourne. Steve will continue to work 25 % for Newfrontiers as we transition: Steve has a key role to play in this and he will also continue to be involved from time to time with some situations that he has worked into over the years alongside me. Indeed, as I write, Steve and Ann are in Brasov, Romania helping to launch a marriage course.

In Eastbourne Steve and Ann will work closely together in a pastoral capacity. King's has experienced remarkable and sustained growth over the past few years and the need for Pastoral support, life group supervision and overseeing marriage etc has grown and grown. Steve and Ann will do a great job.

For us at New Community it presents great challenges. However, it is totally consistent with our calling to send people and we trust that God will show us what to do next. We will wait to see how Steve's move will affect our running as a church and I am confident that He will guide us.

For me personally I have to say that this has not been an" easy call ". Steve and I have worked so well together, not only into the nations, but also as fellow elders at New Community and it's hard to imagine not having Steve around. But God is in this and I think it will result in greater fruitfulness for Steve and maybe, eventually, for us too!

Recent trip to Holland

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:00:00 GMT

Tim Blaber and I have just returned from a 3 day trip to Holland. Most of our time was spent with Henk Kersten who heads up the Newfrontiers scene in Holland. I remained disciplined when it came to food intake, but Tim was rubbish and ate copious amounts of their famous apple cake with cream!!

I spoke in Harderwijk to their wider leaders training evening on 1 Cor 12, about relating to people who are very different to you. We also gathered the Elders of the Newfrontiers churches in Holland for an excellent time together. It was a mix of prayer, news and me speaking on Leaders and the part that worship plays in your life and ministry. The response was outstanding and for several moments we just worshipped and enjoyed the presence of God. The churches in Holland are in a really good place and there is a genuine expectation of great things to come throughout this year.

Churches are growing, churches will be planted, and the sense of unity and friendship together especially amongst the leaders is causing other church leaders to look into Newfrontiers and may even result in them joining us.

I look forward to more visits in the future and hope to be able to be an encouragement to them in the months to come.

Planting a church in the Hague

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:00:00 GMT

For the past year now we have had the privilege of having Chris and Karin Taylor (and Simon and Dan) with us at New Community. They came from Cape Town with the deliberate aim of being with us to be trained and then sent to The Hague and I think it's been a very fruitful time both for them as well as us.

We send them on April 18th and it will be both exciting and sad at the same time.

As a church God has called us to train and send. I believe we are "seeding" the nations by sending quality people who will take our vision and values as they plant or lead churches.

The Hague is a highly significant international city known throughout the world; we intend to plant an international church that is bilingual and able to plant churches in the future, both in Holland and into other nations. We hope to be gathering around 20 - 30 regularly by the end of the year, some of whom will be relocating from the UK and others from across Holland.

I would love to send teams of people from New Community to the Hague over the years to come to help especially in terms of outreach and to encourage Chris and his team.

Our relationship with Chris and Karin does not end with them leaving us and through ongoing relationship we will partner together with them in order to see God's kingdom advance in Holland and beyond.

Relational Apostolic Input

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:01:00 GMT

Liz and I have spent the last six days based in Eastbourne. We have been working into King's church, a church that has known remarkable blessing in recent years, especially in the area of growth gathering between 600-700 each Sunday. I have been working with the church for a couple of years now, slowly getting to know the elders and key leaders, plus what makes the church "tick"! However, it has been throughout this week that I have been able to truly get to know the church and it raises again the issue of how vital is is for apostolic ministry to remain relational. I am planning to do a lot more "longer" trips with the churches that I am working with as I am not convinced that a one off visit twice a year really gives me a handle on things.

To be "amongst the churches” and not just with the elders, makes apostolic ministry a lot more accessible and meaningful.

May apostles never become distant figures at conferences or too busy to relate. We need to find creative and workable ways to ensure that apostolic input stays close, real, ongoing and non-professional. I trust that my serving Eastbourne will go on being all those things. Helping churches become missional is our number one passion, but relationships, being family is a very close second. You can never have one without the other.

Prayer and Fasting and Revival!

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

For as long as I can remember I have attended the Newfrontiers event known as Prayer and Fasting. It is basically a two day event gathering approx 700 leaders. At present we meet at Kingsgate Church, Peterborough. I think these two days form the backbone of all that Newfrontiers is able to achieve in the UK. It's the key to much of our "success" and it's such a privilege to be involved in praying with such a great and passionate crowd. The underlying theme at our latest P&F was "Revival". It is interesting how this topic has come and gone over the years, but it is certainly something that does not disappear! I was so stirred again to pray for Revival and whenever I do, I do find myself asking:

“why not now and why not here?”

Surely as we read accounts of revival from our own history in the UK we find faith that God can do it again. Is there any other hope for our nation? One more thing, I still believe in the importance of the restoration of the Church. My passionate prayer is that restoring the Church is not an end in itself, but is actually vital for revival. Maybe the last 40 years of restoration has all been key, for when revival comes, the church will be able to contain, channel and overflow the power of revival in an unprecedented way, which will result in amazing lasting fruit to the glory of Jesus.

The Joy of Baptisms!

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:00:00 GMT

There is a lot to celebrate in life. You can probably think of many occasions that would count as "high's" even over the past year, but for me it doesn't get much better than seeing new converts being baptised.

We are baptising people every month at present and today we baptised a family.

This family have come on a long journey. They left their middle eastern country three years ago and having rejected their former religion, eventually bumped into Christians and ended up on Alpha. Over the past two months they have experienced remarkable encounters with God and following their testimonies today, have come to a clear knowledge of Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Their lives are being totally transformed and only the power of the gospel can do this. They have met the risen Jesus and as I looked at their faces they were literally radiant, as through tears and laughter they were plunged into the water signifying that their old way of life is now over and a brand new one is just beginning.

Guys, it just doesn't get better than this!! When we began as a stumbling, somewhat inward looking "house church" 34 years ago we could never have dreamt that a day would come when we would be baptising people who have literally come to us from all over the world. AMAZING! And surely all the glory goes to God alone.

Vision Sunday

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:00:00 GMT

I think it's always a good thing to highlight local church vision at the beginning of a new year. People tend to be somewhat over individualistic about their goals or new year resolutions and as Christians it can become a little self obsessed as we consider how we could do better (for Jesus) this year than we did last year. Most of this fades away by February as self effort is not enough.

So, it is so good to look at our corporate goals for 2010 as a church. Our over riding passion for this year is that NCC becomes more visible than ever. Looking at Matthew 5 we declared the promise of Jesus that we are to be the salt of the earth and

the light of the world and that as a church we are to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden!

For us it means expressing this together in five ways:

1) By Growing. That means everyone volunteering to serve in whatever capacity they feel able to do.

2) Social action. As a church, 2010 is time for action in this area. Lots of opportunities are available for us to serve our wider community and January 30th is our launch date for this.

3) Diversity. We are poised to become more and more diverse in 2010 and our longing it to be a multi-racial church. We have Owen Hylton with us in June to help us on this journey.

4) The Nations. As a church we have had contact to the nations for a number of years, but now is the time for us to be more engaged than ever. As we continue to work into several European nations plus South Africa, Zimbabwe and Dubai we will be involved as a church in planting a church into " The Hague ", Holland and will enjoy partnering with "Church on the rock", Guernsey.

5) The Building..........it's time for our building to represent who we are and to be seen to be "alive"! To that extent we are going to embark on a very exciting building project that will transform our building into something new and more relevant.

Vision is great !! Now let us make it a reality.

Dave Holden

The Hague Plant

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Liz and I have just returned from a very fruitful time in Holland. We were there for six days and it was great to see all the leaders in good heart. I think the Dutch churches are now poised for advance, particularly through church planting. Liz and I were joined by Henk Kersten, Steve Blaber and Chris Taylor for a day in The Hague, where Chris will be planting an International church from next April. I was overwhelmed by the potential of seeing a vibrant church in this massively influential city. I believe this could become one of the most significant churches yet to be planted by Newfrontiers...time will tell.

I also had the privilege of speaking at a conference for all the Dutch churches on "Battle for the Mind". My book on this subject is about to be translated into Dutch and it was great to be speaking on this vital topic again. I first covered the material in 1986! I was a little apprehensive to start with, but quickly realised that the material never gets old, in fact, there is now a whole new generation needing to hear it. People were very receptive. I may consider doing more of this in the future.

Dave

In the North West

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:01:00 GMT

Liz and I have just returned from a wonderful time in the North West, meeting with leaders from many churches in that part of the country. It was great to be back on the road again after such a long "enforced break". I felt everyone was in great heart and looking forward to working more closely in the future. It was also good to have Jeremy and Ann Simpkins, Julian Adams, and Pete and Sue Lindon with us as thay are now moving into Manchester to plant a City Centre Church over the next few months.

On the Sunday morning I spoke at a joint celebration in the Peak district. I spoke on God's plans for the local church. This is such a massive issue and one not liked by the enemy!! We need to keep lifting people's view of local church as many folk these days are affected by their Church experience, sometimes rather negative.

This nation needs to see a vibrant and robust church full of people who have faith that we can really impact our wider community wherever we are. We have a wonderful message and a great opportunity to display it... through the local church.

Dave

Encounter God

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:00:00 GMT

On Wednesday 30th September we held an Encounter God evening at NCC. For some time now we have felt that we do not have enough time to just wait on God and minister to one another in the things of the Spirit, so we set aside an evening to do just that. It was a wonderful time and people turned out in great numbers.

It's great to be in a church where so many want more of God. Many were refreshed in their experience of God, many more moved on in gifts of the Spirit as they were encouraged to bring words over others for the first time. We had the privilege of leading several people into the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It's such a joy to see people being overwhelmed by the Spirit for the first time and reminds me of the importance of laying hands on people to receive as well as giving them the time to really breakthrough.

We have decided to have these meetings every other month and I am full of faith for these times to be truly full of authentic encounters with God. Hopefully what happens in these meetings will start to spill over in all other expressions of christian life.

Dave

Baptisms

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:54:00 GMT

Last Sunday we had the joy of baptising four believers. They covered the whole range from a non-churched recent convert (from our latest Alpha) to a church raised, but clearly saved teenager.

I love baptisms for the following four reasons...

1) It's a wonderful opportunity to declare publicly that you are saying goodbye to the past and starting afresh.

2) It makes salvation a real demonstration. It's not just head knowledge, it results in action.

3) People who don't yet know Jesus always seem to be affected when they see the genuineness of their christian friend's baptism.

4) It declares that the Church is always growing... we have been doing this all over the world for 2,000 years.

There are many genuine believers in our churches, who for many reasons have not yet been baptised. I urge us all to continue to proclaim the vital importance of baptism and to see converts baptised as soon as possible. It seems so strange that we wait so long to baptise new believers, when biblically and experientially it only really makes sense to be baptised as a result of conversion.

We are trusting God for regular baptisms at NCC. We hope it will include a whole variety of people from very different backgrounds and that loads of their friends will be able to come and see it for themselves.

Dave

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:53:00 GMT

We continue to encourage folk to contribute in all of our meetings and to expect God to use them in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As more and more "Charismatic" churches seem to have less and less gifts operating in their public meetings and performance rather than participation seems to be the way thing are going, I want to make an impassioned plea that we continue to stay biblical and truly "charismatic " by having more participation and less performance.

Gifts are wonderful. They are not optional and they are vital for enhancing our worship of Jesus, encouraging the members of the church and for impacting the unbeliever with the reality of a living God. 1 Cor 12-14 makes little sense if the expectation was not to have the operation of the gifts in our regular meetings.

The other day I listened to a truly outstanding word on this subject by Stef Liston. You can download it from CCK'S School of worship series. Every Elder, worship leader and musician should listen to it... brilliant stuff and very practical.

It's time for more Holy Spirit activity, not less. So let's expect more gifts to be in operation.

Dave