NBC Pastoral Letter June 2010

At the recent New Wine leadership conference I attended there was some discussion on the place of faith, particularly in reference to Jesus’ statement about faith being able to move mountains. You may well have heard people talking about this faith as though it is something that must be mustered up, and if we have enough faith, then we will see amazing miracles and healings. Adrian Plass satirised this in his novels by having the main character attempt to move a paper clip by faith!

Well, that’s not what the text says. Jesus says, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17.21)

The key is ‘faith as small as a mustard seed’. The context is that of the disciples’ failure to cast out demons. What Jesus says is that it is not a matter of how much faith you have, whether that be a kind of super-faith or even faith in faith itself, but faith in God. It is faith in God that will move mountains, even if that faith is as small as a mustard seed. For it is God who moves and acts according to his will, not in accordance to how much faith we can somehow summon up.

True faith in God is trusting in the person of Christ with the whole person, heart, soul and strength.

Sometimes we are disappointed that God does not act in the way that we expect him to. He does not always work healing when we expect him to. We hear some amazing testimonies of people experiencing God’s healing and yet we do not see it in our own lives. This was the case even in the New Testament. Not all the lepers in Israel were healed by Jesus. Timothy continued to have a problem with his stomach. Paul had problems with his eyesight. Epaphroditus does not appear to be healed.

Unfortunately sickness and death are part of our present world, a world that is marked by its rebellion and rejection of God’s authority in human lives. And yet… we do see some elements of the age to come breaking into the present age as we taste something of God’s healing and blessing in our present lives. None of this is related to the strength of our faith, but to our faith in the strength of God himself.

If you’re interested in joining us at New Wine in Shepton Mallet for the Central and South West conference, then go to www.new-wine.org/summer10. There are half week tickets available at www.new-wine.og/halfweek and you can find details of joining the team at www.new-wine.org/summer/Teams.htm. There are spaces for children’s work, youth work (except 13-14 age group), Site Crew, Stewarding, Hospitality, Projection at N&E, Medical, Our Place and more! Serving on team is a brilliant way to grow as a Christian and to go to the conference for free!

God bless,

Nik