[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the River Church podcast. We're all about bringing the life, hope and love of Jesus to everyone around us.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: For more information, check out our
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[00:00:11] Speaker C: How encouraging is that?
Really good, right? If you don't recognise some of those faces, that's okay. These are just people that have either tracked with us for many years or people that.
People that are still very influential feeding into us at the moment, and many we've had over the last few years in the church to speak and share. So it's been great.
We're about to do something a little bit dangerous now.
We are giving two preachers a free hit.
We could be here another 40 years if we're not careful. So, Ian, it's 15 minutes. Who's going to do a stopwatch? Anyone? Shout@15. Otherwise we'll just keep going, right?
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we just keep going. It's fine. It's fine.
So kind of like a free hit.
I think what we were discussing, me and Q were discussing, was what was taking us forward.
You know, we talked a lot this morning, haven't we, about celebrating the last 40 years, isn't it, and looking back and thinking about what God has done in it, but what's taking us forward? And the question I had was, why do we still exist?
Like, as a church? It's not all churches that keep going. There's lots of different things that happen to churches. But why do we still exist? Why are we still going? And one of the things that I think is really key in us as a church family as we've gone, is being prophetically led and being led by the spirit back in the early. Can I tell a little quick story back when. I can't remember how this was when I was in my teens or early twenties, fifteen years ago or something, but early Christian, a guy came, right, who had an amazing prophetic gift, and he's one of those that was in the room. And, you know, we weren't as large as this. We were still in this hall, right, without the tiered seats in with, you know, we had to get all the chairs out in those days back then, hospitality team were fantastic. Yeah. But here's one of those that would. We'd have a ministry time and then he'd start calling out people and, you know, giving prophetic messages, you know, saying, oh, you over there in the. In the yellow top or something like that.
And you kind of, you know, when you sit there and you're. And you're like, we're having a Ministry time, right? And you've got your eyes closed and your head bound and they. And you're going, is he going to call out me?
Do you know that nervousness?
Does anyone.
Do you know that? That nervousness of going, oh, I really want God to speak into my life, but I'm really nervous about someone talking about me in front of everyone else as well. So you have that nervousness. But I think it's just in that, you know, the guy came, spoke not over just individuals, but us as a church.
And it's something that we've always held onto getting people, whether it's within us as a group, within a family or other people to come in and to help us on that. And being prophetically led and that video with other people externally, do you know, other people that we know that have gifts, apostolic stuff, to speak into us. Q.
What came out of the video prophetically that you want to sort of thought we should hold onto?
[00:03:39] Speaker C: I think what Andre said was really significant.
And, you know, when you weigh the prophetic, and it isn't the job of just the elders to do that, it's the job of the church to weigh the prophetic. And very often, certainly latching onto things that aren't necessarily totally new is probably a good thing.
God rarely resets absolutely everything in his narrative. Even from the very beginning, he it was never plan B, it was always plan A. It just unfolded. And I therefore listened to what Andre said as a bit of an unfolding, extending prophetic word. So, you know, Esther, Esther, love Esther, she's talked about the river of Blessing.
So we've become River Church.
But actually the truth is we kind of always were River Church. We just changed our name, you know, and you see that biblically, don't you? But then the extension of that, as soon as Andre starts talking about things like going east, you say, well, hang on a minute. You know, what hill are we on at the moment in Dartford?
West Hill. So that means everything we do in Dartford is which direction?
Generally east, because we stand on the west. So we look east and actually, where have we gone? I don't know which way east is from here, isn't it? That way, that way, that way. Who knows which way. Everyone's pointing in different directions this way east, which looks west from where I'm standing. But we've gone east, guys. We've gone to Gravesend.
And you start to think, okay, this is significant, then it means that God isn't just telling us something new. He's saying, keep going. And There's a few other bits that I'll touch on that Andre shared as well. And do you know what I think when we're weighing the prophetic, when someone starts with something we kind of already feel is familiar, it's got weight to it. Then you look at what else are they saying. And I think there's some stuff in there as well, which is quite good. But for us as a church, the reason to go east is always kind of a missional reason. And I think that's always been with us as a church, church planting and everything else. I don't know if you want to mention some bits about it.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, and Jane talked about it, didn't they, at the start about we were a church planting.
We were a church plant and then we kept church planting. I remember it was probably in the first year that I was part of this church that we sent out a team to Gravesend. It's kind of. We'll probably do it again in a few, you know, another 20 years time, isn't it? Keep sending people to Gravesend. I don't know what it's about the town there, but anyway, let's, let's, let's, let's leave that there. But again, we were in this hall and I can remember that we got a group of people who were going and we got them up and we prayed for them. And it was one of those like exciting times, right, because you think, oh, we're on the move, we're doing this mission thing.
We're doing this thing that God's called us to. We're sending people out, we're church planting.
And it was a whole bunch of excitement in that morning excitement. We're doing this thing.
But then also I think a whole bit of like, hold on a minute, this is going to be difficult.
Do you know there's going to be a counting of costs.
So people who, that I know that we've experienced of doing the site plant in Dartford, in Gravesend, of going, hey, we're going to miss meeting up with you every Sunday morning. We're going to miss that.
But it's that thing of like going, hey, but this is important that actually doing God's mission is more important than, you know, kind of the things that I really want to hold on to. I need to let go of some of that stuff in order to do it. And that's so foundational, I think, to us as a, as a church to keep going, to keep going on God's mission, to keep doing it and Another aspect of that is.
I can't remember who said it about reaching out to those around. Andre said it, didn't he? About reaching out to those around us, to going out into our local communities and something that's been with us as a church since the beginning. But I know that the harbour was something that we did recently to, you know. Well, I don't know. Q.
Where are we at with that?
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Good question.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Where do you feel that we, you know, we've done it, We've. We did it for a time and we couldn't keep on doing it. We only had the building for a while. But where are we at with that and how do we keep going?
[00:08:22] Speaker C: We have to sometimes live with unfulfilled prophetic in our lives.
It doesn't mean just because it hasn't been fulfilled yet, it's not going to happen.
And I think when we had the opportunity to do the harbour, we thought there'd be a part two straight away. And it was like God shut the door. But I think the truth is he shut the door to allow us to get our roots sorted in Gravesend.
So that we've now. We're now sort of 18, actually over two years since the harbor had the doors shut. But during 18 months of those two years, we've gone through a name change as a church and we've sent people, some great people from Dartford to Gravesend. Dartford's been replenished by some even better people coming in. And also in Gravesend, there's been a foundation established.
But we really do feel that that unfulfilled prophetic word about the harbour being a place where we are going to be able to draw people in away from a Sunday is something that hasn't gone away.
And even this week, I don't want to give loads away, but let me just say we're pushing doors to see what's going to happen. And maybe if I just mention this now what Jane brought. Jane, great word. That's what I've been carrying. And I know that a couple of weeks ago I preached about it. This might work. There you go.
It's really important that we get our foundation from scripture as well.
Psalm 147. I preached about it a few weeks ago.
Let me just read this. It says, his pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior. The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
And I just want to encourage us in line with what Jane shared That we absolutely can bring pleasure to God.
But it will not be your strength or your achievements that does.
Won't be the things that God's created giving us strength going to be the thing that stirs his heart. It will be where we go all in on his unfailing love and put ourselves into situations where we must rely on his unfailing love.
I think that's part of seeing some of the prophetic that God's spoken fulfilled. When we actually start taking steps of faith and going back to the harbor or any project. I mean I look at around the room thinking people have started charities and trusts, social initiatives, you've started workplace evangelism, all those sorts of things. All of them start with a good idea from God, sometimes a prophetic word and then some kind of action which feels like not a step but a leap of faith.
And I think we're there. But the answer is knowing that God is unfailing and if he's led us here, he will provide for what we need. So I think where we are is, I think the harbour is one of the things that God's going to open up for us. But I think there's other stuff as well.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: And it all starts with being built up in God, doesn't it?
Starts with us really focusing on who we are in God. Love the prayer that Susie prayed. We are who we are because God's named us, he's given us an identity, he's called us into that. And I think one of the things that has been so key in this church, a kind of philosophy, a principle, is in building people up, is in growing people we love to disciple. You know, I'm a product of many people in this church having discipled me, some who are still here, some who have gone. The guy Steph who you might have seen on there, he came to our church weekend away a couple of years back, but he became Christian in his church.
He is a few years, a couple of years older than me, but he was a jack of the lads, do you know, he was a down to earth character but he was full of passion and enthusiasm to go forward to understand his Christian faith, to, to do things for God. And yeah, he probably wasn't the wisest bloke when he first became a Christian and made lots of mistakes along the way.
But I think just a demonstration of the perseverance, the strength, the teaching of many people, discipling, mentoring as well as on Sundays putting into a guy like him that, you know, he's gone on and supported him to Go on and to, you know, give the rest of his life to God, to serve God, Lead a church up in Camden is just testament to a principle of this church of going, hey, we are going to invest in people, we're going to build people up, we're going to disciple them and they might stay here or they might go to another part of the UK or they might go overseas, but we are interested. We want to build people up and see God's kingdom grow in whichever way God wants to grow them.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: I might chime in on some of that just really quickly, because something really exciting is happening in the nation. I don't know if you've noticed, but when we start talking about developing people, I think very often we start looking around going, who's been in the church for at least 10 years? Who. We know their character, we know we can trust them, They've been built up in God and then we can release them.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: That's good.
[00:14:08] Speaker C: It's one way to do it. But Jesus didn't do it that way. He called a bunch of fishermen and a bunch of ragtag guys and transformed them as they went. And I think we're in a season where God is calling people to. To a fresh knowledge of him, where they have no heritage of him. Do you know what I mean? They have no generational faith in their family. And I won't mention this guy's name, but even in Gravesend over the last month, you know, we had a word from Richard in Bedford all about, you know, the first flames of the Holy Spirit are over this nation.
And, you know, in Graves End and as a church, as River Church, you're gonna. You're gonna turn the corner essentially, as we enter that new year, whilst it's a crossover into 2026, it will be a time where God starts to do new things.
And, you know, this guy turned up at church and four months earlier, he was an atheist, total atheist, but very much led by what he sees in the world.
And if it's that bad and if evil's real, then good must be real as well.
So God led him on this journey of just pursuing the good. And the best thing about it is afterwards we chatted with him and we know his mum a bit, but I was like, have you got any Christians you can hang out with? He goes, oh, no, I don't know any. I said, have you been to church before? And he goes, no, this is my first time.
But he's not walking in, not understanding who Jesus is. He's already given his life To Jesus, he just needs people to walk with him.
And I think that that is what this is about. It's about looking around, all of us going, who needs to be partnered up with. Who do I need to walk with in my life? Who needs a nudge as well? Because I'm going to say, if you've been a Christian for a few years, Paul would be saying to you, time to get off milk, get onto solids.
And also it means that you've got something to pass on as well. And I think this is what we're talking about as a multiplication thing, is that the job of raising people and discipling people is not just the job of leaders, but it's the job of the church. And I just really feel this sense that we've got to be all putting ourselves in a position to be able to walk alongside, particularly people that are coming to faith, because we believe there's going to be a moment where there's going to be quite a lot of them.
[00:16:33] Speaker A: So we will try and wrap up now because it has been 15.
Has it been 15 minutes? Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
Oh, top eight, right? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
Okay. So. So. Q. If you want to give one encouragement, right, to wrap up, sort of based on, you know, what we've talked. If you want to give one encouragement, what would it be?
[00:17:01] Speaker C: I can't move away from Psalm 147.
What does it look like for you to take a step in your life where you have to rely on the unfailing love of God?
Because that will bring pleasure not just to God, but it will bring pleasure into your life.
Just one example, we felt a few months ago, before Andre's word, that we needed to do this as a site in gravesend.
So my step of faith is saying we're going to organize a healing service on the 1st of March.
It's not going to be for us to pray for one another. It's going to be to invite people who may have no knowledge of God, who are merely curious about spiritual things, who might be sick or might have a sick person in their life.
And all we're going to do is tell some stories of healing we've seen, and then we're going to pray for the sick and see what God does.
I've never really seen anyone healed in my life when I've prayed for them, but that doesn't mean I won't.
And I think the more we step into these things, the unfailing love of God, I think the more we'll see. So it does feel like a risk. It feels like a step of faith. But without that, are we going to see God not just use us with persuasive words, but are we going to actually see God demonstrate his unfailing love with power? I don't think we will. So I would say, what does it look like for you to do something similar?
That good enough?
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely. And one thing that was just sort of dropped in my mind when I was praying over this Sunday was about, we've been talking about stories, haven't we? We've been talking about history and really thinking about history and what God has done in it. And the phrase, if you want to be part of history, be part of the future came to me and it was like, if you want stories, if you want to be part of stories, right? History writes itself, but it's an intentionality of. Actually, the thing that I can do is get involved, is be part of stories being written.
You know, I can.
The history's. The past has been written, but the future is open to us.
So it's taking heart of what has been said on the video of Terry, of Andre, of everyone. You know, let's push in. Let's keep pushing in because I want to be here in another however many years God will give me and have double, triple the amount of stories that I've got From the last 20, 30 years, 40 years of this church. We want to see this church grow. We want to see this church push into everything that God has for us.
But, you know, let's be was going to say, quote, a delirious song. I mean, how old am I?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a few people in the room that will know.
Yeah, let's be history. Okay? Let's be history makers. It's the Delirious Song. Okay. There's a few people there will know.
[00:20:00] Speaker C: What I'm talking about.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: But let's be people that are writing. Do you know Acts 29, Acts 30, Acts 31. Do you know those people that are continuing God's mission here?
[00:20:12] Speaker C: Yeah, that's great. That's great.
Right?
We're going to get to be praying in a minute for the church and then we'll wrap up with some worship as well. But we want to see what the kids have been up to. So, Stu, you're the closest to me.
Grab a mic, kids. We'd love to see what you're doing.
Do you want to show us around, Stu?
[00:20:34] Speaker D: Okay. This wasn't quite how I planned this, but here we go.
They did some amazing banners at the beginning and all over the banners they wrote things that they enjoyed about the kids work.
So we had games in there, we had lots of people drawing friends that they'd made in the groups.
Lots of butterflies today.
Butterflies. Great, good.
And it was a really lovely opportunity to look at the games that they do.
I wish I had them in front of me so I could see.
I'm wondering, guys down here, anyone want to come and say some of the things they love about the kids work? Anyone want to say anything?
[00:21:13] Speaker C: I love that.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: When we do the.
[00:21:18] Speaker C: Kids work, we all do worshiping.
[00:21:23] Speaker D: We do worship every week. Thank you.
[00:21:27] Speaker C: I love that my mum is working there.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: I like how my mom computering.
[00:21:37] Speaker D: Okay, thank you. So anything we like about the kids work.
[00:21:43] Speaker C: I like that we're treated with respect and care.
I like that we get to pray with God.
[00:21:57] Speaker D: So all of you guys, you've done a super job this morning. Adults, we've got crowns and we've got cakes and we've got flags.
So can we give our young people a big round of applause? They've been really super.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: Well done, guys. That is excellent. Really well done. Church, why don't we stand? We're going to pray.
We're going to pray and worship team. We're going to finish with a song. So I don't know if you want to take this opportunity, but guys, we've got a few minutes to pray. And aside from all the encouragements about how we respond to God, I think the most encouraging thing is that when we pray now, we are not wrestling for God's favor.
That's not what we do as his church. He's placed his holy Spirit in us so that he can work through us.
And we want to grab hold of, you know, the prophetic we've heard today. God is anointing us for things. He's anointing us. This is something that he's going to do.
Andre said that God is preparing a season for us.
That's what we're stepping into.
And we don't know everything, but we're praying from a place of confidence, which is why it's not a risk to step into the unfailing love of God. Amen.
So let's pray for some of the things that we've heard about. Let's pray that we'd be not just a missional church, but we would be a church that raises Jesus, loving kingdom, advancing disciples here that we send out to do even more. Let's pray for what is next in terms of church growth. What does it mean to serve our community and grow in compassion and fruit of the spirit that changes the environments we go into.
Come on, why don't we gather? Just, I mean, let's just all raise our voices.
Let's just start praying out to God and Abed, you can lead us in prayer to finish, but come on, let's raise our voices and thank God that his hand has been on us for 40 years and there'll be another 40 ahead.
Jesus, we long for your plans to be fulfilled through us as River Church.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Father, we just want to thank you.
We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you established your church and your church has been on and is still growing and still moving forward.
That today we as a local church, we can celebrate 40 years.
But our 40 years is not just in isolation.
It's part of a bigger story.
And we can look back at history and we can just give all thanks to you all. Glory to you. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for people that you've called. Thank you for Al and Jane for responding with such strong obedience to you. Thank you for their faithfulness.
But Father, we just want to thank you as well for what's ahead. As Ian, you just said that writing history is about the future, what you have ahead of us. God.
And we say one thing, God, we want to rest in your promises, but we don't want to feel comfortable as your church. We say our hearts, our bodies and everything of ours. Father is ready.
It's ready for what you want to do. It's ready to continue writing your story. It's ready to go east and further east, ready to bring more to you, is ready to speak, healing, is ready to see deliverance, is ready to turn hearts to you, God and Father, we're not doing this alone.
I just want to reference Exodus chapter 10, verse 9, where the people of Israel were just about turning a new page in their life, just as we are. And Moses was before Pharaoh and one of the responses he gave was, we going to do this, we're going to go and we are going with our young, we are going with our old, we are going with our sons, we are going with our daughters. We don't have flocks, but we are going with our flocks and we are going with our herds. Father, we are going with your entire church. Your church is moving forward and we are grateful to you to be part of this.
In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Lord, we just want to declare how marvelous is your love, how wonderful is your love for us that you poured out upon that cross that has made us reconciled with God himself, that we have this relationship. We know the Father, we know God and that he is alive.
He is not a dead God, but he is a God that is here, that is working amongst us, that is sending us out, that is empowering us, Lord, to bring glory to your name with everything that we do. And so, yeah, we just give you glory, Lord. We shout hallelujah. Praise you. Praise our God. You are wonderful. You are marvelous.
Amen.
Amen.
[00:27:19] Speaker C: Amen. Amen.
Amen. Susie? Yeah?
Life starts at 40, right?
Yeah.
Let's see what God's got in store for us. He's got some good things, really good things. And I'm looking around, just go look at what God has done here. How good is he? Right? Privileged to be in a church family with you. Privileged to get out there and eat loads of cake to celebrate. I think there's 300 cupcakes here. And also, can we give a shout out to team? It's like Olu Midi and the team who did all the decorations. Isn't it great to celebrate? It's wonderful.
Well done. I also say thank you to the kids and Laura for organizing all of that. You guys have been great.
And that's basically it. And here we go. Let's go and say hi to the people that we know. And if there's somebody you don't know, say happy birthday as well. Introduce yourselves. We're one family, so let's go and enjoy celebrating another 40 years as well. See you later.
