Open Heaven: Making c21st Disciples

The Olympics are Coming!

The world’s premier sporting event - the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics is coming to the UK!

It’s not only coming to the UK but Loughborough will be hosting Team GB and the Japanese team in their preparation for the games. This is a once in a lifetime experience and an amazing opportunity for churches to be at the heart of the celebrations.

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Intro to Acts

We’ve just started our new series on the book of Acts. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Acts is probably one of the most important books of the New Testament. If we did not have it, then apart from what we could deduce from Paul’s letters, we would have no information on how the early church started, and then grew from a little known corner of Palestine, to sweep across the known world and reach Rome, the capital of the Empire- all within about 30 years.

Acts was written by Dr. Luke who in Colossians 4 v14 is called ‘our dear friend Luke, the doctor. He was the only Gentile writer in the New Testament, a companion of  Paul and a gifted writer. It is in fact the same Dr. Luke who wrote Luke’s gospel and most scholars think that Luke’s gospel and Acts were written as 2 volumes of the one story. Rather than Acts being called ‘Acts of the Apostles’ (there are only 3 apostles mentioned!) it could equally be called ‘Acts of King Jesus Volume 2’ as the living presence of the risen Christ invades the whole book of Acts.

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Introducing the new hosting team

A little while ago I attending a social event where most people were strangers. It was a weekend away and I turned up to a venue I didn't know, to a roomful of people who were new and felt like I was with friends I just hadn't met yet. The atmosphere, the welcome and the warmth of everyone I met was unusual and put me at ease right away. Here was a bunch of people who would be my friends its just they hadn't had the opportunity to get to know me before.

It left me thinking; could that same atmosphere, welcome and warmth be at Open Heaven gatherings? Yes of course it could! And I am planning on making it so. With a little help from some friends!

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Vision for the Future

On Sunday I shared with everyone there some of the things that have been stirring in me over the 3 month sabbatical. I summed up the main themes of the talk as 'Going Deeper & Wider'. The deeper part is all about connection and belonging. I outlined some of our thoughts about going deeper by creating an extraordinary welcoming culture, about how clusters work with social dynamics, rather than against and about mentoring groups helping develop the ministries in the church. I then shared some thoughts about going wider, prompted by some significant conversations and prophecies I've had over the 3 months. I talked about what it might mean to become an 'apostolic hub' - planting churches which plant churches. We already are a discipling community but how about using that strength to become an apostolic (sending) community? Our discipleship is not to make nice people, but is to advance the Kingdom and one of the most effective ways to advance the Kingdom is to plant Kingdom communities - whether that be clusters or church plants. So, if you're part of OH, this is an important talk to listen to and think about what it means for the future of OH. I'd love to hear peoples' responses, so listen and let me know what you think...

Ness' Talk: "Vision for the Future" 

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Coming to Loughborough in September?

We are really looking forward to meeting and hearing from you if you are coming to Loughborough this September!

Students have been at the heart of Open Heaven since it began over 18 years ago and we are so excited to meet you all and invest into you for the next 3 years. Student life is great and will be the most amazingly fun, busy and crazy time that will shape you for years to come.

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France Team Update

So much has happened since our last update! It’s been a real boost to the team to have Ali and Vicky back from Montgenevre and meeting with the team regularly again. They’re a valuable part of the team and we really missed them while they were away. They’ve written a short update below.

From a practical point of view we are getting organized for moving. It’s not too long until we leave now. We’ll be leaving Loughborough on 31st July and travelling the 750 miles to our new house in France. We have sorted out a lorry for transporting all our furniture and belongings, which we will drive to Annecy ourselves. We’ll have fun and games trying to fit the contents of our house into a small truck!

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Club Mission FND

On Friday 20th May we had our first ever Club Mission FND. This evening was the culmination of years of diligent service of many generations of Open Heavener’s.

So for anyone who doesn’t know, Club Mission FND is a night hosted by the Students Union completely branded after the efforts of Club Mission and Open Heaven. It’s a night where Open Heaven is out in force living up to their name, opening heaven and loving students on a big scale in the name of Jesus. There was a ton of stuff going on throughout the night to bless and serve the students; acoustic sets whilst people queued to get in, free tea’s & coffee’s, free flip flops to alleviate girls of the dreaded high heels on the way home, the usual chill out room in full swing, a permanently manned prayer room throughout the night, videos about OH playing throughout the Union, a prayer and healing tent outside and even a Flashmob in Room1! It was awesome stuff!

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Ness and Rich Sabbatical

As we wave Ness and Rich off for their 3 month sabbatical we do so with a commitment to pray for them and cover them.  We would love for at least 1 person to be praying for them for all of the 100 days or so they are on sabbatical.  You can sign up here.  Add your name to the google doc and set aside some time in the day to pray for Ness and Rich.

Naomi

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Audio Intro to Clusters

At January's Vision Evening I talked about our plans to transition our non-student cells into clusters (our students made a similar transition in 2009). We're going to be talking about clusters again at our Joint Gathering this Sunday (10:30am, Mountfields School) and so we wanted to give those of you who weren't able to be at the AGM (or those who would appreciate a quick refresher) the chance to catch up. So here's a new version of what I said that evening on mp3. You can also read more about clusters in this written summary.

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Pray for Japan

Whilst the news headlines have turned to other worrying events in North Africa, the tragedy and chaos continues to sweep through Japan.

It is hard to sum up the magnitude of the disaster that struck Japan on 11th March.  But we must find eyes to see God, ears to hear Him, and voices to call out to Him. 

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