What Is Wrong with the Church

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

As we enter into 2016 I have had some thoughts recently. I have been a Christian since 1979. I have been in many churches. In my early years I was a member of the old Baptist Union. I was saved in a free evangelical church. I then went into the Assemblies of God. From the Assemblies of God owing to a series of unfortunate events in my Christian life and being baptised in the Holy Spirit while in the pentecostal church I then went into Elim. From there I became an independent pentecostal Christian.

I have seen many things in my life and as many of you know I have travelled to many countries. I have just come back from one of the largest countries in the world with a population of 1.4 billion and I have met many Christians from many denominations here in the UK and also abroad. I have been a pastor in large churches and small churches. I have seen the many miracles that Jesus spoke about, healings from cancers and tinnitus, blind eyes opening, the deaf hearing, hearts being restored spiritually and physically, and I am amazed at the power and the majesty of our Almighty Father.

But like many of you I have longed for true revival. I have seen manifestations of what man believes to be revival but Toronto and other sparks of God’s power I believe have been snuffed out by man. There is a problem in the body of Christ. Many commentators such as Leonard Ravenhill and other great saints of God who have gone on before us have highlighted that the problem with the church in the United Kingdom and across the world is a lack of prayer. The Bible tells us clearly, ‘If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land’ (2 Chronicles 7: 14). I long for a day hopefully in my lifetime when the church of Jesus Christ will get serious about prayer. If we put on a chicken supper or a banquet or a praise and worship night, many churches across London and across this country will be full, but sadly when it comes to prayer the prayer meetings in many churches are empty. I would even suggest in many individuals’ lives their prayer life is barren and they wonder why they do not seem to succeed. Many great women and men of the past such as Müller, Tozer, Whitfield and Wesley understood the power of prayer. So I pray quietly that there will be an enthusiastic return to prayers across our nation: not just once a week for an hour giving God a shopping list but solid intercessory prayer. We have seen it in such places as Seoul Korea where they have prayer mountains.

I am 100% convinced if we in the United Kingdom want to see true revival, the church needs to repent and turn back to the things of God and not clever schemes, not clever programmes, but getting down on our knees and praying for the lost, the widow, the lonely and the downcast, and not just them, but the rich, the powerful, our MPs, our Queen, all strata of society, as I know this will bring revival and restoration for our nation. I hope when you read this you will ponder and seek God for yourself, as you do not need to go to buildings; we just need people across the nation to burst into spontaneous prayer in their communities.

God bless you. My prayer for 2016 is we start to take back that which the devil has stolen: our cities, our towns, our families, our children, our nation. Amen