25 Nov Gold Bars From God

Lloyd Gill has just spent the last few weeks in Africa ministering in Tanzania and then Kenya. The gospel is flourishing in sub-saharan Africa, and non more evident in these nations. The gospel is beginning to take a foothold in the top half of Africa too, as prayer has an effect, and other factors like terrorism turn the thoughts of muslim people to look for alternatives.

God is at work and we are grateful for that. At the beginning of last century, about the year 1900, the amount of Christians in Africa was a small minority of people. However, The World Book Encyclopedia has estimated that in 2002 Christians formed 80% of the continent’s population. The growth of the gospel in just over 100 years has been astounding. It is nothing short of an amazing revival.

Lloyd has been to Africa many times over the last ten or more years taking an apostolic message. Our message is about the relational nature of Christianity, whereas much of our cultural assumptions and traditions tend to be institutional and denominational. As God liberates us of these things, we find a lot of freedom and grace.

When Lloyd first went to Africa about 2003 he didn’t have his own ministry, but went serving John Alley as Timothy did Paul. Some people struggled with that as they wanted to hear John for themselves. Lloyd overcame that struggle with this illustration…

“If someone had a gold bar for you as a gift, would it matter if they gave it to you personally, or if they sent someone else to give it to you. I come offering you a gold bar as a gift, it is not my own, I’m simply the one bringing it to you.”

With that simple illustration apostolic grace has flowed through Lloyd as a messenger and been a blessing to many people. And each of us, if we would be submitted to those over us, and willing to serve and love, will find God’s grace flows through us as channels of mercy to those we are sent to.

Ultimately nothing is our own, we are stewards of all things, which are God’s. And the essence of the apostolic message is that we belong to God, and to each other, and we would love and serve each other in Christ.