Yesterday I went to a new church in Etne to teach on Christian Foundation – eternal judgment. When I was asked to go to teach on that subject my first thought was that I would have liked a more “positive” subject on my first visit! Judgment seems to be a kind of heavy stuff!
But being a man under authority I went to do what I was asked to do! I left home around 15.00 o’clock and arrived nearly four hours later. Before the meeting I was able to have a good time of fellowship with the leaders and the people arriving early.
Only sixteen people attended the meeting, but still I was encouraged to be with them. They obviously have a burden to reach their community with the gospel and eventually they will succeed. They received my teaching very well and we had a good time of dialogue afterwards.
I am convinced that we will see new churches like this pop up in every village all over Norway!
Author: Erling Thu
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Visiting a new church in Etne
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Parents’ rights and responsibilities
Today I have been writing an article for our magazine FOLK about the rights and responsibilities of parents. In our socialistic society the state has been taken away resposibility from the parents and replace it with the responsibility of the welfare state. But the Christians have been fighting that development and are doing progress in many area at the moment.
In my article I am looking to natural law, human rights, and Biblical teaching to establish the rights and responsibility of parents towards their children. Raising children and brining people to maturity is the subject of the next issue of our magazine. -
Producing seeds
As I have been reading in the prophet Ezekiel many things have come alive to me. Recently I was stirred by a phrase in Ezekiel 17:23. The Lord is saying that he will take a tender shoot and plant it in a significant place. The tender shoot will become a noble cedar, sending forth its branches and producing seed and providing shelter. The Lord is in the business of cutting down the tall trees and helping the short trees to grow tall. He makes the green trees wither and gives new life to the dead trees. He is punishing the proud, bringing them down to dust. But he is showing grace to the humble, exalting them to a place of prominence.
The church has been planted by God like strong and graceful cedars for his own glory. In producing seeds that will bring forth plants of its own kind, the covenant community will bring glory to God. Our mission is to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom to plant churches that will plant churches. Only when we reproduce and multiply we will be able to see the earth filled with knowledge of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! -
Surprise party
Yesterday when the elders’ conference was over we went to a great surprise party! Elisabeth Osland had invited us to join her in celebrating the silver anniversary of being married to Knut Osland for 25 years. The actually date was a few weeks back, but this weekend was more suitable for celebration as so many of their friends from all over the country were gathered at the conference and could take part in the surprise party.
Elisabeth joined forces with the children and they arranged a grandchild blessing party and invited some of us to join them. That was a perfect disguise for all the necessary preparations and to get Knut to dress in a black suit. I asked Knut if they had a tradition of having great parties when a baby had been brought to church for blessing and thanksgiving. They didn’t and Knut was as surprised as me that they could make so much out of such a thing!
After having some light cakes and fruits and a competition which Knut and Elisabeth won, there was a short break before the dinner. Knut was kept busy as more guests were secretly guided to the dining hall which was locked at the normal entry. When all the about 50 prominent guests had arrived, Knut and Elisabeth were asked to come for dinner. As they entered we all shouted: CONGRATULATION with the silver jubilee!
Knut was completely knocked out. Absolutely taken by surprise! He was just shocked. I will never forget the unbelieving expression in his face, the mouth fell open, the eyes were big, and what a miracle, he went dumb – not a word came over his lips. For some seconds he was lost! I enjoyed these seconds!Eventually the reality dawned on him, and he came back to life! Then we had a wonderful party with delicious food, nice speeches and good time of fellowship.
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Goals and strategy
We have had a very good but intense day at Gullbotn today in the apostolic team discussion our goals and strategy for the work. We have formulated many big goals and talked about the best way to reach them. It has been very fruitful. All the goals are natural concequences of the apostolic mission we have been given:
The apostolic mission is to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God to cause people to repent from sin and bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The apostolic mission is to make all people groups disciples in such a way that entire nations, cultures and communities are transformed into the likeness of Christ.
The apostolic mission is to plant churches built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. The church exists for God and must be built his way for his glory.
The apostolic mission is to supervise the covenanting communities of believers and help them to grow to maturity and reach the fullness of Christ.
The apostolic mission is to bring forth a prophetic people who through their life, service and proclamation can be light and salt, – a prophetic sign, a demonstration of the age to come.
The apostolic mission is to care for the poor and underprivileged by helping them to get out of difficult and inhuman conditions. We have a social responsibility towards our neighbour.
The apostolic mission is to bring unity among all believers and foster a sense of belonging to the people of God, the holy nation, a manifold and colourful community. -
Ingrid Alexandra
As we were gathered at Gullbotn one of the brother got a SMS message telling the name of the newborn Royal Highness Princess Ingrid Alexandra. The name means “Divine beauty protector of mankind”! What a wonderful name for our first governing Queen to be for hundreds of years in Norway.
Photo: HRH Crownprince Haakon -
Team gathering
All day from morning to late evening we have been together at Gullbotn for prayer, discussion and strategic planning. We have had some significant time together as we have been trying to reformulate our vision, mission and values. This coming weekend we will have a national elders’ conference where we will dialogue along the same lines. I am sure we will have a good and fruitful time together with the elders as well!
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Isaiah the prophet is alive
Today I have spent five hours with the students at Bergen Bibelskole looking at the book of Isaiah. It was like Isaiah came alive to us in a real way. He was present with us in the classroom and his words hit us in power! His words presented us with the reality of God and insisted that we dealt with God as he reveals himself, not as we imagine him to be! He woke us up to the sovereign presence of God in our lives.
When we spend time with the prophets of God, among whom Isaiah is the supreme one, we are being changed by their vivid portraits of the Eternal One and their captivating visions of his kingdom. I was stirred in my spirit today as we looked at the prophetic ministry of Isaiah.
The visions of Isaiah and the images he uses to portrait the Unsearchable One are indeed relevant to postmodern people! -
Isaiah the prophet is alive
Today I have spent five hours with the students at Bergen Bibelskole looking at the book of Isaiah. It was like Isaiah came alive to us in a real way. He was present with us in the classroom and his words hit us in power! His words presented us with the reality of God and insisted that we dealt with God as he reveals himself, not as we imagine him to be! He woke us up to the sovereign presence of God in our lives.
When we spend time with the prophets of God, among whom Isaiah is the supreme one, we are being changed by their vivid portraits of the Eternal One and their captivating visions of his kingdom. I was stirred in my spirit today as we looked at the prophetic ministry of Isaiah.
The visions of Isaiah and the images he uses to portrait the Unsearchable One are indeed relevant to postmodern people! -
A princess is born
With great joy and pleasure we received the good news today that a princess has been born in Norway. Crown-princess Mette Marit gave birth to a girl at 09.13 this morning! Congratulation!