About River Ministries (Norfolk)
The VISION for River Ministries (Norfolk)
"River Ministries flowing in Norfolk and Beyond" The vision of the church is
based along the A1075 that is Watton, Shipdham and Dereham.
It is that the towns have churches with a
vision for their local area, and that they remain one church united
structurally, through leadership and by an earnest desire to grow and support
one another. To work with others to see churches of a like vision planted and
established in Norfolk and beyond.
The vision is for Watton to be a Resource
Centre for the wider Christian Community and that this work will be known
internationally (from the prophecies of Muriel Shelbourne, Malcolm Baxter and
Joseph Kobo). Watton on the Web, Women for the Kingdom and Together For God are
seeking to fulfil this part of the vision.
Map of Norfolk - with Watton, Shipdham and Dereham
highlighted
Our vision will cause us to start a
journey the like of which we have never made before, making changes and
adjustments under God's direction as we go (Isaiah 42:16,"I will lead the blind
by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will
turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them".)
Norfolk has been a desolate place plagued
by splits and division, and the enemy has used this tactic successfully against
the churches. Today there is a call to unity, a standing shoulder to shoulder
to face the enemy. For the bible says (James 4:7), "Submit yourselves, then, to
God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.". As we submit our personal
ambition, ministries and lives to God, we can take our stand in unity,
resisting the devil and see him flee.
As we do this I believe that God has
given us this promise from his word: Isaiah 43:18-19, "Forget the former
things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs
up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the
wasteland." That even in this wasteland of Norfolk we will see a blossoming and
fruitfulness. This vision for rural communities working together for the
furtherance of the gospel means that a small village church made up of just 20
people will have access to full-time ministries. It means that as a group of
churches we will be able to employ a full-time evangelist and a full-time
prophet who could build their own teams from within the churches. These
itinerant ministries will also be released to travel further a field.
A small church will have available
full-time pastoral cover, together with the ministries they provide. These
small churches will meet on Sunday mornings in their own location, where the
group's worship team would provide musicians, and in the afternoon or evening
gather together for a large celebration service. My friends I pray that you
catch the vision of the church and that it will burn within you to the glory of
God and that together we will be able to say "that we were called to the
kingdom for such a time as this". Norfolk needs God's people to arise in unity
shoulder to shoulder. |
