For release on Monday night. The Celtic book of Parabels. Facebook 1 Unselfish fervent prayer. When we consider Church planting it has been my experience that fervent prayer is the start of the process. This little story demonstrates both the heart and the motive behind this kind of prayer. The desire of one to plant a Church of Christ is a desire for a miracle or a whole series of miracles. The complexities of human attitudes and weather they desire change plus a whole host of other things and states God has to change before He can plant a new church in a different area. Having said this I am looking back on my experiences and had I known what I was asking it is very possible I would not have even started. The Celtic Church was arguably the most successful in history. The Celtic monks/missionaries kept the flame of Christianity burning for 1500 years throughout England and ultimately the whole of Europe. It came into being in about 30AD but was never a cohesive structure until much later. When it capitulated to Rome in the 1500s the light of Christ’s true church was extinguished and it was not rekindled again until the Anabaptists lit it with their own blood. Regarding their model for church planting and economic stability, it had two main thrusts. These were spiritual and then financial. It is recorded that an early missionary of the Celtic Church was given an egg. He had not eaten for two days and was very hungry. Instead of rushing in to cook the egg he instead set it carefully on a ledge and knelt in prayer. Some hours later he was found almost in a trance-like state still kneeling and staring at the egg. After a time he got up took the egg and went outside and walked along the bank of a river. He came across a boy weeping. The boy explained he was so hungry the pain in his stomach was driving him to end his life by jumping into the river. The Monk bade him to wait while he kindled a fire and cooked the egg for him. He did this and the boy ate up the egg greedily and went on his way. The Monk returned to his hut and began to pray again. Later on towards evening the boy he had fed came to him and gave him two large salmon. It transpired when he had left the monk earlier he had come across a man struggling in deep water and had helped him to safety. The man was so grateful he had given the boy 4 fishes he had caught that day for he was a fisherman. The boy had taken the fish to his mother and brought two of them back to the monk who had been so kind to him. When his companions asked why he had not eaten the egg himself he told them it was only enough for one meal and he had his companions to feed. He had earnestly besought God for a way to make the egg multiply as did the loaves and fishes in the Saviours hand. He had felt constrained by the Spirit of Christ to walk along the river at a set hour so that his prayer could be answered. This little story explains excellently the way the Celts combined the spiritual and the natural realms. It was enshrined in their faith that a Church of Christ could not fail because it lacked the means to sustain itself. If a Church was found to be failing because of this they held the church was itself responsible for its state. They would remove the missionaries and replace them with others who had proved themselves spiritually adept to storm the gates of heaven and bring down increase and goods enough to meet the needs of the church. New missionaries were often placed in situations were their faith was tested to the utmost and they had to survive or leave the order for a more hospitable life style. They never lacked men and women of this ilk. Even the sons of chieftains would be encouraged into this life style for it built men of character and strength. Some of these after a period of service would return to their village and take over the leadership and would be god fearing strong minded and devout rulers. Regarding faith, they held to the view it was like a muscle of the body. It needed to be exercised to cause it to develop. They taught there were simple steps to increased faith. The Celtic Monks never thought in terms of laying up stores for the future. They desired and expected their brotherhood to seek only what was needed for that day. This way it kept them on their knees and praying for their needs to be met. As their communities grew they still held to this principle so more was required but again never thinking of laying up vast stores. They remembered Gods word to the people in regards to the gathering of Manna. If it was Gods work then God would supply. If they were going without then they examined each other in case there was sin present in any of them. Having done this and were found still in need they looked at the church to see if there was sin among the members. They kept on doing this until they had found the cause or their needs were again met. Prayer with discernment and the word of knowledge were the keys to church growth and sustainment.. Of course we always have to remember when we consider these things. “Only when the cap fits should we wear it.”
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 13:04:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015