A fresh vision for our cities and regions.
Revelation 1:10–12
“On the Lord’s Day, I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands…”
Revelation 3:21
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Capturing God’s vision for your city or region
Loving my valley and city was one of the most difficult things for me to do personally.
When you grow up as a minister's son, go through life in church, and then as a young adult see things both good and bad, you can experience things that leave a mark. For this reason, and the pull of this world, many young people leave valleys, small towns, and villages for something else in order to make a fresh start. The result is that nothing long term can be established in regions that need God.
Further, the enemy can often use church difficulties to whisper doubt and pessimism into your mind about the place of your calling, and even instill a lack of Christlike love for the church or town in a given area.
I went through all of these feelings, yet somehow I’m still here by God’s grace. I am blessed to travel to key cities and nations around the world but I can genuinely say that I now love the city and valley of my upbringing.
However, the Lord had to do a work in my heart first. It was Francis Frangipane who once said, "The land of your battle is the land of your anointing." Upon discovering this, the Lord began to adjust my heart and mind toward my own region and city.
It was toward the cities of men that God directed Abraham, Joshua, David, and Jonah, among others, whether they were near or far away. Their heart toward the city or place of calling determined the outcome — whether good or bad. Similarly, when the people were taken into captivity, God wanted His people to "pray for the city" in which they were captive. Such an attitude of blessing would release an open heaven over that city and a blessing upon the people of God within it.
I contend that today, as we love the cities of men and the City of God (the Church), there will be an open heaven. If we do not, there will be no open heaven.
Discerning the promises of God for your region or city
If our cities are to be blessed, then the church has to be a blessing, and for that we need the blessing of God upon us. Blessing comes when covenant is renewed. We have to return to the Lord and discover His intentions as a city or regional church because there are covenantal promises hanging over us, waiting to be fulfilled.
For this to come to pass, there must be an uprooting before a replanting, and a tearing down before a rebuilding. Radical obedience will determine the outcome. Each region or city church has particular covenantal promises over it, whether it is walking in those promises or not. For those that are not, serious consequences can come. To the regional or city church that obeys the Lord, there are rich promises to be inherited for that place.
We see this in the letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. A sample of some of these churches gives us a flavour what I mean by this:
The church in Ephesus was in danger of losing its lampstand (Spirit-empowered existence), yet was called to be an apostolic hub to nations. The river of God’s purpose, like the natural river in that region, was in danger of being silted up. They had to return to their first love.
The church in Thyatira was in immense danger of allowing foreign forces into its ranks through seduction to false teaching, prophecy, and immorality. Yet for them to inherit that rich promise of authority over the nations, they had to rid themselves of Jezebel’s influence.
The church in Philadelphia had endured much and had not given way to the upheaval they had experienced through natural evictions from the city (earthquakes) and spiritual evictions from the synagogue (false church).They had been accused, persecuted, and troubled, yet Christ promised them a place and position of permanency in His Kingdom and His House. Though at times homeless, in Him they were covered and in His care. The key to the Kingdom in the city was theirs through Him. What a promise!
This is just a brief overview of what Christ speaks over a given church in a region — including both rebukes and powerful promises. But what promises! You can read the others in Revelation 2 and 3 to get a fuller picture. However, each prophetic letter required radical, practical, and spiritual obedience.
Related to the cleansing of our lands and cities must be a discernment of those calls, graces, and promises over each place.But such discernment must be coupled with an appreciation of the warnings given that might hinder the fulfillment of such promises.
The cleansing of the land mentioned in previous chapters will release the precious covenantal promises to our regions once again. By ignoring them, we will never walk in the fullness of what God has in store for the church in our valleys,towns, cities, and regions.
No geographic region is the same under God. Thus, the church in her given region has to take responsibility for her area spiritually. Revelation 2–3 shows us that the church in each respective city or region cannot repent on behalf of, or inherit the promises for, the church in another city. Just as we individually receive gifts according to the Spirit’s will in 1 Corinthians 12, so too are there unique graces and authorities on each geographic church. As each city church walks in its unique grace, the whole land and eventually the nation is enriched. In the Old Testament, each city had its own unique function, and watchmen were responsible at the gates of the city. So too in the New Testament, the church of that place had to have elders and a Spirit-filled people who walked in their unique calling and authority. This is why Jesus pronounced woes upon some cities and blessings upon others. The Lord desires to raise up city and regional churches under their own unique authority once again.
A forest full of oaks, not one great oak
In the midst of the first COVID lockdown, God spoke to my wife, Helen, that the Lord did not want to make our church one great oak in the land, but rather He wanted a forest of oaks in Wales.
A reliable tree expert in our work here informs me that, in the natural, the timber of oak trees cultivated together is stronger and more useful than that of lone trees. I am also told that a forest of oaks will in the end transform the environment and land. This is a symbol in the natural of what God wants to do in the spiritual with the Church.
Through this word, we have begun to realise that the vision for our regions and cities under the Kingdom must affect the way we see our churches locally, rather than viewing them through the lens of human systems or ideas. God-given covenants and promises are to the church as a people in cities - they are geographical, not just to denominations or organisations within the church of a city. We know that God uses various affiliations for His purpose, but when He speaks, He speaks beyond those things through the eyes of His Son. He sees the Kingdom of God coming to a geographical people of the Spirit walking in obedience to Christ.
Upon this basis, we (as Oaklands) are embarking on becoming a family of churches bound by nothing more than grace-filled relationships: no papers, no certificates, no credentials, and no overarching name. Instead, bound by relationships to spiritual family, we are releasing and ordaining sons and daughters, and relating to other churches and elders outside of our family by Kingdom covenant. We believe this is how Paul and Peter labored and related. They had different jurisdictions, unique ministries, and callings, but received one another in the Kingdom. The result: each church within its respective city or region was blessed in its unique calling.
In times past, the Lord has raised up various apostolic movements within Wales and the UK that were given a unique aspect of truth for the benefit of the wider Body of Christ. However, over time, the trappings of systems, institutions, and the political spirit have separated these benefits and callings to merely serve their own grouping or system. As a result,regions have not fulfilled their ultimate calling under God, and centralisation (instead of grace-bound relationships) has become a way to hold movements together.
I believe that a city eldership or regional eldership made up of leaders from many streams is the only thing that can guard the church within the cities of men and bring it to victory. It is the only thing that can bring a restorative move of God and see promises fulfilled for the region. It is the spiritual ‘sons’ of a region who have its spiritual interests at heart and understand what it takes to fulfill God’s purpose for that place.
This can be achieved with much grace and humility. It requires a resolute determination to maintain this under the Lordship of Christ. Let it be heard in the days ahead: “To the church in Swansea or Bridgend or any other place… this is what the Spirit says…”
Practical application
I want to propose that the leaders of churches in valleys, towns, and cities humble themselves and, rather than re-forming centralised networks or organisations, come together and ask God to establish a regional church movement founded upon a united regional eldership. (We would never demand that people leave their existing ones!) Let us look beyond those things and put the Kingdom first in a given region or city. This can be achieved by grace. It does not require local churches to become an umbrella organisation or merge under the same affiliation, but it will mean churches beginning to identify geographically under God. This will restore grace and authority to the places where we live and serve.
It might be that you can see the grace of God on an individual to pioneer the way forward in this. Get alongside that person in humility and prayer. Then let the Lord work to bring something together that forms a purpose-led unity (not ecumenism) for that region. Ecumenism cannot carry the high calling of God in Christ or keep the cutting edge of radical obedience, because it seeks to unite over the lowest common denominator in order to maintain agreement. But Spirit-formed unity with humble, obedient hearts can and will. Let’s foster the kind of leadership in a city or region that brings servant authority to the region you serve in — a kind of leadership that makes way for God to cleanse the church, and leads the church in that area to overcome through unified prayer, worship, and mission. All this can be achieved without any partisan spirit and without pulling people away from their denominations or other affiliations.
Establish a prayer movement among churches.
Establish regular eldership gatherings and a covenant between leaders and churches to heal and protect the area from issues of the past, such as division, offenses, immorality, and false teaching.
Promise to make a stand against “sheep stealing,” church-hopping, and slander. Honor each other’s ministries and the work they lead.
On a regular basis, worship together and engage in mission alongside each other in the area to bring the church to see the victory of the Gospel in that region.