Papa, thank you for this city. Holy Spirit, thank you for pouring your presence out in this place. Jesus, your finished work of love and grace is so apparent here.
I really don't have words to describe the race so far. We touched down in Ireland two weeks ago today, and we have been in Coleraine, Northern Ireland since then. The UK is beautiful and our ministry here is too. It has been crazy. I am so thankful to have Georgia and Adam's team here, but 20 people living together in community presents all kinds of challenges. The Vineyard here seems to be actively impacting every aspect of the cultural, social, and spiritual environment of the north coast. For a detailed explanation of our month's ministry so far, please read this post by Georgia, my co-leader this month.
I would like to focus this post less on the ins and outs of ministry and more on the overall themes and teachings that God has been revealing to us so far. It really is hard to believe that its only been a week so far. It feels like we are several months into ministry. Nevertheless, in looking over the last week, the following truths have been central here.
1. Our identity as sons and daughters
Coming into the Race, God spoke to me about the first months being months of identity. This is already been so true. Actually, as I type this, Kathryn Scott (The incredibly anointed worship leader from the UK) is speaking at church about cancelled shame being broken as we step into a new name. Identity. We can't bring kingdom if we think we are servants or orphans. Only beloved sons and daughters carry the bloodline of their Father. We work as laborers in the vineyard (quite literally this month) but as heirs, not slaves!
It has been incredible to see the Spirit of adoption come to our team and begin to bring orphan spirits home. People are realizing they are chosen, treasured, and worthy of His love. They are finding that they were created unique in His heart and that they have a destiny, an inheritance and a role to play that was created specifically for them.
2. Our authority as trusted rulers
This church has a term that defines its members: trusted rulers. This idea is central to their DNA, and is a Kingdom reality that was basically foreign to me before arriving. Not only are we Dad's kids, we are His ambassadors, His trusted rulers. He desires to co-labor with us. He wants to see us multiply our talents instead of waiting around for Him to come back, hoping that we will have appeased Him by not making things worse.
We carry heaven's authority, and it really blesses Him when we step out and give Him the opportunity to move through us.
3. Our comfort zones as a stumbling block for following the Spirit
At training camp, we were challenged with the reality that the bounds of our comfort zone is not the spiritual gift of discernment. When we think that our experience (or lack thereof) determines truth, then we position ourselves to either miss God's work or to be offended by His moving. When instead, we recognize that God is who He says He is, and that He is constantly working in new and incredible ways, we can be excited about it even in our discomfort. This month, many of my teammates dealt with challenged comfort zones as we learned about our authority and sonship. Overall, it has been beautiful, but it is a beauty that has not come easily, and we are thankful for the safety net that is our teams.
4. Our community as a safe place to grow and process
Having 3 teams together has made for an interesting experience. We are so thankful for the time we have had together, but I know that everyone has also really begun to treasure time with our small teams. It is cool to see each team's corporate personality begin to come out. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that they are where they are supposed to be, and I'm so thankful that we are beginning to trust each other enough to step out in vulnerability.
5. Our culture as one of high honor
Looking over my life, I have rarely felt as honored as in the last months. It began for me in South America, and then in the time I had at home leading up to the race. But the Causeway Coast Vineyard's community in Northern Ireland has modeled honor for us so well that I really don't have words. I know that we won't always be treated this way, but I feel like this month has really demonstrated the Kingdom. We have been blessed and we have been a blessing.
Thank you so much for your prayers! I hope to post a video blog soon, with a little more of a personal feel about our time here in Coleraine. Tomorrow after church, we will go to a town called Enniskillen to spend a week serving the Vineyard church plant there. As far as we know now, our ministry there will mainly be "just because" servant evangelism (like cleaning loos or passing out biscuits and sweets just because), supernatural outreach (like offering prayer for healing on the streets) and prophetic evangelism (like asking God for a word for someone in a coffee shop, and then casually sharing it with them, giving Holy Spirit the chance to meet them and demonstrate the Father's love and the Son's grace).
Love you all!
Caleb
