LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT OUR CHURCH

 Explaining the Story, Statements, Structure and Strategy Of New Wine Church 

“THIS IS OUR FUTURE”

By Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
New Wine Church, London

Sunday 2 October 2011

Foundation Scriptures: Matthew 16:18 & Habakkuk 2: 2-3
 Last week we looked at ministry and concluded that every believer is called to be a minister, ministering to God and to people and in doing so, meeting their spiritual, physical and emotional needs. We understood the importance of embracing the truth that we have been called to be ministers and challenged ourselves to begin serving.

In Habakkuk 2: 2-3, we are told that the vision is for an appointed time. God’s tendency is to talk to you about where He is taking you before you get there; He shows you a picture of the future before the future unfolds. You will recall that God spoke to Abram and renamed him Abraham (Father of many nations) at a time at which he had no child. He spoke to Abraham about the Promised Land, making him walk through the land although many generations would pass before his descendants went in and possessed the land. Similarly, God spoke to Joseph about his future 13 years before actualising what He had shown him. From this we can understand that God will let you hear, see and taste the future before bringing it to pass.

The word ‘vision’ is derived from a Hebrew word which encapsulates having a dream or revelation, seeing ahead of time and perceiving something mentally. Dr A.R. Bernard defined vision very simply yet profoundly, as being a ‘picture of the future’ and on this basis, the importance of having a vision on a personal and also a corporate level becomes clearer than ever – vision is crucial. People without vision tend to lack direction, restraint and self-control (see Proverbs 29: 18).

Vision, the picture of the future, is what makes you get up again when life knocks you down, providing you with the power to carry on. When God reveals to you a picture of the future He is transferring what is in His mind and heart into your heart and mind in order that you can apprehend what He has already concluded about your future in the realm of the spirit. If you cannot see the future you will not be able to have it. It is important therefore to be able to transcend beyond the natural realm and access the future. There is something about getting to the future before getting there...

It is not enough however for one person to have vision, it must be communicated and embraced by other people to whom it relates. You will recall that the 12 spies who had been sent by Moses to survey the Promised Land returned and conveyed their report of what they had seen to the rest of the children of Israel. Similarly with New Wine Church – God has given me a glimpse of the future and it is this, which I consider to be my assignment for the next five to ten years that I want to share with you in summary form today:
1. Grow New Wine Church
God has not called us to be a small church. I believe that this church is due to grow exponentially and become a truly mega-church the membership of which is numbered in its tens of thousands. Why, you may ask, would this be important? The answer is simply that there is power and influence in numbers. In a representative democracy such as this in the UK, those representing large numbers of people, have a voice which cannot be ignored. Also and more fundamentally, quantities and amounts matter to God – if you look throughout scripture, you will see that quantities numbers and amounts are recounted with specificity, from the five thousand men that were fed by Jesus with two fish and five loaves to 120 who were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost – God even devoted an entire book of the Old Testament to numbers!

New Wine Church is called to be a mega church which wields power and influence in this nation and therefore each seat that is currently unoccupied represents a destiny and a soul that is yet to be saved. It is important therefore that you go out and play your part and make this happen.
2. Become a Strong Prophetic Voice to the Government and in the Marketplace
When I taught last year on the seven pillars of influence, we looked at influence in both the economy and in the political arena and therefore whilst I will not go into great detail on these points, it remains the case that New Wine Church is called to be a major force in politics and the economy. We are beginning to see this in relation to the local authority here in Greenwich which seeks and responds to our opinion on pertinent issues and with whom we engage constructively and it is our expectation that this level of influence will spread to national government.

In terms of economic influence, I believe that New Wine Church will be a people of substance, and that we will see birthed multiple millionaires and even billionaires who are equipped with understanding of the kingdom-purpose for their wealth.
3. Raise Strong Leaders
We will see raised in this house strong and dynamic leaders who are able to hold their own in any dimension as well as in turn, raising a new generation of leaders. In New Wine Church we will see an actualisation of the four levels of leadership we can identify in 2 Timothy when Paul wrote to Timothy encouraging him to entrust his teachings to faithful men who are able to teach others. In addition to growing internally leaders, I see New Wine Church providing a formal mentorship programme for young pastors which will empower them to take their ministries to the next level.
4. Resource Other Churches
New Wine Church is renowned for its spirit of excellence and it is this that many other churches lack, resulting in a lopsided or imbalanced ministry that excels in one area but is weak in others. I want New Wine Church to help build up other churches by sending in our leaders to train their teams and also by conducting seminars and workshops from which other ministries can benefit. We have begun to see this already with the multi-media and Financial Empowerment teams providing training to other churches however, it is, I believe our calling to do this on a much larger scale.
5. Plant Other Churches
When we speak of New Wine Church growing in number, the motive must not be that of empire building but must be missions-led. New Wine Church is called to plant churches in at least 12 of major cities throughout Western Europe. Western Europe is important as they have the largest populations and also more fundamentally, Western-Europe is the most in need of the truth of the gospel as it is fast-becoming the birthing place of the most heinous sins. We are therefore called to plant churches throughout Western Europe.

6. Adopting Existing Churches
I have been invited on numerous occasions to take over churches although have been disinclined to do so, preferring instead to offer assistance guidance and support to leaders to enable them to turn their ministries around. However, I am quite clear that New Wine Church is called to replicate the same level of excellence in other settings. Currently we have leaders who are equipped and qualified to pastor churches and in time, we will send people out to do just that.
7. Empower People in the Developing Nations
We have seen from our lepers’ colony in Shalom Nagar, India, the difference that one local church can make to the poor and marginalised in the developing world. I see New Wine Church expanding and replicating its achievements in this regard throughout the developing world with a particular focus on health and education.
These are the seven features of our vision which encapsulate where we are going in the next five to ten years.
12 years ago, I wrote The Church I See  which is a vision of the 21^st Century Church, representing a strong, diverse and powerful church, the features of which you will immediately identify with the picture of the future New Wine that I have outlined above. I conclude this message today with an extract from that vision as follows:

As a matter of fact, the Church I see is our church – New Wine Church. I will not say in my heart ‘who will ascend into heaven to bring down this church?’ or ‘who will descend in to the depths to bring it up?’ For the word is near me, in my mouth and in my heart. This church is locked up within us. In the innermost recesses of our hearts – in our bowels – in our loins and in our spiritual wombs. And we will pay the price; we will travail as Zion and bring forth this child – this church.

This church will become a reality in the earth. So let this church emerge- let her arise in the earth, strong and mighty. Let her come forth; let her step out of the mind of God and into the streets of London. Let her climb out of the pages of the bible  - out of Revelation 21 and become a reality in our day. LET HER COME FORTH AND BE THE CHURCH OF THE 21^ST CENTURY!