Holy Convocations ... What do these stones mean?!!

I found myself doing something rather odd the other day. I was playing on Google maps and found myself looking at satellite images of some of the sites of the Bible Weeks I have been to. Here is;

1. Where Stoneleigh Bible Week (Terry Virgo and Newfrontiers) used to be held (near Coventry, UK):

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2. Where the Anglia Bible Week (my home church Bible Week visited by Ern Baxter) used to be held (Norfolk, UK);

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3. Finally where the Dales Bible Week used to be held (Bryn Jones, Ern Baxter, Bob Mumford and Terry Virgo among other speakers and leaders) - this was in Yorkshire, UK.

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So why did I indulge in this rather nostalgic practice? Well I was challenged recently by a blogging friend as to why I spend so much time thinking about the great men and women of the past - such as Ern Baxter. He suggested that I should move into "today's" anointing. I respect him so listened and have thought through for some time whether I have an unhealthy emphasis on the past. There is a sense however that thinking about the past is important - and a vital reminder to what God HAS done - particularly when He doesn't seem to be doing much.

Note I didn't say He isn't doing much. I said when He doesn't "seem" to be doing much.

Joshua 4: "Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder ... to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' ... These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

Matthew Henry comments on these verses from Joshua;

"The works of the Lord are so worthy of rememberance, and the heart of man is so prone to forget them, that various methods are needful to refresh our memories, for the glory of God, our advantage, and that of our children. God gave orders for preparing this memorial".

It struck me that there is very little that I can do to provoke or see a new move of God. I can pray clearly, I can look and watch. But start a new move? That is God and God alone's glorious timing and work. But what I CAN do is to provide "various methods" to refresh the memories of us. To remember the great and glorious mountain-top occasions at those now-empty showgrounds - to reflect on the prophetic insights and teaching that came from those Bible weeks.

I've still got the "Stoneleigh Bible Week 2000" leaflet - the first Stoneleigh I went to. Terry Virgo wrote the "Welcome" and said;

"We want to come together again to celebrate, be encouraged, renew our vision, encounter God in power and be sent on our way solidly renewed, empowered and freshly commissioned to our great task".

The thought that struck me was this - is there any LESS need for any of those things? To me - they aren't luxuries. They are NECESSITIES to the Christian life. But Stoneleigh Bible Week was stopped for reasons well known. Newfrontiers invested quite a bit in their annual "Together on a Mission and Mobilise" conference held in Brighton. But that's stopping too next year apparently.

The question I'd still pose is - how is the church celebrating, being encouraging, renewing vision (if we have one) and encountering God in power? Has the "age of Bible weeks" passed and how have those necessities been replaced? Until those questions have been answered, I will still remind of those high times past - a pile of stones if you will.

I Love History!!

I am so excited and grateful to my dear friend Nick Cameron for posting these forgotten photos of the Bible Weeks that we as a church used to enjoy - and in particular our visits from Ern Baxter. Brings back so many memories - I wish at times I had been born earlier!

This photo is of Ern Baxter standing with the New Covenant church elders when he visited in 1991.

This was Stanley Jebb introducing Ern Baxter at the Anglia Bible Week in 1984 - Ern was speaking on the "Priestly Garments". The transcript of the messages is available here.

The Bible Week Phenomenon

Is reminiscing a sign of age?!

Ah well - I was excited to find this small advert in one of the many Restoration Magazines I am reading tonight (that is scanned and at the bottom of this post). The Bible Weeks were a key part of the 1970's to 90s and some indeed have carried on (such as Grapevine) whereas others such as Stoneleigh Bible Week have closed down. Why were they such a part of the Charismatic Movement? William K Kay comments in his academic thesis; "Apostolic Networks in Britain - New Ways of Doing Church" - that;

"The big public events of the Dales and Downs Bible Weeks brought restorationism to public notice in the 1970's. Before then it's following had been small and invisible. The big Bible weeks made a resounding declaration and established a trend".

In terms of statistics William Kay stated;

"By 1987 it was estimated that restorationist numbers in the UK as a whole had grown from 20,000 to 75,000; indeed by 1987 there were some 20 Bible Weeks a year in the UK catering for 100,000 people ... the cry that God had finished with denominations seemed all too obviously confirmed".

Those who are familiar with UK charismatic history will know that as the Dales Bible Week reached it's heights in the early 1980's and Bryn Jones encouraged other Bible Weeks to begin in different locations of the UK. This generous and pioneering spirit demonstrates that Bryn was far from trying to build his own empire - but his spirit was for God to be famous throughout the nations.

The Downs Bible Week began under Terry Virgo and Coastlands down on the south coast of England which then became the famous Stoneleigh Bible Week near Coventry.

The South and West Bible Week began near Bristol in south-west England under Tony Morton - which has now become New Wine and Soul Survivor .

And my home church - New Covenant Church in Dunstable - began the Anglia Bible Week first held at Chadacre and then the Royal Norfolk Showground. Ern Baxter was our main visiting speaker in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985 saw Bob Mumford visiting - with Peter Parris and Peter Lewis also contributing to ministry alongside Stanley himself.

So here is the advert for the first Anglia Bible Week below. The logo of the tree was famous among us as kids. Each year we were given badges with the logo on and each year the colour would change.

Ern Baxter and Rob Rufus Stand Together!!

I am constantly staggered at how similar these two great heroes of mine are. Their vision, their preaching, their passions - just utterly thrill me. I have been working through a series of DVD's that I made from the Anglia Bible Week 1984. Ern Baxter was the keynote speaker as usual and he presented an academic series of sermons on the first half of the Book of Romans.

I caught this quote:



"That has got to do with the revelation of God that Jesus Christ is yours by faith before God and you are as righteous as CHRIST is before God!".

We have got to start waking up to the fact that Rob Rufus is not some lone maverick on a personal crusade. He is merely restoring the lost message of grace and taking it a step further than Ern Baxter (I believe) in letting it WORK in signs and wonders and miracles. "You are as righteous as CHRIST is before God!". Wow. That's going to affect the way I wake up in the morning!

Anglia Bible Week Worship 1983

I'm not overly fond of writing autobiographical statements without due cause, but every now and then something comes up that is part of my history. I made this clip from an old video I found while I was unpacking and sorting the new flat. It gives a powerful clip into something of my spiritual heritage. The Anglia Bible Weeks were run by my home church and Dr Ern Baxter was one of the main visiting speakers. The series; "The Priestly Clothing" was preached in 1983 - the same year as this worship.

You can in fact spot Ern Baxter during the worship if you look closely. When the camera scans over the congregation you can see him standing on the front room. Old friends such as Mark Heath will probably recognise some of the elders from our home church too! I love the song they march around the cattleshed too (yes we met in cattlesheds long before Stoneleigh!) - "The Church of God is moving!".

Hope you enjoy it and sense the Presence of God blessing that particular time in church history. There was an anointing there that is still valid today as Rob Rufus taught as Brighton in July. The timelessness of the glory! The Bible Weeks may generally be over - but the anointing is still there. We can still benefit much from listening to past tapes and hear past worship.



Just as a matter of interest, I copied an old "Dales Bible Week" worship tape to MP3 and posted it here on esnips.