In recent weeks, I have been discerning a new move of God coming to our Church, Kensington Temple. We have seen many such moves down through the years, each with their own emphasis and God-given purpose. But this move will be different.
Kensington Temple, Notting Hill Gate, London UK
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I picture the moves of God upon a church, city or nation rather like the waves of an incoming tide breaking onto the shore. Each successive move climbs further up the beach than the previous one. It recedes only to be replaced by another wave that advances still further.
KT was founded in the first great wave of Pentecostal outpouring in Britain nearly 100 years ago. That move was characterised by the Apostolic anointing upon our founder, George Jeffreys. The Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance (the movement Jeffreys founded) developed a denominational structure which the founder was uncomfortable with and resigned. However, Elim has in recent years experienced renewal and KT has been one of the Elim Churches at the forefront of that renewal.
We saw a season of explosive growth under the Senior Leadership of Wynne Lewis in the 1980?s. We experienced a church planting move that took us to the turn of the Century. The new Millennium brought us the ?new wineskins? of the cell vision which has revolutionised how we do church in the 21st Century.
We are the product of each successive wave of blessing the Holy Spirit has brought to us. We have experienced charismatic renewal, evangelistic success, signs and wonders as well as the blessings of the Faith Movement, without being trapped by the excesses.
We have seen the renewal linked to the outpouring associated with Toronto and in the 1990?s experienced almost two years of special manifestations of the Spirit in the form of ?oil? resting on many in the congregation at every service during that season. Characteristically, the oil materialised on the hands of people in the congregation ? something that appeared to be a heightened manifestation of the human body?s natural ability to produce oil on the skin.
In the ?oil? God was saying to us, ?I have put the anointing in the hands of my people.? What is God going to do in this next move I see coming?
The characteristic of the new wave of God will be depth. The Holy Spirit is going to do a deeper work in our hearts than ever before. We will be seeking God for himself, not just what he can do for us. We will discover a mature satisfaction in him. It will affect our worship, our devotional routines, both privately and publically. It will lead us to love God and serve him more than ever. It will be a genuine heart restoration to God and his purposes.