Mission Essex | Message

The big idea

The Holy Spirit moves in so we can move out on His mission — the same Spirit-empowered mission that carried the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth in the book of Acts is still carrying it from Rock Point to Essex, England, today.

The Holy Spirit doesn't move into our lives just so we can feel saved — He moves in so we move out with the gospel, the way He did with the first believers in Acts. Rock Point has watched that same pattern play out in its own twenty-three years, and now God has opened a door to partner with Mission Essex in England, a region that has become one of the least-churched places in the world, so the gospel can go out from there again.

Point 1 of 6

Pastor Bill walks through Acts 1:8, where Jesus tells the disciples they will receive power and be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. He notes Jesus corrects their assumption that the Spirit's arrival meant political deliverance for Israel — instead it meant a mission to go on.

Point 2 of 6

Pastor Bill points out that the 120 people at Pentecost grew to over 3,000 after one sermon, and within twenty-five years the Jerusalem church numbered over 100,000 in a city of 300,000, eventually reaching Rome through Paul. He draws a direct line from that pattern to Rock Point's own twenty-three-year history, which also started with 120 people.

Point 3 of 6

Simon describes coming to Christ through a boarding-school mission week that moved him from surprise to offense to conviction over several nights. Matt describes growing up in church as a religious chameleon — different at school than at church — until a Christian sports camp illustration about being in the race, not the stands, forced him to actually decide to follow Jesus.

Point 4 of 6

Simon explains that Essex was once a hub of the Reformation and sent missionaries to America, but today only about 3 percent of people attend any church and less than 1 percent attend evangelical churches — a rate missionary organizations would call unreached. He frames this decline as also an opportunity, since many younger people haven't rejected the gospel, they've simply never heard it.

Point 5 of 6

Simon tells how elder Steve Packham pushed the church to plant in Chelmsford before dying of cancer, and how the church planted anyway, growing from 40 to over 150 people while raising roughly five million dollars to build a permanent building. Matt then describes taking over a declining 25-person church in Colchester and, by making church accessible to people with no church background, growing it to around 100, including many international university students who carry the gospel back to unreached countries when they leave.

Point 6 of 6

Pastor Bill recounts how a random introduction led to lunch with Simon in Chelmsford, and how shared values — especially not taking themselves too seriously while taking Jesus seriously — connected the two churches. He frames Rock Point's history of being invited into things beyond its capacity as the reason to say yes to helping fund Mission Essex's building and pastoral support.

Take it into your week

Pastor Bill frames the ask as trusting God to move out beyond ourselves, the same way Rock Point always has.