Mark Driscoll in Belfast

Yesterday I got up bleary eyed at 4 am to start a pilgrimage with Mark Sherratt & Ryan Amos to St Annes Cathedral in Belfast. Initially I said to Mark that after the schedule we have had over the last few weeks we must be mad. But after a few hours listening to Mark Driscoll I was left in no doubt as to why we came.

Here are some headlines from Mark's first talk.

When there is new technology there is new opportunity for the Gospel.
He suggested that he saw the following hallmarks where God was moving in the church globally.
1 Reformed Theology
There is a return to Christ centred biblical truth.
Resting in the sovereignty of God in uncertain times.
The Bible starts with in the beginning God! Always start with God not man.
Follow the story line of the Bible don't pick a team of systematic theology.
We don't make movements towards God, it is God who pursues us, God who saves us, God who redeems us.
The heart of reformed theology is Jesus! A saturation of Jesus.

2 Complementary relationships in the church and home
1st government is the government of the home. Husband wife & children.
The question is not: is the man head of the home, it is, is he a good head or a bad head?
To be the head is not to be the bully or the boss it is to take 1st responsibility.
You must not only help the women who have been victims in your church you must beat the men till they change!
Presently there are around 10,000 people in Mars Hill Church. If I just had the women who had been raped and abused in the past I'd still have a mega church of 2000.
In men there is an epidemic of evading responsibility.
A man is defined not by what he consumes but by what he produces.
Men follow men.

3 Spirit filled lives
A life patterned after Jesus.
To be spirit filled you will be on mission in culture.
Luke is very intentional to show the Spirit on Jesus in his first book and the Spirit on the church in his second.
Spirit filled people don't want to be a part of a museum they want to be part of a movement.
True religion is the gospel takes root deep in the heart of the affections.

4 Missional Churches
Contend but not for everything.
A missional church contends and contextualised.
Are you doing all you can and using everything you can to reach the lost.
Don't be afraid of failure. You are already failing Just fail more creatively.
Move people from meetings to mission.
We should be gathering for worship scattering for mission.

The Holy Spirit gives us the power to be what we cannot be and do what we cannot do.