Christians in Parliament Prayer Meeting – Gillan Scott courtesy Archbishop Cranmer.

A week ago this evening, on Wednesday 1st July at The Emmanuel Centre in Marsham Street, Westminster, Christians in Parliament with Christians in Politics and Christians in Government met together for their annual service of prayer and worship.

After having asked, Is God behind the stunning election results? and then noting Brief bullet points on the Lord’s action in Britain, it’s now encouraging to read my fellow blogger Gillan Scott’s report on last Wednesday’s event – and to learn that its principal speaker was from Bethel Church, which was established by Bill Johnson in Redding, California.

[Note: It was in a Revival Alliance meeting at that London church when Bill unusually made a prophetic statement: “We would look back at 1st September 2011 as the day things changed in the UK” – see four entries under ‘Sep 2011’ in this blog’s Library.]

I’ve been privileged to re-post many stimulating articles from Gillan’s blog ‘God and Politics UK’, which merged last September with ‘Archbishop Cranmer’, as announced here, and Gillan became deputy editor. In Christians in Parliament demonstrate what doing God really means he now writes,

“…It’s always good to be invited to meet in fellowship with other Christians away from my own Church and this was no exception. Seeing the auditorium filled with hundreds of people involved in government at various levels was genuinely both heartening and encouraging. Gary Streeter MP was pleased to announce that many new MPs have joined Christians in Parliament (mostly Conservatives, I discovered). Christians in Politics are excited about the increasing interest in political involvement in our churches that they are witnessing. And Christians in Government which is made up mostly of civil servants reported that God is doing some wonderful things through their members within their departments.

“This was a celebration of God’s direct involvement in the political realm. It was not a stuffy, dry, get-together for a bunch of people who are desperately trying to preserve a common interest. Instead, there was a sense that these were people confident that God could use them as missionaries and witnesses to bring light into their workplaces and beyond, sharing in the work of God who has a big plan for this world…”

As ever, I cannot recommend Gillan’s work too highly and encourage you to read his report in full by clicking here, or on the preceding title of his post. In closing, here’s the opening of his summary:

“I saw more hope and expectation during that service in Westminster than I do in many churches. God gives each one of us a calling and offers us a vision, but instead of responding with a big Yes, too often we come back with a whole set of noes. Instead of seeing Jesus as he is and us as God intends us to be, we settle for an inferior version. When this happens the natural tendency is to stop looking out, seeing ourselves as lights shining into the darkness, and instead shining that light at each other, finding faults and obsessing over differences and secondary issues. We get caught up in fretting over problems rather than fixing our eyes on God’s bigger picture.

“All is not lost for the Church though. Even the Church of England for all of its failings is getting some things right…”

Thank you and bless you for this news my friend. As the prophet Isaiah proclaims (52:7):

How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

NB: The.prophetical implications of Gillan’s report are considered in the next post >>