Gilcomston Church

Monthly Letter – October 2024

The Joshua Generation

Dear Friends,

‘Strategy’ isn’t a dirty word.

It is, of course, sometimes viewed with a measure of such disdain. At least in some quarters. And it doesn’t take any rocket science to figure out why.

No, not by might, nor even power, but by Your Spirit, O Lord, are the words of the song we humbly sing: and if the word ‘strategy’ fitted rather more readily into the metre of the song, it might have been included in the line as well: for the clear, consistent teaching of the Scriptures is that it’s only ever by the Holy Spirit that the cause of Christ progresses, only by the power of the Spirit that the church is upbuilt and grows, only by the sovereign miraculous work of the Spirit of God that people are made alive.

We know that. We affirm that. And yet we can easily be subtly seduced by the lies and half-truths of the devil who beguiles us with tales of commercial success and commends to our thinking the models by which firms have grown. And so a church committed to gospel growth will be eager to plant daughter churches – and we thank God it’s so: but there’s a dynamic involved in such patterns of growth which, unless carefully watched, results in a church becoming in time a ‘brand’. And the more that a church becomes a ‘brand’, the more it requires to invest its resources in sustaining and expanding the brand. The mission turns into something of a monster: a hungry, ravenous ‘monster’ devouring all a church’s increasing resources to perpetuate itself.

And that doesn’t happen without a clear and cogent strategy. Subtly, slowly, and (dare I say) satanically, strategy then can assume a place it was never meant to have and can end up centre stage. At which point, of course, a church has lost the plot. For, no, it’s not by any sort of strategy or strength of our devising that the cause of Christ proceeds: it is only ever by the Spirit. And when a resort to, and reliance on, strategy replaces that more basic and total reliance on the Spirit of God, well, yes, strategy is then not so much a dirty word as an upstart servant that’s become a pretender to the throne.

It’s never strategy we need so much as the Spirit of God. As a young Christian I remember reading E M Bounds’ book, Power Through Prayer, and being struck by what was almost his opening salvo – “What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men (and he means, of course, men and women – the book is somewhat dated, published back in 1910) whom the Holy Ghost can use – men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men – men of prayer.”

We get that. Well, I hope we do! Prayer – such prayer by which we fervently plead with the Lord and lay hold of the Spirit of God – prayer is the powerhouse of any gospel ministry. We know that. Indeed, it can be a truth so deeply seared on our minds and hearts that we can sometimes almost end up subconsciously ‘suspicious’ of any sort of planning. As if planning and praying were somehow two mutually exclusive alternatives.

And at that point again we’ve lost the plot! Because planning, ‘strategy’ – call it what you will – as I said at the start, ‘strategy’ is not a dirty word.

God Himself is a strategist. The master strategist. He doesn’t act in a random, see-what-I-feel-like manner. He plans. He’s thought things through from beginning to end, and He’s come up with a strategy. That’s how the Bible begins with its thrilling account of creation. It’s pure, exalted strategy. He knows what He’s doing – what He wants to effect, where He means to end up. And He knows how to get there as well. And that’s just creation!

It isn’t any different when it comes to that with which the bulk of the Bible’s concerned – salvation. ‘Salvation’ wasn’t some sort of sudden, generous afterthought on the part of the sovereign God. It wasn’t a ‘random act of kindness’ in which He spontaneously engaged. Anything but. It was ‘strategy’, a wise and wonderful strategy on the part of the eternal God. That’s the basis on which alone the apostle was able to say that “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rom.8.28): it’s the fact that He has purposed salvation which alone affords such assurance. There is, after all, what we call the ‘plan of salvation’: and if that’s not strategy, it’s hard to know what is!

When it comes to implementing that plan, to ensure that “all peoples on earth” should know the promised blessing of salvation (Gen.12.3), well, again, the Lord Jesus Himself resorts to strategy. How on earth is this ‘motley crew’ of rag-tag followers ever going to ‘make disciples of all nations’ under the guidance and empowering of the Spirit? He spells it out for them. Start where you are and move out and on from there. Jerusalem. Then Judea. Then Samaria. Then on out, like the ripples in a pond when the Rock’s been thrown in, to the ends of the earth. Strategy. A plan. What to do, where to go, and how to get there.

The New Testament is full of strategy. It’s fuller still of the Spirit, of course! But not in a way that sidelines any strategy. The apostle Paul, for instance, was nothing if not strategic in his thinking as he ventured out, obedient to the call of God, to take the gospel to the Gentile world. Check out how he went about engaging the people of Athens – and see if there wasn’t strategy in that. Check out the way he’d focus his time and labours on a major population centre such as Ephesus, aware that from there the message would then ripple out until all of the province of Asia would hear about Jesus. Check out the care he took to take on board apprentices when he headed out on mission (Mark, on the first journey; Timothy on the second), and the concern he had that Timothy in turn would “entrust (the message) to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim.2.2). That’s all strategy.

He didn’t depend on strategy: but he didn’t dismiss it. He recognised that God Himself is the God of order, who thinks and plans and formulates His strategies. Strategy is significant. Always. There are, however, particular seasons, or stages in the progress of the work of God, when strategy – the need for strategic thinking – comes more into play than at other times and stages.

Think of the way in which Moses gave way to Joshua. Both God-appointed leaders. Both rooted in the Word of God and focused on His glory. But different in their giftedness and calling. And when the people reach at last the borders of the promised land, the baton of God’s leadership passes from the hand of Moses to a younger (but nonetheless experienced) man, who’ll take them on across the river Jordan to occupy the land.

Two different leaders, for two very different chapters in this people’s life. The one, Moses, more didactic in terms of the character of his leadership and the nature of the ministry entrusted him by God. The other, Joshua, that bit more strategic in the character his leadership assumed. Not that the two (the didactic and the strategic) are in any way mutually exclusive, of course: not at all.

Moses himself was hardly lacking in strategy in all that he was called to do across those long, momentous years. But nonetheless, when you stand back from those forty years of leadership and view them as a whole, the single, ‘stand-out’ feature of his ministry was surely Moses’ teaching. Patient, persistent, profound, the man was careful to teach the people God’s ‘Law’; to impress on their minds, and ingrain in their hearts (as best he was able) the rich and all-encompassing truth of God’s Word – and that to the end that this people might learn how to live the life of true freedom, and then ‘showcase’ in the promised land before a watching world how altogether good is the life which is lived in the service of the King. An essentially didactic ministry.

Whereas Joshua, while hardly short on his teaching of the Word of God, was very much the strategist. And had to be. Never to the detriment of the continuing didactic role that a leader will have – as the narrative of his ministry insists. Right from the start, the Lord makes clear where the man’s priorities will lie: “Be careful to obey all the law My servant Moses gave you .. keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night ..” (Josh.1.7-8) – and clearly Joshua did. Because right at the end of the book which bears his name and tells the story of his leadership, he’s still teaching the people the Word. “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses” (Josh.23.6): he’s still spelling out the practical applications of that Word, still drumming its truth right into their heads, declaring the covenant commitment of God to His people and demanding from them their total, unstinting allegiance to the Lord – right up to literally his final recorded words.

So the man was a teacher, for sure. But when you stand just that bit back from the record of his ministry and view it in its entirety, then it’s plain as daylight that the ‘stand-out’ feature of his leadership was very much his capacity for strategic thinking. A rather different sort of leadership from that which Moses had exercised: and different of necessity. The entrance into, and occupation of, the land which had been promised them, required a huge degree of strategy which the somewhat sedentary, ‘college’ years of ‘training’ in the wilderness had never really warranted. There were cities to be taken, battles to be fought, peoples to be countered and subdued. There was need now for someone to marshal the troops, instead of just mentoring the class.

The Jordan, in a sense, was the defining point – not quite the line in the sand, but the spot on the map and the moment in time, when the pattern and character of leadership needed to change. To cross that line, to enter the land, to move forward in light of the purpose and promise of God – that involved for the people a different sort of leadership. Strategic now, as much as simply didactic.

And it is, I suggest, at just such a point that we find ourselves now as a fellowship here of God’s people. The Lord has wonderfully brought us to this ‘cross-over’ point. Faithful and gracious in all His sovereign dealings with us down the years: and now we stand on the banks of a whole new chapter, and bidden, like Israel of old, to step into that future – eager, expectant, and trusting the Lord who has loved us and led us and not let us down.

Nathan is far more of a strategist than I’ll ever be. No less rooted in the Word of God. No less able or eager to teach us the Scriptures and bring to us all the very ‘oracles of God’. But a ‘strategist’ to boot: a man who thinks strategically: a man, we believe, who like ‘Joshua son of Nun’, is ‘filled with the Spirit of wisdom’, and equipped for the challenges, battles and struggles which the coming years will almost certainly involve.

That is surely the perspective we’re given to have. For there will indeed be battles here in Scotland to be fought in coming days, issues to be met head on and enemies to face, strongholds to be tackled and brought low, as together in the name of Christ we realise the future which our Saviour’s been preparing us all for, and pursue the cause of the gospel in the midst of a land in a deepening, stubborn darkness. It’s time for the Joshua generation.

We’re here in ‘the plains of Moab’ now, camped by the banks of the great river Jordan, and soon to cross over into Christ’s new future for us. A time to pause and prepare. And a time for fresh consecration. Remember the words which Joshua spoke to the people, right there on the banks of the river.

“Consecrate yourselves,” he said, “for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Josh.3.5). Let the words sink in. Let the promise thrill your heart. Let the challenge stir your soul. We’re soon to cross the river, to turn the page, to start a whole new chapter in the story of God’s awesome, gracious, constantly-surprising-us, purposes of grace. It’s Jesus, the one to whom His Hebrew namesake Joshua had pointed – it’s Jesus who’s our leader: and He’s brought to us a strategist to lead us through the coming days. Let’s, each of us, be careful now to consecrate ourselves afresh: we’re pressing on and going in! And the Lord’s shall be the glory.

Yours, as eager, and as committed to you all, as ever, in the glad service of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Jeremy Middleton

The Joshua Generation

Dear Friends,

‘Strategy’ isn’t a dirty word.

It is, of course, sometimes viewed with a measure of such disdain. At least in some quarters. And it doesn’t take any rocket science to figure out why.

No, not by might, nor even power, but by Your Spirit, O Lord, are the words of the song we humbly sing: and if the word ‘strategy’ fitted rather more readily into the metre of the song, it might have been included in the line as well: for the clear, consistent teaching of the Scriptures is that it’s only ever by the Holy Spirit that the cause of Christ progresses, only by the power of the Spirit that the church is upbuilt and grows, only by the sovereign miraculous work of the Spirit of God that people are made alive.

We know that. We affirm that. And yet we can easily be subtly seduced by the lies and half-truths of the devil who beguiles us with tales of commercial success and commends to our thinking the models by which firms have grown. And so a church committed to gospel growth will be eager to plant daughter churches – and we thank God it’s so: but there’s a dynamic involved in such patterns of growth which, unless carefully watched, results in a church becoming in time a ‘brand’. And the more that a church becomes a ‘brand’, the more it requires to invest its resources in sustaining and expanding the brand. The mission turns into something of a monster: a hungry, ravenous ‘monster’ devouring all a church’s increasing resources to perpetuate itself.

And that doesn’t happen without a clear and cogent strategy. Subtly, slowly, and (dare I say) satanically, strategy then can assume a place it was never meant to have and can end up centre stage. At which point, of course, a church has lost the plot. For, no, it’s not by any sort of strategy or strength of our devising that the cause of Christ proceeds: it is only ever by the Spirit. And when a resort to, and reliance on, strategy replaces that more basic and total reliance on the Spirit of God, well, yes, strategy is then not so much a dirty word as an upstart servant that’s become a pretender to the throne.

It’s never strategy we need so much as the Spirit of God. As a young Christian I remember reading E M Bounds’ book, Power Through Prayer, and being struck by what was almost his opening salvo – “What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men (and he means, of course, men and women – the book is somewhat dated, published back in 1910) whom the Holy Ghost can use – men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men – men of prayer.”

We get that. Well, I hope we do! Prayer – such prayer by which we fervently plead with the Lord and lay hold of the Spirit of God – prayer is the powerhouse of any gospel ministry. We know that. Indeed, it can be a truth so deeply seared on our minds and hearts that we can sometimes almost end up subconsciously ‘suspicious’ of any sort of planning. As if planning and praying were somehow two mutually exclusive alternatives.

And at that point again we’ve lost the plot! Because planning, ‘strategy’ – call it what you will – as I said at the start, ‘strategy’ is not a dirty word.

God Himself is a strategist. The master strategist. He doesn’t act in a random, see-what-I-feel-like manner. He plans. He’s thought things through from beginning to end, and He’s come up with a strategy. That’s how the Bible begins with its thrilling account of creation. It’s pure, exalted strategy. He knows what He’s doing – what He wants to effect, where He means to end up. And He knows how to get there as well. And that’s just creation!

It isn’t any different when it comes to that with which the bulk of the Bible’s concerned – salvation. ‘Salvation’ wasn’t some sort of sudden, generous afterthought on the part of the sovereign God. It wasn’t a ‘random act of kindness’ in which He spontaneously engaged. Anything but. It was ‘strategy’, a wise and wonderful strategy on the part of the eternal God. That’s the basis on which alone the apostle was able to say that “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rom.8.28): it’s the fact that He has purposed salvation which alone affords such assurance. There is, after all, what we call the ‘plan of salvation’: and if that’s not strategy, it’s hard to know what is!

When it comes to implementing that plan, to ensure that “all peoples on earth” should know the promised blessing of salvation (Gen.12.3), well, again, the Lord Jesus Himself resorts to strategy. How on earth is this ‘motley crew’ of rag-tag followers ever going to ‘make disciples of all nations’ under the guidance and empowering of the Spirit? He spells it out for them. Start where you are and move out and on from there. Jerusalem. Then Judea. Then Samaria. Then on out, like the ripples in a pond when the Rock’s been thrown in, to the ends of the earth. Strategy. A plan. What to do, where to go, and how to get there.

The New Testament is full of strategy. It’s fuller still of the Spirit, of course! But not in a way that sidelines any strategy. The apostle Paul, for instance, was nothing if not strategic in his thinking as he ventured out, obedient to the call of God, to take the gospel to the Gentile world. Check out how he went about engaging the people of Athens – and see if there wasn’t strategy in that. Check out the way he’d focus his time and labours on a major population centre such as Ephesus, aware that from there the message would then ripple out until all of the province of Asia would hear about Jesus. Check out the care he took to take on board apprentices when he headed out on mission (Mark, on the first journey; Timothy on the second), and the concern he had that Timothy in turn would “entrust (the message) to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim.2.2). That’s all strategy.

He didn’t depend on strategy: but he didn’t dismiss it. He recognised that God Himself is the God of order, who thinks and plans and formulates His strategies. Strategy is significant. Always. There are, however, particular seasons, or stages in the progress of the work of God, when strategy – the need for strategic thinking – comes more into play than at other times and stages.

Think of the way in which Moses gave way to Joshua. Both God-appointed leaders. Both rooted in the Word of God and focused on His glory. But different in their giftedness and calling. And when the people reach at last the borders of the promised land, the baton of God’s leadership passes from the hand of Moses to a younger (but nonetheless experienced) man, who’ll take them on across the river Jordan to occupy the land.

Two different leaders, for two very different chapters in this people’s life. The one, Moses, more didactic in terms of the character of his leadership and the nature of the ministry entrusted him by God. The other, Joshua, that bit more strategic in the character his leadership assumed. Not that the two (the didactic and the strategic) are in any way mutually exclusive, of course: not at all.

Moses himself was hardly lacking in strategy in all that he was called to do across those long, momentous years. But nonetheless, when you stand back from those forty years of leadership and view them as a whole, the single, ‘stand-out’ feature of his ministry was surely Moses’ teaching. Patient, persistent, profound, the man was careful to teach the people God’s ‘Law’; to impress on their minds, and ingrain in their hearts (as best he was able) the rich and all-encompassing truth of God’s Word – and that to the end that this people might learn how to live the life of true freedom, and then ‘showcase’ in the promised land before a watching world how altogether good is the life which is lived in the service of the King. An essentially didactic ministry.

Whereas Joshua, while hardly short on his teaching of the Word of God, was very much the strategist. And had to be. Never to the detriment of the continuing didactic role that a leader will have – as the narrative of his ministry insists. Right from the start, the Lord makes clear where the man’s priorities will lie: “Be careful to obey all the law My servant Moses gave you .. keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night ..” (Josh.1.7-8) – and clearly Joshua did. Because right at the end of the book which bears his name and tells the story of his leadership, he’s still teaching the people the Word. “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses” (Josh.23.6): he’s still spelling out the practical applications of that Word, still drumming its truth right into their heads, declaring the covenant commitment of God to His people and demanding from them their total, unstinting allegiance to the Lord – right up to literally his final recorded words.

So the man was a teacher, for sure. But when you stand just that bit back from the record of his ministry and view it in its entirety, then it’s plain as daylight that the ‘stand-out’ feature of his leadership was very much his capacity for strategic thinking. A rather different sort of leadership from that which Moses had exercised: and different of necessity. The entrance into, and occupation of, the land which had been promised them, required a huge degree of strategy which the somewhat sedentary, ‘college’ years of ‘training’ in the wilderness had never really warranted. There were cities to be taken, battles to be fought, peoples to be countered and subdued. There was need now for someone to marshal the troops, instead of just mentoring the class.

The Jordan, in a sense, was the defining point – not quite the line in the sand, but the spot on the map and the moment in time, when the pattern and character of leadership needed to change. To cross that line, to enter the land, to move forward in light of the purpose and promise of God – that involved for the people a different sort of leadership. Strategic now, as much as simply didactic.

And it is, I suggest, at just such a point that we find ourselves now as a fellowship here of God’s people. The Lord has wonderfully brought us to this ‘cross-over’ point. Faithful and gracious in all His sovereign dealings with us down the years: and now we stand on the banks of a whole new chapter, and bidden, like Israel of old, to step into that future – eager, expectant, and trusting the Lord who has loved us and led us and not let us down.

Nathan is far more of a strategist than I’ll ever be. No less rooted in the Word of God. No less able or eager to teach us the Scriptures and bring to us all the very ‘oracles of God’. But a ‘strategist’ to boot: a man who thinks strategically: a man, we believe, who like ‘Joshua son of Nun’, is ‘filled with the Spirit of wisdom’, and equipped for the challenges, battles and struggles which the coming years will almost certainly involve.

That is surely the perspective we’re given to have. For there will indeed be battles here in Scotland to be fought in coming days, issues to be met head on and enemies to face, strongholds to be tackled and brought low, as together in the name of Christ we realise the future which our Saviour’s been preparing us all for, and pursue the cause of the gospel in the midst of a land in a deepening, stubborn darkness. It’s time for the Joshua generation.

We’re here in ‘the plains of Moab’ now, camped by the banks of the great river Jordan, and soon to cross over into Christ’s new future for us. A time to pause and prepare. And a time for fresh consecration. Remember the words which Joshua spoke to the people, right there on the banks of the river.

“Consecrate yourselves,” he said, “for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Josh.3.5). Let the words sink in. Let the promise thrill your heart. Let the challenge stir your soul. We’re soon to cross the river, to turn the page, to start a whole new chapter in the story of God’s awesome, gracious, constantly-surprising-us, purposes of grace. It’s Jesus, the one to whom His Hebrew namesake Joshua had pointed – it’s Jesus who’s our leader: and He’s brought to us a strategist to lead us through the coming days. Let’s, each of us, be careful now to consecrate ourselves afresh: we’re pressing on and going in! And the Lord’s shall be the glory.

Yours, as eager, and as committed to you all, as ever, in the glad service of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Jeremy Middleton