00 Foreword

      We are indebted to Mike Brown for this poignant and timely book.

      Local church, for that is what the seven churches of Revelation essentially were, is not always seen by God as a corporate entity but as a gathering of individuals each with their own strengths and weaknesses and operating at various levels of maturity and spiritual growth.  Why then, we might ask, does God address each of them as a group?  The answer is that, although the above is true, local church tends to develop a culture – an overriding identity by which it is known, a climate, for good or bad, that defines it.

      Though individuals are responsible for their own actions, it is leadership that sets the benchmark – hence the letters being addressed to the angel, or messenger, of the church in each instance.

      It has been said that the local church is the hope of the world and I have no doubt that, under God, that is true.  It is for this reason that it becomes a prime focus for the attack of the Enemy.  It was Martin Luther who said that “Where God builds a church the Devil builds a chapel.”

      When it comes to Church, one size certainly does not fit all.  During fifty years of ministry I have visited places around the world that were said to be in ‘revival’.  I have sometimes attended as a speaker but, more often, as an individual wanting to learn and to come closer to God.  These places differ in location, language, worship styles, and even dress code.  There are however a number of common denominators.  The most important of those is that Christ is central as a focus of worship, lordship, guidance and direction.

      When the hub of a wheel moves even a centimetre from the centre the wheel becomes buckled and, by virtue of that fact, is no longer fit for purpose.  A former chaplain to the USA Senate put it in this way: “The church began as a fellowship of men and women centred on Jesus.  It went to Greece and became a philosophy.  It went to Rome and became an institution.  It went to Europe and became a culture.  It came to America and became an enterprise.”

      The message to the seven churches is a divine challenge to recalibrate the church.  When Christ is given his rightful place then the church automatically becomes better placed to be the people God has called them to be.

      As we delve, thoughtfully and prayerfully, into the pages that follow I trust we may find our own spiritual positions adjusting as we read.

John Glass

General Superintendent Elim Churches (2000 – 2016)

Chair of Council, Evangelical Alliance (2014 – 2018)