Liberty Norwich

It sounds awfully whacky, but 'Liberty!' came into existence because of a vivid dream in the early hours of 21st September 2008 - a dream we believe was from God. After 22 years in the same church (we are not short-term people), during which that church had grown from 30 to 300, planted others, shrunk, grown again, joined a larger movement… and in which we were very active, both locally and abroad

, I had a dream, which is difficult to revisualise. But it was of the Cave of Adullam, and the Lord was telling us to do something new. (What was the vision? - I’ll come to that soon) Did we immediately obey the Lord? No - we ran it by our church leader, who advised “Do it, but don’t leave this church,” and later “Do it, but not on Sunday mornings,”… So we met on occasional Sunday evenings, asking people from our own church not to join us. A few folk who had no fixed church home did join us. Two years later, the church leadership told us to sell up and move to a town around twenty-five miles away. Were we hearing right? - "Yes, MOVE!” we were told. Was God in this? We prayed together, at length, with fasting, earnestly - but heaven was silent. And then we asked ourselves, “What was the last word of direction we clearly received from the Lord?”

So in May 2011 we sadly said Goodbye to our friends in our old church, many of twenty-five years standing. I don’t think our church leader was amused. Wendy and I sat together on the sofa and worshipped, prayed, broke bread and shared in the word. After a few weeks we had enquiries - “What are you doing on Sundays, Where are you going?” So a few others joined us, and during the past 3 and a half years (at the time of writing, April 2015), we have had between 200 and 300 people pass through our sitting room. The Cave of Adullam? - it was where people who were discontented and distressed joined David while he was being persecuted by King Saul. (1 Samuel 22) David’s men became a mighty army. People come, and people go. Some come - and stay with us. They are the ones who share our vision. What is the vision? - it is of the Lord being in charge of his church again. It is of the Lord directing his church again. It is of the Lord ministering to one and to another through one and through another. There are not rows and rows of chairs facing ‘the man’ or ‘the leadership team’. No-one has to do anything (especially when new), but anybody can, if they feel the Spirit is truly moving them to. But we are not stupid, and we try and oversee the meetings responsibly. We have been fast growing at times, but we have also been fast-shrinking. Many people who come to us move on - and on and on. Many come back, and then leave again. But those who share the vision stay. The church belongs to Jesus. The glory belongs to Jesus. As we make way for the Spirit to move, he will glorify Jesus. Jesus must always be central and uplifted. We seek to honour him and please the Father. My ambition is to be the little old man sitting at the back, watching the church getting lost in the descending glory of the Lord, but always knowing that I, like everyone else, can share whatever the Lord puts on my heart. We currently meet at our home at 10.30am every Sunday. If we grow too big, we will move. That is up to the Lord - it is his church. We currently have lunch together after the morning meeting - if could let us know that you are coming for lunch, that helps Wendy with the catering. Be blessed!