Special Announcement
We are excited to announce that Hope City Church has joined Anglican Mission in England (AMiE). Joining a church network is something that we’ve been seeking God’s guidance on for a long time. As a leadership we wanted to take as much time in prayer and consultation as possible to find the right fit for HCC. After a season of discernment and exploration, the leadership team and the board of trustees felt confident that AMiE was the right choice for the church both theologically and practically, and would provide excellent strength and support to us as we pursue the mission that God has given to us.
AMiE is an evangelical Anglican diocese commissioned by GAFCON. It sits within the Anglican Network in Europe and has three Bishops who oversee the churches; Andy Lines, Tim Davies and Lee McMunn. It is not under the oversight of the Church of England. AMiE has a strong focus on church planting, their 10:20 vision is to see 10 new churches planted by the end of 2025 and a further 20 planted by 2030. As church planters this is something that is close to our hearts, and something we feel is also part of God’s call on HCC.
Graham was interviewed by a delegation from AMiE in November 2023 and subsequently HCC’s application to join AMiE was accepted. On Thursday 25th January Graham was licensed and ordained as deacon in the Global Anglican Church by Bishop Andy Lines.
Through our connection with AMiE, HCC is now connected with over 90 million Bible believing Christians all across the world. We believe that God will use this new connection to help us increase that number by reaching more people in our city with the gospel of salvation!
Please continue to pray for the Lord’s blessing on our work as we seek to bring glory to His name in Wolverhampton.
Yours in Christ,
The Leadership Team
Every Prayer a Powerful Weapon
Every prayer a powerful weapon...
One of my absolute favourite things to do is to lead kids in worship! If you've ever been to a HCC Kids Church session you'll know the song 'We Want to See Jesus Lifted High', which contains the words;
"Every prayer a powerful weapon
Strongholds come tumbling down and down and down..." (ad infinitum!)
What I love about many of the kids praise songs is how simple and yet how profound the lyrics often are. Every prayer a powerful weapon. How often do we consider that our prayers, our every prayer, is in fact a mighty weapon? And yet, this is the clear revelation of scripture. Prayer, in a very practical way, has been ordained by God as an instrument of warfare.
We heard Eddie preaching on Sunday about the two battlegrounds of Exodus 17; the battle in the valley and the battle on the hilltop. The outcome of the battle in the valley between the Israelites and the Amalekites was determined by the outcome of the battle on the hilltop; of Moses in prayer. Whenever Moses tired in prayer and his hands fell the Amalekites advanced, whenever he was revived in prayer the Israelites would advance. In every challenge we face there is a valley battle and a hilltop battle, it is always the higher battle that determines the outcome of the lower battle. We must send troops to the lower battle, we must engage our enemy practically as well as spiritually but unless we active on the hilltop the troops in the valley will fail.
So what is the lesson here? It is that we ought to acknowledge the supremacy of prayer over all other good and wholesome endeavors in the Christian life. That God has ordained prayer as the means by which we access His strength, His grace, His power in our lives. Unless our works are saturated with prayer it doesn't matter how resolute, ordered or passionate we might be we will be left vulnerable to enemy attack.
Many a preacher has overlooked something vital in the what the apostle Paul wrote concerning the armour of God. They quote Ephesians 6:10-17 but miss out verse 18.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
It's by prayer that the armour is kept strong and effective. Through prayer our love of the truth grows, through prayer we are daily taking the righteousness of God to ourselves, through prayer we are readied to preach the gospel, through prayer our faith is shored up, through prayer we are assured of our salvation and given the wits to wield the sword of the Spirit.
Very often, it's our prayer life its self which becomes the battleground. We struggle to stir up the desire to pray and when we do we become discouraged by our own inadequacies and the feebleness of our words. We're tempted to give up. But let's take courage from the words of the great Victorian preacher J.C. Ryle;
"Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you."
So let's continue to press into God for a deeper, richer prayer life. As often as we can let's follow the HCC prayer calendar and lift one another up by name. I sense that for us as a church right now this is the battleground. As we refuse to put down the powerful weapon that is our prayer life, we as a church will begin to conquer and overcome the works of the evil one in the city of Wolverhampton, I am sure of it.
Soli Deo Gloria
Graham Phillips
Guard Yourselves From Idols
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:21
Over the past six months we as a church we have been walking through John’s first epistle. The relative brevity of the letter is in no way an indicator of it’s being lightweight. Indeed, John takes us on a tour through many a great theme introducing us to high doctrine at breakneck speed!
Most of us these days when writing correspondence will begin with a greeting and end with something sentimental; ‘every blessing’, ‘all the best’ etc. John ends with, ‘guard yourselves from idols.’ I can see you all scrambling to adopt this as your new email signature…not.
I actually think the ESV is a little weak here in translating the Greek imperative verb φυλάξατε, which is rendered ‘keep yourself…’ in that translation. The noun form of this verb is actually the word used for a prison guard. I think the NASB translation here is better with guard yourselves from idols.
Furthermore, it is a command; each of you must do this for yourself. We are to take personal responsibility for being ‘on guard’ against idolatry.
The term ‘guard’ indicates that there is a real threat posed by idolatry to our walk with Jesus. Unless we appreciate the true threat idolatry poses to us, we are unlikely to guard ourselves properly against it. For example, if I told you to guard yourself against angry toddlers you’re not likely to really take me seriously are you?!
Do you consider that you are vulnerable to idolatry? If you feel it’s something that would never be a temptation to you, it’s likely that it already is an issue for you, and that the enemy is, so to speak, within the walls.
“The human heart is a perpetual factory of idols.” - John Calvin
We must know the fallibility of our own hearts!
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9
Any successful fighter is able to identify his weaknesses as well as his strengths, knowing your weaknesses better than your opponent allows you to play to your strengths. Any fighter unaware of their weaknesses will be overly confident and ultimately exposed.
In understanding my weakness, that my heart is vulnerable, I will compensate by putting up a guard around my heart. I will make sure that I saturate my areas of weakness in prayer, I may find one or two friends with whom I can be accountable.
“Guard your heart, for out of it flow the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23
What is an Idol?
An idol at the most basic level is a false god. Something that assumes the place of God in our lives.
In the 1st Century there was the practice of idol worship, worshiping graven images and carved statues. If John is talking exclusively about the worship of graven images here then he hasn’t prepared us for it in the prior chapters. I believe along with many commentators that John is referencing the false teachings of the secessionists that he’s been writing about all through the letter. Any false presentation of the true God is an idol!
So, we are to guard ourselves against false teaching. What else could become an idol to us?
Well, C.H. Spurgeon believed that one could make an idol out of almost anything; though he saw the most common and dangerous ones as:
Self - intellect, callings, appetites
Family/Children
Great Ones (Teachers, Philosophers, Leaders)
The Idol of The Hour (Ideologies, personalities and causes that the world says are good)
We are to be particularly on our guard against the ideologies and causes which the world loves. We know that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19), this includes all of the world’s systems, governmental, educational, cultural. Therefore we must be on guard against what the world says is good, no matter how appealing and plausible and in accord with Christianity it may appear to be. Many churches have been shipwrecked and are being ruined by pastors attempting to synthesize worldly ideals with Christianity. This is to bring in idols to be worshiped alongside Christ.
Anything that keeps you from worshiping Christ in spirit and in truth is an idol! It must be destroyed.
Christ came and demonstrated every idol to be false, dead and worthless. How? Because every idol that the world worships is either dead or dying! He is alive!
Every generation has it’s ideas, it’s great men and women, it’s philosophies, it’s religions that it prefers above Christ, but only Christ endures, only Christ lives, only He has triumphed over death.
Let us worship Him as He is, not as we or the world would wish Him to be.