Milestones

There are some days you know you will never forget. I remember the day, aged four, I invited Christ into my life. I remember so clearly the day I felt called to come and help plant a church in Southampton. The day we launched was also memorable.

Well, today we 'got' our first elder. A few months ago I named this day (9th December) Elderisation Sunday, and that is what it has been called in the office ever since (needless to say we didn't use the name publicly). Guy (Miller) came up from Bournemouth to set Chris Kilby in as the first 'elder-with-a-view-to-more-elders' elder (we went for a short and snappy title in the end).

Guy spoke passionately from Genesis 6 and Hebrews 11 to give us a big picture of God's mega-story in the earth: his earnest desire for a people. Bringing us through from Adam and Eve in the garden, through to we ourselves being Abraham's seed, he brought us to the point of seeing that God uses men and women to extend His purposes in the earth. The 'by faith' chapter wouldn't exist without the people it describes! Faith can't exist in a vacuum. God uses men and women to advance His kingdom and today one from among us in Life Church Southampton was given the full leadership liberty of an undershepherd.

The most beautiful part of the meeting was when Guy called Chris up and asked the church three questions based on scripture (e.g. 'will you make his work a joy and not a burden?'). He asked us to stand if we wanted to answer 'yes'. Looking around the room it was moving to see people respond in faith to the prospect of Chris's leadership. And wonderful to see the humble reaction of a Godly leader. Here is someone who, having received leading from God, has faithfully drawn others in to share his vision and own it for themselves.

Afterwards, when the whole church had gathered at a local pub for a celebration lunch, it was great to see the church's warm-hearted acceptance of Chris as their leader by their rapturous applause as he and his family entered the room (it sounds stage-managed doesn't it - it wasn't!).

Memorable milestones do not quickly fade away, and today we encountered one which will stay in our memories for a long while yet.