Description
What causes disappointment in the Christian life? Could it be unmet expectations? Having stepped out, we often anticipate excitement at every turn and immediate results – if instead we are confronted with much that is ordinary, even mundane, we can feel let down. Where might the incentive to keep pressing on come from?
Introducing: Liz, a young mum, one vicar husband and two small boys and a call – maybe! – to pioneer a diverse church called Unlimited in Devon to reach young people who don’t do church.
Liz says, ‘When we set out to pioneer a church I expected us to constantly have moments like the disciples who, after struggling in the wind all night, "immediately” found that the wind died down when Jesus entered the boat. I thought everything would be "now” and "immediately”, that we would quickly have a wealth of exciting stories to share and encourage others with. What I discovered, slowly and painfully, was that for days and months at a time it could feel like we had made absolutely no progress. Outwardly it appeared nothing was happening.’
During a period when Liz was tired and feeling fairly disheartened with her family’s call to begin Unlimited, she had a lightbulb moment. Comparing her Christian experience to surfing, she wrote, ‘The waiting and waiting, the passage of hours and minutes and seconds, were all so that you can capture that rare and wonderful moment when gloriously you catch the wave. That one wave, when you have caught it, is worth all the waiting, and so it was in the planting of Unlimited; there were exciting, undeniable times when we knew God was with us.’
Based on her journal entries, this is the story of Liz’s struggles with faith, friendships, motherhood and work-life balance, all the while embarking on the formidable challenge of pioneering a fresh expression of church.
This book is for anyone who is trying to live out God’s calling for their lives, who doesn’t want to play it safe and wants to risk following God wherever that may lead. It is an honest reflection on how that feels. The good stuff and the bad. ‘I want the book to encourage people to keep going wherever they are,’ says Liz, ‘to be honest with God about how they are feeling, and to know His strength enabling them to keep on going.’
This ten-year story of planting Unlimited Church is vulnerable, frank and wry, rejoicing and weeping over the highs and lows of following God’s call. Join Liz in discovering that with God there are no limits!