I know we have been back for ages but this is the first chance I have had to put some thoughts down about our experiences in New York City. I was straight into a three day trial when I got back. My jet lag was not severe, but was bad enough to be the excuse for opening a prosecution case to the jury on the Wednesday on the basis that DNA had been found from blood on the wrong computer in the room wrong room of the burgled premises. Fortunately I didn't confuse anyone other myself and the jury eventually convicted. After that I had my father, brother, sister-in-law and 2 kids arrive for a weekend in Bristol. Dad went home on the Monday morning and the rest of us went off to Cornwall for a week. We just got back last night.
So, New York. As I expected it was vast, colourful and very energetic. I was surprised however by the warmth of the people. I found it a more pleasant exeperience to walk the streets there than in London. Perhaps it is because we were obviously tourists that people would strike up a conversation with us, but even on the subway I saw people occasionally speaking to whomever they had sat beside. There wasn't the same mortal terror of catching anyone in the eye that there is on the Londond underground.
I had very few expectations about what we would be doing once we got their. Mostly because Matt hadn't told us anything other than that there were 3 congregations and we would be staying with Kenny and Erica. Kenny and Erica were wonderful people, but our schedule and their lives were so busy that we didn't really get to spend much time with them. I had expected the church itself to be bigger. It is split into 3 fairly small congregations across the city. The leaders' meeting that we had was small. It quickly became obvious to us that NY is a hard place to live and to travel. Getting to meetings or church services can be a major expedition!
It was a privilege to be there just to hear the teaching even though some of it was stuff that we had done before with Matt at the HG leaders' weekend. The ministry times did not give birth to amazing stories of God's power breaking in with miracles and healings left right and centre. However it was very obvious that God's presence was there in power touching people's lives in a very deep and personal way. It was humbling to be a part of that simply by giving silly sounding words or pictures or just praying as the Spirit led. God enabled us to encourage each other when we shared our thoughts and prayers privately together to discover that God had sometimes given more than one of us the same word or picture. In that way we learnt to work really well as a team. That seemed important as some of us had done this kind of thing before, but for others it was a first. We all came away enriched and encouraged. The Pastor of the Upper West Side Congregation encouraged us that we had injected energy and life into them.
I went with a team from that congregation to hand out some drinks and food at a hostel for the poor jsut round the corner from the church. I was amazed how many of the residents were open to receive prayer. The first lady we prayed for knew the guys from the church quite well. She let us pray for her and then prayed for us asking that God would enable us to keep fighting the good fight so to speak.
As the New Yorkers do somehow appear more open to God and His word it would be easy to think that it must be easier to evangelise there than here where everyone is so closed off and oblivious to any spiritual needs in their lives. The challenges are different. New York has an underbelly which rumbles and shakes like the subway. As we prayed in a cool tranquil church just off fifth avenue we could feel it rumbling under our feet. The enemy there is subversive and subtle. NYC Vineyard needs prayer to bring people into the community of believers who will be dedicated and sold out for God and not consumeristic in their faith - in the sense that they will try something else at the first sign of boredom or something challenging. Of course that is a prayer for us all.
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