In Order: the e-zine

Lighten Up
Caption Comp
et
ition!
In Order: the ee--zine
from the Order of Jacob’s Well
AUTUMN 2012
IN THIS ISSUE:
Page 1
- Kingdom Healing with
Mike Endicott
Page 2
- Kingdom Healing with
Mike Endicott
(continued)
Page 3
- Letter from the Editor
We love this p
icture of Ginnie
and Mike!
Here they are
ready to board
the Maid of
the Mist at Nia
gara Falls duri
ng their
recent tour of
Canada.
Send in your c
aptions (no m
ore than 20
words) to reso
urces@jacobsw
ell.org.uk
The winner ca
n pick someth
in
g from the
Simply Healing
shop up to a v
alue of £5.
Click here to v
isit the shop.
The winner w
ill be announc
ed in the next
e-zine. Notew
orthy entries w
ill also be
published.
Cwmbran Mission of
Christian Healing
The Well Centre
40 Station Rd
Pontnewydd
Cwmbran
NP44 1NZ
South Wales
United Kingdom
+44(0)1633483660
[email protected]
The Order of Jacob’s Well was founded by a group
of lay and ordained Christians involved in the
Christian healing ministry in South Wales. These
days it can be found throughout England, Scotland
and Wales, and is expanding worldwide. The Order
of Jacob’s Well is fully ecumenical in terms of both
its membership and its outreach.
The Order is funded by a registered charity and
authorized through its Leader to its Leadership Board and a Bishop
Visitor, the Rt Revd Dominic Walker of Monmouth. It is under the
gracious Patronage of Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Page 4
- Letter from the Editor
(continued)
Page 5
- Letter from the Editor
(continued)
- The Light of Christ
Page 6
- Festival of Kingdom
Healing: In Your words
Page 7
- Festival of Kingdom
Healing: In Your words
(continued)
Page 8
- Lighten Up
Kingdom Healing with Mike Endicott
June 3, 2012
On May 4 and 5, OSL Region 8 (Ontario) held a healing conference
with the Rev Mike Endicott, as our featured speaker. Mike opened
by presenting his credentials. They were impressive! He had been
instrumental in physical healings of every kind - cancerous
tumours, gangrenous legs, ovarian cysts - there seemed to be
nothing beyond the reach of his experience of God’s healing
power.
Mike continued by explaining the
theological basis for his ministry. He
did this by acting in a skit with his
wife, Ginny, in which they
pretended to be Adam and Eve,
though not in the costume of the
period! Employing a degree of
audience participation, which would
be the envy of every classroom teacher, he asked us to imagine life
as God had originally intended it. After declining to become
involved in in the issue of creationism, he pointed out that the
Biblical authors thought in pictures. They used the image of a
Garden in which to situate life as God had originally conceived it.
The audience cooperated and provided him with a list that
included such characteristics as joy, harmony and health. Mike
then asked for the opposite characteristics. Again, we obliged with
sorrow, discord and sickness.
The first list - the good one- was given to a volunteer, who sat in a
chair, representing Christ. Mike and Ginnie took the bad list, left
the Garden and began walking towards Christ. When they reached
him, they exchanged lists. Adam and Eve represent us. Through his
Continued overleaf...
We’re on the Web!
www.jacobswell.org.uk
www.simplyhealing.org
Page 2
IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL
ministry and Cross, Christ takes our bad list and gives us his good one, in what Mike called The
Great Exchange. Armed with the good list, we walk back towards Eden, able to live the kind of
life that God intended us to have all along. Our walk towards the Cross and then away from it
into the Kingdom of God is central to Mike’s theology of healing. It contains some radical
consequences that will change the way that some of us do healing.
First, it has revolutionary implications for prayers of petition. These are prayers in which many
commonly ask God to change his mind and do something that they desire, which he would not
otherwise do. In recent years this idea has been used to justify the concept of “open theism.”
As Mike points out, God’s list has already been drawn up and is offered to us, ready made. If
petitionary prayer is to retain any meaning, it is our giving God permission to perform The Great
Exchange within us. Our problem is not to persuade God to heal but to persuade
ourselves that he indeed wishes to do so. When believers have the Kingdom of God rooted in
their hearts and minds, they will be able to pronounce God’s healing and signs and wonders will
follow.
As I reflected upon the teaching that I had absorbed, my thoughts kept returning to one basic
issue. Christ never refused to heal anyone, so what is it that is the block in us that prevents
healing?
IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL
“The Celtic Healing Service—the wrapping by Giles was so beautiful. I
felt that an angel’s wings had brushed over my head and shoulders. I
was immediately in the presence of Jesus. It was a powerful, precious
time of resting in Christ and being loved and held by Him.”
Glynne Hebbern
“Excellent conference. Felt it was well
balanced, not heavy. Enjoyed the teaching.
Liked the free time to be able to get fresh air. I
felt the whole conference was relaxed and it
just flowed. Coming again.”
Judith Millgate
“Excellent speaker. Beautiful worship—great to
have chorus’ we know. Delicious food,
comfortable beds, spotlessly clean room.
Wonderful bonding discussions after talks. Safe
prayer ministry Great Fellowship.”
Valerie Dawson
First, Jesus was not able to do any healing in Nazareth due to unbelief. Due to their lack of
faith, the disciples were not able to heal the demoniac and Jesus rebuked them for it. Peter
only began to sink when he wavered in his faith. So, faith is required in order to heal. As Mike
would say, we need to have the Kingdom in our hearts.
Second, in order for the paralytic to be healed, his sins had to be forgiven. The rich young ruler
could not be “healed” unless he gave away all his riches. So, there is a strong connection
between healing and repentance.
However, apart from the two exceptions of doubt and disobedience, it is clear that Jesus was
able to heal every disease and healed all who sought his healing. It is true that he required that
his followers take up their Crosses but these were Crosses that came from renunciation of the
world and persecution by the world, not ones that were the consequence of sickness. These
two types of Cross are the correct basis for the Church’s concept of redemptive suffering.
Many of us, including myself, would bear witness that for us to come to faith, it was necessary
for us to suffer. We know that we grew through suffering and, for myself, now that things have
turned out well, I personally, would not have had it any other way. In this way, my
suffering has been redemptive for me.
There is a danger, however. An emphasis on redemptive suffering that is too heavy, can lead
people to believe that God does not want to heal them and so they do not seek it. Correctly
understood, redemptive suffering should lead to an increase in faith, not a retreat from it.
When God does not grant a specific request - which might be a major one in our minds - he will
increase our faith by using our service in other ways, Mike being an outstanding witness to this.
So, he builds our faith but in a different way to the one that we would expect.
Mike challenged us to think in new ways and to grow in our healing
ministries. All the people, who completed the questionnaire, said that
they would welcome a return engagement!
Colin C M Campbell, PhD
Page 7
“Yes! The ministry of the Cross.
We came one third the way
around the world and were
blessed by the meditations/
lessons and as importantly by a
community of believers.”
Ginny & Randy Richardson
“This was my first time at
an event like this. It was
inspirational, a real sense
of God being with the
community.”
Laurence Bozier
“Loved the café style arrangement of tables and
chairs. Bowled over by Larry’s meditations.
Making us think so deeply about aspects of our
faith based on the promises we made at our
baptisms. He led the group sessions so well, he
made sure everyone who wanted had a say and
offered up pertinent points for extra discussion as
they arose. Well done Larry! Please more of this
type of teaching next year!”
Jenny Burgess
“We felt the conference had a
wonderful atmosphere, some
very deep sharing times as
well as talks, and has begun
the new phase of Jacob’s Well
with optimism and hope and
faith.”
Hugh & Hilary Kent
Page 6
IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL
Festival Of Kingdom Living: In Your Words
Annual Conference 18—21 Jun 2012
“loved the informality
of worship”
Pam Gordon
“An even better event if that is possible! Liked idea
of sitting around tables. Liked having one afternoon
with free time to visit garden centre which after five
visits to Llangasty was at last possible. Would it be
possible to record the afternoon sessions as well as
the main talks please? I’ll be back. Thanks for all the
hard work and excellent organisation.”
Caryl Roscoe
“Fantastic , such amazing teaching to learn so
much we didn’t realise on Baptism. Very good
idea to move around the tables speaking to lots
of people. The Ministry prayers (Annette and
Sam) was so freeing and compassionate.”
Rose Ilott
“Fellowship,
friendship,
teaching
discussion,
God’s love
come down.
What more do
you need!”
Sue Mansell
“This was my first Jacob’s Well
Conference—I found it to be an amazing
time—spiritually, emotionally, relationally—in all areas I believe I have grown,
learnt something new, had my
understanding and perspectives challenged
and changed. For me, the numbers were
about right, the tables was a great idea—
got me involved with folk I’d never met
before—a great way to show and be loved.
I really enjoyed the interactive content as a
way of being challenged and growing.
Thanks again for all your efforts, it was very
much appreciated, lots of love in Christ.”
Richard Ilott
“I felt it was a very inspiring, uplifting and
informative event in a very friendly, loving
atmosphere. I enjoyed every segment of the
event, like each segment joined and bonded
to make a beautiful, sweet fruit for all to
share, that we could truly taste and see that
the Lord is good! A real taste of His Grace
and Eternal goodness and Glory!”
Lis Palmer
“Intimate, well organised. Roger is a gifted
worship leader—may we have him again? Café
style—great idea much better than serried
ranks of chairs! Julie, thank you for all your
background organisation.”
Pam Hollinshead
“The teaching was excellent
and the worship before
each session was good.
Having time to meet and get
to know other delegates was
valuable. It would have been
good to hear more about the
Order of St. Luke.”
Geoff Hebbern
IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL
Page 3
Letter from the Editor
Hi friends,
I woke this morning very early in one of those especially crystal clear
moments, sunny glades in the middle of the woodland, so to speak. It was
a lovely moment just to lie there and enjoy it for an hour or more before
the six a.m. news on the wireless.
It was, as is common with so many of my dreams these days, all about the cross. This cross is
the power-house at the centre of the kingdom, the engine in the
kingdom motorcar!
On our recent Canadian tour we were driven by our friend Lorraine, for five hours, straight
across the Prairies. They say there that the land is so flat you can watch your dog run away for
three days. Apparently, if you then stand on a chair, you can watch it run away for another
three days!
Suffice it to say, the sky was huge. The land was
endless. I confess I slept much of the way in the
back of the car while Ginnie sat up front with her
eyes out on stalks. This was different, this was
not at all UK-like. I didn’t see any of the prairies
at all but I did enjoy riding all the way in
Lorraine’s husband’s Dodge Challenger, a
modern version of the Starsky and Hutch
machine. Boys’ toys! Red with black leather
inside. Big power.
This endless expansion of country was matching the endless potential of the kingdom of God
with its cross, its power supply, right at its heart. We thought the land would go on and on
forever all around us and there are even greater limits to the kingdom on earth. Its limits on
earth are the limits of the earth.
How I wish I could find a way to get the church on the move! God has the kingdom and God has
the cross and our job is to sit back, relax and enjoy it! Actually there’s a little bit more....if only
we could stop whining at God every time anything goes wrong and just start to proclaim the
kingdom. Then we let the power loose.
The power of god is in the message of the cross. It’s not in us or in the way we put the message
over, where we do it or what we wear when we do it or how much ecclesiastical authority and
training we’ve been given to do it....it’s actually in the message itself.
Can I give you just one first-hand example out of many thousands?
It was five years ago when Angela had to spend some unscheduled time with a surgeon, having
her womb removed. Soon afterwards, her husband's business potential became recognised in
high places and he was promoted president of his company. They bought a bigger house in a
better area of the city, and Angela gave up work to be more available for gardening and
walking the two black Labradors that had come to join the family.
Life became even sweeter. Their new found prosperity brought with it a new yearning to have
a family. They longed to fill the home with babies. Of course, because of her earlier operation,
Continued overleaf...
Continued overleaf...
Page 4
IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL
this would now be impossible. So they set off down the adoption route, a journey they found
to be little short of a long, disappointing struggle.
And Angela, in church, was doing the In His Footsteps DVD Course from the Order of Jacob's
Well. Through it she learned the message of the cross, the gifts and benefits of the cross and
how to pray with expectation and thanksgiving. She and her husband agreed they simply were
not expecting God to get involved in their ordinary lives at such an ordinary level. They had
heard the message of the cross and gave thanks for it, involving God in the whole business of
adoption selection. Surprisingly, she was soon proving positive in a pregnancy test.
Panic! She shouldn't have done. They rushed to see the doctor and surgeon again. What were
they to do? There seemed no way to begin, let alone sustain a pregnancy without a womb.
After a detailed examination the surgeon reported that he could find no evidence of his original
procedure. Do you want to read that sentence again? At the appointed time baby Abigail was
born and joined the family who had longed so much for her.
So, what’s the message of the cross? What did we say to her? It’s easy, actually, crazy easy! It
comes in four parts and something, anything, should be said to the supplicant under each
heading.
Part 1. Christ lived
Part 2. Christ died
Part 3. Christ is risen
Part 4. Christ is working still
You see? This is not theological rocket science! It’s that easy! As the cross is the power engine
at the centre of the kingdom this is called proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. So, put
the pedal to the metal. Let’s go!
Part 1. Explains the nature of the kingdom because it explains the nature of the king. Jesus
never said ‘NO’, he never said ‘Wait’, he never said he had other things to do first and he never
required anyone to straighten out their spiritual lives in any way first before he could mend
them. In other words, the kingdom is, quite simply, a place of ‘YES’.
We put this out as a bold statement of fact. We did not debate it or argue it, we simply stated
it.
Part 2. On the cross Jesus exchanges the presenting problem for heaven’s riches. The Gifts of
Calvary that we’ve been able to define show one
suitable exchange for every one of life’s
problems. These have been listed in our booklet
Praying the Cross. Just pick the appropriate one
and read out the scripture or give the Biblical
reasoning as written in the booklet. Easy!
Then we remind the supplicant that the curtain is
torn by the work of the cross....we now have
access straight into God’s presence in the throne
room upstairs.
Part 3. We tell the supplicant that Jesus is risen
and that particular little episode was organised
by the Father using the same fantastic power we
are witnessing in our own lives. Nowadays he is
Continued overleaf...
IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL
Page 5
sitting at the Father’s right hand whispering in his ear continuously. What about? Us!
Part 4. We tell the supplicant he is working still. This is easy, too. We just tell the supplicant of a
miracle we know about or read a witness letter from another supplicant or anything like that
just to demonstrate that Christ is working still.
The prayers that follow the message of the cross
are really based around thanksgiving for all that
lot above. But please remember, dear ones, the
power of god in this context is not in our prayers
but in the message of the cross.
We don’t worry about getting out the right words
in prayer. It doesn’t matter. So long as we cover
something about each part of the declaration
above we are fully exercising the power of the
message of the cross.
Lorraine was going quite fast enough across the
prairies until she came up behind a truck. Then she tweaked the throttle and my head was thrust
unceremoniously backwards into the
headrest behind me. I could really feel the invasion of raw power.
Proclaim the kingdom, the message of the cross and then pray, “Your kingdom come, your will
be done!” I don’t know about you, but when I do that I get the same kick sense of the kingdom
accelerating into action!
Come on church, get your seat belts on and put your foot to the floor!
Mike Endicott
The Light of Christ
Saturday 07/07/12
Hi Julie
We are having an exceptionally busy and exciting time! Ted did his torchbearing Tuesday…
brilliant! and he has already been into three schools with 'the light of Christ', and a playgroup. He
is using the opportunities to witness about Jesus. Today is our church fete, and again he will be
there in uniform with torch to have his
photo taken! Because one runner did not
turn up, he did 2 laps…right through the
centre of Wymeswold. The atmosphere
was terrific - 450 children, thousands of
people and even church bells! He even
got to be on the TV!
God Bless
Carol Collins