Ministry successful targeting unchurched people
2000. A pastor and prophet from the United States, Mike Berry, visited New Zealand last month. He was in New Zealand for three days to visit with Rock City Church senior pastor Anthony Walton, of Wellington, and spoke at the Church.
Mr Berry has started Global Tribe USA that will be used within the public schools. Global Tribe started in Wellington under Anthony Walton’s guidance and will be used with the US public schools. Locally, they are considering starting their own version of Wellington’s youth centre, “Zeal”, which is run by Christians.
In 1996 Mr Berry’s Church co-sponsored a rally on the Capitol mall in Washington DC called “Washington for Jesus 96”. The event drew five hundred thousand plus young people from all over America and resulted in the formation of a National Bible Club movement into America’s public schools.
“Our plan”, says Mr Berry, “is to use the name of “Global Tribe” for our student led clubs. We have formed “Global Tribe Communications Inc.” as a webcasting, video streaming, Web-design Company to link our clubs via the Internet.”
Mike Berry’s ministry began in 1990. He was invited by a local businessman in Annapolis to begin a bible study, which turned out to be a cocktail party. He shared the gospel and led a number of people at the party to the Lord “and from that began our ministry”.
A ministry was born called “The Lion’s Den”, designed to “keep Christians out and attract unchurched people in”, he says. After four years a significant number of people attended to charter a church that is now called “Christian City Church – Chesapeake Bay”. Today the Church is three hundred strong with the average age being twenty-seven. Ninety-five percent of the young people at the Church “gave their hearts to the Lord through our outreaches and ministry”, he says. Mr Berry explains they have led over six or seven hundred to Christ locally over the last ten years.
Mr Berry’s ministry has a website called Managinglife.net, a follow-up to their daily radio program.
Mr Berry’s ministry has also assisted in Kiev in Russia to plant a Church.
“Hills Christian Life Centre in Sydney formed an organisation called “Nation Builders”, which is another dream child of Anthony Walton. Together we pioneered a great Church which has over one thousand plus people and is pastored now by a twenty-eight-year-old young man who we raised up from within the Church.”
Mr Berry says a prophet “is called to be a ‘coach’ to others in the body of Christ to equip them for ministry in hearing God, calling people back into relationship with God, and is called in the ministry of intercession for and counselling of others. They operate in the healing gifts, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits and prophecy.” He says God appoints a prophet first and secondly they are recognised, ordained and set in by other ascension gift ministries.
“It takes a long process for the ministry of a prophet to develop within a local Church. They are always to be a part of a local Church team in the governance of the Church.”
By Peter Veugelaers
Published 2000, Challenge Weekly
Talking Writing 