Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
I the Lord watch over it; I water it continually.
I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it. Isaiah 27 2-3
After John McKay’s death in 2001 Richard George took on the leadership of the ministry. The original vision remains strong: new materials have been produced and many bible teachers raised up. Using principles taught by John, teams have gone out around the world imparting life through bible teaching. They leave behind them people with a new appetite for the word of God, wanting to learn how to draw upon it for greater revelation of who God is, who we are, what God has done in history (biblical and post-biblical) and therefore what we can do!
Though used in various places worldwide, it has been 'launched' in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, India – and is also being utilised in certain places in Europe, for example, Poland and Germany. In most of these places the material is now being produced in the local vernacular.
Christians in the UK and beyond continue to discover life in their bibles through the available materials, the original bible reading course as well as short courses produced since. A youth version of the Call and the Cross is now available.
The Prophetic Teachers Course has run in part-time format since 2001, and the anointing on it seems to be increasing in strength. Adhering to the pattern John received, yet teaching without any sense of being bound by it, people who attend the course three times in the year are changed as they receive anointing and vision for their lives and ministries. An Advanced Diploma began in February 2011 and it was a watershed in the ministry, when 26 graduates of the part time course came together in a time of re-envisioning and encounter with him. We were changed – again.
Since 2007 there has been a full-time college in Norwich. Each successive year the numbers have increased: from 3 to 4 to 12 to 14 (this year). Next year there are already enquiries from people in Kashmir, Northern India, Kenya and other nations. A bursary fund runs to allow people from developing nations to come over here.
As the ministry grows the need for resources grows with it. In the years since The Way of the Spirit became a charity (2005) income has increased from about £30,000 to about £160,000. Expenditure has kept in line with this increase, reflecting the increase in activity here and abroad. As I write, the administrative department is devolving to allow further growth and God is bringing along different people with different skills to allow areas such as publishing to flourish in its own space rather than wrestling with conferences and finance! Mission is beginning to take on a whole different feel with the prospect of effective networking and support around the world. Increasingly teams are available to be sent – teams who are equipped to go and teach and encourage what God is doing. Send us more Lord! There is a constant need for finance, and God constantly provides! Please don’t ask me where it all comes from – I’m really not sure!
The challenges ahead are, naturally speaking, overwhelming. The full-time college will soon be better suited in a building of its own; resources need to be updated and produced in a up to date electronic format; there’s the rest of Africa in need of the word to deepen what can often be superficial faith – in the Christians and their leaders. Then there’s India, Burma, Pakistan, and the list goes on. We know God is leading and will provide.
There’s an army of great people – a company of preachers - out there serving The Way of the Spirit one way or another. Lord raise up many more!
