Greater Things

The Story of New Wine So Far

Paul Harcourt, Ralph Turner

• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780281081561
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

A book celebrating 30 years of New Wine.From one church in Chorleywood to a network of churches, and from UK roots to a global reach, Greater Things is a celebration of all the work of the New Wine family.With first-hand content from the Pytches and Coles who saw the story from the beginning, follow the journey of the New Wine family from its origins, explore its current work and focus, and be inspired by New Wine's dreams for the future. Additional contributors include: Mike Pilavachi, Matt Redman, Debby Wright, Tim Hughes, Captain Alan Price, Bruce Collins, Heather Holgate and Naomi Graham.Encompassing the whole lifespan of New Wine, this book provides an opportunity to hear the story directly from the people most involved in the network: the challenges they've faced, the lessons they've learnt, and the blessings they've seen over the years.

1Beginnings

Bishop David Pytches and his wife Mary were the pioneers of New Wine. Here David tells how it all began.

New Wine’s story has been a great adventure. In so far as I have a part to play, I want to say at the very beginning that I love the story and the testimonies but will take no credit for the movement at all. All I did was to share a vision that God gave me – to impart what I felt the Lord had shown me. Others have done the work.

It seems to me that God always had his hand on my life – and I am so grateful for that. My father was a rector in the Church of England and a number of my relatives were members of the clergy. Even the fact that my name is David impressed on me from an early age that God had called me to lead. My father used to say that our primary call is to seek the will of God, and then to stay in the centre of that will. As I sought God, I knew from my early schooldays that I was called to serve God in the Church.

I went to a college in Bristol, established by the Bible Churchmen’s Missionary Society. It trained missionaries and, although I had no desire to be one, there is no doubt that the move was of God’s making. While at college, I met a lot of ex-servicemen who had really proved the Lord’s goodness during the Second World War. Meeting these men had a great impact on me. It made me realize that I had led a very sheltered life as a Christian and I needed to spend my National Service in the ranks to see something of the other side of life. I joined the army and became a sergeant instructor in the Royal Army Educational Corps.

MARY

Following my time in the army, and after a final year at college, I joined St Ebbe’s Church in Oxford. Being responsible for the youth work, I couldn’t help noticing a girl called Mary Trevisick. She was a natural at welcoming people. I was fascinated by her outgoing nature.

I remember needing to buy some pots and pans for my house at the time. I decided to take Mary with me as I hoped she might know more than I did about what to get. I asked the salesperson for help and she responded with an interesting question.

‘Well, can I ask how many children there are?’

I was fond of Mary. And I was a bit mischievous too. I turned to her and said: ‘Mary, how many children would you like?’

It was the oddest of proposals, I suppose. Mary went away to ponder my words. We married in 1958.

Before we married, we talked together about the mission field. I told her that I had no desire to go, but I must be willing to do so if God called me. To be honest, I hoped he wouldn’t call me! Mary said she felt exactly the same.

By 1959, with our first daughter Charlotte in our arms, we were on a ship, sailing to Chile. Our destination was Cholchol in the province of Cautin. The South American Missionary Society had a mission, school and hospital there. One of our first jobs was to gather the Christians together for a conference – our first toe in the water of organization and an early picture of what God would do through us with the formation of New Wine.

CHURCH PLANTING

Those early days in Chile were not very easy. We were dealing with an entirely different world. The culture shock was enormous. Everything from having to face fleas, rats and earthquakes through to drawing water from a well and there being only three hours of electricity a day.

After two and a half years, we were called to pioneer church planting in the port of Valparaiso, where we had first disembarked, and then extend the work to the regions around. Church planting! We really had no idea as to what was entailed, let alone how to do it.

We made our home in the local Anglican church building, converting part of it into bedrooms and a living room. We started with a local radio broadcast, which brought listeners to the church services. But with no one to teach us how to plant churches, and with no money, no Bibles and no buildings, it was a tough assignment.

We heard of a new housing estate. It was being built in a place called Gomez Carreno and I went up there with a Chilean pastor to walk around the whole site and claim it for the Lord. We had no idea at the time as to how God would fulfil those prayers. A year or so later, a lady from our church who was now living in one of those new houses asked me to go up and bless her home. Having prayed around the house, we relaxed with a cup of tea. It was then that the lady suggested something outrageous.

‘Pastor, we really should have a church on this estate. There are forty thousand new residents coming into this area!’

‘Yes, I can see that, but where would we hold the meetings? We have no money for a building.’

‘Here. Here, Pastor! In this room!’

The thought had never occurred to me. Church in the home. What a novel concept! Again, without knowing it, God was preparing me for all he wanted to do once we got back to the UK.

The church blossomed. Many people came to Christ, and eventually they outgrew the largest of the living rooms and built their own new building.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

As much as we were learning from the Lord about church planting and house church, he had us on another journey as well. After a break in the UK, we returned by ship to Argentina, then travelled on to Chile. But on that journey, Mary was desperate for change in her own walk with God.

David and Mary Pytches with children, San Pablo, Chile, 1967

While on the ship, she prayed to God: ‘O God, I can’t get off this boat the way I’m getting on.’

Mary had been reading the Rees Howells biography Intercessor,1 and it had a significant effect on her. In addition, we had both been exposed to the ministries of the Pentecostal churches in South America and, if we were honest, we knew something was missing in our own lives.

One night, lying in our bunks on the ship, Mary made an announcement.

‘David, God has done an amazing thing. He has baptized me in the Holy Spirit!’

Once again, I was taken by surprise. My reply at the time was along the lines of being pleased for her. But what Mary had experienced was life-changing and I wanted it too.

Back in Chile, I spoke with her.

‘Darling, it’s made such an incredible difference to you and to our marriage; I just need you to pray for me too.’

Mary prayed. And God the Holy Spirit did his work.

At the time the Lord was filling us and blessing us with his Holy Spirit, I was experiencing one of my more difficult moments in ministry. My bishop was a good man, but unable and seemingly unwilling to help with church planting. I was ready for a meeting and had a long list as to what was wrong with him! However, with the baptism of the Holy Spirit came more of an awareness of the gentle voice of the Spirit. I was reminded of the passage in 1 Corinthians 13: ‘[love] keeps no record of wrongs’. Our meeting became a time of marvellous reconciliation and directly led to a mini-revival in some of the churches.

Other church leaders approached me and asked why it was that some churches were being blessed with growth, both in numbers and in relation to their walk with God. My answer became the watchword of my life: ‘Catch the fire!’

By God’s grace, the fire caught! Churches up and down Chile were on fire for God. One Saturday stays in my mind. We baptized around a hundred people in a local river. This was baptism by full immersion – a far cry from the christenings we were used to in the Anglican Church back in the UK.

Along the way, I became Bishop for the whole diocese of Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Despite political revolutions in some of the countries I represented, God’s revolution was greater. Lives were changed. People were added to the Church. Many were baptized in the Holy Spirit. There was no doubt about it. We were catching the fire.

2A moment in time

As David and Mary Pytches returned to the UK, they knew they wanted to take further steps to honour God by sharing what they had learned of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The catalyst for this was the visit of John Wimber. Ralph Turner explains.

In 1977, having returned from Chile, David and Mary Pytches began working with St Andrew’s Church, Chorleywood. They were encouraged that they had found a church which was already beginning to respond to the working of the Holy Spirit, particularly through the ministry of Barry and Mary Kissell. David describes how he ‘inherited’ Barry as a member of staff 1 and as someone already active in the work and power of the Holy Spirit. As Director of Faith Sharing, Barry would regularly take out teams in order to minister and encourage, and over the years this had resulted in reaching hundreds of other churches and many nations.2

Arriving at Chorleywood, David and Mary were excited but unsure about how to take things forward. As David put it, ‘in my ignorance of how to coordinate renewal I soon began to feel that something good was slipping out of our grasp.’3

Within a short period of time David heard the name ‘John Wimber’ from two different sources. One comment was from the church growth expert Eddie Gibbs (originally a member of St Andrew’s). The other was from David’s friend from St Michael le Belfrey in York, David Watson. A remark from David Watson was particularly telling for David Pytches: David Watson felt that his encounter with John Wimber meant that his ministry would never be the same again.4 David and Mary wanted to find out more.

It turned out that David Watson had invited John Wimber to speak at York, so David Pytches contacted John to invite him to stop over at St Andrew’s Chorleywood on the way. David cheekily suggested that Chorleywood was ‘conveniently near Heathrow’!5 The invitation was accepted.

HEATHROW

John was hard to miss at Heathrow. Although later in life he slimmed down, he was, by his own self-deprecating admi...

Table of contents

• 1 Beginnings
• 2 A moment in time
• 3 Renewal
• 4 Gathering
• 5 Developing
• 6 Growing
• 7 Soul Survivor
• 8 Worship
• 9 To the nations
• 10 Church planting
• 11 Our Place and accessible church
• 12 Reflections on the journey
• 13 New Wine tomorrow
• Notes
• Index