Father Heart Family Easter Retreat. 7th-10th April 2023.  Cloverley Hall, Shropshire.

This is a long weekend of opportunity to gather with friends who are hungry to connect and be together in a context of enjoying the Father's presence. It is open to anyone who wants to join us over the Easter weekend. There will be some teaching, some time to soak and to worship, time to relax and chat with friends and make new ones. To enjoy the rural setting of Cloverley Hall, to eat traditional hearty English fare, and share a glass of something nice.  To "be" with one another. Many of us have lost touch a bit over the struggles of the last two years or so and are just eager to be together again. This will be a golden opportunity to reconnect.

Booking Details to follow. Cost is £225 per person for full board from Friday dinner to Monday lunch. Day visitors on Saturday and Sunday £79 per person per day including lunch and dinner.

Click here to register for the Retreathttps://www.fatherheart.uk/retreat.html
                                                               

The weekend will be hosted by Trevor and Linda Galpin.

---

We will be joined by John and Christine Nuttall who is a poet, song writer and worshiper who will bring their unique gifts to facilitate times of soaking and reflection throughout the weekend. John describes himself as a troubadour!  

Please let us know if you are hoping to come.

 

The Big Picture Finding the Father in the Bible.

Here is what has kept us busy in this Covid season....

I'm delighted to launch my latest book....

 

The Big Picture  

Finding the Father in the Bible.

The Big Picture takes a look at the great story of God in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It charts how God is eternally Father since before creation and how he reveals himself as Father through all scripture. It draws together all the various parts of this glorious biblical truth, like pieces of a jigsaw, that come together into one vast glorious narrative of the love of the Father for his lost children. It focuses on The Father’s love and the sending of his Son Jesus who brings us home. It explores how this truth is inspired by the Holy Spirit in the pages of the Bible.  Stephen Hill in his foreword says of “The Big Picture”, “I believe that this book is an important part of what Paul the apostle called “The whole counsel of God.” It is a resource for now and for the future and many treasures are contained therein.”

 

 

 

If you would like to order this or any of my other books here is the link to Amazon. If you enjoy this or any other of my books a review on Amazon would be great too!

 Click here for Amazon 

SPECIAL OFFER.  If you want to buy more than one of my books, that is 2 or more please contact me directly and I will arrange for the books to be sent to your home address, it's cheaper all round. So email me at tlgminsus@gmail.com  and let me know what you would like. We can talk about it and then I'll price them and let you know how much they will cost, based on where you live and we will take it from there. If you want to sell any of my books, we can talk about that too and come to some sort of arrangement so it works well for us and you.

 

Here is what I wrote in the introduction of the book and why I wrote it. 

"Over the last few years, I have had the privilege to teach at a number of week-long Schools as part of Fatherheart Ministries (FHM). These Schools known as A Schools are followed by B Schools sometime later. They are opportunities for people to sit under prophetic teaching and have an experience of being loved by God as their Father.

My wife Linda and I had the opportunity of attending both of these events in 2007 while we were living in New Zealand. These Schools were led by James and Denise Jordan, the founders of Fatherheart Ministries. It is not an exaggeration to say these were life changing weeks for us both. I have written about my personal experience at the A School in my book Falling from grace and being caught by the Father (2013). In 2008, we became associated more closely with FHM, joining the team with the Jordans. Over the next few years, we transitioned from being team to speakers to finally being released to lead and teach the A Schools and then to speak alongside James at B Schools and then to lead and teach B Schools on behalf of FHM.

 

Throughout these years I have had a growing understanding in my heart of the nature of God as Father, his Son Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. I studied in the 1970’s for a degree in Theology in the UK and have loved studying and exploring the Scriptures. I began to see in many ways I had very much missed the point about what God was doing and revealing through his Word, the Bible. I was a product of my background as a Baptist and charismatic. As time went by, I wrote and dug deeper into the scriptures. I wanted to see how the revelation of God as the Father was revealed through the life and ministry of Jesus. My next book Jesus and his Father (2014) emerged out of this exploration. Then came a look at the story of the Church throughout history and how we had seemingly lost touch with this truth. I had taught a number of times on Church History and so the book appeared Finding the Father in the story of the Church (2016).

 

I found Father was opening the eyes of my heart to new and exciting revelation in the scriptures and had the privilege of teaching these truths. By 2018, God had taken me to look at the Apostle Paul and how he had a revelation of the Fatherhood of God leading us back into our true identity as sons. It was exciting and challenging as my theology was being turned upside down or rather as I was once told by a group of pastors in Africa, it was being turned the right way up. One of them said it was as if he had been struggling all his life to walk on his hands and failing continually then he discovered he had feet. Like so many, I too had found my feet, took tentative steps and began to walk and run and jump for joy. So, the next book, The Story of Paul – the Early Years (2018) came out followed by the second part, The Story of Paul, the middle years (2020).

 

Revelation is an uncovering of truth that has always been true. We just had not seen it. Our eyes were closed and only when God the Father gives us the gift of revelation can we see. In this season I drank deeply of the flow of revelation coming through James and Denise Jordan’s ministry. Their teaching on the nature of the two trees in the Garden of Eden, and the eyes of our hearts being opened was profound. I was encouraged by them to teach what I had seen, and I had the joy of doing this on a number of B Schools.

 

As I taught and reflected, I began to see how all the teachings being taught in A and B Schools were linked. They were not just stand-alone teachings. They were all parts of a greater whole. I describe the process like doing a jigsaw puzzle. Like many, I have rediscovered jigsaw puzzles during the COVID pandemic while locked down and at home. When doing a puzzle, we usually look for all the edge pieces first and join them. Then we move on to the coloured sections. Often, they sit there, not joined, floating. Then little by little pieces are found to link them to each other. Finally, as the last piece is found we stand back and look at the big picture with great satisfaction. Out of this came this book, The Big Picture finding the Father in the Bible. I am not claiming that I have found all the pieces, but I do feel there is a coming together of many of these great truths God is graciously showing us in these days. I feel too, our theology is continuing to be transformed and is becoming full of life and light. Theology used to bore me but now as truth leaps out of the Word, it thrills me beyond what I could ever have imagined. I hope I can share this joy and thrill with you as you read.

 

I remember the words of John Robinson in 1630, who encouraged the Pilgrim Fathers as they crossed the Atlantic to the New World: “The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from his word.”

 

Trevor Galpin, 2021

The sun always shines behind the storm.

 

Linda and I went for a walk along the beach at West Wittering recently. It was the last sunny day forecast before a period of very wet weather was due to come our way. It was a beautiful day. As we walked the beach a storm blew up through the English Channel across the Isle of Wight. We both managed to catch some photos and when I looked at them later the title of this post came to mind.

I felt this was a metaphor for this season of life we are all in. Many are facing the full force of the Covid storm. None of us are untouched. Yet the sun behind the storm was a powerful and comforting reminder of the Father's constant presence.   

We learning to live each day as it comes and enjoy each day's opportunities. We also look to the future when the storm clouds clear and a new day finally dawns. To that end we are not cancelling events scheduled for 2021.  If nearer the time they don't happen then so be it. We hold all these things lightly. Indeed, I was recently able to travel to Denmark and speak at a conference. In many ways it felt very "normal". No one was sick during the week or afterwards and on my return I went into quarantine for two weeks. Then Denmark was taken off the UK's list of countries where the infection levels require travelers to go into quarantine. So I was able to be released early. 

In the coming months I will continue to make plans, holding them lightly and will be delighted if they transpire. I do not want to give in to a culture of fear but at the same time want to be responsible and wise. I want to continue to live in my relationship with God as my Father, trusting him on a daily basis. Doing the things I see him doing and saying the things he is saying. I have no sense that he is saying to us, stop or retire but rather to live each day, make the most of very day by enjoying the small things.  Somebody asked me recently in a very meaningful way, "What are you seeing in this season?" My answer was typically slightly facetious I relied, "The end of my garden." Well that is what I am seeing every day out of the kitchen window. It is a wonderful view. I've seen the birds come and go, plants sprout flourish and be harvested. Now the leaves are turning yellow and orange and pink and fall. It's a wonderful view that gives me joy each day. There is joy each day if we open our eyes to see it and close our ears to fear and despair that is the daily diet of much of the news media.  It's trusting Father whatever comes my way and knowing that even in the darkest storm he is there behind and will break through.

THE STORY OF PAUL, THE EARLY YEARS.

I'm delighted to announce the publication of my latest book,  The Story of Paul, the early years.  It is available on Amazon and Kindle.

But why another book on the apostle Paul? Haven’t there been enough books on him already? 

Here is why I wrote the book.

The apostle Paul has been with me all my Christian life. What I mean by that is, my earliest memory of the apostle was being informed by my parents that my middle name was Paul and I was named after him. I had no idea what they were talking about. Much later, I discovered what they meant. They were expressing in some way their hopes for me, that I would be like Paul. Whatever the reason behind it, I have always had some sort of affinity with the apostle. That was about as far as it went for years.

In the 1970s, I studied theology at Spurgeon’s College and whilst Paul was on the curriculum, he was not a major focus for me. In many ways, I felt more akin to the apostle Peter in his ups and downs. Incidentally, my brother had Peter as his middle name. The apostle Peter had an opinion about Paul also, one that I shared. He says of Paul in his second letter. 

“... Our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand...” (2 Peter 3:16).

That just about summed up my opinion of Paul. There was a lot in Paul that was hard to understand. My interests in theological college went into the realm of Church History. Later as a local church pastor, I would preach from Paul’s letters but often majored on what I felt were the practical sections, usually towards the end of each letter, rather than what I thought were the heavy bits. 

However, over the last few years, I have personally discovered truth that I had not really seen before in the New Testament. I began to receive revelation that God is a Father who wants us to know and be known intimately by him. This has changed my whole perspective on what it is to be a Christian and a son of God. I have written about that in my first book Falling from grace into Grace and being caught by the Father. 

 

What has also happened as I continue this journey is I have rediscovered Paul the apostle and found that he had an amazing revelation of God in Christ. I keep revisiting the writings of Paul in his letters and discovering things I had never seen before. They are truly a gold mine of truth. This led me to think about how Paul received such incredible revelation and the battles he had to fight to share this truth with us. 

In this book about Paul, I imagine how these events unfolded and how he received this revelation. 

Inevitably, I cannot write about these things just from a theological point of view. I am not wired like that. I wanted to know what Paul was like. Why he said the things he said. More to the point, I wanted to see how the legalistic Jewish Pharisee who persecuted the early church was transformed into the man who had a profound revelation of the love of God the Father expressed in and through Jesus Christ his beloved Son. I want to tell his story as it appears in the pages of the New Testament. I want also to get behind the words and meet the man.

Our primary source of information about Paul comes from the account written in the New Testament by Luke in the work known as the Acts of the Apostles. There are also bits and pieces of biographical information scattered through the thirteen letters attributed to Paul, and my fertile imagination has pieced the story together from these sources. 

What conversations went on? What was the back story? Who were the people Paul worked with and knew? Though the book is not a novel, from time to time it has been necessary to conjecture a little about how the various events were linked. Therefore, in writing this non fiction work, I closely follow the events as they unfold in the New Testament and here and there, I imagine what people were thinking and saying weaving a historical narrative into the text. I think it will be self-evident when that happens. I also wanted to explore Paul’s revelation and teaching as these have deeply impacted me, and I believe they are a word for the whole Church today. 

I believe Paul saw things with the eyes of his heart that very few have seen, and he has much to teach us. I'm thrilled that James Jordan wrote the foreword too. Thank you James.

Finally I also believe it is a jolly cracking story to tell!

MARTIN LUTHER AND THE NEED FOR A NEW REFORMATION

I have been mulling over writing about Martin Luther and the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation for quite some time.  In this 500th anniversary year we have had the opportunity to visit the sites in Germany that are most closely linked to Martin Luther.  I was surprised how "un-touristy" it all was.  I liked Wittenberg and enjoyed listening to a Lutheran service in English in the Castle Church that finished up with a rousing rendition of Luther's great hymn of the Reformation, "A mighty fortress is our God." It was stirring and moving.  The painting by Cranach in Luther's local church where he used to preach, was particularly fine.  It visually described some of the basic tenets of Luther's teaching.

On October 31st 1517, Martin Luther had nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.  These 95 statements challenged the Roman Catholic Church of the 16th Century to question what it means to be a Christian and to reexamine what they believed and taught from a Biblical perspective. 

Much has been written about this in the past and especially this year.  As Luther nailed the statements to the door, the hammer blows echoed around Europe and within a very few years Christianity as it had been known was changed.  Tragically the following years were soiled  by division, persecution and appalling treatment by people claiming that their version of Christianity was the only true one. Thousands were burnt at the stake, tortured and hounded into exile.  Many Christians could not live alongside those who did not think the same as them.  The American colonies became initially a safe haven for many but sadly the divisions were reproduced and multiplied in the new lands across the Atlantic.

There clearly was a great need in the 16th Century for a reforming of the church in a more biblically coherent way.  In my mind it raises the question of  is there a need for reformation today?  Every age and every generation has a challenge to look at what it is teaching and what it presents to the world.  For me the Reformation dictum of "sola scritura" - Scripture Alone has always been important.  The Bible gives us a safe bedrock in which to base what we believe.  However it raises the issue of interpretation.  Saying the Bible alone sounds good but it opens up the whole area of how we interpret what it says, or rather who interprets it.  The Roman Catholic church of the 16th Century said it was the Pope alone who could interpret the Bible.  Protestants disagreed and have argued that all are free to interpret the Bible but within Protestantism there have been endless debates and division based on each other's interpretation.  We have made the Bible a book of academic and theological discussion that leaves most people disinterested.  Indeed today the majority rarely open the Bible or give it a second thought.

It saddens me that there are still people who, through the internet, express disapproval of the beliefs those they do not agree with and condemn them with as much enthusiasm as the Spanish Inquisition did in the past.  

One of the big things that I have discovered in recent years is that the writers of the Bible wrote about what they had experienced first and then put it into words.  Today however, with a so called modern rational approach,  people tend to discount experience and retreat into the mind and an academic dead end.  Luther would have been surprised by this as his great discovery was that salvation was by faith alone which was totally experiential.  In his studies of the Letter to the Romans Luther felt himself reborn.  His reformation began with an experience that  changed him and transformed Christianity.

Today we are seeing the beginnings of a new reformation in Christianity that is beginning to impact the world.  It is based on an experience of God as Father who unconditionally loves us and is for us.  This reformation is beginning to change many across the various expressions of Christianity in the world today.  It is rooted in Biblical Christianity but it begins with not an academic discussion but a revelation of being loved by God himself.

I am longing to see this experience-based approach re form the church today.  I don't long for a first century or sixteenth century version of Christianity.  I long for an authentic, twenty first century, biblically based, love filled, and experiential expression of Christianity. I long for a church where people are individually valued and loved, and are enjoying their Christian life to the full.  I long for a church where the focus of our lives is the trinity of a loving Father, a saving faith in his eternal Son Jesus and an overwhelming experience of his love being poured into us by his life giving and holy Spirit.

HURRICANE IRMA AND THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD

In the last year we have encountered two hurricanes.   The first was Hurricane Matthew which slammed into South Carolina the day last October before we flew in to Atlanta.  It delayed our arrival by a couple of days and disrupted the event we were due to attend not far from Charleston.

This year was more specific as we landed in Florida for a week of rest and holiday and found ourselves caught up in a mass evacuation of over 6 million people.  We joined the interminable lines of cars heading north and eventually after driving for nearly 18 hours found ourselves in the safety of Orange Beach, Alabama rather than St Petersberg Florida.  We sat on the sidelines of the main event which tore through the Florida Keys, made landfall near where we were meant to be staying and ripped a path up the centre of the state causing billions of dollars worth of damage and flooding many coastal communities. Friends suffered damage to their property and most are still without power.

We met nothing but kindness and help from people all along the way from gas stations to the hotel where we finally ended up. There were many stressed and anxious fellow evacuees staying at the same hotel.  We experienced sympathy, concern and classic southern hospitality which was heart warming.  It confirmed my opinion of America and Americans as being kind, gracious and welcoming if at little parochial at times however as some seemed confused by our accents and why we were there!

We watched the weather channel as the drama unfolded.  We followed posts on Facebook and read comments by many 'religious' people offering advice and direction on how to pray in these circumstances.  The suggestions varied widely.  Some of the advice was wise and sensible.  Some was down right crazy and driven by fear and appalling judgement.   The tragedy of this is that often these rather extreme views are taken as to be representative of all Christians. This has always been an issue and is not new.  This spate of hurricanes, Harvey which hit Texas less than two weeks ago and now Irma which has devastated Florida were both Category 4.  Hurricane Jose is swirling around close to the Bermuda and can't seem to decide where to go. They have caused some parts of the Christian community to rise up in prayer to "rebuke the storm", send it way, meaning 'as far from me as possible and not in my back yard.'  One of the more extreme views found its way into the Washington Post this week.  "We pray that Irma divert from its path toward Miami, and go back out to sea.  We pray in these storms that you will send the hosts of heaven to shred the demonic fury that is driving the coming together of these winds." 

I saw a post not long ago on Facebook which triumphantly proclaimed a tornado had been diverted from its path away from the writer's home because of anointed and powerful prayers.  Then a day or two later the same writer was expressing sympathy for the damage and the destruction in the immediate neighbourhood due to the same tornado that had been "prayed away".  

Back to these hurricanes.  I heard of one group who daily stood on a pier at Jacksonville Beach rebuking the storm and sending it out to sea.  It did the opposite sadly and hit the west coast of Florida which sent a huge tidal surge onto the east coast.  I'm sure there was lots of good intention but I imagine there is also a lot of disappointment now as Jacksonville was particularly badly flooded.

Some people are even claiming, “These hurricanes are not the result of global warming; they are the Judgment of God because of the innocent blood crying to Him for vengeance,”  There are numerous other examples that have cropped up this week.  Even in the terminology of some Insurance companies natural disasters are described as Acts of God.

Are natural disasters the judgement of God, or as some have said, a warning from Him to repent, a way of God trying to get out attention? Bolts of lightening are considered in the same way by many not least Martin Luther who over 500 years ago made avow to become a monk after narrowly missing being hit by lightning.  Earthquakes are similarly viewed. The devastating earthquake that struck Haiti a few years ago was widely believed to be God's judgement on the poorest nation on the planet because of their widespread practice of voodoo.

So what do we make of all this?  Is this the Judgement of God on America and Florida or the tiny islands of the Caribbean?  Why them and not North Korea or Walton on Thames?

The root of the confusion comes from a misunderstanding of the nature of God and the nature of the world in which we live. When God is viewed through Adam's fallen eyes, he is then seen as a God who people fear and hide from. He is seen as fickle and impulsive in the way he responds to our fearful prayers. He is cruel and arbitrary in his dealings with people.  Man's fallen view of God creates a caricature of him that is driven by our own brokenness and fear.  We live in a world that has been impacted by our fallenness and experiences countless natural phenomena and disasters daily as a result.  Let us look at lightening for a moment.  In the US there are 25 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes per year.  1,800 thunderstorms on earth at any given moment, and 100 is the number of times lightning hits earth per second.  Earth is an active place and earthquakes are always happening somewhere.  In fact, the National Earthquake Information Center locates about 12,000-14,000 earthquakes each year!  

As for hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones on average there are about  70 to 110 named tropical cyclones per year across the world, including about 40 to 60 that reach hurricane strength. This range has held remarkably steady within the last 40 years. This is according to University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

So how do we respond to these frequently occurring events? It's not inappropriate to pray but praying within the will of God has always been tricky as often it is our will rather than his that we pray for.  When Jesus' disciple's experienced a potentially life threatening storm on lake Galilee interestingly he was asleep peacefully in the bottom of the boat.  Jesus knew that this was not his time and there was no cause for alarm. However in order to calm the disciple's fears he "rebuked the storm." This is where the rebuking thing comes from.  What does this mean and what happened?  He said, "Stop it!" and it did. It stopped, it didn't divert across the other side of the lake and flood Capernaum, it stopped.  

The apostle Paul got caught up in a horrific Mediterranean storm with hurricane force winds which lasted for two weeks. Paul was not disobeying God, he was living in the will of God for his life but he got caught up in storm. What did he advise? Take all necessary precautions, dump excess baggage, eat a hearty meal to keep strength up, pray, trust God and run before the storm. Seems like good advice.  Finally the boat ran aground on a beach in Malta and every one got saved.  That is a good outcome.

We face daily the challenges of our world. We read in Romans 8 that all of creation is groaning waiting for the appearing of the sons of God. We experience that groaning in many ways not least in storms, floods, hurricanes and disasters.  As increasingly the sons of God rise up and step into our inheritance we will see the impact in the people of this world who need to know that God is a loving Father who cares for us and longs for us to find our home and true identity in him.

When the storm comes we step up to the challenges as sons and daughters of almighty God our Father and reach out to our fellow man with all the compassion and comfort that we have received from him.

AFRICA UPDATE AUGUST 2017

Having just returned from Uganda I thought it would be a good idea to put some photos up and give a pictorial account of the two week trip. 

As many will know the security situation at Mto Moyoni was serious following a spate of burglaries and the murder of the German next door neighbour by thieves who broke into his house.  This created a huge police presence in the immediate area and lots of anger among the local village community who were complaining about lack of police presence in the area generally.
 
We are pleased to say that on our arrival walking in the gates of Mto Moyoni was like walking into an oasis of calm and peace as always.  The staff where relaxed and trusting and very pleased to greet us.  We led a staff retreat one day and shared about the servant heart of sons. This was a wonderful time and we could see that the staff, made up of gardeners, kitchen staff, office staff and housekeepers totally identified with the vision of Mto Moyoni and were living in the revelation that God is their Father.  It was so good to have been with them.

We then held a pastors conference at the youth centre at Mto. This was another great time with open hearts and men and women deeply drinking of Fathers love.  Maggie, one of the Mto Moyoni staff shared and was able to pray the love of the Father over these people. 

At the middle weekend there was a gathering of about 25 people from across Uganda, African and Muzungu (whites) who we have been privileged to get to know over the last 8 years. It was very open and joyful event with a deepening of revelation and love for Father and one another.

The last week was the Fatherheart Ministries A School which welcomed about 50 people, well over half being deaf pastors and leaders.  The other part of the group were all pastors from the region in Uganda of Karamoja.


The Karamajong are a semi-nomadic tribe very closely related to the Masai of Kenya and Tanzania.  They are pastoralists( Cattle herders) and live in the north east of Uganda.  They are considered very warlike and different from the rest of Uganda so tend to be despised and feared.  Thus we had two very marginalised groups sitting together and experiencing the love of the Father.


 It was an amazing week.  The level of openness was unlike anything I have ever experienced in Africa or indeed anywhere. 

One of the highlights was the time Philip, a Karamajong pastor who we met in 2009 and was part of the team, shared his testimony.    I was deeply touched by his heart and life, a man who has never had a day in school but had been taught by the Holy Spirit to read and speak English. My heart nearly burst for joy when he talked.  When we shared the Father's embrace with everyone I went to Philip to receive and I was very deeply touched.   The sense of the presence of God was incredible.

It was very good to share the whole time with Ingrid Wilts who runs Mto Moyoni and has lived in Uganda for over 25 years. Also Winette Hubregste who whilst being based back in the Netherlands is still an integral part of the ministry in Mto.  Then for the A school we were joined by Gunnar Dehli who leads Deaf Ministries International and has been a key person in bringing the revelation of the Father into the Deaf community.  Maggie from Mto and Philip were also part of the team

During the week the plans for an A School in South Africa next February 2018 were finalised. We are delighted that Philip and hopefully also Maggie will be joining us on team for that School in Pretoria.  We are looking to cover their flights and costs next year through gifts and offerings.  If you want to help with this here is the link.  Donate towards Maggie and Philips fares.

We are so thankful for the support and encouragement received for this trip. Every thing was covered and we were able to bless  all the pastors by subsidising  and sponsoring them.  
 Thank you for your part in helping us and partnering with us to facilitate this time.