Evangelist J JOHN, who is to lead a mission to the York area next spring, told more than 1,000 Christians at York Minster they were "living in incredible times".

He said the mission toward which churches needed to start working now would give them the opportunity to enrich the church and to extend God's kingdom.

"It is an opportunity to tell the city and the area around it that God is God - he's not applying for the job and he is relevant for today."

He said: "We live in a society today of truth decay." Now was the time to be doing something about it to "seize the moment."

J John spoke of the need for partnership and said that when hundreds of churches and thousands of Christians came together, things actually began to happen.

He emphasised the importance of praying to God - "the only one who can change people."

He also urged Christians in the York area to be positive in outlook and said that Christians should not be talking about being "all right under the circumstances."

Circumstances, he said, were a lot like a mattress - "Lie on top of a mattress and it's comfortable, lie underneath it and you suffocate."

J John also said it was important to be passionate "with a passion to seek and to save people who are lost."

As he spoke he got the congregation clicking their fingers in time to his words - then changed the atmosphere completely by saying that every time they clicked their fingers four people died. Some of those could be their friends.

"This is an urgent task. It's not a game. It's a challenge. We are being given time to go to the place of our greatest failure, to our friends, our relatives, our neighbours, to invite them and pray for them."

J John spoke of the need for perseverance and of provision, which he referred to as The Sermon Of The Amount, and said people needed to start thinking now about how they would pay for the mission.

Christian Selvaratnam, a member of the York One Voice committee which is sponsoring the mission, said the mission, costing an estimated £60,000, was intended to be a free gift from Christians to the people of York and the surrounding area.

Updated: 15:19 Monday, June 25, 2001