The Tribe

Outward Sunday 3.

2010-07-16T02:09:00.000-07:00

In case you haven’t heard, this Sunday is an Outward Sunday. We will meet at church at the usual time and then head off to Makoura College to do a bit of a clean up of the grounds for an hour or two. Then we will have a BBQ lunch together afterwards. Wear something you can work in and please bring any leaf rakes or plastic shopping bags for picking up rubbish if you have them.

Remember – this is church; this is loving our neighbour and standing up for those who have suffered injustice. We are supporting Makoura College as they prepare for an ERO report which will have a significant impact on the school’s future. Let’s get behind Makoura as a church.

I hope to see you there!

Ben

Great Testimonies

2010-05-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

Wasn't it great to hear those two testimonies on Sunday from Shirley and Deb? It just shows that when you trust God and put him first, he takes care of us. I know I need to keep "letting go and letting God" as Shirley said. Remember, we are always keen to hear what God has been doing in your life - especially things you are able to encourage the whole church with.

And it was great to hear so much about Steve's life and have him open up to us about what being real means to him.

One upcoming event I want to draw your attention to is Lyn Ross-May's birthday party. Lyn is turning something ending in a 0 and is having her party at the St John building on the 19th of June. It will go from 5-11pm and is a Fancy Dress Party! How much fun is that! It will be a pot luck meal and BYO alcohol. Soft drinks will be provided. There will be great music and it sounds like it will be an awesome time, and Lyn wanted me to invite the whole church!

Speaking of birthdays, it seems the Queen is celebrating hers this weekend, so don't forget to take Monday off.

See you on Sunday.

Ben

Mission Accomplished

2010-05-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well, how lucky were we with the weather on Sunday? Maybe it was more than luck? Either way, we managed to finish the edging on the Solway Primary School playground, as well as painting the lines on their netball/tennis court. It was great to see so many involved and we really had a great day - the kids didn't seem to mind playing on the playground while we worked, and they even spent a bit of time helping out.

It was great to see so many turn out (to be honest, I was worried we wouldn't get as many as we did!). The playground looks significantly better since we have been there, and it is great to know that people will begin associating the name of Jesus with making things the way they are supposed to be. I think it was Eugene Peterson who once said: "Work externalises the Soul." We do these outward Sundays as a sign that we have been made new. God poured out his love for us, we pour it out for the world. And we are part of fulfilling Jesus' mission to make all things news.

It's important to note that the major focus of outward Sundays is not the actual jobs themselves, but the fact that we are modelling or symbolising as a group the kind of relationship we are meant to have with the world around us - not one of withdrawing from the world, but of transforming it; making it new like we have been made new. My hope is that this will become a way of life - not just something we do on a Sunday every now and then.

It has been interesting to see how the Outward Sundays have made some of you come alive! Obviously this is the kind of thing many are passionate about. Doing it every seven weeks may be too infrequent for some people, so we will have the odd activity that we can engage in together as it arises. For example, we are aware of a few families who need some firewood at the moment, so I thought we could cut and deliver some on Sunday after church. This will only take an hour or so and is just another way we can keep making the world the way it is supposed to be.

Thanks again to all who worked so hard on Sunday - it made me proud to be part of the church.

Have a great week and see you all on Sunday. Remember - we are a family, not just a meeting, and it matters when you aren't there. The body isn't all it's meant to be when some of its parts aren't there on a Sunday!

Have a great week.

Ben

Outward Sunday

2010-05-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we are going to be out in the community making a difference! On Sunday just been, I explained why doing this is central to the gospel; why rejuvenating a playground is part of Jesus plan to restore the world - to make everything new in Him. We believe that whatever we do for the name of Jesus will somehow last and become part of the New Creation, where everything will be the way it is supposed to be (heaven on earth).

But it's not only the playground that we are building on Sunday - it is the relationships between each other. It is the good that will result from the playground being safer, tidier and nicer. It is the way it will create happiness and goodwill in the community. It is the way we are approaching a broken world and a disjointed community and showing that "Jesus is Lord" by fixing something that is broken, making new something that is old. That is what Jesus did when he was on earth and what the church is doing until he comes back to finish the job.

Of course once every 6 weeks is not the only time the church should be doing this. In fact, what we are doing is really aimed at helping us understand that this is the way we are to understand our place in the world. As Christians we often aren't sure how to relate to the world. Should we be telling people off for swearing. Should we be avoiding people who are 'bad'? Should we be preaching to them about Jesus? If nothing else, we are called to be salt, light and the presence of Jesus amongst them. In short, we are to be a blessing, to make things right around us. To do good where we can, in the belief that it isn't wasted effort, that God is reclaiming the world through the church and that He is Lord.

If you heard me preach on Sunday, you would have seen that I am very passionate about this. This is important to me, because I spent many years as a Christian feeling unsure of how to understand my place in the world - in my job, social circle and wider society. I always felt like I was supposed to be different in some way, but often made the mistake of thinking I had to oppose the world in some way. Now I realise that the call on the people of God has always been to be a blessing (Genesis 12.2-3, Eph.2.10).

So, remember to wear work clothes, not your best jeans. Meet at the church at the usual time and we will work together for a bit, have a BBQ together and then if there's anything to finish off, hopefully a few wil stick around to finish it off. There will be some easy work for the kids to do too! If a few people could bring their painting clothes, then they will be able to do some painting!

Doesn't it feel great to be doing something that gives Jesus good publicity for a change?

Ben

Jesus' Arms and Legs

2010-05-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Well, Sunday was a big day. First we had Jeremy and friends in the morning and then the Worship Experiment in the evening. Big congratulations must go to Matt Adams for this initiative. The worship was amazing - I had some significant time with God! A few words came out during the worship too, which were encouraging to us as a church.

At prayer meeting this morning, Charlotte Booth told me about a dream she had last week which I think is for us as a church:

In her dream, she gave birth to a baby. The baby had a well-developed body but the arms and legs were underdeveloped, and this worried Charlotte - she called the doctor and asked him if the baby needed some more time to grow in the womb before it was ready to come out into the world. But the doctor was not worried.

As we prayed about this dream, it became clear that the baby was The Tribe, and that while we were healthy as a body, our arms and legs were underdeveloped. The arms and legs represent our service and ministry to the world - us being the arms and legs of Jesus - his work in the world.

This seems to fit with what God was saying last week about wanting us to "grow up" into maturity. God wants us to grow in the area of serving the world and being his hands and feet - being Jesus to the world. This was very much in line with what Jeremy challenged us to do - to go out and invite people just as Jesus did. It also is encouraging for the direction we are heading in as a church with our 'Outward Sundays'.

It also seemed in the prayer meeting that God was again calling us to be single-minded; to have him in first place in our hearts and not to have something else to be our 'idol'. In particular, some verses out of James seemed very relevant:

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

(Jas 4:1-5)

We always need to be reminded that we can't proclaim Jesus as Lord to anyone else, if He's not Lord of our own lives. This is a real challenge to me too.

A few reminder notices:

1. We collected the LinkNZ offering for the expansion of LinkNZ on Sunday. If you made an IOU, please bring it on Sunday or get it to Steve Thawley somehow. Also, if you would still like to give to this offering, there will be an opportunity to give to it on Sunday.

2. The men's breakfast is on again this Sunday - all men, come along at 7.30am for a great breakfast and some great time together as men. Ladies, we appreciate you letting your husbands out to this - we appreciate this time together.

3. Gifted parties is on tomorrow (Wednesday) night. $7 - painting canvases. Don't miss out!

Finally, I have started this blog as a way for us to keep the conversations going about what is happening at church. Please click on comment at the bottom of this message and leave a comment. This comment will be public and will be visible to everyone, so please don't write anything you aren't happy for the whole church to read! But let's start a conversation here - respond to what I have written or make observations of your own, but why not use this as a place for us to "talk" as a community about what is going on.

Have a great week. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. Remember, Sunday's aren't quite as good for us when you aren't there, because you are part of our body - we belong to each other.

Ben

2010-05-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Well, wasn’t Sunday good? It’s great to hear God speaking to us and to hear that he is interested in our lives. In particular, it was good to hear so many praying out – it always creates a stronger sense of community and of God’s presence amongst us when so many contribute to the service.

In the prayer meeting this morning, we strongly felt God saying more to us as a church. This may be particularly encouraging if you were one who responded to the word spoken on Sunday morning, but I think this is for any who feel like they are being stretched at the moment:

We felt like God was encouraging us that He brings us to maturity; that like a father who often stands off some distance from their child to encourage them to walk to him, that God wants us to reach out and persevere in searching for Him. We felt that these verses were important:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

(Eph 4:11-16)

The key parts of those verses are that we minister to each other so that we may all ‘grow up” and “be mature”. And that we “speak the truth in love” (i.e. we are real).

Also, We felt to encourage people to persevere in the struggles they are having and we got Romans 5.1-5:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

(Rom 5:1-5)

We can persevere in hard times, and have hope because we know that God is using these things to grow us up and mature us and bring us to maturity!

So if you are encouraged by what God is saying here and feel like this is for you, why not reply to this email and let me know.

Also, a few notices:

1. Brocky is no longer coming on Sunday. But he is sending Jeremy Faumoina in his stead. Jeremy spoke last year at our end of year meeting where we all ate KFC. Jeremy is funny, down-to-earth and very real – he is a good swap for Brocky!

2. We will take up the expansion offering for LinkNZ on Sunday. Please consider giving generously to this, as this helps churches just like ours to function and keep encouraging and supporting people just like you all around NZ. Luk 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Remember, the new Tribe website has all the upcoming events on it, so go there to see what’s coming up: www.thetribe.org.nz

Have a great week,

Ben