“How do you recover from a broken heart?”
That is how I opened a letter I wrote to the Trustees of the PCNSW on the two-year anniversary of the devastating floods in Lismore.
My letter to the Trustees was a plea to help us in our insurance claim for the devastation to the property we own at 99 Brewster Street. The letter led to a phone call with the General Manager of PCNSW. Then, like what happens for so many of us, time quickly passed and no real update arrived until an unexpected call from the insurance contractor that was doing repair work within the Northern Rivers in June. This call led to our discovery of a proposed pay out to SCPC for the property in Brewster Street. This, in turn, led to a flurry of phone calls between members of CoM at SCPC and the denomination. Thus, we feel we have had to play catch-up to try to get the process moving in a sensible amount of time. Below is firstly the process to date and then the two further tasks required:
- CoM met on 28th July to unanimously endorse that we proceed to receive the pay out.
- Due to the amount of money in the pay out, the congregation needs to endorse it.
- Finally, the members of the Trustees of PCNSW also need to endorse it.
Therefore, the purpose of the congregational meeting on 25th August will be to vote on the following two motions:
- Accept the insurance pay out for 99 Brewster Street to the value of approximately $345, 000.
- Give the Committee of Management delegation/authority to sell the properties at 99 Brewster Street and 16 Wyrallah Road.
Understandably, members of the extended church family will be interested to know if the properties and land were both sold, what would we do with the proceeds of the sale?
As we have indicated over the last 6 months, we don’t actually know. As part of those reflections, LT, and subsequently CoM, is interested to hear reflections from our building working group. [1] They are preparing a briefing report for LT to peruse at their weekend planning from 25th – 28th October this year.
However, here are two possible outcomes:
- The funds of the sale go into a trust fund with PCNSW. Funds from the sale of the properties cannot be used for staffing, admin or ministry events. Funds received from property must be spent on property. The money in the account would grow as it earns interest. [2]
- Funds of the sale could go towards the purchase of local rental properties, where rent from these investment properties could service staffing, admin or ministry events at SCPC.
I have mentioned in other correspondence with you at SCPC, that we are experienced, nomadic people, having endured different meeting locations over the last five years. [3] Obviously, from a theological perspective, being ‘nomadic’ is entirely correct, heaven is our home! But there is a general fatigue at the challenges of being renters and having to move in and move out most weeks of the year! We, as an extended church family, are indebted to our pack up and set up teams at Lismore High. There is a lot of physical and mental strain that goes into our weekly preparations at Lismore High, much of which is unseen to the extended church family.
Yet, as Rory Shiner, chairperson of The Gospel Coalition Australia notes, there is a greater threat to us than the physical rigour of setting up and packing up. Churches who meet in public spaces sit on a ‘ticking time bomb’ that at any moment can be removed. Even over the weekend, Dave and Kathy Thurston mentioned that in their church plant which met in a public school in Sydney, one Sunday morning 10 years ago, they found a sign on the fridge in the kitchenette at the school saying that they had three months to find an alternate meeting space. No email, no phone call, no meeting with the school executive, just a note on the fridge! We need to not be naïve or cynical about the future of Australian churches.
Am I interested in a building project? Absolutely not! (70% of pastors leave a church following a building campaign) [4]. Am I willing to explore the need of a building at SCPC? Absolutely!
Now, our greatest goal at SCPC is our vision to grow followers of Jesus. That’s where I want to spend 110% of my thought life, emotional strength and physical strength. Yet, a gospel base will be paramount in a rapidly changing culture. Therefore, we continue to move forward with gospel zeal, a LT with the heart and a CoM team with skill.
Christendom might be over in Australia, but what a hope that Christ will build His church and the gates of hell will not destroy it.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Matthew 16:13-20
SP
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[1] You will remember from other Leadership Team reports we have called this working group our “SCPC spies”, like those from Numbers 13, seeking a good “flood-free” land!
[2] Recently, up to 50% of interest accrued from the growth in interest from the fund can be used for ministry purposes.
[3] This includes venues used by SCG from 2020-2023.
[4] Peter Steinke, Courageous Leadership in Family System Theory (p. 17).
