Yes, yes that’s right! We wanted to let you in early on our Christmas plans for 2023…
As you will remember, our carols performances over the last three years have been high quality musicianship. We ended up down this path through the pandemic and the stop-start approach to corporate signing – you can sing, you can’t sing!! Therefore, if we all couldn’t sing, we wanted a quality of production that would at least mean we could enjoy listening to the Christmas story in song. I’m not sure if you remember, but they were amazing performances! That level of quality comes at the cost of a lot of rehearsals, most weeks in Term 4 for our music team.
So, in Term 4 this year we want to protect our music team from the level of rehearsal. As we deliberated what we could do that would achieve this we noted that Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday and have come up with the idea of a Christmas Eve Family Service – part carols, part Christmas service. Everyone, all in together, in the hall! Kids and adults, some carols, some readings from the Christmas story and a short Bible talk. We liked the sound of it, but we thought “You know what would be super great? If we could throw some of the members of Quiz Worx into the mix!!”
They said YES!
So we are thrilled to be able to share that Quiz Worx will join us Sunday, December 24, for our Christmas Eve Family Service at Lismore High School*. We will have finer details regarding timing, program and community invites in early Term 4.
Even though it’s July, it’s still worth reflecting on the fact that the God of this world came into our world to save us!
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:22-23
SP
*Due to the Christmas Eve Service there will be no Christmas Day Service at 9:45am.
Jesus calls us to serve each other, as he has served us and given his life for us (Mark 10:41-45, Galatians 5:13). We do this in many informal relational ways through our Gospel Communities, families, workplaces and conversations. Of course we also serve Christ, and one another, as we gather together around his Word on a Sunday. This Pastors’ Pen is all about our formal serving of one another on a Sunday and the shifts that we hope will take place in how we organise that serving.
In particular, during our 9:45am and 6pm Sunday gatherings, we’re gradually shifting from rostered Gospel Communities (GCs) towards serving teams.
Over the past couple of years, GC members have been rostered together on the same week. While it has been great for GCs to serve together, there have been some challenges. It’s often impractical or impossible to consistently roster GC members on the same week, the responsibility for filling vacant spots has often fallen to the GC Vision Coordinators, and some Sunday roles (such as welcoming) would be more effectively done by a smaller team of people who serve in the same role each week.
Throughout this year the staff team have been working, in consultation with GC leaders, to transition to a new Sunday serving approach. The beginnings of this will be seen across Term 3, with a mix of teams and groups serving in different ways. You can see the difference between a team and group explained below.
A team is a small group of people who are committed to a particular role. There is usually a team leader, team meetings and a clear purpose. Examples of teams serving on Sundays in Term 3 include welcoming, music, sound, and kids. Over the next 6 months we also hope to establish a Sunday catering team. These teams are usually not displayed on the whole church roster as they organise serving amongst themselves in consultation with their team leader.
A group is a larger group of people who have committed to serving our church in a particular task. This task is very important, but doesn’t require a lot of teamwork or team meetings and will often be done less frequently (rather than weekly/fortnightly etc). Examples of groups include Bible readers, those leading our church family prayer and kids talk presenters. These group serving roles will be displayed on the whole church roster and will be organised by the Ministry Coordinator and Staff Team.
For Term 3 there are also other rostered roles such as morning tea and supper servers. Gospel Communities also still have a shared role in providing food for morning tea and supper when they are rostered to do so, and as well as this they will continue to be rostered on to help with Park Ave grounds.
Our hope is that this new approach both helps our church family to serve in more focused ways, as well as eases pressure on the Staff Team and Vision Coordinators by providing a more streamlined and easy-to-manage approach.
Can you be praying for our whole church family – that we would together be reflecting the loving, serving attitude described in Romans 12:9-13? Ask that this attitude would be reflected in both our formal serving during a Sunday gathering and in the many, many informal opportunities we have to love and serve each other every day.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13
Even the word provokes something in me, a sort of primal emotion. My nostrils flare, my breath draws in.
Fear is not my friend.
Yet, the Bible teaches us repeatedly to ‘fear the Lord’. Over and over God’s people are commanded to fear him.
What does that mean? Is he a tyrant ruling with an iron fist? Is it simply a mistranslation? Why use the word fear?
On this topic I have found Michael Reeves’ short book, What Does It Mean To Fear The Lord?, profoundly helpful. Michael Reeves highlights the way that in the Bible the fear of God is a response provoked by his forgiveness, love and free mercy – we fear him because of his goodness. So, we experience this sense of both trembling before him, yet at the time being joyfully and irresistibly drawn towards him. This is the manner in which we ought approach the Lord on high.
Reading this book has helped me better learn how to approach God like that.
If you’d like to discuss the book further and think through how to apply it to our lives, then please join us for our Term 2 book club discussion on Thursday June 29. RSVPs close on Monday June 26 so please make sure to RSVP using this form if you plan to attend so that we know if there’s enough interest to go ahead.
Last Sunday the 11th of June, Leadership Team (LT) held an informal congregational meeting with the church family at SCG. The goal of this meeting, following the end of the consultancy process with Tim D and Luke M from John Mark Extension (JME), was for LT to provide a ‘window into their reality’.
What does that mean? During the consultancy weekend with Tim and Luke, they said a goal for their efforts with SCG was to allow LT to get a window into the world of SCG – i.e. what are some of the things that SCG loves and are passionate about. The final report from JME then encouraged LT to provide SCG with a window into LT’s world. Therefore, this was the goal for LT last Sunday to provide SCG with a window into the world of LT, as LT contemplates the future of SCG.
As the meeting began I tried to explain this goal of looking through the windows and made the joke that it is like we were back watching Playschool and wondering which window we would look through today. One of the witty members of the SCG church family said: “There’s a bear in there!”
But rather than seeing a bear, I invited them to look with LT at what we both know and love and this is what we saw…
The gospel is urgent
I shared with SCG the distressing news that a friend of mine, who owned a skate shop downtown, was killed in a car accident on the Northern Rivers last week. When I heard the news last Saturday, I simply couldn’t believe it. In fact, my boys and I had ridden to town and were on our way to the shop when we heard the devastating news. I expected a double grief – firstly I lost an acquaintance that was always ready on the end of the phone to be creative and help me however he could. Whenever I was in the shop we would often debrief on life and sport. I even challenged him 18 months ago to read Word One to One with me – he brushed it off. I pushed him on it and said he’d keep pushing me off, so let’s just do it. He chuckled and agreed with me, but declined to read through John’s gospel. Our city needs to hear the news from John’s gospel: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. John 3:36. There is an urgent need.
We are the church
Secondly, I suggested that the Western church is often anaemic when it thinks about its life. Ask the average Aussie or even average Aussie church-goer, what is the church? A common response is that it’s one hour on Sunday in a cold/hot building! This falls soooooo far short of the rich, dynamic, creative, spontaneous, risky, consistent, and everyday life that defines God’s people in God’s word. In fact, the Bible is insistent ‘we’ are the church. Living stones. Living for Jesus not just for one hour on Sunday, but Monday through Sunday.
Don’t be a mule
Finally, don’t be a mule! This sounds very cryptic! But here is part of my script from Sunday to help us, together, understand this encouragement:
You might be like, Stew you have definitely lost me on this one.
So let me read you a quote from a new book from this key Aussie Leader (Ray Galea):
“It is so easy to be a mule in Christian ministry and not a donkey. A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and female horse. The result is a mule can’t reproduce. It’s the end of the line.
A donkey, however, can reproduce, who in turn produce other donkeys.
I have known both the importance and the constant challenge of reproducing myself in ministry – raising up and developing leaders who will, in turn, raise up other leaders.
Or put it another way… to make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples.”
So don’t be a mule. Look to reproduce yourself. Be someone who is always looking to replicate yourself. Be careful not to look only inward and the crises that are drowning you.
Look up and out. Be a burning light. So that if we dropped you in:
Goondiwindi, you would set that town alight, Monday through Sunday, with the love and light of Christ.
Geelong, you would set that town alight, Monday through Sunday, with the love and light of Christ.
Geraldton in WA, you would set that city alight, Monday through Sunday, with the love and light of Christ.
Goonellabah. Can I pray now, that you would set that town alight, Monday through Sunday, with the light and love of Christ.
So, I presented three combined ‘windows’ for SCG and LT that we look through and share together. We pray you could give a hearty ‘Amen’ to this vision too.
Over the next hour of the meeting, we looked at three critical issues LT is facing as it contemplates the future of SCG – leadership, location, and finances.
Steve T had prepared reflections on these three areas and led the meeting with my assistance. Then, the meeting was opened up for questions that Steve, myself, and Ritchie aimed to answer.
Like all meetings, there is always more to be said and more questions to be asked. Therefore, we were thankful to have had the opportunity to meet again with members of SCG for an hour on Wednesday night this week for a Q&A with LT. There was a warm, earnest, and thoughtful mood in the room and we were able to delve a little deeper into people’s concerns, fears, and confusion.
Now, over the coming weeks, LT will aim to provide some prayer points for SCG (and the wider church family). The prayers will be for LT as it moves towards making a decision regarding the future of SCG at its next meeting on July 26, before communicating with the church family at SCG the plan for its future on Sunday the 30th of July.
Would you please pray for SCG, LT, and our wider church family – that in the midst of these weighty decisions, we might still shine bright for Jesus, Monday through Sunday, in our city.
Shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. Phil 2:15b-16
