What does it mean to grow followers of Jesus?

Good question… I remember teaching in a NSW department school where students chatted to me at lunchtime and were asking me questions about my faith. I said, “I’m a follower of Jesus” and a student piped up and said, “What does that even mean!?”

That’s where our core values help to fill out our vision statement from above so we will be drilling into them over the next three weeks in our preaching series and through our Gospel Communities in DNA.

However, a quick way to intro our core values is to think of a fountain! Yes, that’s right, a fountain! A fountain was a way that many puritan Christian leaders used to consider God’s love to the world.  God, in his abundant love, sent his son to the world. This love then spills into our hearts and so fills us that we can’t help but see that love flow into the lives of those around us.

Interestingly, this is very Johannine (a nerdy word for the theological reflections of John, one of Jesus’s
disciples.)  Do you know the passage from 1 John 4 in explaining Gods love – not that we loved God, but he loved us (you can read it more closely in 1 John 4:8-12). Then, famously in John 13, as Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, he makes the profound statement that by followers’ of Jesus love for each other, the world will know that we are his disciples.

Finally, even more famously, in John 3:16 it reveals God’s great love for the world, by giving the world his son, so they might come and find life. This fountain feeds our core values. We experience the deep love of God in our life (Growing in love for God: Worship). This love fills our lives, as we love our Christian brothers and sisters (Growing love for each other Community). Then finally we invite an unbelieving world to see this love in action through our community (Growing in love for the world Mission).

Now I could imagine you might think what if other people, different to the disciple John, saw things differently? Ah, that’s the beauty of the tapestry of the Bible! So many beautiful strands weaving through God’s word, expressing the same story. You will see that in the amount of passages that are included in the Core Values DNA studies for the series – there are lots! Even, this weekend as we begin the series in Growing love for God: Worship, we will not be in John’s gospel (or any of his letters). In fact, we will start in the whole book of Colossians as Ritchie kick starts the series.

We are super excited about this series and hope to see our church family get on board, as we seek to grow followers of Jesus by growing in our love for God (worship), growing in our love for each
other (community) and growing in our love for he world (mission).

To finish I will leave you with that amazing account of the blossoming church in Acts 2:42-47 to see if you can spot worship, community and mission. See how you go!

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47

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Do you know the feeling of Déjà vu?

This weekend is our AGM. However, if you were able to join us for our Congregational Meeting on December 10 last year, then this Sunday you have the feeling of Déjà vu!

Don’t deny that feeling, it is true!!

In order to complete the staffing for 2024 we needed to ensure our budget was correctly prepared for our December meeting. Therefore, the treasurers will be presenting just about an exact budget to one delivered (and accepted) in December. Consequently, we are expecting a short meeting on Sunday, and I will be chairing the meeting in a way that reflects this.

The only new piece of information on Sunday will be a short, mini-Vision-Sunday-type update on some
things we can expect for the next 10 months at Southern Cross and the early part of 2025.

So, do consider coming along, even with the short update at the end we expect the meeting to be
complete in around 30 minutes.

Finally, I pray you were encouraged by my honesty on Sunday around my challenge in seeing Christ as gain. Learning Philippians 3:8 off by heart last week was a great devotional aid for me in really considering what Christ means for me. I pray you might feel enthused to give memorising it a go to. Here I go at writing it off by heart! You can check your Bible to see if I got the word order right…
What is more,
I consider everything a loss.
Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For whose sake I have lost all things,
I consider them garbage,
that I may gain Christ.

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P.S. Over the coming fortnight I will largely be in SEQ (often at Queensland Theological College in Brisbane). I will be working with my supervisor at QTC to write my exit thesis to complete my Masters of Theology. The question I have written to complete for my thesis is the following: Thomas Chalmers and the growth in affection for the missionary movement in early-mid 19th Century Scotland. Chalmers preached a sermon in Glasgow in 1819 titled “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” and it has gone on to be quoted by a host of Christian leaders, even the late Tim Keller. Therefore, my interest is to see whether a strong affection for Christ (think Phil 3:8!), can lead to a growth in Christian missionary activity.

During the week Southern Cross hosted the first Northern Rivers Presbytery (NRP) meeting of 2024. What a brilliant bunch they are! We started our time together in Jeremiah 1, seeing the critical need Jeremiah had to be a witness to the greatness of God to a world and a people that would want to disregard him. Jeremiah was not going to have an easy ministry. It was going to require firmness, tenacity, long suffering and endurance.

It was not an easy meeting; stories of real heartache, leadership teams faced with significant opposition and future decisions required that cause us all to want to shrink back due to fear. When the need arose for members of the Presbytery to volunteer for roles and the room feel silent, I confess I may have yelled out “Let’s send Jeremiah”!

I don’t know if you have read the book of Jeremiah lately but it is a very confronting read. At times it feels too much to bear to read of the trials of Jeremiah. Yet, as you continue reading in the book, he will later utter “the word of God is in my bones”! I understand that he is saying that as hard as this is, he is compelled to speak God’s powerful words – it’s in him and he must speak it!

Could I ask you to pray for our Presbytery and the churches it seeks to serve (from Tweed Heads in the north, to Grafton in the South). Pray for the members of Presbytery, that when we feel afraid, anxious and overwhelmed (which can feel like every meeting!) we would understand the call to be witnesses to God’s living word, be prepared for trials and allow our Father to meet us in our fears.

Finally, would you also consider to pray for me personally. In 2024, I continue to serve as the Interim Moderator at Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Wollongbar while they remain vacant (following the retirement of their pastor at the end of 2022). I will be preaching there this weekend from James 1. We have a heart for this area and are eager to see a strong gospel voice continue to develop in this growth corridor. Please pray also for Jill as she works a half day each week as the Administrative clerk for the NRP, that she would quickly adjust to this position and bring her fantastic gifts to bear in this critical role.

Let me finish with this powerful word from the prophet Jeremiah:
4  The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6  “Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7  But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
9  Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10  See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy
and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Jeremiah 1:4-10

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