My last post highlighed that East Taieri Church sponsors an occasional Business
Breakfast at Aurora Café in downtown Mosgiel.
This week we had 32 people attend plus a few walk in off the street for
coffee. There was a real buzz in the
air. Breakfast was delicious. A range of ages attended, including a young
person from Youth East Taieri, who helped with sound, and two YET staff. I think the prize for inviting the most
people would go to Joy Davis our community facilitator.
At the breakfast, I gave some background as I welcomed people
by saying: You might be wondering why
East Taieri Church is sponsoring this business breakfast. Our vision is to make a holistic contribution
to our community. In addition to helping
people discover more about Jesus and grow spiritually, we are a church who
works alongside others to develop thriving communities, which includes thriving
businesses. We hope this breakfast will
make a positive contribution to your business or career.
Our speakers from Capable NZ gave
interesting input for career and business development.
At the end I prayed thanking God for the
food and the people there, and asking God’s blessing on them all. The formal part finished by 7.50am. Did anyone come to know Jesus as a
result? Not yet! But there were good conversations and we were
definitely working alongside others to develop thriving communities. If you are local, join us Feb 25th
for our next Business Breakfast with Dunedin City Counsellor Mike Lord who will speak about issues facing our region and his personal reflections on being a
Christian in the community today.
If some of those words I used above sound
familiar to East Taieri people, they come from our recently renewed vision
statement which says:
We will be a thriving church, responding to God’s
grace and passionately living out our faith, wherever we live, work and play.
Together we will work alongside others to develop
thriving communities where people feel connected known, loved and valued.
I think the move of churches to have
serious engagement with their communities is significant. As I think back over the way God has moved in
New Zealand, I remember some insights from a conversation with Murray Robertson
about three significant periods where the number of baptisms in NZ rose
dramatically for a time. One was the
evangelistic crusades by Billy Graham and others in the late 50s and 60s. Another was the charismatic renewal of the
70s and 80s. A third was during the 90s
with the the rise of church programmes such as Alpha, Network, 40 Days of
Purpose, etc. Interestingly churches who
were blessed in one period weren’t necessarily open to what God was doing in
the next. For example, people who came
to Christ through Billy Graham, weren’t necessarily open to the work of the
Holy Spirit in renewal, saying “All we need to do is preach the gospel in big
crusades”. Those blessed in renewal were
sometimes suspicious of programmes. “All
we need is for the Spirit of God to move…” And of course, those who benefitted
from programmes can become locked into that mindset, looking for the next
programme which will be the solution to our problems.
Could it be that the next move of the
Spirit that will bring significant growth in the kingdom of God is through
Christians working alongside others to develop thriving communities? Engaging people in the community in
biblically faithful ways. God is already
at work there. We just need to join in. These are the settings where our fresh expresssions of church are being born.
When God’s people were in exile in Babylon they
often though about God taking them back to Jerusalem so life would be like the
good old days. It’s like us thinking,
take us back to the days of the renewal, or the days of the big crusades. Now, in my experience and understanding,
preaching the gospel is still crucial.
The work of the Holy Spirit remains indispensable. Programmes like Alpha continue to bear
fruit. But I believe Christians today
need to confidently engage people in their workplaces, schools, neighbourhoods
and community groups. God’s word came to
the exiles through the prophet Jeremiah (29:7) “Seek the peace and prosperity
of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it
prospers, you too will prosper.” In lots
of ways we are in an exile situation today, but the Lord is still with us and can
make a difference in our cities and towns.
May God bless all the community engagement that occurs whether one to one spontaneous conversations or organised events and programmes.
Martin.
