Fasting

We recently had a day of prayer and fasting at East Taieri Church.  It was a significant time for many people and I believe God was at work in at least two levels.  First, our Saturday retreat about our ministry in the community went very well, so God answered our prayers.  But, just as importantly, God was encouraging people in their discipleship through the experience of fasting.  Some people commented that they hadn't fasted for some time and it was a helpful day focusing them on God.  Others described the way they prayed when they felt hungry.

If you haven't fasted before or not for some time, can I encourage you to experiment with this spiritual practice more.

Fasting is going without food (or some other thing) for a limited time for the spiritual purpose of focusing on God and glorifying Him.  Fasting is not a hunger strike, nor tying to get God to do what we want; nor an attempt to earn our way into heaven, nor a way of appearing to be deeply spiritual.

Some Hints:

·  Fasting usually helps our physical health, but check with your doctor if you are uncertain (e.g. diabetics, expectant mothers should probably not fast.)

·  Fasting and Prayer go together.

·  Begin gently.  Try missing one meal.  Then fast from after dinner until the next dinner, missing breakfast and lunch, drinking fruit juice.  Then try drinking only water.

·  Your stomach will initially complain – especially at meal time.  Try sipping a drink at those times (not too cold).

·  Then consider longer periods.  Headaches from caffeine withdrawal and feelings of weakness or dizziness will pass.

Some Benefits of Fasting:

Ø  It puts the non-essential things in perspective.  “We do not live by bread alone…”

Ø  We affirm and experience another world.  Fasting is feasting.

Ø  We humbly learn to trust God to sustain us.

Ø  It develops self-control over our body.  Our bodily passions need not rule over us.

It often reveals the things that control us (anger, pride…), and begins to deal with them.

Prayer & Fasting for Community Ministry

On Friday 19th June we are having a day of prayer and fasting for the mission of God in our communities.  Why are we doing this? People have many needs – from parenting to purpose in life, from social needs to salvation in Christ.  Just recently we have seen people's homes and businesses damaged by flooding.  As winter cold bites, some people cannot afford to heat their homes.  So we are praying for God’s love and power at work.  And we are praying for the leadership retreat on 20^th June when leaders will work on a plan to achieve greater cohesion across our community ministry, discern which high impact activities God is leading us to focus on, and identify how we can sustain our community ministry financially.  We also want to gain greater awareness and support within the church for our community work.

But why do churches these days need to be so intentional about community ministries?

When plagues hit the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries AD, people stood a significantly higher chance of survival if they were a Christian or had Christians living nearby.  Why? Because Christian values of love and charity resulted in showing care for their neighbours and community solidarity.  Plague sufferers were less likely to be abandoned in the street to die if there were Christians around.  Christians would pray for them and care for them.  The Christian Church grew both because of the powerful witness of this loving care, and because more Christians survived.

We need to pray for this distinctive witness and power again.  In our day, at least three key factors reduce our community impact.  First, today’s health and social service agencies, and emergency services usually provide good care so Christians tend to leave it to them.  Christian love for others doesn’t shine as brightly in our communities, even though the principles of the welfare state largely come from Christian values, and organisations such as St John’s Ambulance, Salvation Army and Presbyterian Support clearly have Christian origins.

Second, over the centuries churches became institutions and built buildings.  There is a huge tendency for the time and energy of Christians to be absorbed by the church.  We will care for people…if they come to us.  We need to pray for God to send us out again.  Pray for us all to shine the light of Christ in our communities again.  Pray for us to resist the gravitational pull that limits our Christian life to church. 

Third, in the modern era faith became regarded as a private matter.  Faith joined politics and sex as matters that shouldn't be discussed at dinner parties.  We need to pray for the gospel to become in Lesslie Newbigin called public truth again - able to be discussed and debated in society.

That’s why I called the church to a day of prayer and fasting for the mission of God in our local communities.  We need God's grace and power to tackle these big issues.  And we need the leading of the Holy Spirit if we are to discern the next steps God has for us.  East Taieri Church is involved in the community in many ways.  We need to ensure we are doing the key, high impact things that God is calling us to do.

I often give people the following advice on fasting:

If you aren’t used to fasting, you could try simply skipping one meal and using that time to pray.  Your stomach will tell you that you are starving, but unless you have a health condition that would prevent you fasting, most people can.  Other ways you could “fast” that day are to have a day without TV or Facebook.  Fasting is not a hunger strike, nor trying to force God to do what we want.  It is just one biblical way we can focus on God and put non-essential things in perspective.  Fasting affirms our citizenship in another kingdom, and helps us learn about trusting God to meet our needs.  Fasting develops self-control and often reveals the things that control us like anger or pride.  Fasting is feasting on the things of God.

With you in prayer,

Martin.

What is Ahead in 2015?

2015 is the first year of East Taieri Church's new strategic plan.  The plan can be accessed on our website, but I have found it helpful to write down some concrete expressions of that plan which we are looking forward to this year.  But before I include that list, let me acknowledge my belief that all human plans need to be submitted to God.  Our ultimate trust in God, not in human plans and strategies.  That doesn't mean that prayerful planning is wrong.  On the contrary, I believe that prayerful planning is an expression of our faith in God.  As God leads us we faithfully plan to follow.  But it does mean we need to be prepared to be surprised.  I wrote the following in a Sunday bulletin in January:

Do you have plans for 2015?  We have some exciting and challenging things planned for 2015 as a family.  Our Sophie will graduate BA/LLB in May, and she is planning overseas travel.  Tessa continues with her study but is planning a semester on exchange in Spain.  Here in Otago, Sam will be working on a research project in fresh water ecology for his BSc honours.  After completing the beautiful Routeburn/Caples in January, Sue and I are planning our next tramp.

At ET we will be launching our new EPIC youth discipleship focus; reviewing and renewing our 10am worship; exploring new fresh expressions of church that engage new people; stepping out in loving service in the community; using community spaces such as Aurora café for evangelism; identifying what sites and facilities we need for future ministry and mission (including considering a commercial café for FUEL)…  These are some things from our strategic planning work.  Come along to the forum and prayer on Feb 18th to have your say and to pray.

But, amidst all these wonderful plans we need to be ready to be surprised by God.  This week my Bible readings and some unexpected ministry opportunities have reminded me that we are not to be so committed to our plans for bringing in the kingdom of God that we miss what God is doing in front of our eyes!  In Luke 5:26 after seeing the Lord’s power at work, the people were amazed, glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today”.  The word is paradoxa – the opposite of what we had thought.  So we plan, but we also plan to be surprised!

Having made that point, I paste below the list of things we believe are ahead for us in 2015:

1.          Four times a year we will hold our new “The Power Station” gathering the congregations of ET for prayer and dialogue.  This will seek God’s leading and provision in particular areas of our life and gain feedback from the congregations.  First one Feb 18.
2.          We are launching a new youth discipleship focus called EPIC (Experiencing Power in Christ).  This will gather young people and adults on Sunday Evening for worship and small group discipleship.  We are also seeking to involve 5 adults in the life of each young person.  Our motto is “It takes a whole village to raise its young people.”  This 5 to one ratio means recruiting around 200 adults to be involved.
3.          We haven’t yet managed to appoint a new children and families pastor, so are seeking to resource this work in other ways.
4.          We will explore at least two new Fresh Expressions of Church, seeking to engage groups of people we are in contact with in one way or another.  One possibility is families involved in a girls craft group called Sugar and Spice which has up to 70 girls each evening once a fortnight.  We will survey these families and hold a suitable gathering, probably running one a term for the first year.  We are assigning a chunk of our associate pastor, Seb Murrihy’s time to these projects.
5.          We are running evangelistic events (including Alpha) in community settings such as the Aurora Café downtown Mosgiel.
6.          We are reviewing and renewing our 10am worship service.
7.          We are seeking to define what sites and facilities we need for future ministry and mission.   This includes putting together a feasibility study for buying or building a commercial café as a bridging space with our community.  This might well provide a larger venue for FUEL (our breakfast café church).
8.          Our community facilitator (Joy Davis) is contracted to an alliance of health and social service agencies seeking to establish a pilot programme of a combined referral process for health and social services in Mosgiel.  This will mean people with multiple and complex needs can contact one coordinator who can bring in various agencies as appropriate.
9.          We are developing consistent communications across all congregations in the parish, and upgrading and redeveloping our website.
10.          We are seeking to collaborate more with other Taieri churches through leading a new church leaders prayer meeting; developing our collaboration in youth ministry; and focused dialogue with Mosgiel Presbyterian and Maungatua parish leaders (including the issue of future buildings).  We will cooperate with Mosgiel Presbyterian to deliver a joint marriage course.
11.          We also appreciate prayer for and publicising of the South Island Ministry Conference which we will host May 19-21.  Our theme is “Thriving in Ministry – resilience in the tough times.”  Speakers are Digby and Jane Wilkinson (dean of Wellington Cathedral).
12.          We will be supporting Kenneth, Kim, Jenna and Shani Fleck as they transition from serving with SIM in Thailand to life back in NZ and worship at East Taieri.
13.         We will support one of our young graduates, Erica Aarsen, who will be serving as a nurse with Diane and Jim Young in Malawi for nine months of this year.
14.      We seek to do this within an operating budget which has started the financial year (July) with giving significantly below budget, but thanks be to God, giving is improving throughout the year.

2015 Theme

At the end of each year I seek God for an overall theme for East Taieri Church for the year ahead.  The Thursday morning prayer breakfast prays with me about it and people share various scriptures and things they believe God is saying to us.  I also consult with elders and leaders.

The theme I have discerned for 2015 is: Streams in the Desert

In July-August we have a 5 week series in all services on this theme.  We will be encouraging life groups and individuals to use an accompanying study guide.  

Streams in the Desert speaks of personal refreshment and renewal in our relationship with God and with others.  Do you feel dry or thirsty? What personal spiritual practices do you find refreshing?  Is there a place you like to walk or sit and pray?  What is your plan or approach to reading and studying the Bible this year?  What might God be speaking to you about this year?  These are some of the questions we will address.

Streams in the Desert also speaks of renewal and refreshment when we meet as Christians.  What has been helpful in the past in worship services or group meetings?  Has it helped you love God and love others?  What might be helpful for you this year?

Streams in the Desert speaks of the refreshingly different life Christ brings.  How can our Christian lifestyle be as inviting and refreshing to other people as a fresh water in a dry and thirsty land?  What new mission steps is the Holy Spirit leading you into and what new spiritual gifts for serving others might he have for you?

May we all experience God’s renewing, refreshing work this year,

Martin.

Highlights from 2014

Stepping into 2015 I have felt challenged about my lack of posting on my blog.  I guess 2014 has been a very full year - but no excuses - other things have taken priority.

One of the helpful disciplines I have adopted is to give thanks to God for some highlights from the ministry year at East Taieri Church.  I find it encouraging to list the highlights and at the risk of being unintelligible to those outside of the church I post them below:

Some Highlights from 2014 – 200 Years of Good News

•          The year began with a large short-term mission team going to Thailand.
•          Sebastian Murrihy was appointed as our new Associate Pastor, and has given leadership at FUEL this year, and will lead the exploration of new Fresh Expressions in 2015.
•          Rodger has had a year of growth as an intern and been appointed as our new youth worker – beginning 2015 – replacing Erin as she moved back to teaching.  Carolyn (as well as getting married) has stepped up for us in taking on Outram Oasis as well as Ground Zero/Summit – which of course has gone fantastically well.
•          The role and significance of the Pastoral Care Team was developed, including ordaining some new pastoral elders. (Seb, Joy, Pam Crosbie)  Pam Grant has carried a significant pastoral load over this year, especially with her wide knowledge of who is who.
•          Visit of the Kenyan Evangelists to Dunedin and East Taieri hosting Charles & Maggie Ng’ang’a
•          We developed a partnership with Aurora Café for community evangelism events, including the Alpha course.
•          Ed led the computer upgrade project replacing our old Windows XP machines and our old Windows 2000 Network Server.
•          Strategic Plan 2015-2020 developed. (Ed and Everyone)  In particular our one hour forum/prayer meeting.
•          Simplicity: we have found some ways to combine or simplify things so we don’t exhaust ourselves and we model a simpler lifestyle.  E.g. the simple One Service at ET, and combining thanking volunteers with the lunch on the day of the Annual Meeting.
•          With the help of the Synod Mission Advisor we have engaged in a process with Coast Community Church about their mission and their future.  In 2015 we will trial a mutual discovery together, Bible Study Format on Sunday morning at CCC.
•          Brad Thorn’s visit combined with Brooke Hooper’s baptism was a wonderful occasion.
•          Joy has facilitated the initial development of a combined referral process for health and social services in Mosgiel.  The fact that we were asked to do this shows the respect Joy and our community ministries has earned in the health and social service sector.  This project is also lifting Joy and ET into conversation with a higher level of decision makers and policy setters in our community.
•          Alastair held the fort for some months for us with the 2pm congregation, but now under Joy’s leadership this congregation is moving on and linking with wider church and community.
•          Jeremy and his team have laid the groundwork for our new EPIC youth discipleship focus to launch on Sunday evenings in 2015.
•          Making Space for the Gospel – Theme series for the year.  We linked in with the 200^th Anniversary of Samuel Marsden’s sermon, and our celebration of that this Christmas.
•          We have stepped up our efforts to collaborate with other churches – meeting with Mosgiel Presbyterian elders, youth leaders, and addressing the dysfunctional TCMA.
•          As Ed and Louise are particularly aware, our giving is behind budget.  They don’t have control over that, but have ensured we have the information we need to be able to make course corrections.  While this has meant we have delayed appointing a children and families pastor, we were blessed to have Jess step into a leadership role for a time, and we have been able to recruit Philippa Lord into volunteer leadership for Kidzown and are exploring other ways to engage children and families in our community. In fact, the number of children at worship actually grew over the 2013/2014 year.
•          Leeanne gave great leadership to the big events of the year. Ministry Conference went very well.  Christmas Eve also went very well.  Leeanne has grown in participating in the Ministry Leadership Team.
•          Good result in resourcing our community ministry including youth – this has been achieved in a difficult environment.  Well done with funding applications Jeremy, Ed and Joy.
•          We have begun to address some of the tough issues, including: how we run CCC, how we can address the culture of R4M, and what are the leadership challenges at FUEL.
•          We have talked about Network Course for some time, but this year we have nailed that.
•          In the midst of all that ET coped just fine with Martin being away for a month of study leave.
•          In addition there were many other moments: baptisms, Christmas Lunch @ RSA, General Assembly, Sound System Training, Turning Point Parenting programme, Service of Hope, Martin’s Leadership booklet, Taieri Youth Showcase, Excel, OT and social work students projects Community Expo.

   Thanks be to God.

Hosting Kenyans in Mosgiel

I’m looking forward to the first two weeks of April when Charles and Maggie Ng’ang’a, from Mamlaka Hill Chapel in Nairobi, Kenya will be with us in Mosgiel.  Charles will be primarily with us and Maggie primarily with St Luke’s Anglican, but we are seeking to work together with all churches.  Charles & Maggie will be involved in a range of events from outreach activities to church services, training and equipping.  But I expect the biggest gift they bring us is their passion for Jesus and their expectancy that God will do powerful things.  Their church mission statement is “Empowered to Transform.”  Please look on my blog for updates on our planning for their visit. They are part of a 12 member team from their church, who have come to Dunedin to help us reach people with the good news of Jesus.  This is part of celebrating the 200^th Anniversary of the preaching of the gospel in New Zealand.

 

Please pray for this mission.  Check out www.mamlakahillchapel.org for more information about Charles & Maggie and their church.  You can watch him preach online.  I want us to be confident in their ministry so we can invite our friends who don’t yet know Jesus to events .  Please pray about the involvement you could have.

We begin with an evening service at East Taieri Church on Sunday March 30th.

Blessings,
Martin

Mission Team to Thailand 2014

This January fourteen people from East Taieri Church travelled to Thailand to join with two families we support in Chiang Mai.  It has been a full two weeks.  One of my highlights was preaching (with the help of some wonderful interpreters) in two church services and a young people's camp.  The team also did fantastic work building relationships with Thai people and people from the Karen hilltribe group.  We also tackled a number of physical tasks from electrical work (led by a capable electrician on our team) and painting, landscaping, and building raised vegetable gardens for a "hospice/home" for people living with HIV.  Most of this work was carried out working alongside (usually directed) by local people.

Our model of global mission is one of partnership - doing things with the local Christians and not doing things for people.  Clearly we had something to contribute, but we also had much to learn about Thailand, about how God is working in another culture, and about ourselves.  Our prayer is that God will continue to build these partnerships as well and help us to grow through this experience.

The objectives of our time were:

1. Giving people a taste of cross cultural mission to get them enthused and help raise up the next generation of missionaries, and people who will commit to praying and supporting missionaries.
2. Spiritual growth of those who go – especially teenagers.
3. Encouragement and support of missionaries we visit (including completing some practical project while we are there).  This includes the goal of not getting “in the way” of missionaries while we are there.
4. Build our partnership with the San Patong Community Church.
5. Raising the profile of global mission in East Taieri Church.

 We have made good progress on all of these.

I'm not sure I would lead as big a team next time.  Fourteen people made transport difficult.  But one of my overall highlights was the way our team worked together using our gifts and strengths for the benefit of the team.  Working together with missionaries and with Thai people in a similar way was also a highlight.  These very same things were also a challenge when differences or tensions emerged, but we worked through them pretty well.  Building strong teams and the different leadership styles I need to use at different times is one of my on going reflection and learning points from this trip.

We worked hard in Thailand, but we will also need to put in some work, thought and prayer, back in NZ if we are going to cement these experiences and grow as people through them.

Martin.