on 09/07/2018
We continue to testify that God is doing something intentional and wonderful, amongst us, through us, beyond us! He has invited us to partner with Him in this NEW season of strengthening, deepening relationship with each other, sustainable and reproducible leadership development and the cultivation of the culture of heaven; for the sake of significant advancement of the kingdom rule of God in and through the hearts of people that Jesus has sent us to and given us favour enough to be responsible for. I have studied the positive and practical feedback given at and around the ‘Think Tank’ and I’m currently discerning what we collectively believed the Holy Spirit was revealing to us. My next task is to prepare a summary response as a succinct ‘Shaping the Future’ paper. We will distribute this paper to EVERYONE as soon as it is completed, for feedback during a specific time frame so that we can MOVE ON and begin framing up the support necessary for this next season of our church family’s mission. I am so thankful to God for the way He is drawing us together, moulding us into an intentional mission ‘body’ or company and highlighting for each of us, ways we can ALL be covenanted to what He is already doing around us. Please PRAY with me as I write this paper and pray for us all so that we can clearly understand how we can progress and prioritize equipping each other appropriately and fully with all of the resources of heaven entrusted to us. This is Jesus’ campaign, He is our leader and we need to position ourselves ‘rightly’ so we can shepherd the ‘team’ and those we will engage in the short time to come. Let’s continue to celebrate ‘for a time such as this’. ‘And the Lord added to their number daily, those who were BEING saved’ (Acts 2:47) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21) Our Compassion Sponsor Child Graduates It was with a mix of great joy and a tinge of sadness that we received news via Brother Harry Peary that our ‘Compassion’ sponsor child, Uzamukunda Diane, has now GRADUATED from the program and is equipped with the skills and knowledge to confidently begin the next stage of her life journey. We are extremely proud, IN Christ, of Diane’s achievements and of course the privilege and honour it has been for us to play even a small part in all of that. We WILL continue to pray for Diane, that the difference that Jesus has made in her life will help her to look after her health, find steady employment, complete any further study that will benefit her journey and that she and her family/community will be able to deal with drought and other natural disasters and as such remain free from the bondage of poverty. We align with heaven’s view of this as flagged in Proverbs 22:6; “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” We will display a copy of Diane’s letter to us on the main entrance notice board for a while for you to have a read. God bless you Diane and thanks to the Peary’s and Compassion for the opportunity. Pray with us about how we might invest in another child’s life in the time to come as well as how we can take what we have learned to invest ALSO, in the lives of children in need all around us. UPDATE! – ONLY 2 WEEKS & 4 DAYS UNTIL 24 HOURS OF DRUMMING UP SUPPORT We met with a bunch of enthusiastic supporters yesterday to commence logistic preparations for the Friday 27th – Saturday 28th July event. So that I can spend more time in the areas that I need to focus on over the next couple of weeks, I have asked Heather to be the point person for all things to go through and you can update her with anything you have had a go at OR provided OR completed OR have decided you WILL try and do, by emailing secretaryccc09@gmail.com . For NOW, we’d like to focus our attention on the first goal of raising $3000 in the account BEFORE we start the event on the 27th. To read up on the 3 Beautiful children we are supporting, a paragraph of explanation for each one is in last week’s journal and will this week, appear on the back page of our monthly news sheet wrap. In order to get anywhere near achieving the first goal, a few simple but regular things need to start happening to sustain and supplement the effort we are putting in on media/social media. Here then is a clear and simple list of tasks. If you’d like to join the team, please contact Heather and tell her what task, when you’ll try and do it by etc. THANK YOU! Go to Facebook and type @24HrDrumMadness into the search. Like the page or tick ‘Going’ in the event page and ‘SHARE’ important posts as we approach the event date. PLEASE DON’T DRIVE YOUR FRIENDS MAD BUT discern which posts might help you spread the news and just share one or two a week. Word of Mouth …. Share with family and friends what we are doing. It’s a quirky event that people will find interesting. Your sharing will be helped by a leaflet we are preparing which will be available from next Sunday for the final 2 weeks push BUT in the meantime you can introduce anyone you talk with to the Facebook page etc. Media …. Please follow up any commercial/government/community media friends you might have to ensure the event reaches community billboards everywhere at the very least. Media will also find the event interesting, so if you do have connections in the media, email Heather and she will send you a copy of the official ‘Press Release’ so that our promotional message is consistent. Makes sharing easier for you also. Corporate Sponsorship AND Silent Auction …. ALL of us know people in local shops or businesses that we could inform about the drum-a-thon. IF you do, just let them know what’s happening and give them TWO ways to respond. NB: IF ANY of your friends/contacts in food venues suggest they support the team by providing food or drink etc. at various times during the event PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY SO WE CAN COORDINATE THIS EFFECTIVELY (the office is focusing on this as a need area to be fulfilled and we simply don’t want crossed wires or double up etc. .. thanks) Personal Gifts …. You could also decide to offer some unopened thing you once bought OR you could purchase something for us to Auction in the hope we will raise more money for it than the reserve. THANK YOU in advance for any help, small or large, you can offer to help us reach our first goal and perhaps our final goal of over $5K raised. IF YOU HAVE A RESPONSE TO ANYTHING LISTED ABOVE (OR ANY OTHER IDEA) PLEASE CONTACT HEATHER SO WE CAN RECORD & SUPPORT WHAT WE ARE DOING AS A TEAM FINALLY … here’s a summary of important information and CURRENT ways to donate. – Graeme will attempt to drum for 24 hours straight, from 5.30pm on Friday 27th July (like the Table Tennis Marathon, health regulations allow him a 3 to 5 minute break an hour) – On our church family’s behalf, he is raising awareness and funds for THREE (3) beautiful kids who are in desperate need; Chloe Saxby, Beau McClinton, Michael Bereznai. For more information and to stay up to date you can login to Facebook, type @24HrDrumMadness into the search line and like the page or click on ‘Going’ or ‘Interested’ on the associated EVENT page and you will be notified of updates. If you are asking family, friends and contacts to DONATE, simply give them the following Bank Details – THANKS! Westpac Account Named – Heartland Ministries BSB 032727 Account Number 203307 and we’d ask people to identify their deposit with their Name or Initials (or not if they’d like to be anonymous) and the word DRUM or if bank only accepts number; 4934. ‘It got a lot brighter in the Back Hall all of a sudden’ – Facility Alignment Update We are constantly working at cost effectively upgrading our facilities to align with our ministry needs and John Podmore will continue to keep us steadily moving forward to achieve items of maintenance and upgrade as we can afford to. During this last week with help from our neighbour Ben, we replaced all the lighting in the back hall with luminous power saving LED fluoro type fittings. John also installed cost effective solar sensor lighting that shines on the main entrance when you approach it. The street sign posts are painted, as is the outside cladding around the plumbing installation in the café space and the back hall ceiling around the new lights which aren’t as big as their predecessors. We are currently preparing to upgrade the lighting in the auditorium. A Summary of last Sunday’s messages for Prayer, Reflection & Response. Signpost: See & Engage the Harvest Series: ‘The HOPE Project Trek from Base Camp to Camp One’ Theme: ‘Tools for the Climb: ‘Church Planting IS the proper Theology of Evangelism in the NT Part 2 – (studies in ‘the Church that Jesus builds’ by Brian Medway & Graeme Hush) Reference Scriptures = Matthew Chapters 1 to 9; Matthew 18, Luke 4 – 10; Ephesians 3 & 4 The tools I’ve been sharing in these recent messages are found in Jesus’ life & ministry. This is intentional because if we understand how to draw from the correct source and apply to our specific circumstances, sustaining & reproducing mission aligned with heaven becomes more likely and as such will increase consistently, even exponentially. Two kingdoms are at war, and Jesus shows us how to stay IN the battle for the hearts and minds of people and the battle for the destiny of God in our own neighbourhood and community involvement spheres – DAILY. Taking these things and ALIGNING them with the ministry of Jesus as a sample of how two kingdoms are at war in order to understand how the battle for the hearts and minds of people and the battle for the destiny of God could be fought in our own neighbourhood and community involvement spheres – DAILY. And on Sundays we could do more celebrating of the journey. I’m doing this for a few weeks JUST to get the ball rolling …so that on Sundays to come we can do more celebrating of the journey, ministering to each other and providing strategic support. So let’s have a look today at a few more tools for the kit… To reproduce … Plant Churches / Communities of HOPE i.e. the body of Christ crashing down the gates of hell in the spheres of our involvement / influence, to advance the kingdom of heaven Church Planting is the proper theology of evangelism in the New Testament so …….. In order for us to summit the unclimbed peaks, we need to forge a kingdom advancing framework and re-prioritize so we can all play our unique part, shepherding a more serious commitment of time, money and tools to enable projects to be planned, equipped, resourced and supported. I will outline the ‘Community of HOPE’ strategy shortly but in this message I want to give some broad biblical, Jesus looking parameters for this task. It won’t answer all the questions, but it will help us to start thinking and hopefully moving towards this faithfully. Comment: Less daunting to share as 2 or 3 than 1. Last week we reflected on the true context for Matthew 18:18-20 based on the fact that Jesus repeats the key gate crashing strategy from a couple of chapters earlier i.e. ‘what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’ and as such connects the following two ideas …. Where 2 or 3 come together in my name to use the keys to the kingdom, I will build my church and the gates of hell WILL NOT PREVAIL … Where 2 or 3 are gathered ….. Is Jesus strategy FOUR PRINCIPLES THAT JESUS REPRESENTED IN HIS SPHERES AND SENT HIS APPRENTICES TO REPRESENT IN THEIR SPHERES (Luke 10) This week and next week then, I want to paint a broad stroke picture of some ‘Foundational Processes for being a Church Planting Church’ Some of the Strike Weapons Jesus used: (Matthew 1 – 9) I’ve taken these from the first nine chapters of the gospel of Matthew. If you can get the idea from the way these passages have presented insights that Jesus uses as weapons to win the battle in his sphere (the lost sheep of the house of Israel); you will be able to keep on looking through the gospel to glean important revelatory information that the Holy Spirit will give you for your own chosen sphere. (IMAGINE A SPHERE OF YOUR INVOLVEMENT) 4:4 The revelatory power of the living written word of God Context: The battle between the kingdoms – survival needs/temporal 4:12 Prophetic testimony = a bigger picture 4:17 Preaching = declaring i.e. representing & demonstrating 4:18 Gathering a core ministry team for a specific purpose 4:23 Healing and casting out demons = Jesus gives us keys & when we use these keys ON EARTH we will impact what happens in the spiritual realm (AS WAS TRUE FOR JESUS) That action in turn will have an outflow impact in the earthly realm. 5:1–7:28 Anointed teaching of life principles/values WHERE THESE THINGS OPERATE – CHANGED HEARTS FOLLOW 8:26 Exercising the authority of God through faith over adverse natural circumstances 9:1 Confronting enemy strongholds through overt kingdom ministry i.e. the power forgiveness (Lord’s Prayer) 9:23 Getting rid of the presence of unbelief before exercising faith for a miracle 9:28-30 Responding to the exercise of people’s faith in Jesus 9:35 Going to every part of His sphere and with compassion as His motivation, He offered the holistic ministry of heaven Some of the Strategies that Jesus used: (I’ll just start these this week) Once again, if you look at any one of the gospels and think about why Jesus did what he did, and the strategic influence that this had, you will gain insights about strategies you might begin with in your own sphere. These are just some of my observations as I’ve read the gospels You need to be aware that these are not the only strategies or strategic principles, but they will help to illustrate what God does and how he does it through people who have made a choice to respond to Jesus’ call to follow and serve him; have a desire to BE more like Him. Honoured what should be honoured BUT challenged settling: Through his life, Jesus honoured the things in his own culture that validly expressed heaven on earth but always encouraged people to trust God for more (e.g. you’ve heard it said BUT …) Studied (in the way it worked for Him) to become equipped for the task: Jesus studied under teachers and became a rabbi or teacher NOT in the usual way. This gave him human authority to teach in synagogues (e.g. Luke 2) Operated by Holy Spirit power: (e.g. Mat 4/Lk 4/Acts 1) Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit before he began his ministry and commanded the disciples to wait for the same empowering before they started out on theirs. Built a Core Team: (e.g. Matthew’s Gospel from Ch4) Jesus invited/called a core team of people to come around him who were bonded to him. He lived the vision he represented, and worked with them and through them regardless of how they struggled with various implications of what he was saying and doing. One of the interesting points about the choosing of Jesus’ disciples was that they were all from Galilee at a time when Galilee was regarded as “Hicksville.” It was Jesus’ home territory. Some of the men he chose were devout sons of Israel (e.g. Andrew was hanging about with John the Baptist) and then there was Matthew who was a tax collector. The strength of this core team was their common conviction regarding Jesus’ identity and the vision He represented. Find Entry Points – Synagogues: (e.g. Luke 4) Paul did the same (we’ll re-visit when we reflect on early church) One of the clear ministry entry points for Jesus was the way he taught and ministered in synagogues. Two shapes of Synagogue for us to pray about & reflect upon (Research done from a bunch of Jewish/Judaism academic web sites) So ….. This was an intentional strategy of Jesus Think of YOUR Sphere(s) – what would equate to place of worship AND OR cultural centres? (i.e. actual churches or places of worship AND icons of cultural coordination LIKE????) My hope is that we will soon establish a team of early adopting summiteers so we can pilot some community of hope projects.. Wherever (i.e. chosen sphere of involvement of influence) and whenever you make a decision to intentionally position yourself so Jesus can build a community of hope around you (2 or 3 – people of peace) for the advancement of the kingdom ….. We will all work together at base camp / HQ To put an easily accessible and user friendly equipping framework in place to support this Let’s keep praying and preparing …. Some review questions you can use to equip or sharpen each other as you learn how to engage these tools in kingdom conversations in YOUR spheres of involvement OR patches; ON earth as in heaven. NB: I’ve used the framework of last week’s questions to start off) Here’s the Link to the home page for all that’s happening at the HUB https://www.corrimalcommunitychurch.com.au/blog
What Comes After the ‘Think Tank’ Forum?
