Some Reflections from the FIEC conference- Part 1

Things have been ticking away with our plans for the church plant, though slower than we would like.  The main issue seems to be time, with Tim in his most hectic semester of Bible College so far, and me with my work at church, it can be hard to set aside the time that we want for planning for next year.

But we are slowly getting there :)  An ABN has been acquired and a website is in the process of being made.  A prayer letter will soon be written and we are looking forward to doing some fundraising soon.

One of the things that we did last week was go along to the FIEC conference.  FIEC stands for the "Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches", and is an organisation that GCC will be affiliated with.  It is not quite a denomination, but it functions in many similar ways, offering support, pastoral care, encouragement, and various administrative things.  It is a great blessing, because as Christians we don't want to be wholly "independent".  The Gospel acts to bring people together and it is great for like-minded people to encourage and inspire each other in their churches ministry, and particularly to help each other to keep on track with their mission.

I loved it!  It was really exciting to see a group of different churches who had similar passion and goals as Tim and I.  As an organisation it just started as a group of mates who were all church planting, and decided that they could be more effective if they shared resources and met to encourage each other.  And over time, as those churches planted other churches, and as other church planters connected up with the Fellowship, it grew to be quite substantial.

But the thing I love the most about it (of course, knowing me:), is that everyone who is part of it is all about reaching the lost.  They look out at the Australian scene and they see how many people do not know Jesus, and this is the driving force behind all they do.  They don't focus on how many people are "in" their churches.  They focus on how many people are lost and on their doorstep, and they pray and think and plan how they can tell them the good news.

You can find out more about FIEC on their website: http://www.fiec.org.au/

Some great things to pray for us this week:
-Pray for Tim and his studies, that he would be able to get the most out of this last semester and that it will equip him for a life-time of pastoring
-Pray for me (Belinda) that God would give me boldness in my evangelism, and wisdom in my teaching.
-Pray for our current Church- Chatswood Baptist as they begin to look for a replacement for Belinda for next year.
-Pray for God to continue to build up a core-team for our church plant
-Pray that God will provide the people, resources and finance we need for next year.

Thanks for your prayers and interest in GCC!
:)
Belinda

Life and Death Moments

A few weeks ago I got asked the question- "How do you know if you are good enough to go to Heaven?"

These are the most wonderful and most scary parts of my current job (doing women's and children's ministry).  The question comes up, and immediately the adrenalin starts to course through me.  My mind reels and I think to myself, "Don't stuff this up, say the right thing.  This is a Life and Death moment!"

This was my chance to share the Gospel.  I share it regularly, and I have said it before to this person, but this is a special opening, this plea for hope and security and assurance where there has never been any.  It is a Life or Death moment.

But even as I thrill at the opportunity, even as I quaver, I am reminded that it is God who has given me the chance, and God who gives me the words to say.

I turn to Colossians 1:21-23
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel."

"Without blemish and free from accusation".  It is an incredible reality that takes my breath away as I share it.  That God can look at me, sinful and foolish and disobedient and selfish, and can yet see one who is without blemish and free from accusation.  It is mind blowing.

And I am reminded again that this is what I want my life to be about.  Sharing this great message.  And no matter the butterflies that are beginning, as we hit the 5 month before we move to Melbourne and begin to church plant.  This is what our lives are all about.  Moments like this.  This is what church planting is all about- Life and Death moments.

What a privilege!
Belinda

Don't put down your sword!

One of the things that is so great about church planting is that you have a certain amount of freedom to do things.

But it's also one of the dangers.

Because there are things that make a church a church which you simply can't get rid of, even if they seem a little foreign to those who aren't Christians.

But the biggest danger I think is that the Word of God can take a back seat.  And this isn't just a danger because it's wrong!  It's dangerous because it's the equivalent of pausing in the middle of a sword fight, throwing down your sword and saying- "I think from now on I'll try fighting with my fists".

The word of God is described as a sword in two places in the Bible.  In Ephesians 6, when talking about preparing yourself for the heavenly battle, it is described as "The Sword of the Spirit".  And in Hebrews 4 it is described as being "sharper than a double edged sword".  They are powerful images, and they suggest a powerful, life changing weapon.  Yet how hard we find that to believe!  My experience of my Christian ministry life is that so often I use the Bible, in my evangelism, in my Bible studies, in my teaching, because I know I should.  But over and over again God convicts me that his Word is powerful, and that I should use it not just because God tells me to but because that is how God works!  All I do is read the Bible and talk about it, but it changes people.

A friend was saying to me the other day that she feels glad that my husband has a theological degree behind him before he starts church planting.  Not because it's always necessary (though I think those who can do it well without it are the exception rather than the rule), but because the Bible is so important, and it's so easy in church planting, when you do have such freedom, to send the baby out with the bath-water.

And today in a Bible study on Genesis 3 I was reflecting again that the original sin was not taking God at his word.

Pray for us, and for all planters and pastors out there, that we will never put down our sword of the Spirit.
Belinda

The God of the Harvest- Some prayer points

Jesus in his earthly ministry looked out on a world and acknowledge "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few".  He was looking out on a people who were like sheep without a shepherd, and he had compassion on them.

His disciples perhaps didn't understand the full nature of what Jesus meant.  Jesus was to die and rise again, and by this act he was opening a new way to God, so that the message was to be spread well beyond that little patch of the Middle East known as Judea, up and off to the ends of the Earth.  The harvest of those who needed Jesus as their shepherd was indeed a great harvest!

But Jesus knew who to turn to in this issue. "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field".

One of the biggest jobs ahead of Tim and I is the recruiting of people to assist us and be a "launch team" for our church plant.  These are people who agree to join the church and participate with it's mission.

We would love you to join us in praying to the Lord of the Harvest for workers to assist us in this mission.


In particular we are praying for people who have certain gifts necessary for the running of the church.  We need people who are gifted in the areas of finance, administration, and music.  We need people with a heart for evangelism, discipleship and training.

We need people who are willing to serve, because church planting involves everyone pitching in with all kinds of jobs.


If you could join with us in praying for these, we would greatly appreciate it.  Our experience is that the God of the Harvest is indeed generous, and we look forward to seeing how he answers our prayers.
Thanks!
Belinda

Andrew Evans, Church planting and the Assemblies of God

This week I spoke to Andrew Evans, founder of Paradise Community Church in South Australia, one of the largest churches in Australia. Andrew was also the general superintendent of the ‘Assemblies of God’ movement from 1977-1999. He also founded the Family First political party.

Andrew was elected in 1977 at the biennial national conference; previously the denomination had seen no growth for the past 2 years. In the 20 years which followed the Assemblies of God denomination grew 2,500% and planted one new church every 11 days. I am doing an Australian church history project on this period and I asked Andrew about the growth of the movement during this time and I have summarized just some of his reflections on church planting.

Andrew said that he identified two things which were needed for the kingdom of God to expand in this nation
(a) church planting and;
(b) friendship evangelism

To this end the executive of the Assemblies of God made a number of strategic changes to facilitate and encourage growth.

This included setting growth goals; changing the biennial conference from business to inspiration and vision casting; strengthening the position of pastors; moving the power base from the executive back into the local church; and setting up strategies for church planting.

Although each one of these things is significant in itself, it is church planting that particularly interests me.

At the 1981 biennial conference a goal was made to put a new AOG church into every town in Australia over 1000 people. A four part strategy was created to facilitate this:

(1) Identify new place where a church was needed
(2) Existing church adopted area in prayer
(3) Put a home group in the town
(4) Put a pastor in the home group

The philosophy which was adopted was anyone can plant a church, anytime, anywhere they want to so long as they inform (a) the local AOG pastor in the area and (b) the executive

In addition the key focus for the movement became, not the more extreme Pentecostal experiences of the Holy Spirit (though they were certainly still present), but winning souls.

The big mega-churches became the evangelistic arm of the movement, while the smaller churches were the ones which allowed people to grow.

Andrew’s advice for young church planters was to have a mindset to grow and to prayfully have a go.

He had 4 basic growth principles which he believes work anywhere:
(1) Prayer
(2) Positive preaching
(3) Good organisation
(4) Discipleship

It was actually a tremendously encouraging conversation from someone who is traditionally “not in my camp”. What struck me was his zeal to see people “saved”, he really is driven by this longing to ‘take the nation for Jesus’, in his words. A real emphasis in the movement during those years was not signs and wonders or slaying in the Spirit but it was on prayer, growth and evangelism. Though growth has slowed down somewhat in the past few years I wonder if it is possible for other mainline denomination to recapture that vision for growth and the lost. I think that the recent interest in Church planting is particularly encouraging, only the Pentecostals figured it out 30 years ago.

Why Series Part 3: Why Box Hill?

Why Box Hill?  We get asked this all the time.  Often it is asked in this way.

Why Box Hill?  Don't we need more churches in the West/South East?

Why Box Hill?  There are several good churches in the surrounding suburbs?


Why Box Hill?  There are lots of churches in Box Hill.  Why would they need one more?

I understand these questions, I like these questions.  I've asked these questions myself :)

These are our answers:
The purpose of our church is outreach, rather than being "another options" for Christians to go to.
We need good churches in Melbourne.  And we need good churches spread around Melbourne so that Christians can have good Bible-teaching churches to go to where ever they live.  So churches need to planted all over Melbourne, particularly in areas where there are none.  This is a good thing.  And in order for there to be evangelical options all over the place, we need this to happen.

But while our church will be an option for evangelical Christians, that is not the purpose of our church plant.  The purpose of our church plant is to reach the lost.  And for that reason we are not necessarily picking an area with no other good churches around, rather we are picking an area where we feel there will be good avenues for reaching Non-Christians.  And Box Hill- with its accessibility for friends, it's "hub" nature, with it's dence population structures, and close proximity to community gathering spots- it's is great for that. We are not aiming to grow through lots of Christians changing churches, but rather through conversions.  And the reality is- there are plenty of Non-Christians to go around.

We need a core team
It would be great to have more people planting churches in the Western and South Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. But for us we feel that is not the best fit, because we are not the type to plant a church on our own.  We need a team, and the reality of our contacts and potential core-team members, they are all in the East.  One day, we pray that our church can plant other churches, perhaps in these less churched areas.  Who know- a team from our Box Hill Church might head West to Church plant- we might even go with them :)

But we feel for the moment , given that we need a team to plant, then the East seems like the best option.

We know it well
Tim worked for the Whitehorse local council for Three years, assisting with plans for the Future of Box Hill.  We have lived close by, we have shopped there.  We have friends there, many who aren't Christian. When we first starting thinking about Church planting I got out the Melways and my eyes went straight to Box Hill.  It seemed like a good fit for us.

We have a passion for Cross-Cultural Ministry
Tim and I have never particularly sort-out working with people with an ethnically Asian background.  But in student ministry and in the church we ended up going to in Sydney, we have been blessed with lots of oportunities to work with Asians, and we have loved them :)  In particular we have loved the blessing of our International church here in Sydney.  In our church you will find people from all different backgrounds: Western, Asian, European, and African.  We all have different background, but we are all family, working together for our same Father.  We love the idea that God might bring together a multicultural family like this in Box Hill, an area which is ethnically diverse.

And so when we were thinking about planting, Box Hill seemed like a good fit for all these reasons. We also have access to a unit to live in in Balwyn- so while not a thing which decide where we plant- it seemed like another reason why Box Hill just seemed to work.

In all this, we are doing our best, with careful prayer and with the wisdom that God gives us, to make the best decisions for the Kingdom.  We are putting ourselves in God's hands, and praying that he will use us to honour him.

I hope these posts have been helpful in answering your questions.  If you have anymore that you would like us to cover, please feel free to email or comment on this post.
In Christ,
Belinda

Hope and prayers and plans

Sorry it's been a while between posts.  It's been a busy few weeks, with Tim spending a working week down in Melbourne chatting with various people about what we are doing, and with my focus being caught up in Easter related ministry and preparing for the term ahead.  We will try to be more diligent in keeping you posted.  Our "Why Box Hill Post" will be coming soon as well.

As I said, Tim had a very encouraging week chatting with various people about what we are planning.  It is such a helpful process, because as we talk to people about how hopes and prayers and plans, we get a clearer idea of what they are.

So what are we praying for:

Under God, we wish to plant a church with a focus on outreach.  We also want to plant a church with a focus on growth through discipleship and through training in outreach.  And we see a church which isn't focused on itself and growth for it's own sake, but which focused on God's message going out to the whole of Melbourne, through sending out members and planting churches.

Under God, We want to plant a church which has in it's DNA a focus on outreach and training through discipleship. 

What do you think?
Belinda