Tag Archives: mission

CMS Day of Prayer – Monday June 4

Posted by on May 15, 2012 No comments

You and I are not intended to plunge down the mountain of radical obedience alone

Posted by on May 10, 2012 No comments

A quote that was read a couple of times on the weekend:

High atop the Andes Mountains, the rays of the sun strike ice, and a single drop of water forms. It begins to trace a hesitant course downward, gradually joining with other drops of water to become a steady stream. The stream gains speed and strength. Thousands of feet below and hundreds of miles later, what were once single drops have converged to become the mightiest river on earth: the Amazon. Flowing into the Atlantic Ocean at a rate of more than seven million cubic feet per second, the Amazon is more powerful than the next ten largest rivers in the world combined.

In my book Radical, I explored how the biblical gospel affects individual Christian lives. Simply put, in a world of urgent spiritual and physical need, gospel-believing, God-exalting men and women do not have time to waste their lives pursuing a Christian spin on the American [Australian, Singaporean, Canadian etc] dream. Using the imagery above, I tried to picture what happens when the truth of Christ penetrates our hearts, melts our assumptions, and propels us on a journey of abandonment to God.

But you and I are not intended to plunge down the mountain of radical obedience alone. That’s one of the reasons I love this imagery of the Amazon. The force of a single drop of water descending the Andes is minus cule. Similarly, as long as individual Christians journey alone—no matter how “radical” they are—their effect will be minimal. But as men and women who are surrendered to the person of Christ join together in churches that are committed to the purpose of Christ, then nothing can stop the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth

David Platt, Radical Together (pp.1-2).

Then on page 5:

If you and I want our lives to count for God’s purpose in the world, we need to begin with a commitment to God’s people in the church. God has called us to lock arms with one another in single-minded, death-defying obedience to one objective: the declaration of his gospel for the demonstration of his glory to all nations. This is God’s design for his people, and it is worth giving our lives to see it accomplished. It is worth it for billions of people who do not yet know that Jesus is the grave-conquering, life-giving, all-satisfying King. And it is worth it for you and me, because we were made to enjoy the great pleasures of God in the context of total abandonment to his global purpose.

David Platt, Radical Together (pp.1-2).

As I mentioned in yesterdays blog post, let’s keep discussing this book, it’s ideas, and how we can “enjoy the great pleasures of God in the context of radical abandonment to His global purpose”.

Church Camp – brilliant!

Posted by on May 9, 2012 No comments

I’m still tired, but so thoroughly encouraged by our church weekend away. A big thanks to Matt for finding a beautiful place to stay, and for everyone else who made the weekend possible. We love being and doing church with you! And we look forward to what God will do in and through us in the coming weeks, months, years as we:

  1. Work against the tyranny of the good
  2. Trust in the gospel that saves us from work but saves us to work
  3. Dig into the Word that does the work
  4. Depend on the wrong people to be the right church
  5. Live and long for the end of the world
  6. Be selfless followers of a self-centred God.

(Radical Together, David Platt)

Ask any of our church campers about any of the above which don’t make sense to you! Let’s keep the conversation going – so we can all be radical followers of Jesus, and so that God will continue to unleash the people of God for the purpose of God.

KGK Japan

Posted by on February 29, 2012 Comments Off

Last month, a number of 5:17ers went to a church service to send Dene and Rachel, Elliot and Simeon Hughes off to Japan. As a church, we’ve committed to pray for, care and financially provide for the Hughes as they serve university students in Japan. The ministry they are serving with is called KGK.

We’ve been sent a link to a great vimeo from one of their Staff, Shige Oshima takling about KGK ministries. Here’s the vimeo. It’s encouraging. So have a view, and then remember to pray for the Hughes and the ministry of KGK.

Shige Oshima: KGK staff worker in Japan from CMS NSW & ACT on Vimeo.

 

Shige Oshima: KGK staff worker in Japan from CMS NSW & ACT on Vimeo.

Myth busting

Posted by on October 11, 2011 Comments Off

This series of talks are currently happening at church in the hope that we will bust some of the myths surrounding Christianity and set the record straight. We’d love you to come listen to any or all of them, examine the Bible with us, ask questions, and hopefully get meaningful, satisfying, and even life-changing answers from God and His word.

On our part, we promise to respect where you’re coming from, and not demand anything from you. And we promise free dinners after church! We sincerely hope you’ll check us, the Bible, Jesus, and Christianity out.

09/10 – Christianity is for mindless morons
16/10 – Christianity does more harm than good
23/10 – Christianity is for wimps
30/10 – Christians hate homosexuals
06/11 – Christians are all hypocrites
13/11 – All religions are the same
20/11 – You can’t take the Bible literally
27/11 – …so what does all this mean for me?

Christians offer hope in Japan

Posted by on September 21, 2011 Comments Off

In all our busyness, especially leading up to the SMBC team joining us next week, let’s not forget about Japan, and their continued need for our prayers. See here for the ongoing work post-earthquake / tsunami, and the prayer points are at the bottom of the page

Am I ashamed of the Gospel?

Posted by on July 27, 2011 Comments Off

Sometimes I feel scared of sharing the gospel. People might think, “but you’re a pastor, it’s part of your job”. But sharing the gospel with my friends and family can be hard. I’m scared of being rejected. It is easy to think “how can my words change their lives?” I’ve always felt that I’m not a good speaker, or a clever debater.

It’s easy to think lowly of myself. I’ve always had a fairly low view of my abilities. It’s part of my family genes I think. Although I love reading Christian biographies, many of them make me feel so small, especially when I read of the amazing things that God did through people like the Apostle Paul. Paul is deservedly one of my heroes. It’s easy to put Paul up on a pedestal – thinking that he was super human. But I have found so much encouragement that Paul felt the same as me in many ways. He said in 1 Corinthians 2:3-4 – And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom.

How did Paul become such a great evangelist when he struggled with weakness and fear and much trembling? Paul answered this question in Romans 1:16 where he said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel.

What is the gospel? – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Why wasn’t Paul ashamed of the gospel? Because he knew that the gospel is the power of God to change human lives. The power was not in Paul. Paul’s eloquence of speech and his way of arguing did not change people’s lives. It is the gospel which is the power of God to turn hopelessness into hope. Paul knew we Christians are never called to convert people – only God can do that. But we are told to share the life-changing message of the cross. I may sometimes feel weak, fearful, trembling at the thought of evangelism. But Paul reminds me that I have no reason to be ashamed of the gospel. It changed my life. It can change others also.

A prayer for the timid gospel messenger: “Father, help me to trust in your empowering, and help me to declare your salvation to all, boldly and unashamadly, as I should. Please be strong amidst my weakness so that many may believe in your Son, the Lord Jesus, and have new hope and life. Amen”

CMS Rooftop Chillout

Posted by on July 26, 2011 Comments Off

Roof Top Chill Out! Sat Aug 6th
You haven’t been to a fundraiser like this one before! It’s kinda like a café, on the roof, in the Valley, in winter!?! The Rooftop Chillout is a fundraiser with a goal of raising $5000 to help us send Dene and Rachel Hughes to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in Japan. You can pop in at any time between 10 am to 10 pm and stay for as long as you want. A great atmosphere, with real coffee, live music, café style food and dessert, Japanese food (I promise it won’t be ‘live’). 

To the Ends of the Earth – BLT+

Posted by on June 24, 2011 Comments Off

Hello everybody!

As advertised at 5:17 church, the highly recommended BLT+ is happening again this year. It’s on August 12 to 14th at PCYC Bornhoffen (the Gold Coast hinterland). We’re hoping as many 5:17ers can make it as possible. It will be an encouraging time away, together as a church, with people from around eight other churches. And we’ll be looking at our role in bringing the love of Christ to the world around us – the title is “To the Ends of the Earth”.

BLT+ is aimed for everyone – no matter where you are at as a Christian, or how old you are. It’s on the weekend so you don’t have to miss any days from work. And church will still be on on Sunday – so you won’t have to miss any 5:17 services (phew, I hear you say!). The speaker is Sam McGeown!

Chat with me (Steve), or Keiyeng for more details, or go here for additional information. Registration can be done here.

Prices are:

Early Bird Rego (Before July 18th, 2011)

Student: $75;

Worker: $85;

Part time (Sat only): $30 (no discount for part timers)

Normal Rego (After July 18th, 2011)

Student: $85

Worker: $95

Part time (Sat only): $30

P.S. Payment is by electronic payment only either with PayPal or Electronic Funds Transfer which is on the web form when you register. Keep in mind Paypal charges some additional hidden costs (+ around $2) so we recommend you to transfer your funds electronically to save on that $2.

Pulse Check – part 2

Posted by on September 22, 2010 Comments Off

Following on from the last Pulse Check (‘Connecting with each other’), we now come to ‘Connecting People with Jesus’. One of the key phrases we used in our Night Vision meetings was Reformission.

Again, below was (is) our aim. How do you think we are going? I’d love to hear your feedback.

Reformission

What is reformission?

“Reformission requires that God’s people understand their mission with razor-sharp clarity. The mission is to be close to Jesus. This transforms our hearts to love what he loves, hate what he hates, and to pursue relationships with lost people in hopes of connecting with them and, subsequently, connecting them with him.”

[Radical Reformission, Mark Driscoll, p40]

Why is reformission necessary in Brisbane / St Lucia / Australia?

Because Australia is no longer ‘Christian’.  Australian non-Christian culture is post-modern, post-Christian, profoundly secular.  ’Mission’ isn’t just taking the Gospel overseas and contextualising its teaching for that culture, but taking the Gospel into our Australian, P-M, P-C, secular culture and contextualising its teaching for THIS culture.
Why is reformission key to our new night church?
Unless WE connect with people, we’ll have no-one to connect with Jesus, and we’ll just be a holy huddle (a group of Christians meeting together purely for themselves).  It would be a big thing to ask of God to just send people to us off the street, without us making efforts to connect with people to connect them with Jesus / his church!
Are we reformissionaries?
If so, what (if anything) keeps us from the second step – connecting people with Jesus and with the church?
Are we already reformissionaries – successfully building authentic relationships with non-Christians God has placed in our lives?
How can we become reformissionaries? Is it hard? Can we do it?
This is something we’ll all need to commit to being, recognising that some are more gifted at relationship-building than others, but we can all practise loving, authentic care for people whether we bring them to church or just look after the people others have brought to church.  Please consider and pray about this in your own lives and encourage and help each other with our conversations about it.  Also consider in your potential roles in 5:17 church how you can express / engage in reformission – eg what you’d say from the front as a service chairperson, a song-leader, a welcomer, as someone who invites newcomers home for dessert on sunday nights…

Who can / do we want to build reformission-relationships with? (What are our mission fields that we want to contextualize our church and ministry for?)
2 primary target groups because they’re logical and relevant:
1. our existing non-Christian (caucasian / non-Asian, Asian, Indian, African etc) contacts
2. the local St Lucia community
Can / should we all agree to target these groups and build relationships (where possible) with these in mind, and leave the actual results to God?  ie He may bring in completely different populations (we may end up being a mono-cultural church) and we need to have ‘ambiguity tolerance’ (flexibility) to go with this – the point being, lowering the walls for as many population groups as possible, but realising inevitably we will reach some better / more than others.
But if we aim to have a BIBLICAL culture most of all, theoretically this will be appealing to any / all types of God’s people (and those predestined to be!) rather than just some = being closed-handed (‘inflexible’) with the subtance: biblical truth (including calling both ‘sinners’ and ‘religious people’ to repentance and holiness) but open-handed / flexible with our form / methods.