I am happy to share two encouraging things that have happened this week regarding our Monthly Movie Night which was held on Friday and our Workplace Blessings.
I was talking to a friend who works as a surgical nurse at St George’s Hospital on Monday and she asked me if it was our church who hosts the Monthly Movie Nights. She had seen a flyer on the staff room notice board and thought it would have been a good movie to go along to. It is great to see that we as a church are really getting on board with bringing our church lives into our work lives and that it’s being noticed.
Secondly, last week I was delivered a Workplace Blessing to the Hargest Crescent Kindergarten. J had put together a wonderful gift basket for them, with a book for the children and chocolates for the staff. R, the Kindergarten director, was very thankful and we received an amazing “Thank you” card from some of the children this week. Have a look for it in the foyer.
Last week we dropped flyers for the Monthly Movie Night into them to give to parents and I received a phone call on Thursday from a parent who was after more information, and asking if she could invite other friends and their families also.
So a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to be involved with the Workplace Blessings, and the Monthly Movie Nights, and who support L and her team as they take seriously this mission we at Opawa Baptist have been given to “reflect Jesus’ love …in our communities and beyond.”
“Steve, you are a gift. I am right behind every single word you have spoken.” Kind words, spoken to me by David Moxon, the Anglican Archbishop of Aotearoa New Zealand, as he thanked me for speaking at the Waikato Anglican Clergy Conference this week. I gave three hours input on the Tuesday, and six hours input on the Wednesday, around the theme of leadership and mission. As you at Opawa release me, you are allowing the wider church in New Zealand to be blessed. Thank you on behalf of the wider Christian body in New Zealand.
I have had a number of queries about the building process. Here is an outline of the process we are in:
May: Building plans are introduced to a church meeting, and time given for discussion and feedback. Following the church meeting, the plans were communicated to the congregations, and also displayed in the foyer. Written submissions from any and all were invited, with a one month deadline.
June: Submissions closed.
August: Board meeting with Toilet Group and Finance group to consider the next steps. (Please pray as they gather this Tuesday evening). Prior to the meeting, feedback from church meeting and written submissions circulated and considered.
Thursday, October 11: Church meeting to make a decision about the building, and to agree to the financial implications. This meeting will also include discussion of the outcomes of the Board retreat last Saturday, which prayerfully considered staffing at Opawa beyond 2007.
Last Sunday morning as part of the service the congregation as a whole were invited to listen to God and each other around Ezekiel 37.
Here are some of the things people sensed God saying to us at Opawa:
Be willing to let God do something different.
It is not up to us as humans to rattle dead bones. Rather it is God doing something. Our role is simply to speak "lavish kindness"
We need to pray every day "fill me afresh Spirit today." (This was being integrated into a spiritual practise that had been suggested earlier in the year in the Practicing our Faith series.)
God has given each of us talents, so none of us need to be a dry bone.
It is easy to look at dry bones and lose hope. Yet following God is about faith in things not yet seen.
Even though things can be hard in our lives, need to keep working on it (and thanks to my home group for their support)
Never give up, even though dry bones can feel like all those unanswered prayers.
A note of appreciation:
Over the last months a lot of work has being going on behind the Opawa scenes to try and enhance our data projection. The existing auditorium computer has been struggling to keep up with the technical demands of videos and powerpoints, resulting in delays and causing frustration, both on Sunday morning and evening. So there has been much discussion and activity: purchasing a new computer, choosing and securing new software, moving old songs onto new computer, and re-training people.
This is “behind the scenes” stuff that I want to publicly acknowledge.
Those who have helped wish to remain nameless and include quite a number of people. For me, watching on, it has reminded me of the beauty of the multi-congregational approach. Opawa is one church with multiple congregations. One of our congregations, Espresso, includes people with considerable technical skill and expertise. While this congregation does not use the auditorium, or the auditorium computer, they have noted the problems and have been given of their time, expertise and finance. It’s been an example to me of what it is to be the church: coming not only to get, but to give of ourselves, irrespective of whether it blesses us or not.
At Opawa Baptist we are one church with multiple congregations. I find it helpful to think of it as an umbrella, a shared handle and a shared shelter, under which different congregations huddle. We are one church as we share vision and values, pastoral leadership, all-church events, teaching, shared prayer, growth coaching and training, etc.
Under this one umbrella different congregations can stand. A congregation is seen as a place to develop community, to grow in Christian life to the full and to extend Jesus love. A congregation will express these values in different and unique ways. For example, people grow in Christian life through sermons on a Sunday morning, or through engaging with art at Side Door or entering into discussion at Espresso, or hymns and soup at the Hymn congregation.
Practically, at a church forum in 2004, we noted that this would mean:
1. Working at all-church celebrations that gather the whole church.
2. Building discipling and pastoral structures that could fit any congregation.
3. A newsletter suitable for all congregations.
4. Members are welcomed and people are baptized in either their congregation or at all-church celebrations, with the use of technology to share highlights from other congregations e.g. baptisms, membership.
5. All congregations seen as equally valid.
6. All congregations have appropriate ways to contribute financially to the whole.
I note this because Tuesday night will include a historic moment for our Espresso congregation, as it welcomes Iain M as a church member. Other church members attend Espresso, but this is the first time someone has been welcomed into Opawa Baptist membership at Espresso.
Why welcome Iain at Espresso? Because Espresso is the congregation by which Iain found his way into Opawa. Equally, for Iain, becoming a church member is an expression of his sense of belonging to the whole Opawa church.