It is an honour and a privilege to work with the young people at Opawa Baptist Church. They are a great group and fun to be around. Each one of them has shown spiritual growth during this year and this growth has come about from constant input from our youth leaders, especially Stephen, Roanna and Adrian and, to a lesser degree, the other leaders.
Recently the youth went on a camp to Hanmer Springs, which helped the young people to get to know each other better and created an attitude of working together and acceptance of others. There were six young people from Opawa Church families and 15 young people from the community. Some of the older Koru-aged young people were invited and were made to feel they were a part of the group.
We have prayed and waited for a replacement for Roanna and although this has not happened, she has continued on. Adrian feels the need to step down from Wednesday nights. However he will continue to work with the Go Team. We are now looking for female and male leaders. We are also in the process of re-evaluating our programmes.
We would like to thank all the people who have invited the youth group for supper on Sunday nights, and a special thanks to Dave and Noelene for organising this and for the use of the youth van. We would appreciate your prayers, and if you can help in any way, please contact us.
It is the end of missions week and I feel like I have been part of a feast.
We've had Bible teaching (the book of Acts). We've had worship. Each evening, different groups, about 90 people in total, turned up for soup at 6:30 pm and prayer between 7-8 pm. It was great to see the diversity of our church - different ages and congregations - gathered around a common mission.
Missions week has been a different approach for us at Opawa. Rather than three Sundays of Self-denial, focused on one congregation, Missions Week has been eight consecutive days, inviting all congregations and groups to participate in a mission feast.
We have maintained our links with Baptist tranzsend, through the involvement of Peter and Lynley Capon. (Those who want traditional self-denial material should contact the office). We have nourished our links with Judy More and Chris Cullen. We have woven in our mission here in the local community, among our youth and children, and into our workplaces and streets.
Thanks to all those who turned up, who prepared soup, who encouraged prayer and stimulated worship.
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The Taylor and McMahon families would value your prayers over the next two
weeks. From Friday 31 July to Friday 7 August Steve Taylor and Paul McMahon are in Adelaide, inputting at Breathe, a week of training and refreshment for Uniting Church children, youth and family workers. Steve is keynote speaker and Paul is helping with the book that is planned as a result of the conference.
Steve also has three other speaking engagements to different groups: A four hour leaders' seminar on the Saturday, a Monday evening dinner storytelling, and a lecture on mission.
All this places extra demands on Anne and Lynne and the families.
Still Flaxing Eloquent:
Transformed by the Spirit for whatever, wherever, whenever;
An enriching worship experience
Saturday 25 July 8 - 9.10 pm.
If you came to Flaxing Eloquent back in June, you will know this will be great. Be sure to invite your friends.
If you missed it, here is a chance to expewreience it ... similar, but different.
Brought to you by Peter and Joyce Majendie, the Side Door Arts Trust, and Opawa Baptist Church, as part of Opawa's Missions Week.
This week we will meet on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6.30 pm for soup, followed by prayer for missions from 7 - 8 pm. These will be held in the foyer at Opawa Baptist Church.
Friday evening: 6.15 pm BYO tea, then 7 - 8.45 pm it's Movie Night. Call the office for details.
Greetings.
This is Opawa's missions weeks. The theme is mission: here and there. And
what a feast is on offer.
Prayer, each evening (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) in the church foyer. Each night we will focus on different aspects of mission here and mission there and offer a variety of ways to pray. Soup from 6:30pm, prayer from 7-8pm.
Real live missionaries - Peter and Lynley Capon (tranzsend) our very own Judy More and Chris Cullen, sharing at a range of services and in some of the prayer evenings.
Teaching - the book of Acts with Steve Maina, Kenyan-born and currently
leading the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand, Saturday 25 July,
3:30-5:30 pm.
Worship (Saturday at 8 pm) - a chance to be moved and inspired once again by the fabulous "Still Flaxing Eloquent", Side Door Pentecost art installation, as it draws to a close.
It's too easy to hibernate at this time of the year. Missions Week is a chance for Opawa to get out of our bear cave, to stretch ourselves and join what God is doing in the world.
What an exciting time to have come to Opawa! There is so much going on here and it is such a happy, positive place. I am thrilled to be here every day and be part of it all.
Along with the hustle and bustle of everyday work there is the noise and activity of the building at the back of the church. Just lately I have listened to huge diggers scraping up the old concrete paths, jack hammers working their way through old trenches and hammers putting up new wallboard. It is exciting arriving at work each day to find that the builders are here before me and are already working.
One day we lost the use of the toilets – and David was surprised by a chunk of plasterboard flying across the floor in front of him in the ladies toilets! Needless to say I am also working on the Health and Safety Standards for Opawa so that we keep the buildings and building site safe for us all.
We have had a number of families visiting our food bank. A workplace accident had seriously injured one man who came last week – he had awful injuries, no chance of working in his trade again, and was unable to meet his HP payments now that he was out of work. In time he will retrain, but in the meantime he has to try to make ends meet and recuperate. Life can be hard.
Tina and I are looking at ways to improve the food packs by adding recipe deas to tins and providing ways to cook on a budget. Thank you for bringing things each week for these very needy people.
And thank you for welcoming me into such a vibrant church family!
"Back to Church" is a phrase you'll hear more of in the lead-up to Sunday 13
September.
Opawa is joining other churches, Baptist and Anglican, in a focus on inviting people back to church. Sadly, some people leave the church hurt and unlikely to return. Others can simply get out of the habit of attending, and it is such people who are the focus of Back to Church Sunday.
The programme, run in the UK over several years, was tested in New Zealand
last year by 45 churches including Hamilton Central Baptist and churches from the Wellington Anglican Diocese. These churches saw an average of 20 guests per church on "Back to Church Sunday". In the UK, 12-15% of these guests were regular attenders six months later.
An ordinary Sunday is chosen, as the aim is for the Sunday service to be as
normal as possible. The focus of "Back to Church" Sunday then works on two
levels:
Firstly, all of us are encouraged to think about people we could invite (and NOT people from other churches!). Personal invitation cards will be available.
Secondly, it gives us a chance to look in the mirror at just how welcoming we are. Ministry leaders have compiled a check list, a top 10 practical things Opawa can do to be hospitable. Watch out for these top 10 tips and get involved and do your bit to make people know they are welcome at Opawa Baptist Church.
Mission collectives were birthed over last weekend. The aim of the colectives is to collect - focus, prayer, resource, energy, inspiration, input - around Opawa's mission life.
We trialled three different collectives on three different days in three different locations. Each came with a distinct and unique vibe.
The living collective met in a workplace and focussed on the challenges of being a Christian neighbour and work colleague. Struggles and obstacles were shared. A video of how it feels to be "evangelised" was played.
The creating collective met on couches under the Pentecost art display. A range of quotes were used to spark an excellent discussion around art, theology, participation and spiritual growth.
The loving collective met over soup in the foyer. Our sixteen local community ministries had opportunity to share their unique flavour. People then walked prayerfully around the Waltham community.
In total 47 people turned up. The first time is always a trial. Each could have been better. More people could have come. But by and large, people left energised and challenged.
We are aiming for four a year. So put a ring around the weekend of August 16 - 18: Living collective on Friday 16; Creating on Saturday 17; Loving on Sunday 18.
(Ed: I'm sorry this posting is late - this happens when you have a computer crash!)