Building Compassion in Jamaica

The island nation of Jamaica sets aside one day a year for the purpose of serving communities. On the National Labour Day, May 23, Jamaicans are encouraged to put aside any spirit of divisiveness as they participate side by side in local community projects and selected national projects — everything from planting trees to painting or refurbishing hospitals, schools, clinics and homes for the aging. This year the Burnt Savannah Church of the Nazarene in Jamaica's West District, decided to show their community what it really means to serve.The Burnt Savannah church, in keeping with a spirit of compassion that comes from Christ and under the direction of pastor and district superintendent, Rev. Lionel Brown, decided to labour together by constructing a house for a brother in need. Several members gave cash and other items, and the church gave a major contribution for the purchasing of material. As early as 7:30 a.m., the atmosphere was filled with excitement and a flurry of activity as some 30 brothers and sisters, including youth and children, picked up tools and jumped into their various roles in the construction work. The day’s event was punctuated with Jamaican work songs and hymns, such as “To the Work, to the Work ... Toiling On.” The NYI sponsored and prepared lunch for the day. And when it came time to dall it a day, no one wanted to stop. At nightfall, they finally went home, and the home was 90 percent complete.As the day progressed, a number of onlookers gathered to investigate what was happening and eventually even a few unchurched neighbours joined in the labour of love. Several of them could be overheard commenting on this practical outreach and the demonstration of love and compassion they observed. They realised that the Church of the Nazarene ministers to the total person.Today our brother, whom we will call “Bro D,” is a step closer to fulfilling his dream of owning his own home and caring for his young family. The Burnt Savannah church sees this gesture as a ray of hope in what is often an uncaring, callous world. The spirit of compassion is alive and well on the Jamaica West District, and the Burnt Savannah church continues to find renewed energy as together they serve the community outside their four walls.
— Submitted by Jennifer Brown, Global NMI President

The Global Leadership Summit

Well the Global Leadership Summit is coming up soon and I for one am pretty excited!

I appreciate the Southern DAB and their commitment to getting leaders along to this great conference, with encouragement and also a little financial help!

But, don't think this is just for pastors - its not even just for leaders! This is a great conference for anyone who want to be encouraged in their faith.

This year we are hoping to take most of the board members from Croydon Park, and if its like last year, we'll bump into the Gawler guys there too!

So, anyway, if you're interested then make sure you check out the dates and get along. For more info check out their website here.

Dreams & Visions

I have been thinking alot about dreams. I was watching the last speech ever given from Martin Luther King on youtube and what a surreal speech it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FiCxZKuv8

It has this prophetic nature about it, almost like he knew what was coming his way in the coming day. He had a dream for society that was much bigger than a single man or voice! His dream was in a sense 'eternal', it was a dream that looked beyond his own life and abilities.

So what are our dreams and visions that God has given us?

What dreams and visions do Nazarenes have for the church in Australia?

What would you like to see God do in our Church?

What would need to happen to see that vision fullfilled?

The 'Sickness Within' (an online video sermon)

Hi all,
One of our blog readers suggested we post this link for a sermon.

"Is it really what’s inside that counts? If so, what’s going on inside you? Worry? Doubt? Loneliness? Lust? Sometimes the internal struggles that no one else sees are the ones that blind us the most. We’ll get the inside story on how God offers hope and strength for overcoming these battles in this series, The Sickness Within."
http://www.lifechurch.tv/message-archive/watch/the-sickness-within/5

Peace

How to Start a Disability Ministry (from building church leaders)

I found this video clip,had some good points to help us think about this often unspoken ministry. Yes, it is very american but it is a good starting point.

Has anybody been involved in ministry to people with disabilities of any kind? Share your experience with us, let us know what you have learnt or think we need to learn.
Hope this clip it may be of use to you.

http://www.buildingchurchleaders.com/multimedia/articles/howtostartadisabilityministry.html

Brengle Create - a space and conference for artists, muso's and drama in the Wesleyan 'spirit'

Hi all,
Here is a great opportunity to express/use your talents and abilties, check it out!

http://salvos.org.au/get-involved/events/brengle-create.php

Reverend Fun

Made me grin!

11 Ways to make Church more Meanigful for Kids (from childrensministry.com)

11 ways to make the worship service more meaningful to kids...
Children's choirs. Children's bulletins. Children's sermons. Children's church. Sounds like kids in our churches today are really a part of the action, right?

WRONG!

I've asked pastors and other worship leaders how they involve kids in worship. These people usually list the standard things-bulletins, choir, sermons.

Are these the only ways children are part of worship services? Sadly, yes. The churches that break this pattern are few and far between.

And the kids are paying for it. Two-year old Morgan cries when no one speaks to her during greeting time. And 11-year-old James is really in between-too old to be part of a children's sermon, too young to join the "adult" choir. Kids such as Morgan and James need to be involved in relevant worship experiences.

In a CHILDREN'S MINISTRY Magazine survey, 60 percent of churches say they provide alternative experiences to involve kids in worship. Forty percent of churches said they involve children in the regular worship service. For both types of churches, involving children in the worship life of our churches should be a priority, a privilege, and a blessing.

But how can you make children feel part of an adult corporate worship service? Try these ideas:

*Form a committee! Not just any old committee, but one that includes children of several different age groups. Also include at least one adult who'll be the children's advocate when discussing changes with the worship committee. Some of our best ideas in children's ministry come straight from the kids themselves. Do they want to help pick hymns to sing? light the candles? be ushers? What about having a regular Kids' Sunday where kids do everything-from reading the gospel message to singing special music?

*Include children. Get kids doing things often during the service as readers, soloists, acolytes, greeters, and ushers. Give them each a job and teach them how to do it. Pride of ownership is an important part of belonging.

*Teach kids about your worship traditions. Incorporate the parts of the worship service, such as a special prayer response or offering hymn, into the Sunday school hour. Periodically, kids can learn a new part of the worship service-it's more fun when they can join in!

*Involve specific classes. Have different Sunday school classes and their teachers lead the prayers of the church during the worship service. And remind congregation members to pray for the children throughout the week as well.

*Have kids create prayers. During Sunday school, have a class write a special prayer or litany to be used during the service by the entire congregation. Then allow that class to lead the congregation in that prayer or litany.

*Use kids' artwork. Ask different classes to design bulletins to be used for the worship service. Photocopy their artwork to make the bulletin covers for everyone in the service.

*Educate parents. For the smallest children, print a brochure for their parents with suggestions about appropriate church toys and snacks. See the "Church Survival Kit" box for ideas. Although some people object to these diversions during the service, it's better to make the worship experience enjoyable for small ones. A gradual introduction to the worship service is a good way to teach children proper behavior during the service.

*Provide resources. Put your children's library books on a cart or shelf near the church entrance and encourage children who might be restless to check out a book or two to look at quietly during the service. So much the better if the books you place on the shelves correspond to the sermon message!

*Make sermons relevant. Encourage the pastor to include examples that involve children's lives and experiences within the sermon. If the pastor's sermon is about loving your neighbor, why not use an illustration about two friends fighting over a bike and how to resolve the conflict? Children have an easier time grasping the true meaning of the message when they're clued in that it also includes them.

*Use various mediums. Although children thrive on predictable routine, encourage worship leaders to vary parts of the service. A drama that retells the Bible story or even a puppet show can share God's message in a meaningful way to children and adults alike. Have the children act out the Bible story as an adult narrates.

*Revamp the children's sermon. Encourage the children's sermon leader to sit and speak on the kids' level. Suggest that he or she focus on one point at a time, using props, and citing examples from a young child's perspective. If a children's sermon is truly for children, then it must be simple and to the point. Advise the children's sermon leader to avoid abstract object lessons that often go over a child's head. Rather, check out this article: "5-Minute Messages". Or buy the exciting children's sermon book Let the Children Come by Brant D. Baker (Augsburg). These interactive messages will transform children's sermons.

Another point: The children's sermon is just that. It's for children, not adults. If your children's sermon leader is using the sermon to subtly (or not so subtly) communicate to adults, gently correct him or her. If a children's sermon is all your church does to involve children, it's a crime to make it so heady and adultlike that kids still feel worship is not for them.

Take another look at your worship service. If you have children running cars over the pews, climbing between parents' legs, or just bored to tears, you need to do something. When you welcome and involve children in worship, you'll follow Jesus' admonition to "let the little children come to me"-for they belong to the kingdom of God.

Church Planting - thoughts and views

Hi all,

I have a deep belief that the Australian church of the Nazarene needs to 'plant' new churches. How we go about this is the million dollar question.
What are your thoughts regarding our current church situtaion and should we be intentionally seeking ways to start new churches?
I know we dont have the pastors, and maybe we could say we dont have the 'money' but i do believe we have a mission to fulfill.
How many people would be interested in starting a new church?
How would you go about doing it?
where abouts in Australia do you think a new church plant is needed and would work?
Thoughts, ideas, rebukings?

Arms Open Wide - Hillsong United

What a beautiful song with such great words by Hillsong United

What is the best theory of Atonement for Nazarenes, and does it even matter?

Anyone want to step up to the plate and give their personal views that we can discuss? and does it even really matter how we view the atonement?
I will post several views another time.
Peace

N.T. WRIGHT'S RESPONSE TO JOHN PIPER ON JUSTIFICATION

Here below (see the link) is an interesting but all too brief interview of Tom Wright as he talks about his forthcoming book on "Justification". What Tom is stressing is that final justification when the Christian stands before the judgment seat of Christ, does indeed involve the review of our moral actions inspired and empowered by the Spirit as well as our immoral acts as well. This contrasts with initial justification which is by grace and through faith. In addition he argues that Paul does not suggest that Christ's moral righteousness is imputed to the believer. Rather initial justification has to do with forensic or legal right standing with God, not the imputation of Christ's moral righteousness to the believer.
anyway...check out the link.

http://trevinwax.com/2009/01/13/interview-with-nt-wright-responding-to-piper-on-justification/

The Blog is Now Open with a new look!

This blog is now open to anyone and everyone...

Why people 'pick' a church

Top 13 Reasons that Unchurched People Choose a Church(research conducted by Ranier)

90% - Pastor/Preaching
88% - Doctrines
49% - Friendliness of Members
42% - Other Issues
41% - Someone Church Witnessed to Me
38% - Family Member
37% - Sensed God’s Presence/Atmosphere of Church
25% - Relationship Other than Family Member
25% - Sunday School Class
25% - Children’s/Youth Ministry
12% - Other Groups/Ministries
11% - Worship Style/Music
7% - Location

Top 9 Reasons that Church-Attenders Choose a Church(research conducted by the Barna Group in 1999)

58% - Doctrine/Theology
53% - People Caring for Each Other
52% - Preaching
45% - Friendliness
45% - Children’s Programs
43% - Helping the Poor
36% - Denomination
35% - Like the Pastor
26% - Sunday School

Top 6 Things that Keep the Formerly Unchurched Active in the Church(research conducted by Ranier)

62% - Ministry Involvement
55% - Sunday School
54% - Obedience to God
49% - Fellowship of Members
38% - Pastor/Preaching
14% - Worship Services

The statistics speak for themselves. Overall, doctrine, the pastor and his preaching, and the friendliness and fellowship of the congregation are the most influential qualities.

http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/archives/2009/07/why_people_pick.html

Some more gold from NeoLeader

TED’s 10 Commandments of Public Speaking:

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee

For the full article follow this link.

Great new song!

Here is a video clip of a great new song. The words are great and the music is quite simple (though you can easily make it more complicated if you have more accomplished musicians) and the whole song has a great groove. The sheet music is available here. Hope you like the song!

Ten Fatal Flaws that Derail Leadership (from neoleader)

I thought these were great, certainly spoke to me....

Lack energy and enthusiasm. They see new initiatives as a burden, rarely volunteer, and fear being overwhelmed. One such leader was described as having the ability to “suck all the energy out of any room.”

Accept their own mediocre performance. They overstate the difficulty of reaching targets so that they look good when they achieve them. They live by the mantra “Underpromise and overdeliver.”

Lack clear vision and direction. They believe their only job is to execute. Like a hiker who sticks close to the trail, they’re fine until they come to a fork.

Have poor judgment. They make decisions that colleagues and subordinates consider to be not in the organization’s best interests.

Don’t collaborate. They avoid peers, act independently, and view other leaders as competitors. As a result, they are set adrift by the very people whose insights and support they need.

Don’t walk the talk. They set standards of behavior or expectations of performance and then violate them. They’re perceived as lacking integrity.

Resist new ideas. They reject suggestions from subordinates and peers. Good ideas aren’t implemented, and the organization gets stuck.

Don’t learn from mistakes. They may make no more mistakes than their peers, but they fail to use setbacks as opportunities for improvement, hiding their errors and brooding about them instead.

Lack interpersonal skills. They make sins of both commission (they’re abrasive and bullying) and omission (they’re aloof, unavailable, and reluctant to praise).

Fail to develop others. They focus on themselves to the exclusion of developing subordinates, causing individuals and teams to disengage.

http://www.neoleader.org/?p=1235

Do you see things?

There is an old Hillsong song from the Geoff Bullock days called "We Have A Vision" and while the music is a little cheesy, I've been thinking a lot about the words lately...

"We have a vision for this nation We have a dream for this land..."

And, I have to be honest, I don't really have a vision for this nation, or even for all of South Australia... but I do have a vision for my church.

We don't have a youth group/program at Croydon at the moment. It wouldn't make much sense if we did, since we don't have very many youth-type-people anyway. What we do have, however, is a number of young kids around 7-12 and in a few years these guys will definitely be looking for a youth group and if we want to keep these young people we will need to find a way to cater to their spiritual needs.

So this year we have started a series of activities for the kids we have in this age group. The plan is that we will grow these kids into a youth group.

But we have to start planning for this stuff now!

So, as I think about this stuff there are 2 questions that come to mind...

1. What is your vision?

2. What are you doing now to make that vision a reality.

"Whether it’s across the table with another church leader, at a planning retreat, or talking to the whole church-every time you talk about what could be and should be, you’re casting vision" - Andy Stanley

To check out the article that this quote came from follow this link.

God loves a Cheerful giver!

This is a clip of an offeing time at a churhc in the states...makes me wonder how many of our people feel this joyful about bringing their tithe to the church. This made me smile....it should be a joyful time!

No Sweeter Name - Kari Jobe

A Beautiful Song....