My Post

A post on Christian Reflections

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I really like your questions from Murray. 

As someone at the other end of the country from Melbourne - Townsville. I wonder how we can and will be apart of this.

I think the most important question is

How will the Church Planting network help bringing forth the Gospel through planting churches?

Personally I do care what we call it but what we do. As someone from Townsville I would hope that it would not be Sydney-Melbourne centric and to me this plays out into structure, communication and events.

Theologically I am going to be controversial and say that we should set the bar high, which is probably the wrong terminology. My thinking is that we don't make it so broad that it is just "Evangelical" but that we are planting churched that are focused on holding to certain beliefs. I think that this is something that needs a group to sit down and nut this out identify the controversies and where the network would stand. Some of these won't even be core gospel things but might be things like complementarian and egalitarian. I think it is the Gospel Coalition that has a list of things that they DO and DON'T stand for I think this is a good approach as it clarifies the boundaries on both sides. But after saying all that I think it shouldn't be too smaller a door that we don't get anything done. 

TOPH

Is Extremely Glad

In our life we see God at work sometimes in small way and sometimes in big ways. 

I am really excited to see the start of the establishment of an Australian Church Plant Network. (photos)

To me this is the most exciting thing of my year so far. Seeing Aussie men stepping up and being missional in our society. 

Love - more than a word, more than fixing

I have just read the following blog, Gospel Community and the Poor, by Tim Chester from Resurgence. Much of it is a plug for his new book called Total Church, which looks great and has definitely put it on my to buy/ to read list. The first two sentences are as follows:

“I know people do a lot to help me, but I just want someone to be my friend.” So said a single mother in my congregation.

Tim goes on to talk about how sometimes we can serve people and try to meet their needs but do not actually connect relationally with them. We try to fix their problems without loving them. Maybe in our western culture we try so often to fix the ills that we see around us that we forget that the thing that others need is to be loved. It reminds me much of 1 Corinthians 13 particularly verse 3:

"If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."

There is a part of me that wants to blame the English language for only having one word to describe love. The issue though is more one of the human heart.
In our culture and society we no longer really know what love is and the word ‘love’ has become in most cases sexual. Sex is an expression of love and intimacy between a husband and a wife but love is not exclusively defined by a sexual relationship. This is a misrepresentation of the word. I love my housemates, I love my soccer team mates (Go Gumbies!!), I love the youth group kids I lead, I love both my brothers and sisters in Christ, I love my family. Guys need to say to other guys that they love each other without freaking out. So what is love:

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."

This is what is important more than fixing their problems. 

As I finish off here I know that the most important thing is not saying it but actually living it in our lives. I need to be more patient and kind with my housemates, I need to be less irritable when I play badly,  I need to rejoice more in the growth in my Youth Group guys, I need to not be arrogant or envious with my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I need to not insist my own way with my parents.

Let’s reclaim the word love.

Resurgence is

“Resurgence is a movement that resources multiple generations to live for Jesus so that they can effectively reach their cities with the gospel by staying culturally accessible and Biblically faithful.”

I have listened to and watched the following video numerous times. My question how do you actual change this is denominations where the ways are so entrenched.