I find myself sitting here at Auckland Airport awaiting my flight back to Taranaki after a chaotic week and it hits me, “oh, I forgot to do my blurb for the newsletter”. Reflecting on the week gone by I could be draw to talk about the busyness of life, or the need to keep God central in all our activities. Instead I find myself thinking about “The Mission of God”.
There is a wonderful quote which I’m not sure who to credit, but it goes like this: “It is not the church of God that has a mission in the world, ra-ther it is the God of mission that has churches in the world.”
At our Church meeting following the celebration service this week we will be talking about some pretty big stuff. First there is the whole issue of identity: affirming the vision and values of the church that we have dis-covered together over the past couple of years; then there is the ques-tion of “making room for God to move” in a physical sense; and finally the need for us to “make room for God to move” in the way we do things (ie. In terms of leadership and structure).
It would be easy for us to get stuck into the ins and out, the specifics and details of what is being considered. However the over-riding emphasis needed at this meeting is deeper than all that. There needs to be a filter (a metanarrative so to speak) that echoes in all of our hearts. We need to really understand that we are not simply making pragmatic and practi-cal decisions, but that in fact we are partnering with God Himself in His mission in the world.
As we come to talk about these important things I urge you to remember this big picture and to come ready to embrace the next stage God is tak-ing us on and to remember that: “it is the God of mission that has HBC (among others) here in Hawera”.
Blessings, Pastor David Auty
There is a wonderful quote which I’m not sure who to credit, but it goes like this: “It is not the church of God that has a mission in the world, ra-ther it is the God of mission that has churches in the world.”
At our Church meeting following the celebration service this week we will be talking about some pretty big stuff. First there is the whole issue of identity: affirming the vision and values of the church that we have dis-covered together over the past couple of years; then there is the ques-tion of “making room for God to move” in a physical sense; and finally the need for us to “make room for God to move” in the way we do things (ie. In terms of leadership and structure).
It would be easy for us to get stuck into the ins and out, the specifics and details of what is being considered. However the over-riding emphasis needed at this meeting is deeper than all that. There needs to be a filter (a metanarrative so to speak) that echoes in all of our hearts. We need to really understand that we are not simply making pragmatic and practi-cal decisions, but that in fact we are partnering with God Himself in His mission in the world.
As we come to talk about these important things I urge you to remember this big picture and to come ready to embrace the next stage God is tak-ing us on and to remember that: “it is the God of mission that has HBC (among others) here in Hawera”.
Blessings, Pastor David Auty
RSS Feed
