As a church gathering together each Sunday at 10am we have recently been watching a dvd on worship called What is Worship put together by Vineyard Worship Resources.  Great to expand our view of worship and as a community we have enjoyed the input and the discussions in response.The message version of the Bible has this for Romans 12:1,2; a key text on worship…”So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you.  Take your everyday, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going -to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.  Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention God.  You’ll be changed from the inside out.   

The other day I went to a presentation on some research done recently on the state of the church in Melbourne.  One statistic stood out.  In Melbourne there is 1 church for every 2070 people.  Considering the size of many churches and the amount outside the church, there is plenty of room for church plants like ours and many more.  Many people still need to hear about Jesus. 

The last few Sundays we have been talking about Jesus relationship with His Father and exploring that a bit. We have looked at some of the different stories including when he was a child and was left at the temple…in His Fathers house, when He started His ministry and was baptized and the Holy Spirit fell on Him, and last Sunday we looked at his prayer life and why he prayed.

One of the comments I made last Sunday was that the issue between Jesus and His Father(God) which is the same issue for us and God, is that the key issue is relationship. Sometimes we think prayer is the issue…prayer is the vehicle, relationship is the issue. Because God longs to have relationship with us, prayer is important because prayer is the language of the heart, the language of relationship.

We are going to explore these topics some more this Sunday.

Good morning.

It has been awhile since I have been on line-between holiday rest, broken computers and busy starts to the year. I trust your summer has been somewhat restful. The Lord in the Bible is big on sabbath and rest. Our family sure appreciated a slow restful start to the year. The beach is great at this time of year.

Bay Vineyard is getting back into routine and rhythm for the new year. There is a sense of excitement as the new year begins. God is up to new things.

One quick story, our cat went missing 6 months ago. Three of us in our family had dreams of our cat returning, but after 6 months you end up putting that aside. Then the phone call. Some 30kl across town she was. How she got there who knows?

It is an amazing story. And the truth…if God cares for a family and a cat…how much more for you. Read the Bible…Luke 15, God is very passionate about lost people. If you have lost your way with God and his people and you think in 2009 it is time…why not visit us on Sunday. The details are on this web.

You could also send an e-mail and we can have a chat.

Have a great 2009

Just letting readers know that we have our annual Christmas New Years sabbath rest with no gatherings over the next two Sundays on the 28th Dec and Jan 4th. It gives us all the chance to rest and play and slow down through this holiday season. On the 11th we have a barbecue and on 18th a picnic back at the school.

Our website will be updated with the details so watch the calender page.

Have a great break and enjoy Jesus-the reason for the season. Remember wise men still worship.

This Sunday at our gathering at 10 we will be enjoying some time together to remember this Christmas season and the story beginnings with singing Christmas songs and worshiping God, hearing about the story and enjoying food together.

Christmas marks the start of “God entering the world…through Jesus”, the breaking in of God. One of the names of Jesus is Immanuel God with us.

If you read this and would love to join some followers of Jesus remembering how the Christian story began, why don’t you join us.

In case I don’t write again before Christmas have a great and blessed Christmas season, and a healthy, happy beginning to 09.

This Sunday our church is not gathering as we often would on a Sunday morning; having time to sing songs that describe our love and worship of Jesus, opening up the Bible to learn more about the Jesus that we follow, praying for each other in the journey of being a Jesus people, and enjoying time encouraging each other in life and faith.

No instead we are joining with others who are part of the Mordialloc Primary School school community in their carnival celebrating the schools 140th birthday. We are helping with different aspects of the day, serving, setting up and just being involved. In one way it may seem to be a different way to spend a Sunday as a church, on the other hand it is a natural way to be a part of the school community.

It is just nice as a church to be a part of a wider community where we meet. Jesus asked the church to be in the world where we live and be a representative of Him. This is one of the ways we can practice what He has asked.

I wrote last about going off for the national conference. We have been back a week. Had a great time. I love being with a church family where it is good to be together and enjoyable in many ways. Last Sunday we gave opportunity to share. All of us had connected to the last session, where Lloyd Rankin from the Vineyard in NZ had shared.

A few weeks back I had made mention to a couple of laws of learning. One is the law of recency, where the last thing you mention in a learning environment is what is remembered. It was perhaps for that reason we remembered, but also because the language and the point he was making made so much sense to us where we are at.

His point basically was that the King (Jesus) is always at work and His Kingdom is moving. WE do not have to do this thing called ministry by trying to be the smart and clever one and try and make it happen, but we need to learn to keep up with what the Spirit is doing and do that. On the edge of where the kingdom is advancing is where the action is. We began to see areas where perhaps God is at work in our church and can see that we want to move in that direction.

Was good to be challenged and encouraged and to come back together with a few things clearer.

Sorry I have been quiet of late. Actually busy. Doing well though.

Just thought I would let you know a few of us are off to the  Vineyard National Pastors and leaders conference  Continue »

We might not always think of the possibility of a person being a thinker and/or teacher and also a practitioner…some one good at practice. I would love to invite you to our gathering on the 29th June, where we have Greg Trainor, of Cabramatta Vineyard in Sydney sharing with us, one who is both.

Greg has taken his church family through the process of changing their church to being more organized around the call to mission then other aspects of the faith that we would normally organize around. Greg is a great practitioner but also recognized within the Vineyard in Australia as one of our foremost thinkers and teachers. Vineyard Australia has just established a school, and Greg will be one of the teachers in that.

You are welcome to join us on the 29th.