As the year hits the time when people stop and enjoy Christmas; family, a break from work, parties, food, rest, and (in my house…cricket), it is good to remember what it is all about. Somewhere under all the wrapping, presents and decorations…lies a baby born in an animal stable. And not just any baby. According to God a perfect moment in time, yet when you read the original story it might not have always felt so perfect what with a miraculous birth that may not have looked miraculous, no place but the shed for the birth and a king out to kill you. Often life is messy like that.

The Bible says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” It also says of Jesus…that “you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Yes under all the wrapping, presents and decorations…lies a baby born in an animal stable. And that baby was Jesus, come from God to help mankind. The Bible says to rescue us, in fact to save us. Not a common phrase but something worth thinking about…I welcome your comments or questions.

Check the calender for details for our church over the next month as we will be relaxing and meeting in different ways then we often do. It is a great time to slow down, enjoy the summer and rest before 2008 kicks in. One of the things we will be doing is having a 1Cor 14:26 day. Confused!!! check the blog in mid Jan and I will fill you in.

Until then have a great break and don’t forget the reason for the season.

It is always nice to report back on activities.

At the end of November we had Tim Schultz with us both for our morning gathering and also a special event in the evening. Tim spoke on three aspects of kingdom life worth living and dieing for. In the Bible, Jesus speaks about the pearl of great prize and tells the story of the man who found this “pearl” and gives up all to gain more. Tim asked the question, beyond Jesus (who is of course the great Pearl) ,what other aspects of the kingdom of God are worth giving up everything to gain. He shared on three; friendship, sharing and doing what you see the Father doing. Watch for the mp3’s on our website.

Last Sunday we had a special gathering as we farewelled John and Karen who had moved from Brisbane 4 years ago to help start this church. We had opportunity to hear their stories, pray and encourage them and say thank you for their willingness to serve over the last years. It was great to say thanks and to honour their faithful obedience in coming and now blessing them as they go with the Lord to the next part of their journey.

We also had opportunity to baptise a couple of members of our church family. They happened to be two of my children. It was a blessing and a privilege to be involved in their special testimony to their love and commitment to the Lord. I will see if I can get some photos put up for you to have a look.

Ever pondered about postmodernism…or mumbled about modernity…or considered the topic of community?

You might like to check an event we are having on November 25th at 6pm.

I’ve known the speaker almost as long as I have breathed…and we are still best of mates! I just finished his 250 or so page thesis, which if you have any interest on how we should view the age old truths about God and the call of the church in a world that (bye the way) has changed, then it is worth the read.

And he is committed to walking it out in his own life and ministry both in Canada and beyond. Have a look at the school he is involved in helping to pioneer. You might have some young people looking for a gap year overseas and they could do a lot worse.

I was so proud of our Church last Sunday. As we had said previously on this blog, the school where we meet had invited us to be a part of the market they were running last Sunday. We gathered as the church, but gathered in a different way, gathered to serve and be a part of the market with the school.

We had considered it, prayed about it and felt that as the Lord had placed us in this school and our heart was to serve not just use the property, that this was a natural and exciting opportunity to give back to the school.

We helped with set up, delivered leaflets prior to the day, cooked sausages on the day, played music and ran a coffee stall serving coffee, tea and scones and jam and cream. It was a great day. We laughed a lot. Had fun serving the school and raising funds for them. We enjoyed interacting with parents, children, staff, market stall holders and visitors. We offered and gave a way free coffee’s to the stall holders, children and others were surprised with free gifts of drinks. As a church family we grew as a team both relationally and as we saw various gifting shine through this event.

Did Bay Vineyard meet last Sunday? Yes! We met to serve the school where we meet. We met as we went, going amongst the world where we have been placed. We met as we had opportunity to leave a great taste in people’s mouths…and I am not talking about the great coffee and delicious scones.

I believe we left a taste of Jesus, of what the church can be, of what community is like, of what service is about. It seemed a healthy and natural way for us to engage with our community around us, that we are increasingly being invited to be a part of. And it was great.

It seems mildly ironic that the last post was about rest, and retreat…and that since then I have been so busy to sit down and write again. The realities of life, eh! Which is why we do need the rhythms of rest and retreat, because the pace at times is full for all of us.

…the retreat, rest and reflect day went well. We gave space for thinking about a Psalm and reflecting on accountability questions. In debriefing it later it seemed to be a positive experience. Would love someone to comment on their experience with this.

…the Vineyard state conference with the Mumfords was very encouraging and helpful. A number of us were able to get to some of it and this past Sunday there was both some nice testimonies of what people saw, heard, experienced and indeed desired to see come in our regular church experience as well as some gentle residual overflow of the Presence of the Lord. Does anyone want to comment on their personal experiences both then and since?

…the Mordialloc Primary School market that is coming, and that we are involved in, is coming up on the 28th of this month. We are busily putting together our plans as we jump into this as part of the school community. It is exciting to get in and serve and also have opportunity to build relationship with people in a natural “part of life”, kind of way.

Melanie and I updated the church last Sunday from our recent trip.

All in all we were so blessed by the trip. I shared some musings…reflections on the trip personally, observations on our wider tribe and some thoughts for our family at Bay Vineyard.

Too many to mention in a 30 second blog but here are a few.

Personally I was refreshed. Have mentioned a few time in this blog re looking after our soul. I really enjoyed the rest. I had not realised how much I needed some. Actually it is a truly Biblical call. Here is a thought. The Lord practiced the Sabbath principle…resting on the 7th day of creation. For us to rest…says we will Trust His Capacity to Hold and Carry Us. Not to mention the issue of obedience.

And in terms of our church, building on from the above I shared on some ideas for us to build some monastic rhythms into our journey as a community. If you are intrigued by what I mean …keep logging in and I will keep blogging some thoughts. Watch our schedule for the last Sunday of this month…

Finally in terms of the tribe…I have shared lots in a recent blog so will leave that now other then to say that I shared that I thought the movement was in a healthy place.

Thanks for reading some random thoughts from last Sunday.

Any little look at our blog and you might notice the use of certain words to describe our values and priorities. Words like gathering, gazing, going, and growing. Words like Family, Village, Tribe. Over the course of this blog we will unpack their meanings and our heart behind these descriptions.

My last blog had Mel and I away at the Vineyard pastors gathering in Alice Springs and Ayers Rock. Was a great time and beneficial in so many ways.

The language for family, village, tribe came from the Flight Centre success, and perfectly captured the heart for our community.

Tribe describes our extended family, the community of churches we are a part of, The Association of Vineyard Churches in Australia and beyond.

More on the other words in a further blog.

All that to say the following. The gathering of pastors only continued to confirm for us how exciting it is to be a part of the Vineyard family. The heart for Jesus is evident, the worship contageous and the honest desire to follow and serve exciting. The growing unity and yet the diversity of approach to ministry and mission challenging.

I love the whole body of Christ and am committed to it. But I also really enjoy the place the Lord has placed me within His Kingdom.

Mel and I are two days in to being in Ayers Rock at the Vineyard churches pastors gathering.  We love this family.  Love the tribe we are a part of.  And this nation is amazing.  3 hours from Melbourne by plane and we were coming in over this arid brown and red land, which so reminded me of where I grew up in Africa.  So different to the big smoke.  The contrasts all around are evident.  Poverty can be seen.  Signs of wealth as well.  And the arid, red rocks that tower up right outside our room, is unreal.

Nice to be with family.  The tribe is in a good spot.  Great to worship, be encouraged by others on the journey and discuss.  We are so thankful to be here.

I bet that caught your attention. It has not been everyone’s experience…fun and church in the same sentence.

Early on when we began the process of seeing a church established, we had a little statement that we threw around a lot to help us keep perspective and to shape our identity so that we lived out from our values rather then just lived. The statement was, “We don’t go to church we are the church.” The church(us the people, not the building, not the gathered event) does gather to be with Jesus and one another as family. It does go sharing Jesus love. It does need to keep gazing on the King(that’s worship and prayer) and it does need to keep growing in His character and in His calling which he directs through His Spirit and His Word(Bible).

Sunday was fun. The church was involved interacting on the topic of healing. Everyone had opportunity to share a story, share a question, even have a different take on the same thing. There was integrity, “yes He heals, no we do not see it all the time” and to talk about some of the why?

Church is the people and when the people are interacting, involved and there is integrity in the journey…now in my book that is fun!