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 know the above alliteration is terrible…but did it catch your attention? Last year our then almost Prime Minister had the catch phrase of Kevin 07!  Worked for him.

Anyway back to the above.  Been a bit quiet lately.  January became both for the church and me a time of rest and doing different things.  I have written lots on this blog about the value of rest.  I keep learning about it.  Have you ever taken time away from work, family, tv, internet…just for silence and prayer.  I had a few days away in January just for that.  It is so helpful for getting perspective.  I read a book in a couple days(something I never do), I walked and realized later it had been about 12 klm.  I enjoyed the silence and quiet and prayer. God spoke. He refreshed.  And I went back to work the next week ready to face not just the day ahead but also the year.

Vision is now beginning to stir…stay tuned. 

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 posed a question on Sunday! Do we sometimes as believers find it easier to believe the Lord for our eternal life after we die then we believe for our eternal abundant life while we are alive? Are we sometimes unbelieving believers? Do I/we hold back sometimes from stepping forward cause we are just not sure if God will back His word, or come through, or act as we think, or do we fear…or just not believe? I said on Sunday sometimes I see that in my life. It was one of those revelations you get from the Lord sometimes.

John 6:29; Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

1Peter 3:15 says: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”.
We spent a bit of time discussing this scripture and discussing answers to questions that we might get asked about our faith. Hearing everyone’s take on explaining their faith was a wonderful experience – see the teaching page for a pdf file that has our questions and some answers.  We hope they help to equip you in being prepared to give reasons for the hope that you have!  If you’ve got some further thoughts on the questions, why not leave a comment on this blog?
We also briefly reviewed the Vineyard 5-step prayer model developed by John Wimber - that’s also posted on our teaching page.
Finally, we’re serving at the local primary school market this weekend - a great chance for us to say thanks to the school for being so open for us to use their facilities - will be a great time (click here for further details) - hope to see you there!

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.

Funny how words come with their own hand luggage.  On Sunday we had a discussion around the “going” aspect of our call as a church.  Understandably, words like “mission”, “missional”, “outreach”, and the “e” word - “evangelism” came up in conversation.

Those of us that have been involved in churches over the years will have heard some or all of those words used in various ways, and will have thoughts and feelings associated with them - some good and some bad (what did you think/feel when you read these words just now - do they excite you, or scare you?).

Getting past the words, John reminded us that “going” is about just being who we naturally are when we’re with other people, letting them see the Jesus-influence in our lives, and being able to engage with them if they want to know more.  How we engage with people will come out of our personality and our heart.

We have a “going” opportunity at the end of October when the school we meet in holds a market day on a Sunday morning.  Over the next few weeks we want to explore what this means for us as a church - if we’re to be involved, what is it that God wants us to do?  What is the heart behind what we do?  What legacy do we want to leave behind in the community as part of our involvement?  The door seems to be open for us - how do we naturally and supernaturally walk through it?  How can we serve our wider community?

We’ll be praying for God’s heart, wisdom, and guidance as we discuss what “going” and this particular open door means to us - and just maybe - He’ll be working in our hearts to redefine how the “e” word makes us feel.