Monthly Archives: January 2013

Values

Below are the values we went through in our last meeting.  These are intended to help guide our decisions and create the church culture we want to have.

a) Honour Jesus – What most honours Jesus is what is right and best.
b) Knowing God = understanding and experience – Spiral.
c) Spirit & Word – Don’t truly have either without both.
d) Love God and People – Intricately linked and cannot be separated.
e) Growth/save – All actions are to serve the purpose of growth through salvation.
f) Engage without comprising – Love truth and culture.
g) Live in the now for eternity – Not for the now or in the future.
h) Thanksgiving – attitude of gratitude, we are always doing better than we deserve.
i) Humility – Correct perception of ourselves, God is God and we are not.  It’s all about Him, we are nothing without Him and yet have everything with Him. We have no reason to look down on or think ourselves superior to any other human being. Don’t steal the glory/credit but enjoy the gift.
j) Honesty – be real, no masks, no pretence, no keeping up appearances, no superficiality.
k) Friendship – to genuinely know and enjoy each other.
l) Fun – Laugh together and enjoy the ride.
m) Quick to forgive – Sometimes we will annoy even hurt each other.
n) Balance – To have a correct expectation of what to serve/be church looks like, commitment without overloading.  To recognise what is achievable and what is not.
o) Guts (courage/risk/faith) – to not, not do something because it is scary but to act on who God is and what God wants.
p) Grit – Life is tough but so is God and so is love.
q) Generosity, it is always better to give than to receive – to be able to give/serve is itself a joyous

gift from God and He is the one who will meet our needs.

r) Sole dependence on God – only God can sort our issues no-one/nothing else.
s) Interdependence – Human help and support.
t) Win Minds and Hearts – In all things never seek to force, but to lead people by winning their understanding and emotions to the cause.   
u) Question – Freedom to ask why.  No, no go areas.
v) Communication – Keep informed.
w) Innovate – Try things, it is not wrong to fail.
x) Excellence – To aim at making what we do (appropriately) good.
y) Prayer – this makes it all work.
z) God is in total control – He knows what he is doing and no-one or nothing can stop him.

Mission, Plan, Vision

Now that the new year has started we are upping the tempo with growing the church.  We intend to meet weekly alternating between a prayer, praise and teaching evening and a social event of some sorts.

This Tuesday gone, at our home we held the first meeting of the year.  The intention of the evening was to start going through what we are about as a church plant.  Below is some of what was said.

The Mission (the goal)
To advance the Kingdom in depth and width! (Matt 22v37, Matt 6v10, Rom14v17)

The Plan (the how)
i)The Person – The plan is Jesus: Who He is, what He’s done, doing and going to do! 
-Know Him, Love Him.  John 14v6, Acts 8v 11-12

ii)The Power – The good news of Jesus is powerful like nothing else!

-Enjoy it, share it.  Romans 1v16, 1Cor 1v18

iii)The People – The church is the embodiment and messenger of the Person and the power.

-The church is community/family on a mission.
-Church is God’s Plan A for the advance of His Kingdom and there is no plan B.
-Be it.  Matt 16v18, Ephesians 3v10

The Vision (the what is church)

It’s…
-Grace enjoying
-Christ following
-Spirit drenched
-Bible believing
-Good news sharing
-City serving
-God glorifying
community (gathered and dispersed).

I also went through our values which I will post another time.  In the coming weeks we intend to go through the beliefs we hold dear and see as vital for a life lived to the full.  2013 bring it on!