The Gift of Encouragement

I have been thinking a lot recently about the gift of encouragement and how important it is in our every day lives.  Encouragement always seems to me to be such a gift and it brings the recipient such blessing.  I wonder do we think consciously about how we can be an encouragement to one another and how we can actively build each other up?  Life has lots of ups and downs, sometimes more downs or times of frustration and yet a word of encouragement can really change a day and bring such blessing, enabling us to persevere in serving the Lord and helping us to re-clarify our purpose here on earth as God's children and servants of the Lord Jesus.

Perhaps it is just a posy of flowers, a card in the mail or a phone call, a short chat at the school gate or time for a coffee and the opportunity to sit down and talk and pray.  The ways in which we are blessed by others can be a timely reminder from the Lord of how much he cares intimately about the small details of our lives and what a deeply relational God he is. 

Psalm 145 

13b The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
    and faithful in all he does.
¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food at the proper time.
¹⁶ You open your hand
    and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹ My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
    Let every creature praise his holy name
    for ever and ever.

Flyer ready to print

Why am I always surprised by how long it takes to get something like a flyer ready to print? It seems it should be a simple job, but getting all the relevant information together, presenting it so that it makes sense (let alone is attractive!) and then getting rid of all the little typos …
At last the Flourish brochure is ready to go to print. It is going to be a great conference. I am confident that the main speakers (David Jones and Douglas Milne) will do a terrific job. The workshops all look absorbing (the brochure can only list a sample of the workshops). We are also planning some extended interviews with women who have fascinating stories. There is already plenty of interest in Flourish and we are looking forward to that building over the next few months. Keep an eye out for a print brochure in the next few weeks. If you want an electronic version let us know.

Missional church in Auckland

"Missional" church is a trendy term (or maybe it isn't as trendy as last year - it is hard to keep up with trends). When people talk about missional church, they usually mean a church that is approaching ministry in a Western nation with the mindset of a "missionary". It doesn't assume that it has a right to exist and be heard, it realises that the gospel needs to be translated into the language and culture of the people, it aims to be an alternative community and not mimic the society it lives in, it is determined to bless the community it lives in. All that can be an excuse to make church fun for Gen X Christians who are burnt out by programmed church. But it can be an important paradigm shift.

I saw a great example of real missional church in Auckland last week. Redeemer Presbyterian Church is a about 10 years old. It has focussed on a defined area in South Auckland and a community with high rates of unemployment, broken families, alcohol abuse and crime. It is the kind of place where kids are quickly left behind in the education system. Redeemer have spent the last ten years building relationships in that community. Over the time they have built real trust in the community and from that have been able to talk about Jesus and show how he makes a difference. They have been part of setting up a pre-school and an after school homework club that runs every school day. There community centre provides a mid-wife service for the community as well as legal advice. Amidst all this they talk about Jesus (a lot!) and they pray and the Lord has used them to make a difference.

I was in Auckland with a bunch of students from PTC Sydney as our annual 'mission'. It was great to see what was happening at Redeemer and share in it for a week. As I've thought about now that I'm back, it dawned on me that missional church is hard work. It is long term investment in relationships for the sake of the gospel, not funky music, stylish graphics and great coffee. (In fact on the evidence of Redeemer, great coffee doesn't get much of a run in mission in South Auckland). Missional church is often paired with being incarnational. If the incarnation is our model, then we can expect mission to be hard, painful and even deadly.

Family as calling

At the consultation in February one of the issues that lots of people wanted to talk about was making decisions about work, family and ministry. In our society, and even more in conservative churches, husbands assume they have to work full-time and wives and mothers feel they have to make a decision about how much work to do.

One way of rethinking that approach is for husbands and wives to recognise family life as a calling from God. This book seems to do that, according to an interview with the authors (Gene Edward Veith Jr. and Mary J. Moerbe). I haven't read the book yet, but it sound worth looking at. The message for parents and children is "Love and serve your family, not because of who is in your family, but because God is in your family".

I'd guess that sometimes means earning money to keep your family (1Tim. 5:8 ). But it also means having time for them, and showing the love of having time for relationships, worship, evangelism and generosity. If all the family view family life and roles as God's calling, then the work/life balance might start to fall into place.

Flourish workshops

The WMPCA committee is working on Flourish for July and talking to people about doing workshops. There are heaps for great topics that are worth looking at and so many gifted people who can deal with them. The 'trick' is getting the right topics for the right people who are available for Flourish! It is great hearing the enthusiasm of presenters we've approached. When you ask someone about a topic and they come back with "this is such an important topic and I'd love to do it. You should know that I am quite opinionated about this!" - you've probably asked the right person.

It will be a few weeks before we can give the list of workshop topics and presenters. As a teaser, here are some of the topics we are talking people to. We are looking for topics on some of the key areas of church life and ministry, personal and life issues for women and church leadership and women's ministry. The workshops will probably have more interesting titles than these!

Evangelism
Small churches
One to one
Connecting with young women
Encouragement
Peacemakers
ESL
Developing ministry through PWA
Seniors ministry
Kid’s ministry
Music
Connecting with global mission
Disability ministry
Social Media
Craft Ministry
Counselling Women
Women's Bible Studies
Ministry to women in difficult marriages and in divorce
Hospitality
Writing
Health and Beauty
Marriage
Making decisions about work and ministry
Success in life and ministry
Keep growing
Infertility – treatment etc
Finances
Intergenerational women’s ministry
Teaching complementarianism
Teaching the Bible to women
Leadership style and structures
Training women
Consultancies
Multicultural Ministry
Building a women's ministry
Bridges between Leadership and Women's Ministry
Building a Mercy ministry

Wait...I can't catch up!

What do you do when you feel as though life has gone ahead of you and you just can't catch up? I have been thinking about that a lot recently as summer holidays are just a distant memory and autumn is showing it's signs in abundance...the apples and pears are ready on the trees and the tomatoes are being harvested, quinces are on the table and I am still trying to work out the best way to use my time...Life is so full.
As a whole church we have started off the year looking at Christianity Explored, which has been a real blessing, but it has got me thinking... on the front cover it says in bold type

One Life. What's it all about?

Sometimes I ask myself just that - what is it all about and how do you fit it all in? Life just gets in the way...moving house, children who are really unwell, trips to hospital, relative who need caring for, weddings... the list goes on and that says nothing about the size of my ironing pile!

But sometimes we just need to remember that we don't do it all in our own strength and that praying is always a great first step...How can we best follow and serve the Lord Jesus and be an encouragement to one another? By trusting him and praying daily that our lives even in the ordinary or busy things would be extraordinary as we seek to share with others the love of Jesus.

Consultation

It happened and it all ran well!

We had about 50 people together for a day at the PCNSW Church Offices in Sydney. The aim was to hear about what's happening in womens' ministry around the PCA and collect ideas for Flourish. It turned out that the day was also a taster for what we can expect at Flourish.

David Jones gave a wonderful study from Romans 16. He talked about the women who were part of Paul's ministry circle and are mentioned in that chapter. But his big point was not about women, but about God's people working together for the sake of the kingdom.

We then heard from each state about some of the recent developments in womens' ministry. Three points came through very clearly: each state is quite different in structures and issues; there is growing momentum in the four eastern states (and the ACT), and SA and WA where the Presbyterian church is small women's ministry has less energy. If was great for all of us to hear about what it happening in each state and the challenges.

Carmelina Read gave a great overview of what she thinks are the current developments and challenges in women's ministry. She talked about a growing desire among Christian women for serious Bible teaching and training - and a trend away from big events as a focus of ministry in churches , finding ways for women to train, helping men and women work together in staff teams and the need for an emphasis on all-member ministry for women (and men). All of this left us with lots of think and talk about.

I gave a summary of some of the theological debates about women and church life . I might give a longer version of that in another post.

We divided the consultation into groups and a committee member in each group listened as people talked about their concerns and insights and what they'd like covered at Flourish. We ended with a wide ranging list with lots of stimulating ideas.

The day finished with prayer.

Now the committee is sorting through all those ideas and working on a program and publicity for Flourish.

More news soon.