Across the Street... Across the Sea

There is such a stirring at the moment to see fruitful & effective evangelism! Our series "The Net Effect" has kicked off, our Life Group studies are in full swing (focusing on "Breaking News" by J.John), and a lot of what I hear & read on Twitter//Facebook by other ministers & preachers shows the same desire. One person wrote of how Jesus said HE would build His Church, yet we are to GO & make DISCIPLES! (How often I think I get that the wrong way around!!)

Here's something Ps Malcolm wrote recently: "Often we can become very focused on our needs & in wanting someone to cross the street to us or show us care. We all need & should expect love or care, however please do not lose sight of our main purpose and mandate from Christ. God's command is that we would cross our street or cross the sea as a demonstration of God's love to a lost & dying world. Praise God for the person who offers their help to me in a time of need, but how much greater does God bless the one who offers the hand of help. We are not all called to another country but we are all called to spread the Good News. This can happen by crossing the street, by crossing the lunchroom, or by crossing the class room. It will take effort but that of course is Christianity. There is a cost. Let's carry our cross & let's put our hand to the plough. No turning back in our service for the Master!!"

God bless you South West (& whoever reads this!) We're praying for you, & believing that God will do great things IN & THROUGH you!

Ps Leighton

No More Of This

Last Sunday we were blessed to have a good friend of mine, Preston Centuolo, come and preach the Word. Preston was in Australia for 3wks on the Youth Alive tour, and we were the final speaking engagement he had before heading back to New Jersey.
He shared powerfully about friendship & relationship, and how important that is, but also how so often there is separation & breakdown due to conflict or disagreement. Particularly in church life, there can be conflict over the strangest things - the colour of the carpet, the mess the youth might have left on Friday, someone sat in MY seat last Sunday...really weird things like that!!
In Luke 22:49-51 we read a portion of the story where Jesus is being arrested, and one of his disciples strikes with his sword, cutting off the ear of one of the High Priests servants. Jesus speaks & says "No more of this!" and touches the mans ear & heals him.
As Preston suggested, & I write today, I think those words echo today when we consider our friendships & relationships. If Jesus can heal a mans ear that was cut off, do we trust Him to heal the relationship that we've messed up? Can we get off our high horse long enough to realise how silly we often are in arguing things that really aren't that important? Ask forgiveness, humble yourself, trust that God can & will heal.
Colossians 3:12-14 is a great read!

God Bless!

Ps Leighton

The Net Effect

The Net Effect

We have spoken a lot this year about the importance of God’s Kingdom. As a church we can focus on lots of good things including our fellowship together, good teaching, powerful worship, in fact it is possible for a church to spend all of its energy and time doing that which is “good” without doing that which is “great”.

We are called to a “great” commission. We have been commanded to make
disciples and win the lost. I have a particular sense of urgency regarding the
season we are in, it is time to reach out and gather in a net load of souls. We are God’s fishermen, called to catch men. I believe it is important to examine our nets. It is possible to preach the gospel and lose the fish. Let’s check how effective our nets are. Holes in our nets can let the fish through or we can be too slow and miss God’s timing as we cast out. Maybe we are using the wrong bait. Jesus is the ultimate fishermen of men’s souls. Let us learn from Him. The next Life Builders series will be designed to equip the saints to do the work of ministry.

God Bless

Pastors Malcolm & Karen

South West Celebrates

Last Sunday we held our annual 'South West Celebrates' event, and it was amazing!! HUGE thanks to everyone who helped with the setup & preparation, the packup & cleanup...the whole lot. It was a team effort and definitely a job well done!!

God is doing great things in & through our church. So much that we can celebrate about!!
- the diverse cultures & nations represented
- the generations.. old & young, men & women
- the vision & journey ahead of us. This is not a church content with where we are at, we're believing for soooo much more!

I think also, that is what was so timely about Dr.Stuart Robinsons message that he shared on Sunday morning. Don't think that things can't be done, & don't settle for comfort & the here and now. Believe that with God 'all things are possible!'

Let's keep moving forward church! There's another person to reach out to, another neighbourhood to influence, a city to win!

Playing to win

No runner when he arrives at the starting line of the race runs to obtain second or third, they always run to win.
No afl coach comes to the game and coaches to lose they all coach to win the game.
Michael Voss, the Brisbane Lions Coach said, "If any coach comes to the game wanting to lose they should not be in the game."

Whenever we want to do something out of the norm, exceptional, something that we haven't done before, fear and doubt is sometimes our closest friend. Often we can lose before we have actually lost. Often we can have the mindset of 'this is impossible' and we validate that by making it impossible. We play to lose instead of playing to win.
To go to the next level in our lives, to grow, to change, to do something that no one has done before we need to play to win, not allow doubt and fear to rob us from the exceptional future God has for us.
We play based on our conviction, the winning faith in our hearts that secures victory.
1 John 5:4: "this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith."

Our winning faith overcomes anything the world can throw at us and secures our victory, makes us winners...
But to be winners, we need to play like winners, play with solid conviction, winning faith that overcomes anything!

Play to win and just wait and see what God can do!
God Bless
Ps Nathan
South West Community Services

an Element Youth update...

Friday night's Uprising was amazing! The worship team lacked a bass player (for some weird unknown reason!!), but in no way lacked the presence of God; the preaching (by the one and only Gethsi "Awesome" Alagendran) was impacting and a life-changing word to those who received; and the generosity in giving by the young guys and girls stepped up a notch.

Bala's offering message was awesome. He basically talked about Jesus. It was great! (We took up almost three times what was taken up the week before)

Gethsi's word was amazing - fun, deep, but incredibly practical. She preached on buidling our lives on Jesus, the only proper and lasting foundation. I think everyone knows that a lot of teens can come along to enjoy programs, play ball games, wrestle and knock teeth out (for the guys). But one common misconception held by many is that they all know the Gospel - they might have head knowledge, but that's useless without heart transformation. What I love about Gethsi's word is that she basically preached the Gospel, the root of all transformation, and the foundation of our faith! But what really needs to happen is heart transformation in many lost guys and girls who just love coming along because their parents make them, or they have nothing better to do on a friday night - or maybe even that they want to see a guy or girl they think is pretty good looking (hey, I'm just being realistic!)

So in all of this greatness, with a generous, kind, God-loving and God-fearing bunch of young teenagers in Uprising, there are still a bunch who aren't gripped by God's grace, and aren't transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I urge you to pray for those who are currently attending, but also to continue to pray for us, that we'll see teens saved for God's kingdom, and see them transformed by the power of God. Let us watch God do an amazing thing in and through our youth!

Daniel Tusjak
Uprising Youth Leader

Resources & good things

Hello..

Just a quick note to those who happen across reading this - over the years our church has put together a large range of exceptionally good resources. There's booklets & workbooks on leadership, pamphlets on "know what you believe", sermon series on dvd from Ps Malcolm MacLeod, a very large collection of Life Group studies, and heaps more. Please contact us if you'd like to know more about any of it..

'twas just a thought!

Ps Leighton

21st Century Teachings of Jesus

I am experiencing a fresh passion to explore the world Jesus entered 2000 years ago. So often we misinterpret the words spoken in the Bible and mis-apply them to our world. Although the world offers us unique challenges and shifted values, I am so excited by the relevance of scripture to the world I see.
The issues are frightening & the Church is faced with many challenges. Things will probably get worse before they get better BUT Jesus Christ and His words are still alive & well on planet earth.

Ps Malcolm MacLeod
Snr Pastor

Do you have your Father's eyes?

The other morning I found myself singing a song I hadn't heard in years. As a child and young teen this song was a type of vision statement for me, what I wanted my life to be. The song was by Amy Grant and dealt with the idea that people would remember her for how she reflected God to those around her. More than anything she wanted people to say she had her Father's eyes and I felt the same way - still do in fact. The chorus to this song "Father's eyes" says it all.

"She's got her Father's eyes, her Father's eyes
Eyes that find the good in things, When good is not around.
Eyes that find the source of help, When help just can't be found.
Eyes full of compassion, seeing every pain.
Knowin' what you're going through, and feeling it the same.
Just like my Father's eyes, my Father's eyes, my Father's eyes, Just like my Father's eyes."

Being representatives of our Father, heaven was not a new concept when Amy Grant sang this song. Paul challenged the Ephesians to "be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (Eph 5:1-2)

We are meant to look like our Father in heaven, to have his DNA. This includes His compassion, servant attitude, and care, just as Amy sang. But it is much more than this. It should also include a passion for truth, a desire to do right and a lifestyle founded in mercy and grace. "What is it the Lord requires of you? To do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God" (Micah 6:8) And even though that is only just scratching the surface, you will spend the rest of your life growing and learning what it is to be like your Father. May you always have the desire to do just that!

Today I ask you - do you have your Father's eyes?

Ps Raelle
Pastoral Care, & Childrens Pastor

Tour de France

For those who know me, you'll know that I grew up racing BMX and taking a pretty keen interest in all things cycling. As a young guy, I actually had a dream to one day ride in the Tour de France... I'm not sure why because of all the cycling disciplines, road-racing seemed the most boring!

In 2004, Eilidh & I were in Paris the day before the TDF came through for the famous final day of racing... the race down the Champs-Elysees. Really wish now that we'd been able to stay to see that!

Anyway, the past couple of years I've started watching the race each night. Makes for lots of late nights, and I'm definitely feeling it!! Watching it though....I love it!!

I love it because:
- It's not every man for himself...some riders role on the team is to make sure their team mate wins
- If a team mate falls, you'll often see the team slowing down to wait for their fallen rider
- There appears to be great comraderie
- ...and there's some spectacular scenery!!

It's a pity there's often doping scandals, because this is a brilliant sporting event, played out over 3 weeks.....3 weeks of late late nights!

Missing teeth, and growing up...

This morning my 4y/o son accidentally headbutted his 7y/o sister, causing one of her wobbly teeth to prematurely fall out. She was already missing her 2 front teeth, and now with another one gone, she's looking like a true Collingwood Supporter!
The cool thing about it all is this though - those teeth need to come out! I'm no dentist, but we simply call them 'baby teeth'. Those baby teeth need to come out to make way for .... 'Adult Teeth!' Pretty soon in my daughters mouth, we'll start to see brand new teeth pushing through (hopefully straight and not requiring expensive braces work later in life!!!)
As followers of Jesus...disciples...there's a very similar thing that takes place in our lives. We need to do away with the 'baby' stuff of faith, to make way for the more mature things..
1 Corinthians 13:11 "...When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."
So this morning, I'm thinking to myself "what childish ways can I put behind me to make way for the more mature things..?"
What about you?

Rock and Roll Fail

Building For A Growing Family

This Sunday is the "Building For A Growing Family" Miracle Pledge Day. As you've been hearing, we are making preparations to build a brand-new auditorium and redevelop the current facilities...all because the family is growing, and because we want to be obedient to the leadings of God!

Over the last few weeks we've heard some great messages about the building. Here's a short summary:

Wk 1 - It's for God's Glory (Ps Malcolm)
'people seek great things for themselves, yet we should live life for the Glory of God...'

Wk 2 - It's for the Generations (Ps Leighton)
'Samuel carried the Word of God all the days of his life...'

Wk 3 - It's for a 'Glocal' Community (Ps Karen)
'It all starts with the Great Commission...'

Wk 4 - It will take FAITH (Ps John)
'Experience is based on our past, but expectation is based on our future...'

Wk 5 - It will take VISION (Ps Malcolm)
(tune in this week for this message!!)

We're really excited about this Sunday, and believing for amazing Miracles!!!

The 'Apostolic'

Interesting to note that there's some doozy words out there, not commonly used in everyday language..yet they are powerful, particularly when it comes to God's Kingdom. One of those words is 'Apostolic' and for Ps Matt Street, our Missions Pastor, it recently came up in conversation and here's what he wrote about the meaning of the word 'Apostolic'

"The apostolic authority on a man of God is an impartational authority rather than a legislative one. Both the apostle and prophet have the ability to receive revelation about the purposes of God for the Church. The primary focus of both these ministries is the church and its destiny. This is one reason why Paul declares that the Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The prophet will clearly see the plan of God for the future of the church but will not always be able to implement it on his own.

The apostle has a unique ability to recognise the direction that the spirit is leading the church in, and he also has the ability to know how best to implement that. His special anointing enables people to comprehend the vision, and participate in it.

Paul was not a pastor of a big church, and from scripture there is no written evidence of him pastoring his own church at all. Paul was a missionary with an apostolic anointing who planted churches, established the Kingdom, raised up leaders and ushered in change or correct biblical living through the spirit."

Blessings,

Ps Matt

Long Weekends & Friends..

So today was the Queens Birthday Holiday, and for my family & I, it meant a day out with some great friends on a drive to Ballarat (lunch @ the famous Bakery Hill Macca's)

It rained. We lost a sock.....and nearly a child. Macca's probably isn't the healthiest food in the world. And we got lost looking for a massive lake....that had no water in it!

The great thing about it all though - it was a day spent with some awesome people, people from the Life Group I'm hooked up in. People who I care about, and I can probably assume that coz they laugh at my lame jokes, they care a bit about me too!

I believe friendship & relationship like this, has to be one of the most powerful forces in God's Kingdom! There's accountability in the friendship. There's encouragement in the friendship. And there's mission & purpose in the friendship. We're united in wanting to further extend God's Kingdom here on earth....and we're having some fun along the way!

If you want to have some friends, it's been said you should be a friend first...

God Bless

Leighton

getting the ball rolling...

Hey, so here we are...bloggin' away!

This is gonna be a bit of a joint effort from a whole bunch of us at South West Christian Church, and we're looking forward to sharing all the fun stuff, thoughtful stuff, wise stuff, and upcoming stuff...with you all! Hope you enjoy it!

As for right now, the Building For A Growing Family campaign is rolling along nicely! I'm really looking forward to the Miracle Pledge Day on June 21, and I know it's going to be one of those 'wow' moments in God!

Dinners up, my beautiful bride has excelled again, so I'm outta here!

God Bless,

Leighton