On with the Show!

I have some good news and some bad.

The good news is that 2018 is a milestone year for PCC. We are 18 now!

The bad news is that childhood is over and we are going to have to work 😇

On Monday 6th November 2017 the Elders held our annual Retreat in Thames to seek God on the direction of PCC. Our desire has always been to be a church that is open, that welcomes all, that places an emphasis on biblical authority, and that encourages all members to discover and utilise their God-given gifts. A church family.

We all felt that the Lord is directing us to set up a new Leadership Team based on the principles we can read in Acts 6.
1 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not administering a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.” 5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them in blessing. 
Acts 6:1-6

The Elders are going to focus on growing the Church - teaching, prayer, discipleship eg. baptisms, outreach into community, mission. This is a step up for us!

In order to prepare for 2018, I read 2 great books which I recommend. The first book was called Ministry by the Book by Derek Tidball. Derek argues that each book of the New Testament is a model for leadership in a particular environment but that the Church must adapt to it’s own environment as led by the Holy Spirit. For example the book of Acts is a model for an emerging Church, of forming a community as God moves rapidly in a culture. As the Gentiles came into the Church, it had to adapt, God was not asking the Gentiles to become Jews, he didn’t give them the same rules that he’d given the Jews on food for example. In Acts 10, Peter had the dream where he saw all the forbidden foods laid out and the voice from Heaven told him to eat!

The Holy Spirit confirmed that the Gospel was for the whole world not just the Jews. Note: Even though the Gospel is very simple because it’s a message of Grace, that does not mean that lawlessness is acceptable. There is grace but there is also its opposite to avoid... disgrace.

The second great book I read was the in fact the book of Acts. Strangely enough I’ve never read it from beginning to end. What an exciting story and introduction to the remaining books of the New Testament.

The apostles had heard the Great Commission. They knew their priority was on preaching the Kingdom and healing the sick but they could have got their hands were getting tied up administering a food program. The story in Acts shows how the Apostles kept adapting as God was moving fast. The main role of the apostle was God’s business;

He told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this—that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” 
Matthew 28:18-20

When Jesus had been so specific, it was essential that the Disciples made this their sole focus.

Life is a lot easier when we have direction. Do you know your gifting / calling or would like to?

Stephen Covey wrote a book called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.

Habit number 3 is “Put first things first”. Talks about difference between Leadership and Management. Leadership in the outside world begins with personal vision and personal leadership. Talks about what is important and what is urgent. Priority should be given in the following order:
1) Important and Urgent
2) Important and not Urgent
3) Not Important and Urgent
4) Not Important and not Urgent

Keep personal integrity: what you say vs what you do.

To be an effective Christian Leader, we need to discern that which is God’s business and that which is man’s business so we can do first things first.

God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, then prophesy whenever you can—as often as your faith is strong enough to receive a message from God. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If you are a preacher, see to it that your sermons are strong and helpful. If God has given you money, be generous in helping others with it. If God has given you administrative ability and put you in charge of the work of others, take the responsibility seriously. Those who offer comfort to the sorrowing should do so with Christian cheer. 
Romans 12:6-8

The early church was facing a common problem where the most gifted / talented were getting burdened with every task including those that weren’t their calling, only those that are all of our general responsibility - to love others.

Everyone loves a good show. It must have been great watching the Apostles at work, with all the converts being won and all the miracles. But we are not Sky subscribers, we are part of the show!

Ever sit at the end of the movie and watch all the credits? See all the people that worked to make the movie happen! Note that the spectators names are missing from the credits! Don’t let your name be missing from the credits at the end.

“There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen.”
Jim Lovell

Leaders make things happen. They take care of the business.

Leadership Criteria
“Now look around among yourselves, dear brothers, and select seven men, wise and full of the Holy Spirit, who are well thought of by everyone; and we will put them in charge of this business. Then we can spend our time in prayer, preaching, and teaching.” 
Acts 6:3-4 

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
Luke 2:52

Notice that the mark of a godly leader is wisdom and holding peoples respect. This is different to being popular. Some people aren’t popular but they are respected. However if a person is both loved and respected, is wise and is full of the Holy Spirit, there is the makings of a great leader! Do any of us fully live up to the criteria? Probably not but it’s God’s opinion that counts and notice that the opinion of others also counts. Even though we may think we don’t measure up, if other recognise leadership qualities in us we should learn to accept while asking God to change the flaws of course!

What is OUR community like? Do we need more law or more grace do you think? The truth is we need a balance. There is no one model we can pick for PCC that will be an exact match. We need to follow what the Holy Spirit wants to do in Papatoetoe which is unique. That will give us our focus. One day, maybe our story will be told!

Lessons from Acts

1. Get ready for the move of God - fill the lamp 

We need more than ever to be led by he Holy Spirit who will guide us in all truth. We must remember that the Way is narrow and our desire should be to be of the few who find it.

If we follow after the Holy Spirit we will not be wandering aimlessly through the desert but we will be moving with purpose to the “Promised Land”. We are running the race with an end in sight and a prize to be won. We shall be picking up this theme at camp.

Maybe some of us feel that Papatoetoe has had it’s heyday. That we are soldiering on, maintaining the status quo, holding the fort like the Alamo. But if God will do a new thing, the unexpected, are we going to be ready to adapt? Can the old wineskins live with the new?

The early church had a brand new and exciting message to proclaim and a whole world to win. Imagine if everyone had gone with the logic and just said “it’s impossible”. The Roman Empire is too strong. The Religious Leaders can tell us what to do since they know what they’re doing, our traditions are great, we like the old ways we don’t want the new! It’s too difficult to change and we don’t want to!

NOTHING would have happened.

But the truth of the Resurrection was too powerful, the Fire of the Holy Spirit and the Love was too strong.

NOTHING would stop them not even death.

It says in Song of Solomon 8:6 that “love is strong as death”.

2. Be Agile

We live in a fast changing world where we must be adapt as the early church had to adapt in Acts. Fixed plans don’t work in an unstable world, we need to be agile.

Modern project management favours the Agile approach. Adaption and collaboration is the key. 15 minute meetings each day - each person presents they did yesterday, what they did today and what issues are faced. An agile team has a scrum master who directs the scrum! Our scrum master is the Holy Spirit 😊

3. Commit to the Church as Family

Whatever the cultural climate, the Church’s strength is essentially being like a family. We must love one another. Many times in Acts, Luke refers to the brothers and sisters. We belong together. We are equals. We look after and love one another, especially the ones who are sick or struggling, we want everyone to be strong and we do that together. One of the strengths of a family is that it knows you warts and all - you won’t get away with any pretences. But a family is not without parents either! There is still leadership and structure just not formal. We don’t function like that scene from The Sound of Music where the father, Captain Von Trappe blows his whistle and the children appear and stand to attention all in a line. Only a military family could function like that.

4. Follow your leader!

The second most use of the word for the Church members in Acts is disciples. We have to follow the Lord and stick close. This is not an easy time to be alive as there are so many voices. We need to be close to the Shepherd to hear his voice. Don’t wander away!

What can we do now that will focus plus for the year ahead. I will give you 3 things;

A. Fasting - Lent starts on Valentines Day in 3 days time. This is the 6 weeks before Easter when we can go without food in order to draw nearer to the Lord. Reading the Word, praying, listening to God are all much easier when you are fasting. And of course to be a disciple we must also obey, not just listen.

B. Church Camp next weekend - this is the ideal time to be together like in Acts. But is is also an ideal time to spend with Jesus. We will be out from the normal routine time. Diary in some time each day to listen to what Jesus is saying.

C. Make Easter a special focus this year - Jesus set his face like flint towards Jerusalem, moving with an iron will. What an example he gave us to follow! What is God calling us to focus our energy on in the lead up to Easter? Is it someone we know - family, friend, colleague? Is it a mission he has directed us to?

5. Expect opposition

As I said, I believe 2018 is a milestone year for PCC. The elders will appoint a PCC leadership team that is going to quadruple the firepower of the Church. Last year there were 4, now there will be 16 leaders all working to a single goal. 4^2. Four Squared. Satan is not going to be happy with that. Expect opposition.

Stephen had only just been appointed to Leadership (the Seven) and the appointment was a spectacular success when severe opposition came and Stephen was stoned to death.

They murdered Stephen but look what God did. The move of God is unstoppable. They stoned Stephen only for God to appoint Paul!

Paul was in complete agreement with the killing of Stephen. And a great wave of persecution of the believers began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria. 
Acts 8:1

But Paul, threatening with every breath and eager to destroy every Christian, went to the High Priest in Jerusalem. He requested a letter addressed to synagogues in Damascus, requiring their cooperation in the persecution of any believers he found there, both men and women, so that he could bring them in chains to Jerusalem. As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven spotted down upon him! He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Paul! Paul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who is speaking, sir?” Paul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city and await my further instructions.” 
Acts 9:1-6

I remember in May 2016 standing by the beautiful Port at Vannes in Brittany amongst a crowd of Bretons, with the bagpipes playing, drummers drumming and the people all united and in that great atmosphere and place I love, the Lord asking me if I was ready to suffer. The culture there is so strong and it will take a miracle of God to break through with the Gospel. If I understand correctly, the Druids have had dominion over Brittany for centuries. The coming of the Kingdom of God is in direct opposition to the Druid gods and that spells big trouble for anyone who brings the Gospel. Can I be as humble and gracious as the Jewish believers were towards the Gentiles, keep the Gospel simple and trust that the Holy Spirit will do what is necessary for him in order that Brittany be saved?

Meanwhile on the other side of the world, 18,000 km from Vannes, here in Papatoetoe we have our challenges too and we need action to make 2018 a milestone year.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told New Zealand - “Let’s do this!”.