The small building stands, weatherboard, old and quiet now, a family home- unremarked, but where once hoards of children Sunday chattered. A clue nearby, a small tower and still the bell, but for long years silent. Where once the church, Jesus’ families in numbers gathered, no longer so. But silence and death’s symbol, yesteryear’s relic … Continue reading New Shoots Amid Silent Bells
One of my favourite movies is Groundhog Day. This is the story of a man (‘Phil’ played by Bill Murray) who is trapped in a repeated cycle of having to live the same day over and over again. This is even to the detail of getting his foot soaked in the same puddle every morning! … Continue reading It’s Groundhog day – Again!
Most of us have at some time or other had a problem with a salt shaker. You know the time when at dinner you go to sprinkle some salt on your meal and nothing comes out. This is not because there is no salt in the saltshaker, it could even be full, but because the … Continue reading Unblocking the Salt Shaker
I have been meditating lately on Jesus’ instruction to his followers "to go and make disciples" “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”. Matthew 28:19,20. In particular … Continue reading Discipleship – Beyond Conversion
I turn on the radio and tune in to a news channel, then another and another, but all of them, the TV channels too, are covering the same story- ANZAC Day, 25th April. This is the Australian and New Zealand equivalent of what in the United Kingdom is ‘Remembrance Day’ on November the 11th. It … Continue reading Winning The War But Losing the Peace
It is important that when we establish any type of new missional community it must be one that can be easily reproducible, in fact as we set it up we must be thinking about the next one.
I woke up on Easter morning, the day of all days when we celebrate the resurrection of the Christ the Son of God, the greatest event in history. It is the day we rejoice in God’s victory over sin and death, the forgiveness of sins, the removal of our guilt and the promise of eternal … Continue reading The Resurrection and the Outbreak of War
Here I need to make a confession. I confess that I have been guilty as anyone in the past in grabbing hold of the latest ‘Magic Bullet’ for mission. This is the ‘latest thing’, almost always arriving from overseas - the program, technique or missional approach that will rapidly increase our missional fruit, something we … Continue reading It’s Not Magic
I’m sitting on the patio of our house, a place I often use for reading the bible, to pray and to work. It is very quiet, the only sounds being those of the nearby creek running full after much rain, some chirping Rainbow Lorikeets and the whisper of a gentle breeze stirring the Gum trees … Continue reading The ‘Cloud’
In the process of promoting Unbounded Church type Missional Communities, I get to talk with many church leaders. It is a privilege to share in their struggles in missional endeavour and perhaps to give some encouragement, but often also a great frustration. This is because, despite a common passion to see the lost won for … Continue reading The Shopping Centre or the Town Centre Shops?
