“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven."
Jesus in Matthew 18:10
Re-read that quote from Jesus again. If we take it at face value, children are clearly a BIG DEAL to God.
Jesus prioritised children. Like many today, his disciples did not. They were in the "despising children" cateogry.
While despising children is clearly wrong, Jesus doesn't quite say what our approach should be. Rather he educates us about children's value in God's eyes and then leaves us to figure out what we will do with the people whose, "angels alwasy see the face of my Father who is in heaven".
While we are not even tempted to suggest our current setup is a "silver bullet", there is something about how children are integrated into our church gatherings that resonates with Jesus' radical inclusiveness of the "little ones" amongst us.
Children and youth (and the occassional "big person") play footy, cricket, soccer and more each week both before and after 'church'. They gobble up most of the food and drink. The majority of our young people sit "down the front" on the mats, often share "Good or God" stories (e.g. Sam shared last week that God answered his prayer to make the state volleyball team!), read Scripture aloud and are front-and-centre to hear not only encouragements from the whole church, but the short, Jesus-focused message as well!
While we didn't quite plan it out like this, there is something of God's heart in it that we need to treasure as our future unfolds.
For Martine and I it's not that we expect our children to understand everything that's going on, but that they understand something of it.
In particular, we love when our children hear friends of ours (many of them are parents of our children's friends) share about how Jesus, their faith or God's word, the Bible, have impacted their week. They hear that their friends dad loves Jesus just like their dad. They hear answers to prayer just like we pray for. They hear revelations from the same Bible that we read from most days. This is the church I want my kids to grow up in and probably the one I think they actually need.
It's not that our church is child-centred, but that we believe that every person - young and old - has an opportunity to see Jesus as the centre of their life.
In this way, we are not despising the children amongst us. Rather we are believing that they are able to know, trust and follow God as much as any of us. And, according to Jesus, maybe even in a unique way that is hard for us to comprehend.
To continue to treat children as Jesus calls us to will require us not only intentionally welcoming them into our gatherings, but being gracious, flexible and understanding fo their unique challenges, needs and perspectives on life and faith.
So thank you for not just making space, but intentionally valuing them like Christ calls us to.
Cheers and God Bless,
Dan
Message from North African Geoff
Hi everyone, thanks for having me along on Sunday! As I mentioned, I am based in North Africa with my wife, Marielle, and our two kids. Our focus is on helping people among the Muslim population there to encounter Jesus, and to see North African faith communities be established and grow. It is our prayer that all people in North Africa will have the opportunity to encounter Jesus.
We would love to invite you to partner with us in this vision in prayer or finances. If you are interested in hearing more I would be very happy to connect.
Please get in touch via email: visionNA1@proton.me
Prayer
Let's keep asking God to speak to us on the following areas of our church:
- Rhythms: how will we foster our simple rhythms (know, invite, gather)?
- Elders: how will we structure our long-term leadership and who will be on the team.
- Generosity: how would God have us become the generous individuals and church he's called us to.
- Future: how and where will we continue to gather including our location.
If you'd like to join with others in prayer, chat to Fred on Sunday about his men's prayer group that meets 6am every Friday in Dicky Beach!
If you can't find him Sunday call Fred on 0431 437 080.
Want to go camping together?!
Merrick has done some research on a big group camp at Borumba Deer Park about an hour from us. We're proposing we invite people from our church to go camping together Sat-Sun (enthusiasts can stay Friday too!) for a very relaxed weekend together potentially on Sunday 8th of October.
If you're keen, let us know by REPLYING to this email or email us!
And YES, they have cabins too :)
Coming Up
Sun 27 Aug 3pm Moffat Gathering
Get ahead-of-the-game
Sun 03 Sep 3pm Worship + Prayer Gathering. Location City Life Baptist
Sun 17 Sep Baptism
Sun 01 Oct Worship + Prayer Gathering. Location City Life Baptist
Sun 15 Oct Baptism
Our Mission
To help people find and follow Jesus
Our Rhythms
Know Jesus: how are you getting to know Jesus this week?
Invite people into your life: who can you bless this week?
Gather and get involved: How can you connect, listen, share or pray with others this week?
Our Giving
If there is someone in need around you we'd encourage you to team up with another Christian friend and ask God to show you how to meet their need directly. You can also get started with giving to Open Road or get in touch with any questions you may have.
Last months giving $9,349
Last months expenses $5,842
Balance $20,496
"Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed." - Proverbs 19:17
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