rhythm+hue
My musings, writings, observations, ideas, & thoughts about God, Life, and following Jesus in Suburbia.
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Archive of "Church" Category
We can create Christians so very well, what about Disciples?
Recently Wolfgang Simson was in Melbourne for a Simple Church convention - the MP3’s of the week long conference can be downloaded from here from the convention. While Wolfgang is controversial and confrontational to many in the mainstream church, there was one point that I heard, and mulled over it and must say that I agree with it 100%.
Of course there are many more things that I agree with but it was this issue that I think becomes relevant and when viewed in the larger context of consumerist church - see my mate Mark Sayers for more on that, the issue of actually creating Disciples of Jesus is central to the state of the Church today and the fact that there is even talk of consumerist christians and church. (more…)
Posted in Australia, Church, Jesus, Kingdom, Social Justice, church life, croydon, life, protest |
2 Comments »Bottled Water
I visited RE:VIVE church yesterday - they are an off-shoot from the Lilydale Seventh Day Adventist Church - and I must say that I was quite pleasantly surprised and impressed! The service was pretty much like any other contemporary worship service, except it was lead by younger folk (20’s) - and the atmosphere was VERY relaxed with folk getting up and grabbing drinks before coming back to their seats. Comfy lounges as well as comfortable chairs were available and all in all it was not a “slick” service but one that was definitely more heart-felt and spirit lead!
But it is not the worship that impressed me! The sermon was by a fellow called Luke - still need to find his name out - who was down from the Central Coast of NSW to talk. His talk was on the Living Water - the Holy Spirit - and what it means to be filled with the Living Waters. Luke then said that he had been drinking bottled Living Water for the past 32 years! To explain Luke’s background helps now; he is a Seventh Day Adventist minister who used to work at a Seventh Day Adventist School and had grown up the child of Seventh Day Adventists. So the claim that he had been drinking bottled Living Water for 32 years was very well understood by most of those assembled who knew Luke. (more…)
Posted in Australia, Church, Holy Spirit, Kingdom, church life, croydon, missional |
No Comments »Intellectualising the Gospel
Over the course of my academic career and church life - ok - let me narrow that down to the past ten years, I have noticed that there is a trend to romanticise the clergy, whatever you call them - pastor, minister etc. We tend to hold these folks up as being the way we should live - and I think that on the whole, many of these folk are wonderful people, something tends to happen to many people that study theology, whether for a degree or for “ordination” - the gospel message and what it means tends to move from being heart felt to head felt. What do I mean by that?
Well, this is not saying that it is common, but I have many friends and acquantices that I feel who have done this - taken the gospel, they know it inside and out, can quote scholars and verses, but the message, the central feel, the call to action or the love-motivation from following Jesus tends to become known very well in their heads but very little in their hearts. Oh sure, they are church goers and such, but sadly I feel that they have the knowledge and think that that is it, without putting that knowledge to use.
It’s like having the core message - the simplicity of the love of God - covered, criticised, talked about, debated, ripped apart and put together again, and clouded by too much talk and thinking. I would call this a knowing the Gospel in the head but not the heart. And I fear that many of our churches today are producing clones of these people, who while they may not know the same as the PHD lead Pastor, intellectualise the Gospel to Sunday and the latest popular authors book - more than likely telling them that knowign Jesus will bless them financially!
Enough!
Posted in Australia, Church, Jesus, Kingdom, church life, church planting, life, prayer |
No Comments »Loosing my Religion, or I believe in a Better Way
To help set the mood for this post and the title, here are a couple of songs and their amazing videos to enjoy.
The first is REM - Loosing My Religion
Secondly, Ben Harper - I Believe in a Better Way
(more…)Posted in Australia, Blogging, Church, Grace, Jesus, Personal, Social Justice, book, church planting, croydon, oikos, prayer |
No Comments »Getting over our “little kingdoms!”
I visited the VicRelief Foodbank yesterday to get inducted for the Dining Room. It was quite a humble experience, but it was something that came up in the induction that has bothered me.
The foodbank has over 700 agencies listed as being able to access the food. It came up in conversation that there are quite a few churches and agencies getting food from just the Croydon and Mooroolbark and surrounds areas. It was suggested that perhaps a group of these agencies could combine to do a “shop”, saving time, fuel, money and the staff and resources of the food bank itself. The problem is, we aren’t aware of the other churches handing food and welfare, some meal services sure, but on the whole, none of the myriad of agencies and ministries in this area know each other, let alone work for the same causes, and with the same motivation.
Even within the churches serving meals such as the Dining Room, there is fierce rivalry about days and spaces, money, food and people we serve in God’s name! This is sickening and disgraceful to say the very least.
After some thought on this, I thougt I might do a “census” of the ministries and welfare services within the area. I did one earlier for the churches in the Mooroolbark area earlier out of curiousity and disgust to find almost 15 churches in the one suburb of Mooroolbark, yet not working together in an area rife with poverty, homelessness and other social justice issues. I’ll post the PDF later when back home (on the iPhone at the moment).
It saddens me, and I am sure God, that we cannot work together in unity! Imagine the impact combined outpourings of love and resources could have on the community and imagine what impact that would have on the Kingdom! We, and I mean, those of us who profess to follow Jesus, have to get over ourselves and the need for our own little kingdoms! This means accepting others and getting over the man-made doctrines and crap we call denominations, to start outpouring the love we have been shown through Jesus!
I’ll be praying about doing this census, but would appreciate your prayers and thoughts!
Sorry for any spelling errors - using the Wordpress app on the iPhone!
Addendum: PDF of Map of Mooroolbark Churches Heres the map I mention earlier about the known churches in the immediate area.
Posted in Australia, Church, Jesus, Kingdom, Personal, Social Justice, church life, croydon, missional |
2 Comments »What the Gospel is Not
This a video by John Piper I caught on a blog I read by JR. This is very good at saying what needs to be said about the Prosperity Doctrine that pervades the church in USAmerica and the west, including Australia (yeah, you too CF!).
Love to hear your comments.
Posted in Church, Kingdom, youtube |
No Comments »Becoming Anabaptist…
I have found myself lately considering my own faith and where is it is leading me.
I grew up in the church of Christ (non-denominational/accapella) where my father was a minister for a few years in Brisbane. So, for a couple of years we lived in USAmerica while he studied to become a minister with the churchof Christ. While, most of the folk I have met along my journey in the cofC have been wonderful, caring and loving folk, I must say that the cofC as a whole is very legalistic and extremely conservative. There are even a couple of unwritten beliefs that when expressed publically get denied.
Anyway, now as I approach forty and have travelled away from the cofC, done the Forge internship, and continue to read, pray and explore, I do find myself identifying more and more with the Anabaptist’s. I have been lent some great material from Bessie at Oikos about the Anabaptist’s which I am thoroughly enjoying.
I must admit that a small part of me still says No! It’s not the Church of Christ! Silly, I know! So, I continue to explore and question, pray and read, talk and listen to wiser ones than I. I believe that some of the reasons for identifying more with the Anabaptist’s has a lot to do with the stripping away of the man-made crap that has become religion and the church in the last few centuries (Pagan Christianity by Barna and Viola was a great read and help in this area)! Social justice and following Jesus as a disciple are other reasons for identifying with them.
But, at this stage, I also find myself going to a post-modern but kinda tradiitonal we’re-not-offcially-baptist-but-are-baptist church.
I’ll write more about this as I can. But as for prayers and any comments you may have!
Posted in Church, Jesus, Personal, life, prayer |
3 Comments »The truth about what is going on in Zimbabwe right now!
This was sent to me by a good friend and Godly man who has been serving in Africa for past few years, and is from folk’s within Zimbabwe who sent this out as a plea for the Church around the World to pray for the people of Zimbabwe and to be a catalyst for action!
Warning! Some of the pictures in this article are very graphic in nature with images of the result of violence. If you are easily offended or are looking at this with kids, I would suggest waiting till you are ready.
This is what is going on right now in Zimbabwe – the Mugabe Government has termed it ‘Operation Mavoterapapi’ which translated means ‘Operation where did you vote”.
It is such a tragedy and the victims are completely at the mercy of ruthless thugs with a green light to do just as they please. The proposed run-off election is going to be more than unfair – it is a human rights travesty.
The photographs below show the charred remains of farm workers homes on Muniya Farm. (more…)
Posted in Blogging, Church, Politics, Social Justice, human rights, prayer, zimbabwe |
No Comments »What is going on?
I wrote the following one evening recently but have been unsure whether to publish it… tell me what you think.
In the course of my studies I have been researching homelessness and poverty in Australia, and in particular, Melbourne, and recently I had the great pleasure to go meet a lovely woman who works for the Salvation Army at a Crisis center here in Melbourne. After a tour of the fantastic facilities and meeting the others staff, we sat for a coffee and chat. A great hour and I was extremely thankful for the chat.
But, it further fueled my righteous anger to understand that local churches weren’t offering to help this crisis centre - something that we have found at The Dining Room (TDR). However, before I rant, I must say that there are some churches and schools in the area who are helping TDR, but let me emphasize - some out of many. We have some churches in the local area that are perched on acres of land, some with schools on the property and some without, and some with empty buildings and some that have a handful of people meeting in them.
Posted in Australia, Church, Fund raiser, Politics, Social Justice, church life, croydon, human rights, prayer |
No Comments »So, early Christians did meet in a Church Building!?
I was reading my RSS reader this morning over a coffee and almost spilt my coffee over myself and my laptop when I read one of the headlines streaming from the ABC. The headline was “World’s first church unearthed in Jordan” - so, there I was thinking they had unearthed a mass grave of early Christians, slaughtered by the Empire of the time.
But no. The article goes on to say that archaeologists have unearthed a shelter, or place where early Christians hid. (more…)
Posted in Church, Media, Web |
No Comments »Imagine…
I know this sounds like it could be about John Lennon or picturing a better world, but no, in fact it is about Apple opening a new store here in Australia. Sydney in fact, and the fervor, gossip, and excitement that is building on the net and amongst the Apple user community around the store opening on June 19 and the imminent release of the iPhone here.But, while I am an avid Apple user and will be one of the first in line (hopefully and figuratively speaking) to get one of the new iPhone’s, I was reading an article today about the new store opening on the Sydney Morning Herald site;
If you’re planning to pop in and check out the new Sydney Apple Store when it opens for business on Thursday next week, be prepared to wait in line. If you want to ensure you get in early, you might consider camping out overnight.
It’s not a stunt. There are hardcore Apple fans who will do this; their only reward, a free T-shirt if they happen to be among the first 2500 customers through the door.
Disciples like these have been doing it for several years with the opening of each of the new flagship Apple stores around the world. Despite this being winter, they’ll be lining up again ahead of the official opening at 5pm on Thursday, June 19.
Posted in Apple, Church, Kingdom, church life |
1 Comment »God is a DJ
I imagine this may have already been discussed by the likes of Johnny Baker and others but I have been a bit of a fan of Faithless since I saw them once in concert. We scored a copy their album with this song on it and while I have added it to my rotation in my iPod, my wife is not too keen on it. But this particular song, God is a DJ has intrigued me since then. So, I have often thought about it’s meaning. Before I go any further, here’s the video.
Posted in Church, Kingdom, Media, book, church life, lyrics, music |
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