Category Archives: Community
Servolution – Randwick Park Community
3 years ago LifeChurch adopted Randwick Park Community. We love this place and have a special affection for the people who live here. This Saturday we will be out in the community to share the love of God through simple acts of kindness. We will team up with the locals and we will get our hands dirty. Theres lawns to be mowed, rubbish to pick up on the streets, a reserve to clean, a community house facelift, trees to plant and fences to paint.
I am excited about this Servolution because its a community partnership not just LifeChurch members doing all the work. Community empowerment!
Servolution South Auckland Highlights 2010
4 days of Servolution, Auckland New Zealand 2010
Servolution 2010
Photographers: Mabel Oeti, Tamar Dorfliger, Grace Ponifasio, Glen Manchester, Glen Murphy,
Weekend Reflections
Had breakfast with our leaders at our place 6am Saturday morning. That’s crazy…. Great fun… we probably woke up the neighbours…… time to catch up. Our guys are so pumped with what God is doing at church and our next season as a church.
Spent the whole Saturday thinking, preparing, studying, reading, praying…..……..
Sunday morning on the way to church I prayed, “Holy Spirit bring conviction to our hearts”
Overwhelmed with the presence of God during worship.
There was a great sense of freedom and excitement. During worship I looked behind me and on the bleachers!! What a joy it is for any pastor to see young people worshipping God HARD OUT!! Church is the place to be on Sunday mornings!!
Preached my heart out. Spoke on the heart of Jesus for the lost and the role of the church as representatives of Jesus …..along those lines…… Initially I planned to preach on the ‘Christ in the Community’ but after Saturday …..in my sermon preparations it ended up in a different direction… The Holy Spirit answered my prayer and definitely brought conviction to our hearts.
On Sunday, we also launched our new season of Outreach. 2009 we will only be doing a few ‘Bridge Events’
Servolution: 3 days of Serving the Community
$2 Christmas.
Weekly Bread Run – Free to Randwick Park Community
Rubbish Collection – monthly
Paint Out – monthly
Global Day of Prayer
Prayer Walk
How many churches do we need?
I facilitate the ministers fraternal in our community of Manurewa and I have been talking to a lot of pastors over the last 15 months, trying to connect and build relationships and see what we can do together as the Body of Christ in Manurewa. Its been a very interesting task. Some have welcomed me and the idea of networking with open arms some are not quite keen at all. Some sat on the fence for a while and now finally decided to join us. Praise God!! Acccording to my last count there are 71 Christian Churches in our community. Next year there will be 3 more new church plants in Manurewa. Talking to one of the ministers this year he commented ‘great to have you here in Manurewa, the more the merrier’. I remember saying yes to him but now I am asking myself do we really need 71 churches in Manurewa. Is it really true theat ‘the more the merrier’.
Some ministers may not like this but I am starting to think that if we have a lot of churches in an area and the physical, emotional, social and spiritual condition of the community is not changed then I don’t think ‘the more the merrier’ is the right attitude.
The church, the body of the Christ and the hands and feet of God in this world must engage in redeeming and restoring people, the community. We are saved to do Good Works. Ephesians 2:8-10.
I am excited with the relationships already established with other churches in the area, we are able to connect, pray, share ideas and support each other. Now I think we need to move to another level of engagement!! Thy Kingdom come!!!
(Image by executableoutline.com)
Christmas in the Randwick ParK Manurewa
Christmas Celebrations tonight Friday 12 Dec @ Randwick Park Primary School. Riverton St. Randwick Park. Time 6:00pm. Special Performance by Adeaze. MC Feleti Pua Strickson – Nesian Mystic. ITUNES. LifeChurch Hip Hop, and more… Bring the whole Whanau!!!
Pay attention to small holes
Had lunch with Phil Richardson (the guy who asks the most difficult questions) and Mike ( one of my leaders from LifeChurch. Phil is an honest guy (with his questions) who is passionate about the extension of the kingdom of God both locally and intenationally. Phil challenged me an Mike to mend the small holes in the net. We need to catch big fish and small fish as well. At Lifechurch we are very keen in catching small fish. Changing a generation and a community especially community like Manurewa, I think we need to start from the kids. Infleuncing them with godly values, respect, love for others, honesty, integrity, positive, etc…
If we don’t pay attention to small holes, they will sink a big ship. Ignore the children today and pay the consequences in the next 20 years.
Great Meeting!
Last night I went to bed late and this morning I had to get up at 5am for our leaders breakfast meeting. Honestly, I didn’t want to get up. I think the most godly thing to do on Saturday mornings is to sleep in for an extra hour or two. Anyway I arrived at the meeting tired and half asleep. My slack, ‘don’t wanna be there’ attitude quickly changed to gratefulness to God when I walked into a room filled with an atmosphere of vision and passion for God and of course nice breakfast. I sat through the meeting, didn’t really say much but quietly admiring what God is doing in the lives of the people and how they are so passionately talking about reaching people for Christ. They told stories of new people in their lifegroups, feeding hungry families, and connecting with the lost were inspiring. I came away with a renewed love for God, for people and especially my team of dedicated leaders at LifeChurch. Thank You team! You are AWESOME!
Day 16 – 40DOC – Commitment
Photo: Kenny Rodgers / NZ Herald
I have been watching the Olympics in the last few nights. I am amazed at the commitment people put into winning a medal. The atheletes have sacrificed a lot to win. A New Zealander won a Bronze Medal last nigth in the 1500m race. he thanked his wife and his brother for their sacrifice. Infact his brother took a whole year off work to help prepare his brother for the olympics. Now thats commitment and sacrifice.
When it comes to relationship, two words are so vital. Commitment and sacrifice. The old saying “No Pain, No Gain is still true today. The same applies to community. There must be commitment from everyone and sacrifice to improve community. I am calling for the Church to make a commitment to reach their community. I am calling for the Church to sacrifice the comfortability and security inside the four walls of the church. What can you sacrifice (even for a year) so that someone else can achieve and look good. What can you be committed to so that your local community can achieve and look good.
