Category Archives: missional church
Don’t Go to Church this Sunday!
Whether it’s been days or decades since you’ve been to church, you can still come BE the church with us this weekend.
LifeChurch Manurewa is cancelling our regular weekend services in order to go make a difference in our community. We invite you to come serve with us. It won’t be glamorous, in fact it’s probably going to be hard work, but we think this is what church ought to look like. Come be the difference.
We will be serving the Randwick Park Community Manurewa this weekend. Meet at Randwick Park Primary School 8:00am on Sunday. After work FREE lunch will be served. Servolution Concert Kicks off at 1:00pm. Bring the Children.
For more information contact our office:
Love to see you there!
Photo: paulwilkinson.wordpress.com
7 Days of Servolution 2011
I’m excited to be part of Servolution 2011. About 50 Churches across Auckland New Zealand from different denominations are coming together with one purpose “To share the love of God through simple acts of Kindness”.
Close to 2000 volunteers are expected to be part of Servolution this year. Its not too late to join the rest of volunteers who believe in giving back to the community. To be part of Servolution in your area click here.
Called to the Ministry?
We are a month away from Servolution and there is a huge buzz right now not only in Auckland but Sydney and Brisbane as well. Thank you to all the pastors and the churches who are partnering together to share the love of Christ through simple acts of kindness.
This morning I was meditating on the fact that we are ALL called to the Ministry. To Serve People and to Share Christ. The Great Commission and the Great Commandment. ‘Ministry’ is not a special career for the clergy. It is a calling for all those who follow Jesus Christ. We are all called to minister not just the paid clergy.
Someone asked me the other day “when did you accept the call to the ministry”. I did say 9 years ago. But thinking about what I said back then, was wrong. I accepted the call to minister the day I gave my heart to Christ, which was the day I decided to follow him, 25 years ago.
‘Minister’ is not title, nor a position. It is a function. (my conviction)
Ministry is what ALL Christ followers do. There should be no ‘professional ministers’ in the Body of Christ. some are called specifically to equip he ministers (Eph 4), that does not make them professionals. If people are not ministering under their equipping ministry then they are not doing the ministry of equipping.
As a pastor I need to be careful not to act, talk and preach in such a way that sends a wrong message that I’m the “Super Pastor”, who is ever present in time of trouble, always counseling, always praying for people, making every decision, etc…….. ( try to do those every now and then).
Jesus trained the 12 to minister and then sent them. He did the same with the 70.
So are you called to the ministry? If you say you are a follower of Christ then know this……YOU ARE CALLED?
No one is going to ordain you to witness and share the love of Christ. You are called to the office, the factory, the school ….etc……where you work!!! you are called to the sports club that you are part of, you are called to the business and the clients you are part of……..
Thank you for obeying the call of Christ, to serve, to feed, to care, to love, clothe, to visit, to pray, to comfort…. ………
In Servolution Language; thank you for washing cars, giving out water bottles, mow lawns, giving out flowers, renovate schools, giving out food parcels, weeding gardens, baking cakes, picking up rubbish, painting out grafitti, etc………..
At LifeChurch, we say, “Every member is a Minister”. My wife and I are the pastors but everyone is a minister.
Burning the Quran
Rev Terry Jones has decided that his ‘Burning the Quran’ event will not go ahead. http://preview.tinyurl.com/2v2pfbo
That’s great but the damage has been done. Violence has erupted as a result of this unnecessary stunt. A Church in India has been set on fire by Muslims http://t.co/zSiaVBx.
There is no greater time to show love and peace for the Muslims than now. They are real people with real needs just like everyone else. Christ said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul and all your strength. Then Love your neighbour as yourself. There are no distinctions, exceptions, discriminations in that command of our Lord.
We need to love everyone. whether Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Buddhist, Tongans, Africans, Indians, prostitutes, gangsters, business people, politicians, streets kids……………..
The greatest witness is Love in action. That’s what John 3:16 is all about. Love in Action. Lets show the love of God through simple acts of kindness and a word of encouragement. Love the Muslims into the kingdom of God not hate them to hell. Burning the Quran is not going to do any good whatsoever.
If there’s anything we need to burn now is calories!
Enough said!
Growth Elements
LifeWay Research and Dr. Thom Rainer were fortunate enough to be able to study 19 of the 22 fast growing churches and discovered four common Growth Elements
1. Pastors Set the Bar
Interviews indicate the churches have taken on the vision, priorities, and values of the senior pastor. Staff and lay leaders find it easy to follow the pastor. There are high levels of trust in these pastors.
2. Church Atmosphere
These churches are consistently described as “exciting,” “dynamic,” “energetic,” “upbeat,” “friendly,” “welcoming,” “warm,” and “positive.”
3. Evangelistic Appeal
Pastors indicate they seek to include the gospel in most, if not all, of their sermons. They stress the importance of preaching the gospel and providing opportunities for lost people to respond. More than two-thirds indicate they offer a public invitation at the end of every service. The others invite inquirers to fill out a decision card.
4. Intentional Outreach
The pastors are focused on reaching people for Christ. Whether it’s through focusing the content of sermons, planning the worship services, or simply the nature of church programming, it is clear that everything is designed with outreach in mind.
Source: LifeWay.com
Guest Blog: Liz Muliaga, Worship Leader
If there is ever a place to be on a Sunday morning it is at church!
What an amazing service we had over the weekend. . It was Vision Sunday at LifeChurch- passion was stirred in our hearts for God, People, this generation and the next to be reached and changed in Jesus.
As a Church we believe that the Church should no longer stay within the four walls of our buildings, but that we must once and for all BE THE CHURCH out in our community. We cannot stay quiet anymore while our parents, young people and children are being won over by the things of this world. We can no longer just talk about the poor, the needy, the homeless, but we must act. We the Church of Jesus Christ hold the answer. JESUS.
Church was packed with young people and kids. What an awesome thing it is to have young people ON FIRE for God. To have real purpose, a God purpose for a young persons life is a beautiful thing, because they hold in their hands the power to change a generation. Starting with them, with you, with myself we are able to change this world as we know it through Jesus.
SWITCH2LIFE was unveiled as the SWITCH ministries new vision statement. Gosh, it sums everything up! Its all about young people SWITCHING from wherever they were without God to LIFE in Him. yup yup! The call this year to for every young person to encounter, meet God!
We have a saying in our worship ministry that ‘worship is 5% on stage and 95% off’. This concept is totally different from what the world generally teaches. Where what you do in public and on stage is a lot more important than what you do in private.
I have learnt over the last few years that WORSHIP is our response to what we value the most. It means that worshipping God is not a ‘Sunday’ thing or something you put on and take off. Instead it is our lifestyle. The way we live, the way we talk, the way we act, and our thoughts.
Man! So then the question is, if God is not what you value most- what is it then that you are worshipping?
We finished our 21 days of fasting as a Church over the weekend (yay), the testimonies that have come out a truly incredible. What an extraordinary God is doing in the lives of ordinary people is amazing! For myself as a young person (is 22 young?- the jury is still out hehe), i have never had such a heart for God or people as I do now. He is GREAT!
It really is all about Loving God, Loving people, Loving Life.
Bless you!
p.s. my first ever blog..woziz!
Weekend Reflections-WOW!!!!
Well….let me start by saying that this has been one of the craziest and hardest weeks of my life. It was a FULL and I mean FULL ON weekend…..It was the end of the 21 Days of fasting and praying. I was hungry and tired. Friday was the Leaders final planning day. Friday Night was our Volunteers Night. Saturday was our Leaders One day Retreat, we kick off the day with a church Prayer Walk around SouthMall Shopping Centre……and then Sunday Morning was LifeChurch Vision Sunday. Sunday Evening was Communion!!!! CRAZY!!! CRAZY!!!!
I am trying to wrap mind little brain around what happened at church on Sunday. God is up to something that is way beyond me and I am just tagging along with Him.
I am just amazed how God is just bringing in new people every Sunday. Talking to a new couple yesterday who saw the sign on the road and decided to come check out LifeChurch. They thoroughly enjoyed their time especially the kids! Their kids wouldn’t stop jumping after LifeKids!!
A young girl, was invited to church, never been to a ‘Christian Church’ (her own words) before, gave her heart to the Lord after church. She was so convicted by the Holy Spirit she asked my wife to pray for her. Praise God !!!!
My wife also prayed for another young girl outside who has been coming to lIfeChurch for a few weeks now, she recommitted her life to God.
WoW!! More and more young people continue to flock to LifeChurch especially over the last few weeks!!
SWITCH – LifeChurch Youth are so on fire! When I hear about our youth visiting the sick at the hospital, praying for people, having their own prayer meetings and bible studies outside their normal youth Lifegroup….it just blows my mind away!!!
Vision Sunday – I preached my heart out.
Comments from Guests:
Wow! That’s a huge Vision!!
This is my third time visiting your church and it seems like every time I come more people have joined.
That’s why your church is growing because you have a vision
Its OK!! I go to a very traditional Church!
Is your church usually this loud!!
(6 year old – What do you like about Church)? Ans: The watermelon!
Communion – I was in tears. I knelt before God and worshipped Him like never before. I was just in awe of God and what he has done and what is doing. I am overwhelmed with his Grace and Mercy. I love God!!
I don’t like labels
When people want to find out about the church I go to, they usually ask questions like “Is it a charismatic or non-charismatic?” My answer is always: “Neither and both”. Is it Pentecostal or conservative? May answer is always ‘Neither and both”.
I am very uncomfortable being defined by anyone and as anything but Christian (my much preferred name is ‘Christ-follower’). I ok with church names because of identity, vision and missions sake but when it gets to the point where we classify ourselves then we are doing exactly what the Corinthian church did and Paul had to defend the work of the body of Christ and put a stop to it by saying ‘Who is Paul and who is Apollos and who is Cephas. I planted and Apollos waters. We are just co-labourers. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:3-7 NIV)
Labeling ourselves with a preferred style limits our understanding of the big picture and what God is doing. It defeats the teaching of the Scripture about the church being the body and how it functions. It creates sides. Labels tend to divide the body of Christ into groups and often one group thinks highly or more spiritual than the other and that’s pride.
The term ‘charismatic’ is not even Biblical and not found in the Scriptures. Even Pentecostals. The term christian is mentioned as a definition for the disciples and they were doing in Antioch.
I can understand where people are coming from when they ask those questions.
Labels are tainted by past experiences that can put people off and stop them from coming to Christ.
LifeChurch has its roots in the ‘Christian Brethren’ movement. We are affiliated with several other organizations and churches. Both Pentecostals and non Pentecostals. Charismatics and non Charismatics.
