The Power of Money

Well it is August, which is usually “money month” in this church. For nearly 15 years we have taken 2 to 4 Sundays to explore what it means to be “stewards of God’s resources” and to honour him with our “treasures”. This year we have not deliberately set aside any Sundays to speak on money but rather have chosen to follow the lectionary. It is interesting that in the lectionary this week we read the story from Luke of the man who stored up things for himself and was not rich toward God (Luke 12: 21). Jesus calls such a person A FOOL!!!

I must say “thank God”, the lectionary takes us to the place where we must look honestly at what we give priority in our lives to; and in particular what place money takes. Not to speak about this issue is to be completely “anti-Christian” as Jesus spoke more about money and wealth than any other topic except the kingdom of God! (Richard Foster “Money, Sex and Power, 1985). 

Martin Luther said that three conversions are necessary when a person decides to follow Christ: the conversion of the heart, the conversion of the mind and the conversion of the purse. And John Wesley wryly remarked that the last thing to convert was a person’s wallet. (Alan and Debra Hirsch p 111 “Untamed”).

To truly walk in the way of Jesus, one must be free of the love of money. Once we are rescued from the power of mammon, we can be free to be generous and when we are generous, we are agents of Jesus’ remarkable grace. We cannot overestimate the power of generosity. Not only does it destroy the power of money, but it introduces the one who receives the gift (as well as the one who gives the gift) into the world of grace. (Alan and Debra Hirsch p 114 “Untamed”)

Unfortunately “we’re set up to buy and sell, not to give and receive” (Miroslav Volf). This means we are trained from a young age to calculate before giving money away rather than being truly generous. For example, Bill Gates’s contribution to charity is very significant and laudible, but it does not constitute a “widows mite”. It still leaves him one of the richest men in the world. We are called in Christ to costly, grace-filled generosity. God’s grace calls us to be joyful givers ourselves rather than self-absorbed receivers or consumers. (Alan and Debra Hirsch p 114-115 “Untamed”).

What is amazing is that God uses costly generosity to build His Kingdom on earth even more powerfully than millions given without real cost. (Luke 21: 1-4)

May God set us free from the power of “mammon” into the joy and freedom of His generosity.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

PS.  Over the next couple of Keech’s Korners I will share other insights from different writers to assist us in living in the freedom and generosity of God with regard to wealth. 

Strucure, Mission and Caring for each other

A big thank you to all who participated in the feedback session regarding our Senior Leadership structure on Sunday night the 14^th July. Your input was very helpful and gave church council some key questions/insights to work with. 

The 2 key questions church council is still resolving are:       

- how do we ensure the new congregation at Carbrook keeps growing in God’s mission?; and
- how do we build flexibility into the Leadership model to enable further expansion in God’s mission?;                                                                                           
...all the while being very realistic about what we can afford.

Along with this the call (identified by you through the feedback process) to develop our prayer life, be radically outward focussed, make disciples, strengthen the faith life group model, support/train leaders, ensure people are equipped to care, ensure new people are relationally connected, continue to develop our youth, young adult and children/families ministry, engage other ethnic groups, connect more strongly with families and students of Calvary Christian College etc means that the role of our Senior Leadership is to be “releasers and amplifiers” of the work of you the people of God.

From the moment we began engaging with this process, Church Council has sensed that God’s timing isn’t ours and the call to pray, wait and listen has been very real. This has also been affirmed by the feedback received from faith life groups and again last Sunday night. God is bringing all the pieces together, so please keep praying. Also please continue to feedback your thoughts. You can do this by emailing Aaron Comollatti at 555combo@gmail.com or me at graham.keech@luc.org.au.

Aaron is now the chairperson of church council. Ben Hutton has chaired the council for the last 2 ½ years, but with his wife Benita expecting their first child he chose to finish in the role of chair (he will continue on church council). Ben is a deep, prayerful thinker who has brought a quiet wisdom to the role and we are grateful for this gift. Please pray for Aaron as he brings leadership to us through chairing the church council.

After 25 years as Pastoral Care Coordinator and Pastoral Care Pastor, Liz Taylor has sensed the call of God to formally finish in this role. Liz has served in both volunteer and paid capacity over that time and has seen MANY changes to our church.

As a Ministry Leadership Team we spent time reflecting with Liz on her ministry. The word that embodies Liz is LOVE. Liz has a deep, deep, deep love for God – this is her driving passion. It is this love of and for God that is shown in her deep, deep love for people. All of us have experienced Liz’s genuine care. She has a capacity to empathize deeply with us and in doing so to hold us before God in an amazing way. We will miss her as part of our team and we will miss her leadership in this area as a whole church.

On Sunday the 28^th July at our 8-30 am service, Springwood, we will take time to pray for and release Liz from this role. We will look at developing a team to help people who are not in faith life groups or IFFF’s be relationally connected with people who care. Also as part of the Senior Leadership discussions we are looking at how we continue to release and equip all of us to care well.

Saying that Liz has formally finished in the role of Pastoral Care Pastor DOES NOT mean she will stop caring and loving. This is part of who Liz is a follower of Jesus and a gift she brings as a member of the body. It is very important to remember that Pastoral Care is not a role or job; nor is it done by a particular person. Pastoral Care is what we all do as we love, serve and care for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ; and also what we do as we love, serve and care for those who don’t know Christ. This is happening across Logan Uniting in the most amazing, beautiful and powerful ways. Please remember that as you care for your neighbour and as they care for you – this is Church (we are church).

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

Jumpstart & Shaping the Future

What an AWESOME week we had at Jumpstart: 186 children and a phenomenal group of leaders, helpers and people helping out with morning tea, lunch, clean up, sign in, sport etc. etc. Brendan Coop and I had a group of 9 year 6/7 boys with the most excellent name of “Ubiquitous Galumphing Lunar Yobbos” (you can work out what we called ourselves for short). In our small group time each of the boys talked honestly about faith and ways in which they had had to trust God. Each afternoon at the leaders debrief there were stories from right across the age groups of children growing in every way, particularly in faith.

One of the most encouraging aspects of Jumpstart is that the majority of leaders and helpers are teenagers and young adults. In fact the whole week is run by a group of young adults who do an incredible job. Chris Stanley in particular needs a “shout out” for being the point person bringing it all together.

On the Saturday the 27^th July we will have another chance to all participate in blessing people who don’t yet know Jesus. We are engaging in a whole of church mission activity called “Inspired by Hope”. On this day we will serve people connected with our soccer ministry. Remember, Logan Uniting Soccer Club has nearly 400 players and we want to participate with the coaches, managers and management team in sharing something of God’s joy with them. In the notices you will find a bunch of ways in which you can participate – please get involved.

On Sunday evening the 14^th July at 6 pm (at the Springwood Ministry centre) we will be having an informal leaders and interested people “Shaping the Future” night. On this night we will share the feedback that came through our Prayer and Discernment process which took place in May and June. We will also share some possible models for our Senior Leadership. Your feedback will be important and perhaps through this conversation you will identify possible models that Church Council has not yet thought of. 

On Monday the 15^th July Church Council will meet with Rev Gwen Fisher (our Presbytery Minister) to finalise our Senior Leadership model.

Please be in prayer for all these incredibly important activities AND get involved.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech