The new congregation at Carbrook began its regular gatherings on Sunday the 29^th April. We had 75 people, including children, attend; with a good mixture

of long term Logan Uniting Church people and new people.

Our time together reflected our priority of discipleship through faith life groups and corporate worship gatherings. We met in a large gathering for about 40 min with singing, prayer, some input etc and then broke into small groups for another 40 min. Our prayer and plan is that these small groups will develop into weekly faith life groups. We then finished with lunch.

The focus for the morning was being a church that lives out God’s mission (“Drawing people into life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ”). In the small group time an individual spoke about what an average day and week involved for them; the rest of the group then fed back to them the ways in which they saw the person reflecting Jesus. The person was then “sent” to continue to serve Christ and the group prayed for them. It was a very encouraging time that reflected our focus of living God’s mission incarnationally (embodying God’s love everywhere we are and with everyone we relate with).

It was a fantastic next step into the vision God has for us to reach more people for Christ.

The last 2 Sundays at Springwood were focussed on finances as we begin to tackle the “Big Issues” you have fed back to us. On Sunday the 22^nd April, I spoke about the call of Jesus to sell our possessions and give to the poor if we are to experience the life that is really life (called eternal life – beginning now and continuing for eternity). I encouraged us to:           de-clutter and give the money away; tithe and give regularly/systematically to the poor; and to take every opportunity to give generously. On Sunday the 29^th April, Glen, Alex and Hamish gave practical information on handling money well, particularly through the tough times. They covered things like budgeting; being careful of impulse buying and the “money saving tricks” supermarkets and others offer; managing credit and borrowing; insurance etc.

Both Sundays spoke into a very important topic in being disciples of Jesus who are agents of his transforming power. It was a topic Jesus spoke about frequently - money - “For where your treasure is there your heart will be also” (Lk 12: 34).

In the weeks ahead we will be looking at the media; issues around aging; the challenges facing youth; slavery and people trafficking etc. In all these topics we are exploring what it means to live as Jesus disciples and participate in transforming the world through transforming people’s lives.

On Sunday the 13^th May we will have Pastor Raju from Nepal speaking with us in the evening. This is on our “Igniting Discipleship” night and we will have 1 ½ hours to listen to Pastor Raju, ask questions and pray. Pastor Raju’s personal testimony is amazing and what God is currently doing in Nepal is mindblowing. On the night we will take up an offering to assist in covering the costs of Pastor Raju.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech.

Carbrook and our AGM

“All systems are go” for the new congregation at Carbrook to begin meeting regularly from the 29^th April. We have over 50 adults already connecting with us (some who are already part of Logan Uniting and others who have joined us because of the new congregation). The gathering will begin at 10-00am and finish with lunch.

Because of our commitment to church being about helping each other relationally live out God’s mission of “drawing people into a life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ” we will immediately be connecting people into faith life groups. The first 4 to 6 times the congregation meets we will begin together for approx 20 mins of praise and 10 min of input. We will then break into faith life groups and spend the rest of the time sharing together around living out God’s mission. Over time these groups may decide to continue to meet on Sundays or at another time during the week and the Sunday gatherings will change accordingly.

On Sunday the 22^nd April we will pray for people who will be leaving our Springwood congregation to focus on being part of the Carbrook congregation. If you are interested in the new congregation and haven’t yet spoken to Tim R, please do so in the next couple of weeks. Also please be in prayer for this exciting development in living out God’s mission as a church.

Also on Sunday the 22^nd April we will be holding our Annual General Meeting. This will be an important time together as we reflect on 2011 and explore the way God is shaping us as we move forward. In the Annual Reports you will see a diagram that seeks to represent the life of Logan Uniting Church. This diagram has not been developed to express the accountability structure of LUC but rather to represent organically who we are as a church and where each of us fits in. At the meeting I will speak to this picture and in particular the way we pastorally care for one another and also where the initiative and momentum for living out God’s mission lies. This will be a very valuable conversation in ensuring we move forward together as a church.

At the AGM there will also be an election for Church Council. The one nomination is Russell Pearce. You may remember that Russell was nominated during our process in Oct-Nov last year but because he had not officially taken out membership/partnership we had to wait until the AGM to formally elect him or otherwise.

Everyone is invited to the AGM whether or not you are a member/partner of LUC. In fact I would encourage everyone to attend as the information we share is of vital importance in living out God’s vision for us as church.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

We have nearly finished our 8 week TXT2GRO series which has been about helping all of us grow in our engagement with the bible. My prayer through this is that we may all grow in hearing God through the bible and in so doing grow in helping others connect with Christ. Below is the power point I used on Sunday the 25^th March to help us approach the bible in a way that will best allow God to transform us.

All Scripture is:

1. God-breathed: “God spoke through... in... way, in... day”

2. Able to: make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ

3. Useful for: teaching; rebuking; correcting; training in righteousness.

4. So that: the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

(2 Tim 3: 14-17)

As we read the bible we do so humbly asking the Holy Spirit to do all of the above. In particular I encourage you take notice of the “so that” of 2 Tim 3: 17; or in the words of our journaling process, the “so what” and the “now what”. Any reading of the bible that does not enable us live more fully “in Christ a life of goodness and justice” is to miss the point.

I also encouraged people to not ask the bible to answer questions or achieve outcomes that the bible doesn’t ask of itself or indicate it was “God-breathed” to achieve. When read in the light of 2 Tim 3: 14-16 the bible is a powerful tool used by the Holy Spirit to transform us and the world.

The upcoming Presbytery Partnered Appraisal will be a very significant and helpful process for us as a church. We will receive great feedback on how we are going in living out God’s call and purpose.

I have indicated to the Appraisal team that I am personally seeking feedback in particular on:

1. How we are and are not living out God’s vision for us

2. My capacity to help us keep moving forward in God’s vision

3. In the light of the needs of the wider church and what God is doing at Logan Uniting, whether my continuing in the role of Senior Minister is the most helpful

As I have been praying for this Appraisal process, I have a deep sense that I am to listen carefully (and I ask you to do the same). I am genuinely seeking to hear what the best is for Logan Uniting and also for the wider church.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

Great news! Jenny Munns has been appointed as our Music and Creative Arts Coordinator. Jenny has a genuine passion for corporate worship; and a real passion for all the creative arts to play their part in enhancing our corporate worship experience. Jenny also has a wonderful gift of enabling others to fly. I believe her encouragement, vision and creativity will greatly enhance the corporate worship life of our congregation.

Beginning in March our evening service will be re-visioned to “Ignition Point”. On the 1^st and 3^rd Sundays we will share in a corporate worship celebration (“Igniting Praise”). On the 2^nd and 4^th Sundays people will meet in faith life groups or access training/study offered at the Ministry centre (“Igniting Discipleship” from 6-00pm to 7-30pm). On the 5^th Sundays we will share a meal together in the courtyard. Please find the program for this new adventure in your notices.

Speaking of corporate worship I thought it could be helpful to share my journey regarding the place of corporate worship in living out God’s call as a church. This journey began with a renewed passion that we as a church live out our call to “Draw people into a life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.” I believe the primary mechanism God uses to do this is relationships as we love and serve people beyond the church. I am also convinced that highly honest and encouraging relationships (faith life groups and IFFF’s) are key to growing as disciples of Christ.

I also began to reflect more on the biblical basis for what we do when we gather on Sundays. Most of the understandings of corporate worship that I encounter are built upon the Old Testament model of temple worship and then Christianised. I don’t believe this is valid as Jesus replaces the temple and you and I worship God in and through Christ. In John 4: 19-24 Jesus makes it clear that we can worship God in Spirit and in truth anywhere.

As part of this journey myself, Glen and Libby spent two hours discussing the practice and understanding of corporate worship in the New Testament with Malcolm Coombes (New Testament lecturer, Trinity Theological College).

What became clear is that the early church met together and as they did they worshipped God. This included prayers, psalms, doxologies, readings, songs, teaching and breaking of the bread (also possible tongues, prophecy etc). What form this took is not at all clear. The clearest picture is 1 Corinthians chapters 12 to 14 in which the gathering is very much a “one another” experience in which any are able to participate – bring a teaching or a song or a tongue or ... (see also Eph 5: 19 “speaking to one another with psalms etc..”). This would have taken place in people’s homes.

There is some indication that the churches which met in people’s homes would gather together a larger gathering – whether this actually took place and how often and in what format we do not know. The New Testament is silent on the model of a larger gathering with a consistent designated preacher and worship leader etc.

In talking with Malcolm it is also clear that the New Testament would affirm that discipleship happens best in small groups of highly encouraging and honest relationships. And in Malcolm’s words such groups should worship God as part of their life together.

With regard to the larger Corporate Worship gatherings, I have come to the conclusion that these will continue to have value for the following reasons:

1. It is culturally relevant – it is part of our church culture to do so and in our secular culture people do gather in large crowds for celebrations, graduations, concerts etc.

2. It assists in giving a sense of being part of something bigger than ourselves or individual life groups.

3. We experience God in a different way to what we often do in smaller gatherings. Revelation chapters 4 to 7 speak to this as we have a picture of thousands upon thousands honouring God.

I have shared this with our worship leaders and music ministry. We have an ongoing and growing commitment to developing our time together in Corporate Worship as a genuine experience of connecting with God. Your part in praying for yourselves and others that you and they would grow in openness to God and in a willingness to say “yes” to God is vital in this happening.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

Refurbishing our Ministry Centre

As I hope you are aware we are currently seeking to raise money to do some refurbishment of the ministry centre. The two biggest items on our agenda are painting and data projection. We first began talking about painting the auditorium back in 2000 and in earnest from 2005, but there have been other priorities that we had to tackle first. About 3 years ago we identified the need to permanently fix the data projectors and re-run cabling to fix up the signal etc. Again other priorities pushed this to the back burner.

This year church council decided these two things just had to get done. The auditorium is looking really tired and the data projection is in desperate need of an upgrade. To do these alone will cost $25 250 (using by far and away the best quotes we received). Along with some other “tidy” up things (tinting windows, some acoustic work etc) we are looking to raise $30 000. This refurbishment is important because of the amount the auditorium is used, not just by our congregation, but by the College and other community groups.

Of course this is all part of the ongoing maintenance of the ministry centre and property. There are other pressing maintenance needs, but we can only do so much at any given time. Any money donated above the $30 000 will help us fast track some of the other maintenance projects.

There are envelopes available each week which give you all the details on how to give. If you would like to make a direct transfer please use the following details:

Account name: Logan Uniting Church BSB: 704-919 Account No. 100000019. Please include ‘refurb’ as a reference

Please make any cheques payable to ‘Logan Uniting Church’

Thank you for your generosity

Graham Keech

Giving

Last month at church council we received our quarterly financial update. It is important I share it with you as we together are responsible for fulfilling God’s vision through Logan Uniting Church.

For the first four months of 2011 our tithes and weekly offerings were $7000 down on budget. Other income was up by $1000. We are keeping our expenses well down – they were $9800 down on budget. Expenses of course are a bit interesting as some of the savings will be eaten into as resources etc are purchased later in the year.

On the whole we finished the first quarter in a positive position – about $12000 in the positive. It is necessary at this point in the year for us to be in a positive position financially for 2 reasons:

1. We have to replenish our reserves (our reserves were used up at the end of last year with the staff realignment process - redundancy and retirement etc)

2. In June the Synod contribution toward Tim Robinson’s position (youth and new congregation) comes to end.

The main area of need/growth lies in our tithes and offerings. These do need to increase. I certainly don’t want to get to the end of 2011 and face staffing realignment/cuts due to finances (remember our major expense is in resourcing the ministry leadership team). If every adult who is part of Logan Uniting Church increased their giving by $4-00 per week we would meet budget easily.

My request is that, if you have not yet done so, rather than simply increasing your giving by $4-00 per week, you revisit the issue of financial giving as a very important part of your being a disciple of Christ. Remember Jesus talked more about money than anything else, except the Kingdom of God. What we do with our money is a sure test of where our heart really lies (see Luke 12: 34). To fail to treat financial giving as a critical part of being a disciple of Christ is to fall short in God’s call on our life.

If you tithe – fantastic! Have you adjusted your tithe this year in response to your changing income? If you have – awesome! If you don’t tithe, what is the basis for this decision – how have you come to this conclusion from the bible and your understanding of God’s call on your life? If you have explored this thoroughly and choose not to tithe but to give according to some other manner – fantastic! What is important is that each of us decide before God and in the light of scripture, what we will give and how.

I believe tithing (giving 10% of our gross or net income to the work of God through the local church) is a life giving principle that:

Ÿ Says thanks to God and honours God for His saving power (see Gen 14: 8-20)

Ÿ Declares the sovereignty of God and is a means of revering God (see Deut 14: 22-23; 26: 1-11)

Ÿ Leads to blessing (see Mal 3: 10)

Please continue to pray AND act on what you believe God is saying to you in this area

Toward the end of last year Church Council asked for feedback from the congregation reflecting on how the bible speaks into the issue of accessing money from the gambling community benefit fund. The council found the input from members of the congregation very helpful. The responses were pretty evenly mixed in terms of for and against. Similarly within church council itself no clear consensus emerged. Our experience is that when there is no clarity it is not the time for the church council to make a decision. We are therefore putting any further decision regarding accessing the gambling community benefit fund on hold. This means that, at this point, the current decision that Logan Uniting Church and its ministries will not access money from the gambling community benefit fund remains in place. Thank you for your prayer and input around this issue.

As you are aware we have been sharing in a whole of church experience exploring Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. This is proving to be a very powerful journey for many of us. On the whole, the feedback we are getting is that the material is challenging and helpful. Again, on the whole, people are engaging with issues of emotional wellbeing and relationship with God at a deeper level than before. The markers of spiritual maturity are - loving God and others well - and the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality journey is helping us grow in each of these. The other gift that I believe will come out of this is that we will be better equipped to be with our friends and colleagues and family members as they face changes and hit walls and experience grief and loss in their life. For those who don’t know Jesus sometimes the best way we can show God’s love to them is by having the courage not to react or try to correct them, but to listen and accept and point them to a God who listens to them, understands them, loves and accepts them.

Our relationship with God is enriched by “practising the presence of God” throughout the day – taking time out to pay attention to Him AND in all that is happening, seeking to be aware of what God is doing. I also like Peter
Scazzero’s comment that God invites us to “practice the presence of people.” We know Jesus walked through every day very aware of His Father - listening to Him and doing His will. We also know Jesus walked through every day very aware of people – he had the amazing ability in the midst of a crowd to see and respond to the person who most needed the touch of God’s love at that time. May God help us live life more fully in His presence and more open to those He wants to bless through us.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech