As I look back at this year the thing I celebrate most is the way in which you/we ARE being the church of Jesus Christ. For a few years now we have been moving strongly away from seeing church as an event on Sunday but rather living church as “3 or more people in a covenant commitment to grow in Christ and make Christ known.” 

I remember in 2011 when we pushed into this through the “What is Church – Really?” series, that it was an unsettling and confusing time for many people. What is fantastic is that we are seeing the good fruit of what it looks like to be church in this relational way of being, rather than simply coming to church as an event on Sunday.

I can tell you story after story after story after story of the way in which individuals and groups have cared deeply for others (both within the church and beyond) in costly and powerful ways. At times this has involved assisting financially (into the thousands of dollars); helping out practically; listening well; going the extra mile; showing God’s love through little and big acts of kindness; taking risks in sharing Christ with others; making a positive difference in the     workplace or community; helping people move from a belief in God to a living relationship with Christ; and so on. PRAISE GOD – AWESOME JOB CHURCH!

In the December Rochedale SS & Springwood SS Chaplaincy Newsletter the following paragraph highlights this:                                                                                                                                             

“One family from Springwood Central have really done it tough this term. After losing their house and almost everything they owned in a fire, they have struggled to get back on their feet. Fortunately, our Springwood Central and wider community    (especially Logan Uniting Church) has rallied behind them and donated many items of clothing, toys, food and furniture to help them out…”                   

Just last week one of our life groups also ran a free sausage sizzle at the Springwood Central School Christmas Concert. This is just a very small example of the way in which you as Logan Uniting Church are serving the wider community.

I have also appreciated the clearer understanding of the place of our Sunday worship gathering that has been lived out this year. Sunday is when we gather as church to celebrate God and His goodness; to      celebrate what God has been doing in and through us; to be encouraged and equipped in our discipleship; to be reminded of our call to “draw people into a life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ”. 

It has also been important to remember that we don’t come as spectators, sitting back like judges on “Australia’s Got Talent”, giving a tick to what we like and a cross for what we don’t. Rather we come as participants who are seeking to bring joy to God and others.

As we drive home the conversation should not be about what we did or didn’t like but about the way/s in which we blessed God and/or someone else. I have to say that for me the sense of God’s grace and presence is continuing to grow – and it will continue to do so as we gather as participants not   spectators.

All in all I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU for your faithfulness to Christ. It is an incredible privilege and joy to live and serve alongside you.

Merrett and I pray you become increasingly aware of God’s presence, love and activity this Christmas.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

X Men

On the 1^st December we begin our first week of Advent. Advent is a time of expectant waiting for the coming of Christ. This includes celebrating his coming over 2000 years ago as a baby born in Bethlehem and also Christ’s coming again at the end of time.

In preparing our theme for advent we bounced around a whole lot of ideas including “Putting the ‘X’ back into Xmas” (X is the first letter of the Greek Xristos – meaning Christ - and has been used since the earliest days of Christianity as an abbreviation for Christ; and in fact the abbreviation Xmas was first introduced centuries ago by Christian scholars) or “The X-Factor”; but settled on “X Men - Days of Christmas Past”.

This is a take-off from a movie that will come out in 2014 called “X-Men Days of Future Past” based on the comic book version written in 1981. For those who don’t follow the X-Men series it is the story of people who have mutated genes that give them extraordinary powers. The people we will look at throughout Advent didn’t have extraordinary powers but they did play a significant role in preparing us for the coming of Christ – they were truly X (Christ) men. As we allow Isaiah, Zechariah, Joseph and Simeon to speak to us, I pray we will become more open to allowing the Holy Spirit use us in making Christ known to others.

During this Christmas season there are numerous opportunities for you to invite your pre-Christian friends to participate in fun, friendship and faith. Our Carols night on the 8^th Dec will be very family friendly; the Fishers of Men dinner is a great opportunity to invite your pre-Christian friends to be involved in serving others; and our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services will call us to the centre of all things – Christ our Lord.

Don’t come alone this Christmas – bring your friends and help them experience the gift of God’s love – Christ.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

Caring Well

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4: 7-8)

This verse and so many like it in the bible have been the inspiration for our series on “Caring Well”. There is only one true expression/test of genuine spirituality and that is love (see also 1 Cor 13).

On Sunday the 3^rd November, Graham Hill presented this diagram as a model for understanding the different dimensions of care: 

I found this incredibly insightful and helpful.

On Sunday the 10^th November, I shared that for me the twin skills of listening well and asking helpful questions are the “wings that fly the plane of love”.

People feel incredibly accepted when they are listened to: “Being truly, seriously listened to feels like a welcome and precious gift” (Mackay H. 2010, “What makes us tick? The ten desires that drive us.” Sydney, NSW: Hachette; p. 29).                                                        

To love well ultimately means seeking what is best for the other and this happens when we listen well and ask open ended questions that invites the other person into a journey of discovery.

Listening well and asking helpful questions also ensures that whatever practical help we offer is truly an expression of love that does what is best for the other and not simply what we think they need.

Below are 2 simple exercises that you can practice with your spouse, friend, children, in your life group etc. When we practice these skills we are better prepared at the right time in conversations to reflect back what we are hearing in a way that is empowering to the other; and/or to ask the right question at the right time that helps them indentify God’s grace at work and a possible way forward for them.

1. Set aside 10-15 min. Agree that one person will speak and the other person will reflect back as best they can what the other person is saying.

Begin by asking: “What is impacting you most at the moment and how does that make you feel?”

From this moment on you can ONLY reflect back what the other person says and perhaps ask one of the following 2 questions: what else is happening for you? OR how does that make you feel?  

DO NOT COMMENT, PROBLEM SOLVE, OR DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN REFLECT BACK WHAT YOU HEAR

When the person seems to be finished ask them: “What is the most important thing you would like me to remember from this conversation?”

My wife and I regularly engage in this exercise and find it creates a sacred space of honouring the other. I have also found by doing this I am better able in conversations with others to, at the right time, reflect back something significant I have heard and in doing so watch the other person’s eyes light up because someone has listened and understood.

2.      2. Set aside 10 to 15 min and agree that one person will speak and the other will ONLY ask open ended questions (How...? What...? In what way...?) The person speaking simply begins talking about their day and the one listening asks questions that seek to explore more about the day and what was happening for the person in the events that happened - What drew them closer to God? What moved them away from God? etc.

DO NOT PROBLEM SOLVE, OR DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN ASK QUESTIONS

 As a listener don’t be afraid of silences in this exercise. If you get stuck simply acknowledge that and say to the person “I am not sure what to ask next – what would be helpful for you to explore further...?”

When I do this exercise in groups I often put people in 3’s. The third person observes and at the end of the conversation reflects back what they saw happening; which questions were closed or open; which question/s led to the most energy or insight from the other person etc. People then swap roles until each has had a turn.

Whilst asking open ended questions that invite discovery sounds easy; my experience with the above exercise is that all of ask more closed questions than we realise. Closed questions are not wrong and people rarely answer them with a yes or a no. If you observe closely, however, you will notice that the answer given to a closed question stays on the surface and rarely goes deeper into discovery.

Doing these exercises may at first seem strange but I can guarantee they will be life giving; AND you will be better equipped to love well. Loving well more fully honours God and blesses others than anything else does.

Have fun

Graham Keech

The importance of quiet (Guest Post from Tim Bennett)

I don’t really like being quiet.  I am not a huge fan of sitting still for long periods of time.  I like to do things…talk to people…read the news…watch movies….listen to LOUD music….check Facebook.  But I am learning that God’s design for us is that we need what the Bible calls a “Sabbath” – time to be quiet and to rest.  This is when God seems to meet us – and in the world we live in, achieving this is really hard.

Last Saturday 18 people attended a workshop with Dr Jane Simon where they learned some of the skills we need to be able to sit quietly, pray and meditate.  Then on Tuesday, the staff from LUC spent a day on Coochimudlo Island on a spiritual retreat where we learned and practiced these disciplines as well. (with our leader “Keechie-mudlo”).

One of the activities I chose to do was to reflect on the passage of Scripture in 1 Kings 19 where Elijah finds God in the still, small voice.  I wrote some things down and finished before the time allotted.  I stood up to walk to the other side of the verandah where I was sitting and this is when God really started to speak to me.  I spotted a Kookaburra sitting on the fence next door waiting for a storm to pass.  He was perfectly still and perfectly quiet.

I realized that the Kookaburra – more than any other creature in Australia – loves to laugh and be noisy.  He has a good noisy laugh with his friends every morning and another one every evening.  However, the Kookaburra relies on total silence and total stillness for his very survival.  If the Kookaburra cannot remain still and quiet, he cannot catch his lunch and he starves.

I heard the still small voice of God challenging me with the same thought…there is nothing wrong with laughter, talk and activity – but - without times of necessary quiet, my busy-ness will make me sick and tired and I will slowly starve.

One of the things that you are going to keep hearing from us as a church is the concept of “living to a different rhythm.”  It’s counter-cultural…it goes against the prevailing wisdom of “always be busy.”  God was serious enough about a Sabbath rest that in the Old Testament that He didn’t just recommend it – He commanded it!  As a community we are slowly rediscovering the necessity of some form of Sabbath where we are quiet and still.

I am not good at this.  I am learning along with you to rest and be quiet and still.  My prayer for you this week is that you find that place of stillness and quiet; that God meets you there and that you find the rest and peace that you need to continue engaging with your day to day responsibilities.

Tim (Bennett)

Ps.  There is another half day prayer and meditation retreat coming up on Saturday Nov 23 from 9:00am to 12:30pm.  Call 3387 5777 or email info@luc.org.au for more information.

Tim and I have just arrived back from our time in Los Angeles. It was an extremely worthwhile experience. We visited 5 different churches and had the privilege of spending time with either one of the Pastors or in the case of the Dream Centre – participating in one of their mission outreaches (they serve 50 000 people per month with food and care). We also attended pre-conference seminars (Tim went to one on Discipleship and I went to one on the Nuts and Bolts of church planting) as well as the Exponential West Conference itself.

The churches we visited and the churches represented at the conference were from a very wide cross section of styles. There were church movements that were based solely on small groups and one on one discipleship, through to churches that were completely focused on the Sunday gathering and their only concern was to get people baptised; and every model and approach in-between.

One of the most helpful churches we visited was NewCity Church, which is now five years old. They are genuinely multi-ethnic and multi-socioeconomic. They are about 1/3 Hispanic, 1/3 Afro-American and 1/3 White, with people from Skid Row to young up and coming “Yuppies” in the congregation. In fact ALL their small groups reflect this cross section of cultures and backgrounds. They are currently about 400 strong with a very similar theology and understanding of God’s purposes to us. In the last 5 years they have been through 2 re-inventions of their small groups. 

They first started their small groups around bible study and care but soon found this became too insular and inward focussed. They then transitioned their groups to call them “grow and serve” groups – they meet weekly and at least once per month are required to engage in some mission/service activity. Just recently they have begun to implement one on one mentoring/discipling within the groups

"The one clear message that came through was that whatever the style of church; if discipleship wasn’t the backbone then we were going nowhere for the Kingdom of God."

By discipleship we mean helping people know and obey Jesus (head), be transformed by Jesus (heart) and live out Jesus purpose of witnessing and serving (hands). It was also very clear that growing as disciples of Jesus requires “life on life” relationships (in the way Jesus did it) – relationships that are highly honest and encouraging and focused on helping each other grow in Christ and make Christ known. These can take the shape of one on one mentoring, IFFF’s (as we call the groups of 3 men or 3 women) or life groups; but the Sunday gathering or the “classroom” style of teaching alone will not result in genuine discipleship. 

All in all it was a very encouraging time as we found the direction God has been leading us as a church confirmed. Tim and I also found our passion for God’s work renewed and came back with some important questions to help us clarify even further the vision God has for us, who are Logan Uniting Church.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

Discipleship and revisioning

I am sure you have heard or read that Church Council has made the decision to look for the person who will take over my role as Senior Minister. This is a decision I fully support and this means I will finish my time with Logan Uniting at the end of 2014. If you asked me how I feel about this, the answer is that initially half of me was at peace with a deep sense of God’s leading in this decision; and the other half was deeply sad that my time with you and the incredible work God is doing with and through LUC was going to come to an end. Whilst the sadness will come back again, I find myself at the moment excited by the way in which this decision powerfully leads us into the future as a church.

It is time for us to be re-visioning and developing a new strategic plan that will help us keep growing as a disciple making movement (“Drawing people into a life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ”), but I have not sensed the prompt of God to engage in this. I now see why. I believe God will call the person who will replace me to lead us through this process. My role will be to support them and you in building on the great vision and culture God has built into Logan Uniting Church. This will be a very healthy process that ensures you and the future Senior Minister continue to walk strongly into God’s future together.

For now, Church Council and I are convinced that we have to keep making discipleship (growing in trusting and obeying Jesus AND giving ourselves to help those who don’t know Christ come to faith in Him) the centre of what we are on about as a church. We are also convinced that in this call to discipleship we have to keep learning how to live to a different rhythm than the busy-ness we so easily find ourselves in. We must create space for genuine relationship with God, with other believers and with those who don’t yet know Christ. This life of space and grace and relationship is very counter cultural and requires us to constantly re-evaluate our priorities and ask Jesus what it is he would have us do.

To assist with this we have organised two, half day retreats on the 26^th Oct and the 23^rd Nov at the Springwood Ministry Centre. These will run from 9-00am to 12-30 pm and are designed to give you the opportunity for deliberate space with God and to equip you in enhancing your own practices of time out with the Lord. Please make these a priority.

As you are also aware, Tim R and I are in Los Angeles attending a “discipleshift” conference. This is extremely timely and I believe will encourage us in the direction we are walking in as a church. Whilst we are away, the rest of the Ministry leadership team and Rev Dennis Robinson are available to assist if it is required.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

Discipleshift

Tim Robinson and I have been privileged to receive a grant from the Alcorn Fellowship Trust to attend a conference in Los Angeles in early October. The conference is entitled “Discipleshift” and includes over 75 speakers from an incredible cross section of churches and experiences – from large Megachurches to medium sized churches to small organic, life group size churches and everything in-between; from Rick Warren (Saddleback Church with over 25000 members) to Australian leaders/speakers such as Mike Frost and Alan Hirsch and so on. The conference will also include the largest gathering of church planters in the world and one of the pre-conference electives will focus on this.

It is this incredible cross section of people - focussing on the central topic of discipleship - that has drawn us to this conference. The topics also reflect the shifts that we have been making as a church and which we are currently “bedding down”. The following extract from the Exponential West website is worth thinking about in the light of what God has been (and is) doing with us:

DiscipleShift, the theme of the 2013 Exponential West Conference, is about moving the church planting conversation beyond missional versus attractional to a deep and passionate discourse around disciple making. At the conference we’ll explore several major shifts:

Shift 1: From Reaching to Making
We need to shift to a clear definition of “disciple,” and then ask if our church is making that kind of person. It’s not enough to reach people if we are not making biblical disciples.

Shift 2: From Leading to Being Led
Discipleship begins with pastors and church leaders shifting their view of discipleship from classes toward a discipleship lifestyle. As leaders, we must intentionally model what it looks like to follow Jesus and lead others to do the same.

Shift 3: From Teaching to Modelling
Discipleship cannot simply be a program or a ministry we offer and people attend. We have to shift discipleship back to the centre of our churches, making it the purpose of everything we do and let people know that discipleship is dependent on participating in the endless process of following Christ.

Shift 4: From Assimilating to Creating Community
Beyond just classes and sermons, discipleship must be based on friendship and time together. To cultivate the kind of disciples Jesus did, we have to shift our paradigm from activity and surface connections to deep, accountable relationships.

Shift 5: From Attracting to Deploying
Jesus was much more concerned with the 12 men He invested in than the thousands He taught. Shifting our scorecard from how many people we gather to how many disciples we deploy is essential.

Tim and I will fly out on Monday the 30^th Sept and arrive back in Brisbane on Sunday the 13^th Oct. Whilst we are away the rest of the Ministry Leadership Team and Rev Dennis Robinson will be available to assist with any special issues that arise.

Please pray for Tim and I as we engage in this significant learning. Please also pray that we will be able to take what we are learning at Logan Uniting and also what we learn at the conference and share them well with other churches (which is part of the requirement of the grant from the Alcorn Fellowship Trust).

At its core the church is a disciple-making movement. Tim and my heart is to do everything possible to help us keep growing in this and also where possible to encourage other Uniting Churches in doing so.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech