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

My God and my money

A personal giving creed called “My God and my money”

In looking through my “Stewardship” file I came across this personal giving creed, which I found helpful to reflect on. I have no record of an author.

God is the creator of all things and he calls me to live in a positive relationship with Him.
He has entrusted us with His creation and my lifestyle must reflect my responsibility for His trust.  He has forgiven my failures and has set me free to enjoy a purposeful life as one of His people.  I must therefore:

·      Exercise wise stewardship of the natural resources of the world.

·      Not knowingly cause another person to lose so that I may gain.

·      Live happily with money as a useful commodity which will never gain mastery over my life.

I am pleased that God calls me to be a giver because generosity reflects God’s nature and honours Him. I therefore believe that:

·      I am accountable to God for the way in which I acquire and use all of my income and assets.

·      I must give regularly and meaningfully to the work of my church and the life of my community.

·      The scriptures teach me the principle of percentage giving and I know my chosen percentage will be dependent on my faith and love for God and my neighbour.

·      I must make a habit of renewing my chosen percentage to ensure that it reflects my growth in faith and is a joyful response to God and His love.

·      I am called to make bequests for God’s work so that my stewardship continues after my death.

·      I should keep myself informed of the financial affairs of my church and community and I hope that I will be challenged regularly with new opportunities for commitment and service. At the same time my motive for giving will always arise out of my faith and will not simply be a response to man-made goals.

May God give me the grace and the strength to do all these things and may my life be a prayer to Him.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

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

Thank you for "going for it"

Thank you for your engagement in the prayer and discernment process regarding how God is shaping us as a church and what we need in our Senior Leadership to support this. Church council is processing what God is saying through your responses and seeking clarity regarding future staffing for our Senior Leadership. Please be praying for the council in this.

As a church we have for a long time been shaped by the picture of church expressed in Acts 2: 42-47. We represent it as follows: 

I am incredibly encouraged as I hear story after story of missional engagement and quality care happening across this church because of the relationships and support developed through our life groups, ministries and IFFF’s. What I hear sounds more and more like the vision of church expressed above.

I don’t have the space to give all the examples but let me share just some of the incredible care stories that are happening:

family facing cancer and financial difficulty – financial/practical and ongoing support given by group and church friends; long term shut in – house and yard cleaned and major assistance with sale and in moving to new accommodation; several people with cancer – deep friendship and practical support; several people with anxiety and depression – deep friendships; tragic deaths – ongoing support; premature baby with viral meningitis – support for family; family difficulties – financial assistance and support through court cases; operations/cancer – visits, transport assistance and practical help; long term illness – regular visits and bible studies at their home; care for aging family – regular contact and support; early dementia and stroke – ongoing visits... These are just SOME of the stories of the way in which people within AND beyond the church are experiencing God’s love through you.  

Thank you for “going for it”.

As I write this I am also aware of a couple of situations where people have “fallen through the cracks” and have not been well cared for by members of the church. For this I am very sorry.

I have often said that church is at its worst when it is regarded as an institution with the “clergy” as the primary representatives. The church is at its best when it is a group of people “doing life together” in Christ (loving God, each other and those who don’t yet know Jesus). You are living this out.

May we all be the church of Jesus Christ – faithfully, to God’s glory

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

We are all disciples on the way.

Hopefully you will have heard that I was not elected to be Moderator of the Uniting Church Queensland. To be honest I am actually quite happy about that. Rev David Baker who is now our Moderator- Elect will do a great job. He is passionate about the church engaging with mission in different ways and isn’t afraid to challenge traditional thinking/structures.

With regard to my future; as you are aware I have an extension until the end of April 2016. Within the Uniting Church, however, it is possible for a call to another congregation/ministry setting, to arise before that time. This means that, along with Glen leaving, it is very important we continue to deeply engage in the process of prayer and discernment regarding the way God is shaping Logan Uniting and what we need in our Senior Leadership, that Church Council has called us to.

The theme of the recent Synod was “Disciples on the Way” and we heard many stories from individuals and congregations/sections of the church about how they are seeking to follow Jesus and creatively serve others. Over the next few weeks the “Journey” magazine will report more fully on the issues covered.

We also engaged again with the Vision 2020 “Together on the Way – enriching community” that the Synod has adopted. Below you will see the Vision Wheel which is helping to shape the church in Queensland.

 At Logan Uniting we don’t use the language of the Vision 2020 as God led us to a clear understanding of our Purpose and Vision many years ago. Having said that, the “Wheel” is a useful tool for checking how fully we are engaged in the breadth of God’s purposes. Have a look at it and celebrate the way in which we are actively living out God’s call.