Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A Bridge for the Good News

It was sort of our re-launch Sunday as a church this past week. We had used Sunday May 10th as a run through of how it would all go and then asked people to bring friends and guests to VUE for this week.
I have said to a few people already that it was a morning where I felt we could really use the word 'BUZZ' in relation to us as a church. There was energy and enthusiasm oozing from everywhere which is brilliant because it is very attractive for anyone looking in. People got to the tasks of setting up, welcoming, serving refreshments leading the worship and all sorts of other essential bits with fervor and vigor.

I felt it strongly on my heart to preach about moving to VUE out of a real desire to bridge the gap between church and culture. It was a fantastic opportunity and I finished off explaining how I hoped we would go about doing that. Here is the gist of it:

This is the mission we think we must proclaim and embody, we will certainly give it our best shot at least.
We must overcome that which has made the church invisible in culture, we must:

NO LONGER FLEE FROM CULTURE OR HAVE A 'BOMB SHELTER' CHURCH MENTALITY
NO LONGER IMPOSE OUTDATED CULTURE BUT ADAPT TO CULTURE TO GIVE OUR MESSAGE
OFFER DIVINE COMMUNITY TO A FRACTURED CULTURE
LOVE AND NOT JUDGE (DON'T ASK SOMEONE TO CHANGE BEFORE THEY HAVE ENCOUNTERED THE AGENT OF CHANGE- GOD)
'SHOW' THAT FOLLOWING CHRIST IS THE GREATEST THING AND NOT JUST 'TELL' PEOPLE IT IS!


I finished off stating that if the church has a message that can transform the lives of 21st Century people, if the gospel is true than everyone should get a chance to hear it without having to leave their cultural reality to do it!

We want to make a difference, we must.

Simon

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