Listening to Sydneysiders (Moore Mission)

(Totally H/T Michael Nhieu)

"This afternoon the St Philips York Street Moore Mission team was sent out to observe the city with 'spiritually sensitive eyes' and to meet and listen to Sydneysiders to gather information about the people St Philips is trying to serve.

"Armed with a clipboard and friendly smile we surveyed and listened to a variety of people on the streets of Sydney. Here are some of the interesting and insightful responses we’ve been able to gather:

Words that people have chosen to describe Sydney:

Beautiful, Expensive, Opera House, Habour, Fresh, Lovely, Beaches, Oz, Fresh, Sun, Water, Money, Big, Mardi Gras, Food and Wine, Sunshine, Ambience, Wonder of the World, Busy, Sunny, Somewhat friendly, Holiday, Young people

Things that Sydneysiders would like to get out of life, hopes and aspirations:

Happiness, Financial Independence, Freedom, Money, Marriage, Family, Good Health, Friendships, House, Peace, Satisfaction, Fun, Comfortable life, Long life, Health, Good education, Lack of terrorism, Ability to get on, Excel in work and life, Success, Relaxation.

Things Sydneysiders found difficult or dislike about working in the city:

Public transport sucks, Job security, Being bothered by charity workers, Invasion of personal space, Medical care, Education for children, Better salary, Rent and food prices going up, Loneliness, Finding peace of mind, People not content with life, Difficult employers.

Quotes from people in the city:

• “There is no hope or aspiration for Sydney city workers because they are too busy paying off their mortgages”
• “Love Sydney, love the people, hate the violence”
• “I’m having too much fun to look at the bible”
• “Sydney is too noisy, there is too much traffic and the climate is bad”
• “Want to die at the age of 90 walking out of a brothel with a heart attack”
• “Sydney is difficult to live here and find a job”
• “Can’t raise a kid in a unit in the city”
• “All paths lead to God”

“Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.” – Acts 17:16-17 (ESV)

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Best Websites Ever (Help us design a Site)

I've been a bit absent recently. Just a lot on. But you can still help me:

York Street Anglican is going to upgrade it's website. It may take some time. There is a lot of work that needs to go into it (the wording of the site, which requires painstaking thought matched with an articulated vision, as well, of course, as the look and usability of the site).

So help us out of the gate:

• What are some good websites you've seen?
• And why do you like them?

Any kind of website, of course.

But it would be helpful if you pointed out some church websites too.

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Pic on Flickr by Even Farinosi.

An Invitation to my friends (February 12 at 7PM)

Join Dr Laurel, the kiddos and me for a commissioning at York St. We begin our new ministry to the city of Sydney with prayer. The Invitation comes from the Wardens of St Philips' York St. And Bishop Rob Forsyth will be present and preaching.

• February 12, 2009 7PM
  
• Service at St Philips' Church Hill. 3 York St, Sydney, Australia.
• RSVP by Feb 9 to Doreen by emailing her HERE. Or by calling: +612 9247 1071.

Supper and Jazz at 1 York Street foyer after the service.

Here is what we are doing:

We are moving from über-urban to urban. From the city of Manhattan, to the city of Sydney. We are swapping the Lower East Side for Downtown Sydney. From New York to York St.

Leaving Manhattan has not dampened our enthusiasm for the city. Sydney and New York are different, but the city is still where extraordinary things happen. It is where people live and come to work and play, day and night. The city is where the homeless find anonymity and perhaps shelter. The city is where government sits and art is displayed. There are 38,000 people who live near St Philips. There are more men living there than women, and the average age is 29. From this central place, there could be a central faith.

This will be neither church planting, nor missionary service, but at times it may feel like both.

So we value your prayers and support.

Don't forget to RSVP.

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200 Words #6: Promote Preaching with Gravitas

DNA of a Maturing Church #6: Promote Preaching with Gravitas

Dear preacher,

Never start with a ‘little joke’, or a ‘little story’. Your message is too weighty. Learn from the Prophets, not Toastmasters; from the Apostles, not Self-Help; from Jesus, not your Top-5 downloads.

The world needs gravitas (like the Prophets), theology (like the Apostles), and truth-telling (like Jesus). We need truth and insight, not just grammar and information.

Yet, you must hug the text, like a 'bus hugs a road, or you will veer. Worse, you may crash the bus. Be expositional and exegetical. It’s not enough to cook the meal-- show your hearer’s the kitchen.

The Bible says little about assessing your 'skills'. Instead, it urges ‘doing’ (over merely listening) obeying (over appreciating); weighing-up truth (over down-loading giftedness).

We need more stethoscopes to our hearts, not MP3's to our ears.

Your task, says Buechner, is to "Tell the truth."

Preach Christ crucified and victorious. Trace the Narrative of Grace. Rail against sin and injustice. Preach a good God. The Spirit convicts sin and decants God’s love, not you. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Live deep in the world, speaking deeply to the world. Walk by grace: you struggle like us all.

Preach Jesus. He is never 'little'.

Discuss.

For further reading:
MPJ's 10 mistakes
JMM's Modus Operandi for Preaching.

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For Scripture references, either click on the links, or see all of them by clicking HERE. (James 1:22, Ezekiel 33:30-33, 1 Corinthians 14:29, 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, Jeremiah 17:10, 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, 2 Timothy 2:8, Luke 24:25-27, James 4:8, James 5:1-6, John 16:7-11, Romans 5:5, 1 Timothy 4:16, 1 Timothy 1:15, Ephesians 3:8.)
Pic on Flickr by a.drain.

200 Words #5: Inwardly Digest his Holy Scriptures

DNA of a Maturing Church:

200 Words #5: Inwardly Digest his Holy Scriptures:

Anglicans use great verbs like ‘Hear’, 'Read’, ‘Mark’, ‘Learn’, and ‘Inwardly digest'?

The Bible says a lot about itself, but not for itself. It claims to be living, like your heart. And infallible, making the believer wise for salvation. It is more life-giving than bread. It’s a torch (guiding feet); a scalpel (dividing soul from spirit); rain (yielding crop). It is narrative; history; poetry; prophecy; each announcing (and sometimes questioning) bold truth. It is Revelation, from cover to cover revealing Jesus.

God doesn't merely dictate the Bible. He breathes it. It is Spiritual Food to be digested, sometimes bitter; sometimes sweet. If God removed his Prophetic Word, it would be worse than a sub-Saharan food crisis.

It is a risk from God: open to misinterpretation and twisting. It is ‘Christianity’s Dangerous Idea’. So we need to read it, more and everywhere. But most of all, in Church. Old and New Testaments. Psalm. Gospel. (Do we shamefully read it less than liturgical liberals do?)

The prayer is that the Word might dwell among us, richly.

Tell me, is 'inwardly digest' tautology? Is it possible to 'outwardly digest’? Perhaps the Ancients chose tautology as the only way to push past stubborn hearts.

Discuss.

NEXT: Promote Preaching with Gravitas.

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Scripture references, either click on the yellow links, or by clicking HERE.
(Hebrews 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:15, Deuteronomy 8:3, Psalm 119:105, Hebrews 4:12-13, Isaiah 55:10-11, Habakkuk 1:1-3, John 5:37-40, 2 Peter 1:19-21, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 5:12, Revelation 10:9-10, Psalm 119:103, Amos 8:11-12, 2 Peter 3:15-16, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Colossians 3:16.)
Pics on Flickr by YanivG.

200 Words #4: Proclaim and Promote his Holy Gospel.

The DNA of a mature church in 200 Words:

#4: A Church that Proclaims and Promotes his Holy Gospel.

They say one must 'preach the gospel to yourself’, since the ‘eu-angel’ removes my guilt through Jesus my Saviour, evoking in me both humility and confidence. ‘We are more sinful than we imagined, more loved than we dreamed’.

However, the Scriptures reveal a Gospel about Jesus, not me. The earliest preachers preached thus: ‘This Jesus (whom you crucified) has been raised as Lord’. This is eu-angelion: Grand News. Jesus (not Caesar) is Lord and Judge of the quick and the dead. He is the image of the invisible God, through whom and for whom all things were created and will find their sum.

What makes this grand news, good news? There will be peace and justice. What makes this grand news, personal news? That in love, this Messiah died for me, to bring me to God. Yes, the one to whom I submit loves with an everlasting love.

Not everyone is an Evangelist, but the global plan is that the Church spreads this evangel. She hopes in Jesus, preaches him crucified, declares him Lord, calls for repentance. She prays and pays its way. She walks worthy of and acts in line with its truth.

Try preaching that only to yourself.

Discuss.

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Scripture references can be read by clicking on the yellow links, or on one page by clicking HERE. (Acts 2:36, Colossians 1:15, 1:16, Ephesians 1:9-10, Isaiah 9:7, Galatians 2:20, 1 Peter 3:18, Jeremiah 31:3, 1 Timothy 1:1, 1 Corinthians 2:2, Colossians 4:3, 1 Timothy 5:17-18, Philippians 1:27, Galatians 2:14.)
Pic on Flickr by SeenyaRita.

200 Words #3: Born of and Empowered by the Spirit.

The DNA of a mature church in 200 Words:

#3: A Church Born of and Empowered by the Spirit.

Go outside, and feel the wind against your face.

What happened? Chances are you felt a breeze and saw trees swaying. But you neither saw the wind, nor had any power over it.

Let’s be bold: If you do not belong to Christ, then that breeze is as close to the Holy Spirit as you are ever.going.to.get.

That’s how Jesus explained ‘The New Start’ to Nicodemus. Alluding to Ezekiel, Jesus declared God as the agent of salvation: breathing life into the dead; giving new starts to sinful lives; bringing hope to those ‘cut off’. You can’t see him, nor control his grace, but his work is evident.

The Spirit is God, and yet he proceedeth from the Father and the Son. God does not orphan children. So he convicts. He intercedes. He comforts. He teaches. He empowers. He slices the heart. He decants God’s Love in Christ.

Consider another wind-like moment: Pentecost, the birth of the Church. There, typical of the Spirit, the crucified Jesus is proclaimed ‘Lord’, sinners convicted and called to repentance.

If a church is not empowered, proclaiming Christ as Lord, then it should meet outside. The breeze will be as close to God as it will.ever.get.

Discuss.

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Scripture references can be read by clicking on the yellow links, or on one page by clicking HERE. (Romans 8:9, John 3:1-8, Ezekiel 36:22-32, Ezekiel 37:8-10, Ezekiel 37:11-12, Ezekiel 37:23, 1 Corinthians 2:9-11, John 14:16-18, John 16:7-11, Romans 8:26-27, Acts 9:31, 1 Corinthians 12:11, Ephesians 6:16-17, Romans 5:5, Acts 2:1-3, Acts 2:36-38).
Pic on Flickr by Ben.

200 Words #2: Love and Serve Jesus.

The DNA of a mature church in 200 Words:

#2: A Mature Church will grow to Love and Serve Jesus.

'Decisions are made by those who show up.' Presence, according to Jed Bartlett, counts.

From ancient times, God promised to 'show up', (with gravitas, naturally: 'The LORD your God will come.')

God promised to come to his temple; to ‘bare his holy arm, bringing salvation’; and that his feet would 'stand on the Mount of Olives'. The ancients believed that God would come to his temple, but not on an actual donkey. Nor that his holy arm, bared, could have actual hands. Nor that he his feet, standing, could be pierced.

Jesus prayed for the Father’s will to be ‘done on earth, as in heaven’. It turns out that Jesus is God’s will embodied ‘on earth, as in heaven’. He preached the Kingdom, bound the brokenhearted, and promised wrath for the faithless.

Like Father, like Son.

John says God ‘pitched his tent among us’. But we are not happy campers: ‘he came to his own, and his own disowned him’.

And yet there is method in the madness: In giving his life, he beat the path to an impossible door: His Kingdom, with justice met and grace received.

And raised as Messiah, he requires one thing: YOU. (And your knees!)

:)

Discuss.

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• Scripture references can be read by clicking on the yellow links, or in one page by clicking HERE. (Isaiah 35:4, Malachi 3:1, Isaiah 52:10, Zechariah 14:3-4, Matthew 6:10, Matthew 4:17, John 3:36, John 1:11-14, Mark 10:23-27, Philippians 2:8-11)
  
• Pic on Flickr by Yousef Al-Asfour

200 Words #1: Glorify and Fear the One True God

Just some kite flying on what the DNA of a mature church might be. So in 200 Words:

#1: A Mature Church will grow to Glorify and Fear the One True God

Jesus doesn't tell us what the Pearl of Great Price actually is. All we know is that when a merchant saw one 'of great value’ he put all his eggs into one basket. We are not told if the merchant is God (who gave his son), or one of his followers. But we know that the Kingdom is made up of those who sell everything when they witness great value.

God is of supreme value.

God is Father, Son and Spirit. We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, and he invites us into this relationship. God is fierce; you’d be smart to fear him who can bring hell to both body and soul. God is tender, healing legs, and teaching his people to walk. God is Spirit, and will be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth.

No one in John's Heaven is bored day and night singing: Holy, holy, holy. No one joining the myriads of myriads of angels complain that the Lord God (and not them) is worthy to receive glory, honour and power. And there is one reason: They did not create Heaven and Earth.

We are not the Pearl of Greatest Price.

God is.

Discuss, with reference to the church.

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• These are 200 words about God, and his church in his world. As I said before, these posts are not about not about cultural engagement, and this is not a vision statement for York St. I'll need to touch down in Sydney before I start that!
  
• Scripture references can be read by clicking on the yellow links, or in one page by clicking HERE. (Matthew 13:45-46, Romans 8:32, Matthew 10:28, Matthew 11:5-6, Hosea 11:3-4, John 4:24, Revelation 4:1-11).
• Pic on Flickr by Will Humes.

200 Words: What's in the DNA of a healthy Church?

I have been thinking, and talking, and praying. And now I wish to start blogging about a possible way forward for the northern end of the city of Sydney, for those who live and work somewhere near York St. That way, my gentle readers might help me in my planning and praying for this stunning city. Some may even wish to join us in this adventure.

I'm calling the series: 200 Words. You can read the series as it unfolds HERE.

And think of these posts like kites: let's just see if any fly.

First, if you are out of the loop, then read my post about moving from über-urban Manhattan to downtown Sydney.

Now, I know that no one really can, but I would like to start a vision from scratch. I'd like a Tabula Rasa if ever one existed, so that we could write only new and fresh things on it, trying to reach the lost as we love the city.

But (and here is a trustworthy saying and worthy of full acceptance), none of us start from scratch. Not even the church planters. None of us have a Tabula Rasa. The slate is not blank. Jesus has already written on the slate in his gospel. It is his church, not ours. And he has revealed his will in the Holy Scripture.

And more, the saints who are already serving in York St have been planning, and praying, and serving and reaching the city long before I will arrive, and long after I go (God willing). And so I will need to listen closely to those who are already serving Jesus from York St.

And even more, though some of my readers struggle with this, many of you are not a blank slate denominationally either: you are Anglican. And York St is Anglican, and I am one too. There are things we do, and its worth embracing what we have been given.

That having been said, I am beginning to conceptualize what a mature and vital church might look like and be like in the city of Sydney. Partly for my own benefit, and partly so that I will have good things to discuss when I arrive in Sydney.

I want to start my thinking, though, not with pragmatics, nor with a plan, nor with a profile of a city worker or dweller. This is not yet about cultural engagement. And this is not a vision statement for York St, or anything so specific.

I want to start with the broad vision of truths that matter.

I scribed these 20 points fairly quickly a few days ago. It's not exhaustive, and there is overlap. And I'll want to bring them down to only a few things in the end.

But this is kite flying, right?

I plan to write 20 posts (200 words a post) on the following 20 matters in the lead up to Christmas. Would that interest you? Would that be worth a read?

So, my question: what needs to be in the DNA of a church like York St? I'd say that a mature church needs to:

1. Glorify and Fear the One True God
2. Love and Serve Jesus.
3. Be Born of and Empowered by the Spirit.
   
4. Proclaim and Promote his Holy Gospel
5. Inwardly Digest his Holy Scriptures
6. Promote Preaching with Gravitas.
7. Provide for both Sacraments
8. Build and Serve Christ's Body
9. Have a outward Kingdom Orientation
   
10. Passionately Worship God.
11. Appreciate Historic Anglicanism
12. Submit to Discipline and Holiness
    
13. Be Informed by Hope
14. Love and Engage God's World
15. Take Joy in Creation
16. Live Generously and Hospitably
    
17. Bind the poor and brokenhearted
18. Express Joy
19. Value Art, Literature, Music and Creativity
20. Promote Productivity and Work

I know prayer isn't explicit there (but it is implicit). But then I liked what Packer said about prayer.

Discuss.

What's missing? What should be taken out? Say your piece now, before I write on each topic.

You can read the series as it unfolds HERE.

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