"For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."
-1st Letter to the Corinthians chapter 2 verse 2
A couple of weeks ago I was able to spend a couple of hours with Fred + Jean. Jean is a great storyteller.
At the end of one of her stories, she said a quick one-liner about church dynamics:
“When a church is big, God can feel small.
When a church feels small, God can be big.”
My personal takeaway for Open Road was to, “keep church small, so God can be big”.
While we want to welcome those God sends us, the goal of our church is not to simply hook in large numbers of people to our gatherings. Rather, the goal of our church is that a growing number of people become ‘fully alive’ in Jesus.
We don’t expect that our church should become the focus of someone's life, but that our church brings Jesus into focus in each of our lives.
We want to keep our church ‘small’ (simple, mobile, outdoors etc) so that God can be big in our lives.
By keeping our gatherings simple, we want to make it hard to avoid God. By keeping midweek activities simple and focused on opening our homes to each other, we want to reinforce that our primary responsibility is not to a church organisation but to God himself. When a church is 'small' your life matters for the good of God, not simply the good of an organisation.
This is why we champion three simple rhythms, to help us learn personal spiritual responsibility.
Gather: Spiritual gifts provide spiritual encouragement to Christ’s church.
- Get to know Jesus: learning to study the bible and talk with God in prayer fosters an invaluable intimacy with Jesus!
- Invite others into your life: loving others by opening up our lives to them isn't a suggestion but the example Jesus set for all of us! This kind of hospitality transforms strangers into friends.
- Gather and get involved: church is not a spectator sport! Whether it's a short chat, personal prayer or spiritual encouragement for the whole church, we all have something to offer.
I want to encourage you to encourage each other to keep church small and God big so that we might grow a love and loyalty to him above all others.
See you Sunday for four baptisms: Miya, Logan, Ciella and JC!
Cheers and God Bless,
Dan
P.S. Remember that we have $5,000 available in our Giving Kitty for the needs of the people God leads us to help. We have two small opportunities and one idea so far!
Coming Up
February
Sun 18 Feb 4pm Moffat Gathering - 4+ Baptisms happening!
Sun 25 Feb 4pm Moffat Gathering
March
Sun 03 Mar 4pm Worship Gathering: 209 Burgum Rd, North Maleny
Sun 10 Mar 4pm Moffat Gathering
Sun 17 Mar 4pm Moffat Gathering - Baptisms anyone?
Sun 24 Mar 4pm Moffat Gathering
Sun 31 Mar Easter Sun - 6am Shelly Beach Dawn Service
April
Sun 07 Apr 4pm Moffat Gathering
Sun 14 Apr 4pm Moffat Gathering - get baptised!
Sun 21 Apr 4pm Moffat Gathering
Sun 28 Apr 4pm Moffat Gathering
May
Sun 05 May 4pm Worship Gathering: venue TBA
Sun 12 May 4pm Moffat Gathering
Sun 19 May 4pm Moffat Gathering - get baptised!
Sun 26 May 4pm Moffat Gathering
Our Mission
To help people find and follow Jesus.
Our Rhythms
Get to Know Jesus: how are you getting to know Jesus this week?
Invite people into your life: who can you intentionally open up your life to?
Gather and get involved: who can you connect, listen, share or pray with this weekend?
Our Giving
Our giving kitty target of $5,000 has been reached! Please take time to ask God if there is someone in need around you whom God wants you/us to help!
Last month's giving: $12,192
Last month's expenses: $6,579
Balance: $30,877
Giving Kitty Oct-Jan: $5,000
Giving out Oct-Jan: $1,190
"Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed." - Proverbs 19:17
If you would like to support what we are doing and our giving to those in need, you can get started with giving to Open Road to meet needs as a church or get in touch with any questions you may have.
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