What Matters

Plumb the Depths

Paul prays that the Ephesians might plumb the depths of God's love for us (Ephesians 3:19).  We do that perhaps best as we participate in God's gift of community.  Listen in as I explain: Download Plumb the Depths  Or you can read the manuscript here: Download Plumb the Depths

Vision Sunday

We believe that God is calling us at Newlife to be a people with soft hearts, sharp minds and hard feet.  God is calling us not to settle for the success of the present, nor to retreat into the certainty of the past, but t embrace the adventure of a future lived following Jesus.  Listen in I outline our vision (the audio includes the narration of a property update video we showed): Download Vision 2011  Or you can read my manuscript here: Download Vision Sunday

Defining Moments

There are defining moments in life; moments when decisions we make and actions we take will shape the course of our future.  Defining moments in my life included the thirty or so seconds I watched Sue walk down the aisle and the terrifyingly beautiful hours in the labour ward as our children were born.  Life-defining was our decision five years ago to move 2000 kilometres north to the Gold Coast as we responded to God’s call.

We all experience many and varied defining moments in life.  This is true for us individually as well as corporately.  Organizations, most especially churches, face defining moments – opportunities to embrace the future or retreat to the past.  Here at Newlife we face a year - a season - of defining moments unlike perhaps any we have faced in the past.  Four years after the dream was born we stand on the cusp of establishing a new campus on the Northern Gold Coast.  As we have stepped out in faith God has provided us with the person in Orrell Battersby to lead this vital outreach.  God has also provided us with much of the resources required to establish this new community on a firm financial foundation.  We have been blessed!  Over the coming months we will have the opportunity to watch in awe as God provides the core team of people who will pioneer this ministry.

Through 2011 we will face a series of defining moments regarding our property.  Plans have been finalized and now need to be approved for Stage One of the redevelopment of this incredible site.  Later this year we will seek to raise a substantial proportion of the cost of the redevelopment through the sacrificial generosity of all who call Newlife their spiritual home.  Then there is the building process itself!  All in all, 2011 promises to be a year of exciting, scary and faith-stretching possibilities.

One of the eight core values of our church is Adventurous Faith; we believe that faith is an adventure that God calls us into.  There are defining decisions that God gives us the freedom to participate in.  In these moments we can choose to step back into the security of the past, or we can settle for the certainty of the present.  Alternatively, we can step-up and embrace an adventurous, faith-fuelled future.  Biblical and church history suggests strongly that the church is at its best when it steps-up and out and risks following Jesus into the future (Hebrews 11-12).  May this be our witness!

Test its Length!

Orrell Battersby, who will be leading our new northern campus, continued our journey exploring the extent of God's love.  Here Orrell reflects on our privilege to share the community we have experienced through God with others.  Listen in: Download Test its Length

Live Wider

On Sunday Melissa Lipsett kicked off a new series at Newlife called Live Wider.  Over the coming month we will explore the height, depth and width of community we can enjoy through faith in Christ.  Listen in as Melissa speaks to the community we know as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Download Live Wider

Ethical Tourism?

Pnomh Penh is a bustling city of two million or so people.  Asia's ubiquitous motos and tuk tuks compete on to road with cars (so man Lexus!), with pedestrians running a distant last.  Street markets are surrounded by a growing number of cafes catering to increasing number of western tourists, as well as the few Cambodians who can afford to eat there.  This is a city and nation on the rise.  It is also a city where economic and ethical ambiguities are front and centre.

Last night I was chatting with my hosts, Scott and Rach.  They have lived here for a year now as they lead the Interserve team of 40 or so mission workers in this country.  They told me the average wage here is around $US80 a month.  Not a 'living wage', even in Cambodia.  People rely on family or have two jobs, or if they are 'lucky', benefit from the trickle down effect of corruption. 

So in this complex mix, what place tourism?  Tourism is a blessing and curse here.  The blessing is the job creation that has resulted from Western demand and Cambodian ingenuity.  The curse is the endemic sex industry that preys on the youngest and most vulnerable of women. 

I want to come back to Cambodia.  Like the rest of south-east Asia, I find it a beguiling place full of intoxicating sights, sounds, tastes and smells.  When I return I want to do so responsibly; in a way that helps in some small way the Cambodian people.  So where I can, I will stay in smaller, Cambodian owned guest houses.  I will buy souvenirs from fair trade suppliers that benefit the poorest of the poor.  And I will interact as much as I can with local people as their guest.

Angkor

Yesterday I traveled with the YWAM team to Siem Reap.  This is a bustling little city!  Full of tourists, the place is heaving with people here for the Chinese New Year along with a healthy dose of Western tourists.  Hotels are full and the night time streets are choked with people enjoying the food, shopping and culture.

The reason Siem Reap is such a tourist hub is Angkor.  Named the eighth wonder of the world, this huge collection of temple ruins set in the jungle is spectacular to say the least.  Yesterday Jon and I journeyed around the region by tuk tuk, taking in the main temple Angkor Wat and an almost as famous temple,commonly known as the temple of the trees.  (Think Lara Croft's Tomb Raider) The first is the largest religious building in the world.  Built most likely as a tomb for an Angkor king, it is surrounded by a 190 metre moat and measures more than one kilometre square.  It is breathtaking in its architectural and artistic detail.  The temple of the trees is much smaller and has been overgrown by trees.  It is quite erie to walk around a thousand year old building that has tree roots woven through its foundations and walls. 

We saw just a small taste of what Angkor has to offer.  Today I will see more.  Already though I have been reminded by the transitory nature of human power.  The Khmer empire that gave rise to Angkor was huge and powerful.  The city numbered a million inhabitants at a time when London had forty thousand.  And yet time and the jungle claimed it all.  Empires rise and empires fall.  In our time, American power is on the wane while China's star rises.  In the end, only God's power is immovable and timeless.

Angkor

Yesterday I traveled with the YWAM team to Siem Reap.  This is a bustling little city!  Full of tourists, the place is heaving with people here for the Chinese New Year along with a healthy dose of Western tourists.  Hotels are full and the night time streets are choked with people enjoying the food, shopping and culture.

The reason Siem Reap is such a tourist hub is Angkor.  Named the eighth wonder of the world, this huge collection of temple ruins set in the jungle is spectacular to say the least.  Yesterday Jon and I journeyed around the region by tuk tuk, taking in the main temple Angkor Wat and an almost as famous temple,commonly known as the temple of the trees.  (Think Lara Croft's Tomb Raider) The first is the largest religious building in the world.  Built most likely as a tomb for an Angkor king, it is surrounded by a 190 metre moat and measures more than one kilometre square.  It is breathtaking in its architectural and artistic detail.  The temple of the trees is much smaller and has been overgrown by trees.  It is quite erie to walk around a thousand year old building that has tree roots woven through its foundations and walls. 

We saw just a small taste of what Angkor has to offer.  Today I will see more.  Already though I have been reminded by the transitory nature of human power.  The Khmer empire that gave rise to Angkor was huge and powerful.  The city numbered a million inhabitants at a time when London had forty thousand.  And yet time and the jungle claimed it all.  Empires rise and empires fall.  In our time, American power is on the wane while China's star rises.  In the end, only God's power is immovable and timeless.

Battambang

These last few days I have had the privilege of spending time with Jon Morris in Battambang, Cambodia.  Jon and Elin are missionaries Newlife supports through Our Acts 1:8 mission programs.  They are based in Kona, Hawaii and work with Youth With a Mission (YWAM) in training young people for mission around the world.
 
Over the last few months Jon has led a Justice Discipleship Training School.  The school has 50 students from all around the world.  After three months of intensive training, they travel to the mission field in small teams to Togo. Thailand and Cambodia.  The range of ministry they engage in is really impressive.  Teams minister to prostitutes in Phuket, recently released prisoners in Chang Mai, AIDS orphans in Togo and Cambodia and with the poor in all three countries.
 
Here in Battambang, the team help staff a youth centre that attracts hundreds on young people.  They teach in a village where children are unable, or too poor to attend school.  They work with kids in another centre that have been rescued from sex slavery, some as young as 6 years old.  This is mission at the deep end.
 
Even the little I have observed so far has reminded me of the repeated calls in the scriptures to 'do justice'. See Micah 6:'8, for example.  Doing justice involves reaching out a compassionate hand to meet people at their point of need.  But it also means being a voice for the voiceless when it is required (see Proverbs 31:8-9).  The church at its best has been such a voice through history, from Mother Theresa (India's untouchables) to Martin Luther King Jr (African Americans), from William Wilberforce (Slavery) to Lord Shaftesbury (Child Laborers). 
 
It seems to me that every generation has its voiceless ones.  The nagging question for me, who are they for us at Newlife?  Who is God calling us to advocate for?  How is God calling us to be involved in his redemptive, peace-making work in our world?  These questions and more niggle away at me.  Will you join me in seeking after God for answers?  When they come, by God's grace, may we have the strength and courage to act and speak