Update 31st March 2011

I'm back after an unannounced, two-week hiatus! Things have been pretty busy here at GracePoint, but I thank God that I'm on the other side of one of my busiest weekends!


News from GracePoint
I'll share three big things that went on this last week.

1) GracePoint Music Team Training: On Saturday, I ran two two-and-a-half hour training courses for the church music teams. The two main questions we examined were, "What is worship?" and "What is corporate worship?" and how that helps us understand our role as music leaders within the church.


Here is session number two: for the Burwood leaders.


Chong is out and we're not even half-way through! But can you blame him? He's a drummer...


There's Tiffany, the youngest GracePoint musician!

2) On Monday, I gave three back-to-back gospel talks to about 90-100 kids at Homebush boys high school. Praise God for such a wonderful opportunity! The school originally wanted to hold a "multi-cultural day"; some kind of celebration that advocates tolerance and cultural sensitivity. But Jo Chan, one of our church members who teaches at the school, saw it as an amazing chance to share with kids about Jesus. This is a great example of Christians being missional and gospel-oriented in the workplace. Also a great example of how Christians can "love the city"!


Here I am, giving the talk. Apparently, there were also a Muslim, Jew, and Hindu giving talks as well, but I didn't get to meet them.

3) This past Sunday, my dear friend Heidi and community group co-leader got baptized! I am thankful for the joy of working with her to care for our Bible study group and I admire her commitment to loving people, even when it is exceedingly inconvenient to do so.


Here she is, after giving her testimony, and ready to receive the sprinkling. Her immensely personal testimony so powerfully reminded us of the grace of Jesus and its work in restoring broken, hopeless, sinful people; even in restoring and saving broken families. I really hope and pray that some of the people she invited to the baptism will be moved by the good news of Jesus.

Scripture Of The Week
Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- This is your spiritual act of worship, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is; his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12.1-2

What I've Been Learning
I've been playing around with the idea of starting up a new project. God has blessed the city of Sydney with a strong, faithful evangelical Christian presence and one of the sub-blessings of that is an abundance of solid Christian resources for every part of life and ministry. The leaders, (even lay leaders!) here are well-trained in theology and ministry and godliness. Christians here are encouraged to read and immerse their minds in Scripture and books that will help them love Jesus and live the Christian life. There are reading lists, blogs, sermons made available online, and a culture that places a high premium on head knowledge. There are strong, vibrant, flourishing evangelical campus groups in most of the major universities. And I haven't even begun to talk about the Christian conferences!

"Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship" The thing about true Christian worship is that it is an act that involves your entire life - every faculty of your existence offered in reverent submission to Christ. In one sense, you can even say that worship is not even an act, but a state of being! The state of being is one in which the individual is ever undergoing transformation and renewal that makes him think, speak, act, love, and feel more and more as Jesus does. In a nutshell, being a Christian and worshiping Jesus does not just mean that I do God's will; it also means that I know God's will and love and desire it and regard it as supremely good, pleasing, and perfect (Rom 12.2)

Going back to my project, I have found in my experience that a generalization can be made of the difference between New York Christianity and Sydney Christianity; a sweeping generalization, but a helpful one that is based on truth. Here in Sydney, one of the perennial difficulties that ministers face is how to get their people to move beyond a worship of head knowledge and to a worship of heart and hand knowledge. In other words, how to get the Christians here to not just learn theology, but apply the knowledge into a life of repentance and obedience to God. There is such good teaching here but sometimes it seems like there is a disconnect between the teaching given on Sundays and the living done from Monday to Saturday.

On the other hand, in New York City, to my knowledge of Christianity here there is a different need. There are many churches with genuine, faithful Christians seeking to live a life of worship, but lacking in direction. There are Christians who somehow vaguely intuit that Scripture contains the words of life, but are unsure how to access its power. There are people who know that the call to follow Christ is a call to holiness, but don't know how it works. There are people who want to know more about Jesus, but have never been taught how to read the Bible. There are people who know that God has something to say about how they live, how they go to work, how they study, how they fall in love and get married, but WhAT DOES IT SAY?? Come on, God! It's a two-thousand year old work of literature written by dead people I never met. What does it mean for my life??*

This is where my project comes in. I want to create a database of free resources online out of the abundance and availability here in Sydney that is available for all people with internet access. The resources I'm seeking are:

1) Things to teach people how to read the Bible
2) Things that make theology accessible to lay people
3) Things that teach people what the Bible says about living the Christian life
4) Things that help lay Christians do ministry and serve their church
5) Things that help people do evangelism and proclaim the gospel

This is a fairly new idea, though it's been one that I've been batting around in my head since I came back to visit last December. I've spoken briefly with my Sydney-sider friends who had come to visit with me and they are keen to help me out. Keep on the lookout for the next few weeks and pray for this project!

I recognize that I perceive this need largely due to my own spiritual upbringing. Since the day I first step foot in GracePoint church to the day I went to the Katoomba mountains for my first Sydney Christian conference to this day, I have felt like I was raised in such a theologically-impoverished environment. I've never been in an environment like there, where pastors and laymen alike are able to have theological discourse that rests on the same evangelical positions.

Prayer Points
~Pray for my new project: That God may use it to edify his people in New York City and allow people in Sydney to have a grander view of ministry and missions and gospel partnership outside the boundaries of their city.

~Pray for the Burwood music teams, to be leaders and servants of the church by submitting their entire life in worship to God. Pray for them also to be committed to building up the church through diligent practice other-mindedness in the way they view their gifts.

~Pray for the 90-100 kids as well as the 5-7 teachers that got to hear the gospel this past Monday. Pray that they will be so moved by the radical, out-of-this-world grace that was shown in Jesus Christ that they will want to find out more from their local Christian groups. Pray that God will choose some of them to hear and receive the Word and respond by repentance and trusting in Jesus for salvation.

~Pray the same thing for some of the non-Christians who came on Sunday to Heidi's baptism. "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior!" Pray that those who heard Heidi's testimony will believe this to be true and give thanks to Jesus for the healing he brings in our lives through the cross.

In Christ,
-Dan

Update 11th March

What a week! It's just past 4am and I just finished writing eight mini-Bible studies on the gospel of Mark. Don't take this as Pastor Eugene overworking me so much as my own misplanning and poor time management. BUT... Euge if you're reading this it doesn't mean that I don't have enough work!

New From GracePoint

Our first week without our Lidcombe church planters was a bit sad, but praise God for their successful launch! I wasn't there myself, but I was told that there were lots of supporters who came by to be a part of the occasion.

This past weekend, the FCG (Friday Community Group - University Bible study groups of GracePoint) leaders had a retreat where we were able to spend time with each other, bond and get to know each other better, and spend an entire afternoon working on a SWOT analysis for FCG. The goal is to work out how FCG is helping our church members mature in Christ and serve the mission of God, where we are falling short, and what we need to do to faithfully work towards God's mission this upcoming year.

Congratulations to Stephanie Wong, who graduated with a Diploma of Divinity and Ministry Training for Women credentials from the Presbyterian Theological College! May you continue to support Simon as the two of you lead our church to reach Lidcombe for God!

Some pictures of our community group leader's training on Tuesday:










Scripture of the Week: Eph 2.14-18
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Something That I've Been Learning: Diversity In The Church

See my other blog for a reflection I wrote earlier this week on church planting.

I've since had a few conversations with Simon, Euge, and a couple of other people. I think this meditation was quite raw and unrefined when I first wrote it, but with the sharpening I received from my mentors, I am developing a sharper understanding of ecclesiology and the way it plays out in planting and nurturing churches.

Prayer Points

~Pray for me as I continue to develop a deeper understanding of church and how we are called to do it in Scripture. I am thinking through serving God's mission in the areas of evangelism, mercy ministry, and community.

~Pray for my community group as I seek to apply what I'm learning to help them love and honor God. We are seeking to do this by loving each other and loving our city.

Update 3rd March

"There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance" - Ecc 3.1-4

This past Sunday, we at GracePoint evening church did both as we sent off 25 of our brothers and sisters to go plant a church in the neighboring suburb of Lidcombe. As I think about my future ministry, I am more and more convinced that God calls us to plant churches. The way we win cities and nations for Christ is by scattering our people so that they may preach the Word and gather more people into his kingdom. I want my future ministry to be done with a constant eye on expansion.

It's not easy though. For a church to commission and send off a team of planters, it means breaking off part of the community, and that comes with much mourning. People will be losing dear brothers and sisters, best friends, people who've discipled and encouraged them, people who they've discipled and encouraged, and people they've fought alongside in the trenches of gospel warfare. I've only been here a year and I'm so grieved by it. Ultimately though, the night was a marked by celebration and thanksgiving over this great opportunity for our church to proclaim the gospel! During our final dinner together, there certainly was a confusing air of joy, sadness, and excitement. Let's keep in touch, Lidcombe evening!

As promised, here are some pictures of our church service:


The music team.


Me with two of the planters, Dan Chu (Middle) and Simon Wong (Right).


Spoz chairing his last Burwood evening service! I photoshopped out the tears.


Before the sermon, we had a special time of prayer, where we had all the church planters come to the center aisle. Those who wanted to went up to lay hands on them and everyone spent a bit of time committing them to God's hands.


Roy praying along after doing some sweet jonsi-style Sigur Ros licks to add to the mood during the open prayer time.


Ronnie doing the Bible reading.


The congregation following along. I'm pretty sure Mike in the front is using a Bible app on his cell phone and not texting or facebooking!


Euge preaching on Ephesians 5 and the Godly husband. Ah, look at this experienced Gen Y preacher! He's got the wireless headset so that he can be more expressive with both arms. He's sporting the untucked button-down shirt with rolled up sleeves, and he's even skipped the pulpit, preferring a single Manhasset Symphony music stand that just says, "I know my music equipment... because I'm cool. I bet you didn't even know that I play guitar too." Now all he's lacking is the tattoo on his arm that "suggests he has an complicated past".

Prayer Requests
~Please pray for Lidcombe church! They will be having their first official gathering this coming Sunday. Pray that even on their first week, newcomers would arrive to find out more about Jesus. Pray that all the members of this new church would have the mission of God in their sights and be EXCITED about proclaiming the good news.

~Pray for their outreach to the neighboring Sydney University campus.

~Pray for Spoz, who will be preaching for quite a few weeks in a row as he seeks to set his church under the authority of God's Word

~For us back in Burwood, pray that we would continue in fervor with our renewed ministry. Pray that we would seek to fill those seats that were vacated with new people who will hear the gospel and submit their life to Jesus.

~Pray for those who are continuing in Burwood to step up and fill the leadership positions that have been vacated by those going to Lidcombe. And not necessarily official leadership positions, but leading by doing things that mature Christians do, like welcome newcomers, disciple, teach, correct, and rebuke, show love and concern for one another, pray for each other, and serve one another.

Thanks for your prayers!

-Dan