Speaking The TRUTH in Love IN Ministry

In Ephesians 4: 11-16, we are instructed about the means by which the Church grows up into maturity. God gives certain people to the Church to equip all believers for ministry (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers). Then as each part is doing their job, they build up the body of Christ to maturity and the stature of the fullness of Christ. Paul goes on to describe what must take place for this growth to occur:

1. Speaking the Truth in Love - The truth is found in the person and work of Jesus. Jesus said, "I am the way, the Truth and the Life". So, speaking the truth in love is another way of saying - "Speak the Gospel to one another."

2. In Ministry (and on mission) - The way in which the body is built up is through each part ministering to the others (verse 16). It is in ministry and on mission that we become aware of where each of us is in need of being built up in the Gospel. The areas of deficiency in our belief in the Gospel show up when we are called to love others and make disciples.

Therefore, in order to grow up in Christ and help others grow up in Christ, we need to be Gospel Fluent and call people to live lives that both demand the power of the Gospel and reveal where we are not living in the truth of the Gospel.

Some Questions

How have you grown in Gospel Fluency?

What has been most effective in shaping you to be able to "bring the Gospel to bear" on issues in your life and others?

How have you shaped your group to be Gospel Fluent?

What have you found to be most effective in equipping your Missional Community to speak the truth to one another and prepare them to share with those who don't yet believe?

Creating A Culture

In order to effectively equip your Missional Community in Gospel Fluency, you will need to create a culture where it is normal to speak the Gospel to each other regularly. Every sin and issue that stands in the way of faithfulness to Jesus' commands is ultimately a Gospel issue, since sin is the outcome of unbelief (John 16: 9). One of your key jobs will be to equip your people to KNOW the Gospel, APPLY it to all of life, and SPEAK it to each other.

Start With You

Shaping a Gospel Fluent culture starts with you being regularly shaped by the truth of the Gospel. This means you have to KNOW it and APPLY it to everyday stuff, while asking others to SPEAK into your life.

Do you know the Gospel? Could you articulate it? Can you address everyday issues with the Gospel?

If you know it and can articulate it, the next question is: Are you experiencing ongoing repentance and growing faith in the Gospel?

This will look like you "taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ". It means you are regularly checking your motives, beliefs, attitudes and actions to see if they reflect faith in Jesus or faith in someone or something else. This includes inviting others to have the freedom to speak openly into your life as well.

Then, when it is apparent that your faith is in something other than Jesus and what He accomplished for you through His life, death and resurrection, you need to be reminded how the Gospel shows Jesus to be the sufficient One for you in that issue, repent of your unbelief and put your faith for that thing in Jesus and His sufficiency.

The more you are actively applying the Gospel to all of life, the more normal it will become to both speak of it and to equip others in it.

Lead Your Group Into Gospel-Centered Life

You will need to lead in Gospel engagement in a variety of ways in order to make Gospel conversations normative for your life together and your mission to make disciples of others. There are several ways you can make Gospel conversations more normative, but here are a few suggestions to start with:

1. Rehearse the Gospel Regularly

Ask your group to regularly restate the elements of the Gospel out loud to see how well they're getting it. You may have to lay it out for them a couple of times until they begin to remember it.

Here are three questions I ask to help people remember....

Who Is Jesus?

• He is the perfect man who lived a perfect life fully submitted to God the Father in all things.
• He is the God-man who is God in the flesh so that we could know what God is like and God would be near us
• He is the Messiah sent by God to save us from our sin, death and destruction.

What did Jesus do?

• On the Cross, He exchanged His perfect obedience (His righteousness) for our sin so that those who have faith in Jesus get Jesus' righteousness credited to their account and their sin credited to His account
• When He died on the cross not only were my sins removed, but they were paid for (atoned for)
• He rose from the dead to show His power over sin and death (the wages of sin is death so Jesus' resurrection shows the debt is paid in full)
• He ascended to the right hand of God the Father from where He sent His Spirit to bring faith and new life to us, empowering us to live lives of obedience

What Must We Do?

• Repent - Have a change of mind about who God is around here
• Believe - By faith put our trust in who Jesus is and what He has done, believing it was accomplished for us
• Be Baptised - Publicly express our faith that our lives are now united and identified with God in Christ.

What Happens To Us?

• We are forgiven and cleansed of our sins
• We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
• We are included in the forever family of God
• We are commission to make disciples of Jesus

How might you restate this to embody the language of your missional context?

2. Apply The Gospel To Personal Stories

Give each person in your Missional Community the opportunity to share their personal story. Before they do so, encourage them to tell it in light of what they believe about Jesus and how the Gospel has affected all of life. Also, encourage the group to listen with "Gospel Ears" paying close attention to areas where the Gospel has redeemed and rightly informed their story as well as where the Gospel needs to be spoken into their story.

For example, if their story recounts a life without a father present or maybe a life with an abusive father, listen for where they came to see that they have a perfect Heavenly Father who was always present. If that doesn't come up, the group should ask them how they perceive the Father in Heaven and how knowing the truth about Him sending the Son to save us shapes how they see this part of their story.

What are some other key areas to be listening for when hearing each other's stories?

How would you apply the Gospel to those areas?

3. Go Through The Story-Formed Way

The Story-formed Way was designed to both lead people through the basics of the Gospel and provide a foundational structure for the key doctrines of Christianity. 

I sat down to read "Glimpses of Grace" as a pretty new mum. I felt as if I had already spent my fair share of time with my nose in a blog, article or book on godly motherhood and home making. I quietly had my fingers crossed that this was not going to hold another "smile as you skip through the glorious blessings of motherhood" or "suck it up, because being a mum is just plain hard" kind of message. It's only taken 12 months for me to know that is just not helpful. I had known that holding onto the Gospel was the answer to the joys and pitfalls of homemaking - I just wasn't sure how. I was desperate for something practical.

Gloria Furman was the reality check I needed. She literally writes from a place where it isn't unusual to be up for the 5th time in one night at 3am with a screaming toddler, greasy hair (because you haven't managed a shower in days), and baby vomit dripping down your back, not to mention a husband who shoulders just as much responsibility and has to be up and off to work at 5am! She knows me, because she's living in the same world.

It was a serious comfort, but also left no room for excuses. If this woman can be planting a church in the Middle East, as well as raising 4 kids under 6 in an unknown culture and seeing glimpses of grace in her home - then so can you and I!

She spends chapter upon chapter spelling out how to embrace Jesus in the sometimes mundane everyday, when you have a house that's filthy by the time you finish cleaning it and a two year old who has an unhealthy obsession with the toilet. She addresses the tiredness that comes with kids, your attitude towards service and hospitality, our relationships, our pain, our idols of self and the picture perfect home, and all in the light of God's word. She does this in a way that doesn't sound pretty yet unachievable, but that makes an actual difference in the way you go about your day.

She says, "When we serve our families with the strength God supplies instead of from our own energies and motivation, we can serve with cheerfulness to the praise of his glory. We don't have to be embittered martyrs on the alter of motherhood and hospitality." We will find glimpses of grace in our homes when we learn how to cherish the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you want to find out more about how to do just that, I strongly encourage you to take whatever time you can find to read this book.


REBEKAH SLIGAR IS THE WIFE OF PASTOR ANTHONY SLIGAR FROM DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD. AS WELL AS SERVING ALONGSIDE ANTHONY SHE IS THE MOTHER OF CALEB AND EZEKIEL AND SERVES IN THE DC WORSHIP COLLECTIVE.

If you’re looking to kick-start some local missional activity, authors Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon deliver a simple work of genius to help you in your quest.

Warning: Reading this book will give you new eyes of looking at people who live on your street. You may experience signs of genuine community and develop neighbourly tendencies leading to deep relationships and gospel transformation.

The Art of Neighboring has a really simple purpose: to help you become a better neighbour. Its subtext, building genuine relationships with people right outside your door, is exactly what it helps you do. Pathak and Runyon take the well-known words of Jesus, "Love your neighbour as yourself" both seriously and literally, crafting practical ways of reaching out to those in close proximity (i.e. your actual neighbours).

"Loving one’s neighbour", they contend, has become more of a slogan than a command, and therefore lost its original intent. The problem is that “when we aim for everything, we hit nothing. So when we insist we’re neighbours with everybody, often we end up being neighbours with nobody.”

This book showed me that neighbouring relationships really do matter. And my light bulb moment came in the introductory chapter which quotes a local government official: “the majority of the issues that our community is facing would be eliminated or drastically reduced if we could just figure out a way to become a community of great neighbours”. Wow. Could it really be that simple? Was Jesus onto something here?

The book’s twelve short chapters pair bible illustrations with practical applications to shift the Great Commandment from a lofty shelf-sitting aspiration to a series of repeating ’rubber meets the road’ moments. You can't help but apply (almost instantly) what you read. There are no programs or quick fix solutions on offer here. Neighbouring (simply being a good neighbour) is portrayed as an art not a science - something creative, spontaneous and real.

The part I love most about the book is where it begins. According to the authors, neighbouring starts in our hearts. It is here that the battle must begin. When we start to see people with eyes of compassion—their needs, their brokenness; it does something in us. “Start by looking around your own neighbourhood", they implore. "What problems do you see?"

With more take-aways than your local Chinese, the book will help you identify a framework to begin neighbouring well. You will watch as the faceless and nameless people around you transmogrify from stranger to acquaintance to relationship. Their basic neighbouring formula (being faithful and flexible with intentionality) provides the foundation to help you become a great neighbour with the potential to make a real difference. And the best news of all is you can start anywhere. You might have just moved into a new area, or you may have lived in the same street all your life. It doesn't matter where you're at, you just have to start!

You might say, ‘oh that all sounds so basic, what could I possibly learn?' The book goes deeper into those often unchartered parts of neighbouring, thoughtfully addressing common barriers like time and fear, and even how to establish heathy boundaries while navigating through messy people issues.

The book showed me how to adjust my thinking to accommodate my neighbours. It helped me overcome the individualism that has become rampant in our culture. It also clarified the issue of motives when it comes to neighbouring (ultimate vs ulterior): "We don't love our neighbours to convert them; we love our neighbours because we are converted." Because we are simply called to love and serve our neighbours, good neighbouring is an end in itself. This is very freeing because it removes the front-door sales approach of evangelism and replaces it with an “open house” model of hospitality, service and availability.

There are countless benefits to good neighbouring, many of which my family and I have benefited from since moving to Springfield. We have even used the block map tool that helps with remembering names and details of people on your street. This, along with other practical resources are available here.

I highly recommend The Art of Neighboring to anyone serious about making a difference in the lives of people right next door. So why not give your theology some feet and add this resource to your missional library. Then put your love into action and see Jesus show up in the midst of it all.


NATHAN RULE IS MARRIED TO GEORGIE AND IS FATHER TO ISLA AND OLIVER. HE IS A TOWN PLANNER FOR THE QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT AND A MEMBER OF DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD.

What Are You Fighting For?

We are all fighting for something. Many of us may not always refer to it as fighting. You might call it working towards goals, chasing and fulfilling desires or gaining achievements. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t get competitive sometimes.

Dodson’s book Gospel Centered Discipleship explains how this fighting desire within all of us is something built into humanity. He challenges those who follow Jesus to remember that we are in a real battle, as we journey through life with Christ. “Believing the Gospel is not a one-time decision; it is an active, continual fight for faith in what God says is noble, true, and good.” {Page 58}

He addresses areas where many are fighting for the wrong things. Guys are often drawn to the “digital fight” – the world of video games. Women “generally fight to be unique, recognized, or beautiful.” {Both Page 52} Now these are just generalizations and regardless of gender anyone could be misdirected into making these things the primary fight in their life. All Christians are called to “fight to believe that Jesus is more precious, satisfying, and thrilling than anything else this world has to offer.” {Page 60}

So how do we begin to stand against these falsehoods (and many others) and enter combat gospel-style? Fight Club of course! Dodson introduces the idea of fight clubs and how they operate in the later chapters. It’s a small group of believers getting together to fight together, to be living more in the fullness of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. (Their church uses this as their one-to-one discipleship.) We can be challenging each other with gospel truth and working together to see our lives transformed towards the fullness of what they can be in Christ.

There are many ways that ‘discipleship’ can be intended for good but go awry. Common areas are dealt with here including religious accountability (discipleship reduced to rule keeping), religious performance (trying to earn salvation or working to impress God) and spiritual license (where grace is cheapened by sin being excused). Real discipleship needs to keep Jesus central in every way. We need to cling to His cross as we walk out our faith together. All these ‘fake’ forms of discipleship can be driven by or lead us into twisted motives in the process. The two chapters that address ‘gospel motivation’ and ‘gospel power’ (being the Holy Spirit) call us back to a place where through repentance and faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are able to fight for our hearts to be transformed to be more like Jesus’. These two chapters were real highlights for me.

The first chapter can be a little heavy going as Dodson argues for a relational style ministry, (where people are engaged personally rather than only through some sort of program) working through a major theological debate while doing so. My summary of the chapter is that we should be relational in our approach to evangelism and discipleship and that both require the gospel to be preached and applied for spiritual growth. If you’re finding it tough, start at chapter two. This is where it begins to be more practical and personal.

I think that this book will be a great blessing and challenge to anyone who reads it. So often even the term discipleship can bring great confusion. Many people define it in many different ways. Having a book like this, which can bring clarity to what discipleship should be, while also giving practical examples of both the “do’s” and “don’ts” that Dodson has learnt through years of experience, can be very helpful as we try to establish a culture of ‘following Jesus’ at DC. This has been our desire from day one – to make disciples who will make disciples. All the MCG leaders have worked through this material together, so we are all on the same page with leading people in Gospel Centered Discipleship. I also encourage those who are involved in discipling to work through it early on in the relationship. This will bring clarity to where you are headed and why we do what we do – the goal being to see believers living more out of the fullness of their new identities in Christ. “Gospel-centered discipleship is not about how we perform but who we are – imperfect people, clinging to a perfect Christ, being perfected by the Spirit.” {Page 18}


PASTOR ANTHONY SLIGAR IS ON STAFF AT DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD OVERSEEING DISCIPLESHIP AND MISSIONAL COMMUNITY GROUPS. HE IS MARRIED TO REBEKAH AND IS FATHER TO CALEB AND EZEKIEL.

The times we grow in our faith and maturity is when we are experiencing suffering and sacrifice.

I’m very sorry if that comes as a surprise and a disappointment to you. But, I wonder when you have thought it happens?

There are two times that I hear fairly regularly. The first is that you grow by increasing in knowledge that comes from study. The idea being that the more you know the more you will grow. The two will just automatically go together. The second time growth occurs is when you get an intervening “zap” of the Holy Spirit and you will just instantly go to another level of faith and maturity. Are either of these what you have thought and expected up till now?

I need to say at this point that acquiring more knowledge and having the Holy Spirit at work in your life are very good things, and absolutely essential in growing your faith and maturity. So don’t overlook them and please don’t hear me saying they are not important. The purpose of writing this little piece is that I want us all to realise that while these are great “tools” in the process of growth and maturity, there is also an “environment” for growth and maturity, and that environment almost always involves suffering and sacrifice.

But please don’t let that put you off. Keep reading :)

When you became a Christian, God gave you a new heart (Ezekiel 11: 19). Not a perfect heart (that will come in Heaven), but a heart that is now capable of change (2 Peter 1: 3). This is where the Holy Spirit does His work (Romans 8: 9). But not without any reference to your circumstances - your environment. In fact, it’s just the opposite - our great God uses His sovereign control of all things to allow us to be in environments where we have opportunities to grow in faith and maturity (Romans 8: 28).

The problem is, most of the time we are so ticked off when our environment is not to our liking that we are not looking for what God wants to do in us, we just become consumed with trying to find a way out.

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." [James 1: 2 - 4]

An example of this could be a health issue, financial stress, relational disharmony, work stress, or any number of circumstances we all find ourselves in from time to time.

All of the New Testament writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, are of one accord on this. God allows us to experience suffering because He knows that it is in this exact environment that we are tested and refined, and where we have the opportunity to repent of the sin that this experience has exposed in us.
 
Whether you recognise it or not, all day every day you are responding to circumstances. That’s your environment. The circumstances may be good and enjoyable, or they may be tough and almost unbearable. It is your heart that determines how you respond.

As I said before, most of the time our response is negative (blaming the circumstance for our bad reaction), and we busy ourselves seeking circumstantial change. In doing so, we ignore our hearts and the opportunity God is giving us to grow in faith and maturity.

But we need to see these moments for the opportunities they are.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." [Romans 5: 3 - 5]

And this is why we need to be in Christian community. We need our Christian brothers and sisters to remind us of this when we are suffering - not to be like Job's friends who only want to point to our sin - but to get along side us and encourage us to be looking at what God wants to do in us through that experience.

If we want to grow in faith and maturity, it is these experiences we must embrace so that the truth of God's Word, the grace of the Gospel, and the humbling comfort of the Holy Spirit will become real to us in that moment, and we might get on board with what the Lord is wanting to do in us.

And then there is sacrifice, which is kind of volunteer suffering.

This is where we intentionally give, go or endure something in the service of the Gospel mission of Jesus. Yep, it will be tough, uncomfortable, inconvenient and taxing, but there will be something else going on at the same time. The same blessings that come through suffering can also be experienced in sacrifice. You will be learning new things, finding new God-given reserves of patience and resilience, a greater appreciation for God’s grace to you, and the joy of seeing God at work in your life and in the lives of others.

For example, to care for someone means putting yourself out, giving of your time and perhaps some resources, but you get to show the love of God to another person. Or to disciple someone will probably mean laying aside something else you could have done so that you can invest in the spiritual growth of another person. It might be tough going, but God will be teaching you as much as He is working in them, even if you feel that progress is frustratingly slow. Or to share your faith with a not-yet-believer will nearly always involve the risk of rejection and perhaps persecution, but what joy when that person comes to saving faith!

Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for us, so, as His followers, we are called to follow the example of our Saviour (Philippians 2: 1 - 11) by being willing to do the same.

Friends, none of us are going to grow in faith and maturity if we do not embrace the opportunities offered to us through trials, suffering and sacrifice. As personal fitness trainers like to say, "no pain no gain," and it's the same in spiritual matters too (1 Corinthians 9: 25 - 26).
I long for, and pray regularly, that at Disciples Church we will see people growing in faith and maturity as we hold firm to everything we know to be true about our gracious God, applying those truths when we experience suffering, and when we choose sacrifice over comfort.


GREG GARDINER IS THE LEAD PASTOR OF DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD. HE AND HIS WIFE FIONA HAVE SIX CHILDREN, A GROWING NUMBER OF GRANDCHILDREN, AND LEAD ONE OF OUR MISSIONAL COMMUNITY GROUPS.

Christmas day has a lot to do with food.

In the lead up to Christmas, we spend a lot of time and money stocking the pantry with the food and drinks that we are going to devour on December 25. It's one of the things we look forward to at Christmas. You could even argue that, for some people, it is more important than giving and receiving presents!

Let's face it, we all like food. We not only need it to survive, but we take great delight in enjoying food we particularly like. And at Christmas, our eyes are often bigger than our bellies and we end up taking refuge on a lounge trying to let it all digest.

Food was also on the minds of the 5,000 - 10,000 people who gathered to listen to Jesus one day in the hills of Galilee. Jesus miraculously fed all of them just the day before with only five loaves of bread and two fish, and so they decided to go after Him to see if He might fill their bellies again.

You can read about this in John 6.

The response of Jesus was interesting. He told them that God had sent them bread from heaven, and that if they would feed on this bread then they would never hunger or thirst again. They were pretty excited about this prospect, until it became clear that Jesus was speaking metaphorically, and that the bread in the metaphor was actually Him!

Unlike the manna that came from Heaven to sustain the Israelites as they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years, Jesus is a spiritual food that comes down from Heaven to give eternal life.

"...anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever."

Many of the people who were listening to Jesus that day couldn't cope with this, and they turned away and deserted Him. The metaphor was lost on them. They simply wanted their bellies filled again, they didn't want all this talk about spirituality and eternal life.

There will be many people like that this Christmas - only really interested in food and having their bellies satisfied. But Christmas is about so much more than simply getting a belly full of nice food.

Christmas is an opportunity to celebrate the true food from Heaven - Jesus - the One who came down to solve our biggest problem: the sin that separates us from a righteous, holy God.
We feed on Jesus by looking to Him in faith, believing that His life, death and resurrection are the means of our salvation. His righteous life becomes ours through faith; His death on the cross becomes our sin debt paid in full; and His resurrection becomes our sure hope that we will follow Jesus into a glorious eternal life.

So, by all means, enjoy the turkey, ham, pudding and cake. But please know that this will only satisfy you for a few hours. Faith in Jesus, on the other hand, will satisfy forever, and is the greatest gift you can ever be given.


GREG GARDINER IS THE LEAD PASTOR OF DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD. HE AND HIS WIFE FIONA HAVE SIX CHILDREN, A GROWING NUMBER OF GRANDCHILDREN, AND LEAD ONE OF OUR MISSIONAL COMMUNITY GROUPS.

Why missional Christians should be neighbourhood leaders.

When Jesus told us to love our neighbours, he really meant it. Love, by all counts, is primarily an action. It should come then as no surprise to grasp that what marks true Christ followers is not right theology, modest speech or a moral lifestyle. Rather, it’s the measure of our love for one another that shows the world we are disciples of Jesus (John 13:35).

Being missional is a really basic concept. It simply means that wherever we are and whatever we do, we adopt the posture of a missionary. Missionaries are sent to a certain people in a certain context. Missional living, then, is about being sent to the people around you—your neighbours, your work colleagues—the people you do life with day in, day out. It's not about adding something else to your already busy schedule. It's about seeing where you're already deployed and thinking intentionally about how you can be a blessing to those in your sphere of influence. In this vein, life happens and you get to display and proclaim the Gospel (good news of Jesus) in the context of genuine relationships.

Missio dei

Missional Christians should pastor their streets, bless their neighbours, welcome the foreigner and engage their community with the good news. We are called to love, to serve and to bless others. Love, as Jay Pathan and Dave Runyon explain in their book Art of Neighboring, is an end to itself. Regardless of how people respond, our mission is to remain steadfast in reaching out and shining the light of God’s kingdom wherever we are.

We need not look on this as a burden but as a joy because the missio dei (Latin for God's mission) has already begun. We don't go out and start our own mission, as if God is somehow waiting for us to get our stuff together first. Rather, God invites us to partner with him in His story of redemption by joining him in His mission. We are His instruments; His ambassadors sent into a foreign land to represent the King.

Here are six simple ways to help you become a neighbourhood leader.

1. Throw a neighbourhood party

The hardest part about this is getting past the awkwardness of meeting people for the very first time. My wife and I have made an annual tradition out of a neighbourhood Christmas BBQ party. We are always pleasantly surprised with the high amount of interest coming from people who were totally unknown to us. We walk our street handing out invitations and talking to people we either hadn't had a conversation with yet, or those we have gotten to know quite well. Many came, even those who we thought wouldn't. It was a good time to celebrate (over food), to connect with people and to listen to their stories. We see this as an opportunity for our family to be a beacon of light in our street and to see the people living closest to us get to know each other better.

2. Invite people into your home

I genuinely believe the apologetic of our day is authenticity. And one of the best ways to show hospitality is to be vulnerable enough with your personal space by inviting people to “enter in” to your life. Being generous in this area helps us imitate Jesus and humbles our hearts to see the kingdom come right in our very homes. Don't make your abode such a place that only you get to enjoy it. Get out of the comfort zone and enter the faith zone so that your place of residence becomes a place for ministry.

3. Join a local group

Connecting with people who share a common interest is a great starting point for meaningful relationships. This could be a health and fitness group, a sporting team, or some other kind of thing that draws people together. You’ll be surprise what you can find through a simple online search if you do a little research in your local area. The Greater Springfield area is dotted with all kinds of groups just waiting to be accessed. And if there isn't a local group for what you're into, why not start one yourself. People will generally show up to stuff if it is well organised and decent enough for there to be a sense of meaning and people to connect with.

4. Hang out at the same places

This practice can have great benefit if you do it consistently well. Slow down, observe, listen. Who are the same people you tend to see day in, day out? Learn their names. Learn their story. Weave yourself into the fabric of your local neighbourhood so that people recognise you as being an integral part of it. This could be a park you regularly take your kids to, a cafe you’re often at or even a public transit stop. Wherever people congregate, it is an opportunity to know and be known to people.

5. Survey your street

By this I don't mean going door to door selling the Gospel. Sure, people need it but as messengers we do not want to make our methods a stumbling block to anyone. Instead, simply be present in your street. Be in the front yard. Walk along your footpath at different times during the day. Begin to notice things. What kind of people live near you? Where do they work? Where are they going? All this information helps you understand the needs of the people you intend to reach.

6. Leave room for margin

This mightn't sound like much, but it could make all the difference in being available for the Holy Spirit to use you.  The Good Samaritan was no doubt on his way somewhere else, but the details that made him famous was the story of his interruption. Don't cram your life so tight that you’re bursting at the seams, but leave time especially for interruptions - to lend a hand to people in need, to talk to your neighbours out front.

I’ve found the BLESS acronym incredibly helpful as a way of thinking about how I can normalise mission in my own life. I hope it helps you to be a blessing to others (Genesis 12:2-3).

  B - Begin with prayer
  L - Listen
  E - Eat
  S - Service
  S - Story

First, talk to God about your neighbour, before you talk to your neighbour about God. Be praying for your neighbours, often. Pray for them by name. Ask God to open pathways into their lives. Introduce yourself to them. Invite them into your house and listen to their story over a meal. Work out how you can best meet their current needs; their daily struggles. And as you develop a genuine relationship with them, through love and compassion, show them how their story fits into God's story and point them to the main person in that story—Jesus. At all times, we’re either proclaiming or displaying the Good News about Jesus.

Jesus saves us, changes us and calls us into his mission. It will cost you a good deal of vulnerability but the results are totally worth it! So go on, be a leader in your neighbourhood. Get amongst the lost people around you and see Jesus show up!


NATHAN RULE ALONG WITH HIS WIFE GEORGIE, SERVES AS A MISSIONAL COMMUNITY GROUP LEADER AT DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD.

It’s that time of year. There’s a tangible buzz in the atmosphere, almost as thick as the sweat on our brows, the flies on our food and the sound of three chord choruses gracing our shopping centres.

The chocolates in advent calendars are disappearing, as are the hardened layers from the Grinch-like hearts amongst us, revealing a warm, fuzzy, nonsensical sentiment. How could anyone resist the lure of eating when full, the warzone-like carparks, or those lame one-liners found within our Christmas crackers? There’s so much ‘Christmas cheer’ to be found in the flashing little lights that creep through our blinds when we’re trying to sleep at night and so much ‘elegance’ in those dangly earrings that never should’ve left the Christmas tree to begin with. Albeit, Christmas is a wonderful time to celebrate the birth of our Saviour with family and friends.

There is nothing wrong with all that ‘silly season’ stuff, but for me, most things this time of year don’t really make a great deal of sense. However, this year, something happened in amongst the craziness that grounded me in purpose. It was during the Operation Christmas Child Project run by Samaritan’s Purse. There was a specific moment where the light bulb inside my disorientated little heart lit right up. I was driving my tiny two-door car, filled to the brim with over 80 little shoebox presents blocking my rear and side view. I felt like the tightly packed pressure could’ve caused my doors to burst right off their hinges, like some giant Christmas piñata. I remember being concerned by the possibility of getting pulled over – but giggling at the excuse I’d have to give police when I explained that I really was just a modern day “Mother-Clause”.

It was that “thrill of the drive” and feeling like I was part of something much bigger than me that made me excited. That drop off, of over 80 boxes was just a tiny fraction of a total of more than 322,000 boxes processed this year! Each and every box signified one person/family who chose to give and more than that, each and every box represented one more child receiving a gift this Christmas and experiencing the hope of not being forgotten. I felt great happiness and I shared in the joy that all those in my church felt. I’d mistakenly ordered just 50 boxes for those in the congregation that might want to give. After just the morning service, we had none left! I’d underestimated how contagious the joy of giving would be and I quickly had to work out a way to find more! People saw an opportunity to cut through the fog of Christmas consumerism and do something totally culturally abrasive, and give. Not just give, as in clicking the “donate” button on a website (also good), but actually thinking about, physically planning, purchasing, packing and giving a gift to a child.

Parents also took the rare opportunity to engage with their children about the context of the giving. That is, chatted to their little ones about us having far more than we could ever need and that there are others with less – not just less, but far less. Children individually, considered and handpicked items for another child their age, placed each item carefully in its gift box… and gave to that child the only gift they would receive this year. It was the best opportunity to lift the blindfold and connect, to look through a tangible channel to those just like us, outside our country, and directly and personally touch their lives and in turn have our lives touched as well.

Ongoing aide and shoeboxes this year are being delivered to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji, PNG, India, Iraq, Philippines and Nepal (and potentially a few others too). What a beautiful thing to be part of an international community and not just in a network kind of way, but in the sense of being ‘One Body’ too. In predominantly Christian countries, like Samoa and PNG, we’re able to bless and build up our brothers and sisters in Christ who simply have less. In countries where Christians are persecuted, we’re able to relieve some of the despair and bring joy and a reminder of God’s love. Last year, Christian families (Yazidis), were surrounded by ISIS on top of Mount Sinjar with no food and very little water. Someone from Operation Christmas Child came with a leader from the Middle East who shared a Bible story and taught the children a song before gift-filled shoeboxes were passed out.

In countries where few know Christ, for example Cambodia and Thailand, where over 160 000 boxes were delivered to a population where 1% identify as Christians, we’re able to bring joy and the message of hope. The boxes are often delivered firstly to local Christian churches where the community then meets up for the distribution. What a wonderful way to join in the mission of Christ, partnering with believers who have hearts for their communities. Pastor Batzorig, in Mongolia, recalls the brutal winter of 2010 that left families stripped of livestock, without food and completely lost. Samaritan’s Purse came with emergency food, clothing, and medical aide and started a livestock recovery program. Over time, the families began to ask the Pastor about this “Jesus” who had brought Samaritan’s Purse to help them. In India, Samir, a seven year old said that, “I learned that Jesus loves me. After I received the gift I started coming to the church and my parents started coming with me”. Stories like this are endless and testimony to Jesus using this project to reach and love the least of these.

What I can’t wrap my head around is that something that’s often brushed off as a, ‘just something churches do each year activity’ actually means so much and is used for far greater good than we could’ve first anticipated. It costs but some time, a small fraction of money spent at the local ‘cheapie’ shop and $9 worth of postage. Yet the enormity of the blessing to the child, family and community that receives it, is monumental. Really, we are truly the ones who are blessed by this project. The opportunity to take part in such Kingdom Work, where cultures collide, the international body of Christ works as one, and the ‘least of these’ are blessed with love and hope, is an opportunity that should have us bursting with the desire to take part again and again.

In their despair, poverty and potentially, their hopelessness, they receive a free and undeserved gift of love. What a beautiful platform to bring the message of Jesus, who came to us in our despair, went to the cross, and gave us hope through the undeserved gift of eternal life. As they say at Samaritan's Purse, “Great Joy – Good News”!


JENNA CERA IS AN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST, WIFE OF JARED AND MEMBER OF DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD. SHE CO-ORDINATED DC'S INAUGURAL INVOLVEMENT IN OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD, AN INITIATIVE OF SAMARITAN'S PURSE.

I have often been asked by people how to make decisions. They have reached a particular cross-roads and they've almost become paralysed by a paranoia that they will make the wrong decision or a decision that is "not what God wants" for them. Maybe that's you right now.

We'd all like a burning bush experience like Moses had, where God told him very plainly what He wanted him to do. Exodus 3: 4 But we're not Moses, so we look to God's Word for a general theology of decision making.

To help give some framework for the decision making process, what I generally do is talk through five questions designed to coalesce a person's thinking into an obvious way forward. Here are the questions:

1. Is what you are considering sinful?

At first glance this might sound a bit simple or even patronising. However, I think there are a number of good reasons to start with this admittedly basic question.

Firstly, it can actually be helpful to realise that what is being considered is NOT sinful. In other words, recognising that a good thing is actually a good thing and not a bad thing.

Secondly, while something might be a good thing in and of itself, your decision to do that thing may have a detrimental effect on someone else (maybe a spouse or children), and it may indeed be a sin for you to do that thing because it would transgress responsibilities you may have as a husband, wife, parent, child, fellow-christian and so forth.

If something is not sinful, then we have great liberty to exercise our minds and use Godly prudence to determine a way forward.

Here's an example of how to work through this question:

Question: Should I rob a bank? Answer: No, that would be a sin. Exodus 20: 15

Question: Should I donate my wage this week to an orphanage in a third world country? Answer: Maybe. Further Questions: Have I responsibilities to a spouse and children that I need to take care of first? Do I have a loan repayment due this week that I will default on if I give this money away to this good cause?

2. Do you really want to do it?

When faced with their God-given assignments I'm sure Moses, Jonah and probably most of the prophets would have answered "no" to this question. Exodus 3: 11 But the reason for asking this question is to investigate the issue of conviction. Ultimately Moses, Jonah and the prophets reached a point where they were convicted about the task they were assigned to do. This sort of conviction leads to a passion for the task that will carry you through when times get hard (as they inevitably will). If you approach something with half-heartedness, then it may not be the thing for you.

So, are you really convicted that this is something you must do, or are you just feeling pressured into it (by someone other than God)?

You need to reach a point where your longing to do (whatever it is) is born out of a firm conviction that this is what you truly believe God would have you do. One way of determining this is to consider whether you would feel like you were being disobedient if you didn't do it?

3. Can you do it?

Do you have the gifting, training and possibly the experience to do that which you are considering doing? Are you qualified? Ephesians 4: 7 You just can't wake up one morning and decide "I think I'll do some brain surgery today." Remember, you're not Moses. God may choose to supernaturally gift you for a task, but He ususally works through ordinary, natural means. So, you must humbly ask yourself, "Am I competent to do this?"

4. What is the counsel of others?

It is always good to seek out the advice of others. Family, friends, godly people you admire and respect. What do they think? Galatians 2: 9 Do they think this would be a good decision for you? Do they think that this thing being considered is right for you? Do they believe you have the gift, capacity, availability (insert whatever is relevant to the decision in question) to do this? Proverbs 20: 18

5. Are the doors opening?

Usually, if the decision you are having to make is one of those 'big life decisions' then another factor to consider is whether the opportunities and circumstances exist to allow you to do what you are considering. Is God providing the resources? Is the way blocked somehow? Romans 1: 13 Usually, this is the toughest question to answer, because often, things don't happen according to the time plan we've mapped out in our heads. And then when our plan doesn't run to schedule we interpret that as God saying "no" rather than God saying "not yet." Let's be clear, sometimes a shut door is God's way of saying "no." The correct attitude, I believe, is to move forward when the doors open, and in the meantime be patient, be ready, and abide in God's timing for when to proceed.

A word of caution

Don't just use one of the above questions as justification to race off and do whatever. You need a positive answer to each of these questions (not just one) before you finalise your decision and move forward. I have seen a number of people move forward because they have felt convicted that that is what God wanted them to do, and yet the counsel from godly people was either "no" or "wait," and the doors certainly were not opening in a favourable way. And the result was failure, disappointment, and, in some cases, a crisis of faith.

Of course there are always exceptions to the rule - people who have stood against all kinds of odds and prevailed. And there are those who found favourable outcomes to all the above questions and things still did not go the way they wanted or envisioned. This is where we submit to the sovereignty of God in our lives and to humbly glorify Him in our successes and failures.

What if you make the wrong decision?

We can, and often do, make the wrong decision. Gladly, I can reassure you that God does not. He is in control and He will use even your poor choices to mould, shape and transform you into the likeness of His Son. When it becomes obvious that you have made a poor decision, call it for what it is. Be humble. Be repentant. Confess to any person you have wronged (starting with the Lord) and seek their forgiveness. Learn from your mistake and use it to help others to avoid doing the same thing. Ultimately, trust in God to work things out for good. Romans 8: 28

Prayer

Before, during and after considering these five questions - be in prayer. Philippians 4: 6 Commit the decision you are making to God and ask Him to guide you in your deliberations, to reveal what you cannot see, to keep you humble, and to help you trust in Him for outcomes that will bring glory to Him.

May God bless you as you seek to make wise decisions about your future.


GREG GARDINER IS THE LEAD PASTOR OF DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD.

Vogue magazine. Skinny jeans. Designer sunglasses. It’s easy to see that Australian society is obsessed with fashion. To look good in the image of celebrities is to mark yourself as a modern individual, right?

Fashion has always intrigued me. I've often wondered if there is any limit to the combination of colours, styles and patterns that can ‘go' together. But is a keen interest in fashion a worthwhile exercise or just an endless episode of wind-chasing?

Here are seven things to keep in mind when you start to feel a little trendy-anxious about your wardrobe.

1. Fashion is an ever-revolving door of in and out.
Wedding photographs of my father suggest that what is fashionable now will not be later. Heck, I even remember when Hypercolor t-shirts were the cool thing to have! Fashion marketing campaigners know that trends come and go—Orange is the new black... this week. So many of us seem to have caught hipster-phobia (the fear of being left behind in the fashion stakes); that as soon as a new season dawns, we rush out to our favourite Myer or H&M to secure the necessary accessories we must to feel at peace with the world. No wonder my fashion sense leaves me a little dizzy at times. Without the help of my fashion advisor (aka wife), I’d probably get stuck in the turnstile.

2. Fashion has to do solely with the outward appearance.
Fashion is all about how others see us. And if we believe that others see us in a good light, we feel better about ourselves. Image, so it appears, is everything. But that’s just it. Fashion has to do with the outside of our lives—the way we want others to see us. We can change what we wear at the drop of a hat. Now I know plenty of us seem quite pleased that we do change our appearance, lest our wardrobes become a storehouse for dust and boredom. This is commendable, but it is not ultimate. It is not the problem. While man looks at the outward appearance, God looks to the heart.

3. Fashion is a reminder that we’re not what we once were.
We weren’t always fixated on how we look. After all, our first parents were naked and without shame. It was only after they rebelled against their creator that they suddenly became aware of their nakedness. It was only after they disobeyed that single command that they tried to hide their mistake. God even provided the first piece of clothing—skins from an animal—to cover them. And human beings have been covering up since. See that’s all clothing does. It's only when we de-robe that we see ourselves for what we really are. Our problem has never been with the outside; it’s always been a problem of the heart. And no matter how many dresses or jeans or handbags or shoes we have in our collection, none of it will ever change us. We don’t need to keep changing the outside, we need to go inside.

4. Some things don’t go out of fashion.
Enter Jesus. Here was a man that was radically counter-cultural. Not in what he wore or how he looked, but it was his ideas and his words that drew crowds from near and far. There was something profoundly authentic about the way he loved. He was real. Jesus was a trend-setter but for another reason. The Bible tells us that Jesus doesn’t change. That’s surely comfort for those who need an anchor for their soul! When the winds of fashion blow back and forth, there’s a place for our hearts to rest—away from the many things that take our Pinterest.

5. Follow Jesus, not Versace
Following Jesus today isn’t really in fashion. There was a time in our culture when it was, but it is not now. His first followers didn’t do so because it was trendy. Jesus said things like, “Take up your cross and follow me” and “Whoever wants to find his life must lose it". Saying things like that isn’t very fashionable. They’re actually pretty hard to do. But Jesus isn’t interested in scoring brownie points. He didn’t care what the religious leaders of the day thought about him. He was interested in the things that are unseen— things like how we love and the condition of our hearts. He simply says, “Come, follow me”. Come as you are. Just as you are. I will make something beautiful out of you.

6. Jesus clothes us
When we follow Jesus, he places a cloak of righteousness on us (Isaiah 61:10). That means that when God sees us, he sees us with Jesus’ perfect record. That’s a pretty awesome robe to wear! And that robe matters so much because the very one who freely gives it, was himself stripped and publicly humiliated. His clothes divided up just for fun. And then he hung on a piece of wood for a crime he didn’t commit. But don’t bother to check the price tag of that robe, it's totally out of our reach. But because of how awesome God is, he simply hands them out for free to people who seek him. We call that grace.

7. We are fashioned in His image.
It doesn’t stop there, He just keeps on giving! 2 Corinthians 5:5 says, “Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” We don’t just get to wear that robe for free. Do you not know that one day all who believe in Jesus will be clothed in a heavenly dwelling? As long as we’re still wearing our earth-suits, we’ll have a longing to be with Jesus forever. But our forever home is not here; it is in heaven where God lives. He cares for you more than you could imagine (1 Pet 5:7) and has promised us an eternal future with new bodies (2 Cor 5:1).

So for all the fashionistas out there feeling worried about how you look and if your friends will like you, remember that your wardrobe is not what really matters. The freedom that God gives far outweighs any fleeting feeling that wearing a label will bring you. He has already woven his plan into the fabric of history and he is saving a people for himself that on one day we will see him with unveiled face. And that’s much more exciting than next season’s catalogue!

The devil may wear Prada, but that’s nothing compared to what God has in store.

 
NATHAN RULE IS MARRIED TO GEORGIE AND IS THE FATHER OF ISLA. HE IS A TOWN PLANNER FOR THE QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT AND A MEMBER OF DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD.

We naturally build friendships with (and are drawn to) those in our life who share the same interests or are like us. We want to be able to share, connect and engage with people who understand us and affirm our choices in life. It makes us feel good and fills our deep desire to belong.

But my experience tells me that people change, and consequently, interests change too. When that primary school friend in our soccer team stopped playing soccer, we stopped playing friends. Just because we are adults doesn't mean we are less fickle. When that friend has a baby, changes jobs or moves away, we have less to talk about and 'drift' apart.

This is scary because we are building friendships on the foundation of similarities. When friends become less interested in our hobbies, or more specifically - less like us, the very reason for being friends in the first place becomes void. Like supermarket food, friendships expire. We should all have a label that reads, 'Best before differences'.

Unfortunately, I am no stranger to friendships expiring. All of my fingers and toes couldn't count the amount of friendships I have had that have not only expired but gone sour too. It is painful, and devastating. The friendships that drift away seem like a drizzle of rain compared to the thunderstorm of heartache that accompanies those friendships that have people (at either end!) change.

The irony is that we base a deep desire to belong, on a shallow need to be liked. Then, because we surround ourselves with people who are just like us, we spend our time doing the same things with the same people.

So, there I was. On top of a tower of crates stacked 12 high with a harness and bungee cord strapped between two trees in the park - as far removed from my theatrical lifestyle as possible - wondering why it was that I was enjoying myself so much. And then I look down to see a group of my closest friends. A group of people who want to share life with me, and yet barely have anything in common with me. A group of friends who really understand me, and yet don't understand what a pas de bouree is. A group of friends who - for the first time in my life - I honestly adore doing life with. And in the diversity of this group of friends lies the answer to the paradox of having real and lasting friendships…

Jesus.

You see, we are not gathered around a temporary fad or fashion that will be here one day and gone the next, taking our friendships with it. Instead, we are gathered at the foot of the cross, with our eyes fixed on the eternal, here-for-always, never fading, author of salvation - Jesus Christ. Only here do we have the opportunity to stand next to those who are doing the same, but are not the same.

As I fall from the tower of crates, caught by the harness, I realise that these friendships can't fall or fade, because the fact that we are sinners saved by grace will never change. We can be as contrasting as God created us to be and celebrate doing life together because it is not about who likes us or how that person can fulfil our deep desire to belong.

Instead, it's about Jesus. The desire to be affirmed in a friendship is replaced by the affirmation he gave us at the cross. This removes the focus from myself, and shifts it to a focus on Him.
Also, we belong to Christ who purchased us with His life, so the deep desire to belong has already been made perfect in Him. This makes us brothers and sisters in Christ, which elevates these friendships to that of family.

The best part of all is that the imperfect yet glorious friendships we have now may fluctuate in intensity, but they won't ever expire because they are only a shadow of the incredible community we will experience for the rest of eternity...

There's gonna need to be a lot of crates!
 
CALLUM MANSFIELD IS HUSBAND TO JASMINE, FATHER TO THEO, A PROFESSIONAL CHOREOGRAPHER, MEMBER OF DISCIPLES CHURCH SPRINGFIELD AND FOLLOWER OF JESUS.

I am troubled by what I think is a wrong pastoral focus. There seems to be an attitude that as long as people attend all the events that a church runs and they grow in their knowledge of the Bible and theology generally, that all should be well. I am familiar with this because that is how I used to think.

Churches used to refer to their ministry staff as ministers. These days it’s more common to think of ministers as politicians who’ve been given the responsibility of a particular portfolio - Minister for Education, for Police, for Health and so forth. Changing titles from minister to pastor is fine, as long as we don’t lose sight of the function a pastor has as a minister of the Gospel. In fact, Scripture says ministering the Gospel to one another is something that all Christians should be doing (Hebrews 10: 24-25), and pastors should be equipping their people to do this (Ephesians 4: 12).

I recall a story from David Cook, former Principal of the Sydney Missionary Bible College, where he spoke of parking in the doctors’ car park when doing hospital visits. If ever anyone questioned his practice (which they didn’t) he had a rehearsed response that would inform them that he was a doctor of peoples’ souls.

The Bible uses a few different terms to refer to the inner you - words such as soul, heart, spirit… Jesus told Nicodemus that without a work of the Holy Spirit on a person’s heart it remains spiritually dead (John 3: 3 - 8). That’s the difference between someone who is a Christian and someone who is not - their heart, soul, spirit has been regenerated, made alive - a gracious work of God’s Holy Spirit. A regenerated soul can understand Gospel truth and believe in the person and work of Jesus. A regenerated soul is where the Holy Spirit resides and does His work of empowering a person to live as a slave to righteousness.

The Apostle Paul says a person with a regenerated heart can now have a renewed mind and therefore can be totally transformed as a person into the image and likeness of the Saviour, Jesus (Romans 12: 2).

That’s the goal - transformation. A transformation that comes about as Gospel truths are applied to our souls, allowing us to think differently and act differently.

As ministers of the Gospel, this is what we should be striving to see in people. And to do this, we need to minister the Gospel to people’s hearts (Matthew 12: 35). This takes more than sharing knowledge in a weekly bible study or class. It means getting alongside people and encouraging, training, rebuking, showing and exhorting them toward this Gospel empowered transformation. At Disciples Church Springfield, we’ve found this happens most productively in intentional one-to-one discipleship.

All this effects how we evaluate maturity. Pastor David Cunningham enlightened me on this (check out his sermon here). If we consider someone is a mature Christian because they come to every church event and they have heaps of bible knowledge, then we’ve missed the mark. These things are good, but real maturity comes from a life lived seeing the transformative effects of the Gospel taking place and the fruit of this transformation (Galatians 5: 22-23) on display for all to see. We do people a gross disservice when we cultivate a culture in our churches where the thing we applaud the most is event attendance. It breeds complacent, shallow Christianity, and our churches suffer as a result.

This is why I am troubled. In so many ways, pastors have become event managers and not soul doctors. And many Christians do not live in the power of the Holy Spirit, instead they resort often to old sinful nature habits (Romans 8: 12-14) and console themselves with the thought that God’s grace and forgiveness makes everything all right in the end.

Event management is easier than the hard slog of Gospel ministry, which is why this is a hard rut to get out of. However, the outcomes are wonderfully worth it. My prayer for Disciples Church is that we will establish a culture where we are ministering the Gospel to one another’s souls in the day to day of every week, and as we apply ourselves faithfully to this task, we will see people not only brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, but totally transformed to reflect the new identity they have in Christ.

Give God the glory,

Greg Gardiner.