Many readers are well aware of the Asbury Revival Event in recent times, essentially the meeting held in a Methodist College failed to end, people simply didn’t leave and remained in the meeting, singing, sharing the Word, repeatedly attending prayer at the the altar and on its gone. People from local areas and really all around the country have begun pouring in and joining in.
It is important to note that this Revival has begun in a Traditional Methodist Church that desperately needed it. Methodists today may have dim memories of when this type of meeting happened in the past, yet all to often in Methodist churches, Politics has long since taken over and the club mentality has well and truly become embedded in its church culture. Yet Methodism was born in a Revival movement not unlike what we have seen happen at Asbury and its a part of its DNA to worship in this way, despite the various attempts to snuff the flame out over the years.
The sad truth though is that many churches and possibly your own sit in a position today where the flame has either gone out completely or is well on the way to being snuffed out. Many churches are little more than clubs who consider the final words of Jesus Christ to the church, ‘to go and tell the world that I live’ to simply be a joke or something that is for someone else or perhaps the leadership of the denomination to go and do.
Jesus warns us in Matthew 25 1-13 to bring enough oil in our lamps as we await His return, many have a lamp whose oil is low or gone altogether and it becomes painfully obvious when we meet people like that. Yet its important to realise that there is also hope given, that people can refill their lamp with oil and be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit as is happening at Asbury.
The sad fact is there is plenty that your Pastor would like to say to your congregation in the weekly sermon, but the sadly many Pastors do not feel that they can actually say what they would really like to say in a sermon because of the offence that is caused when various people in the congregation hear things that challenge them and do not like it and then turn on the Pastor accordingly.
Your Pastor wants you to wake up and be revived by the Holy Spirit. Your Pastor would love you not to be constantly dependant on them and drinking mothers milk as opposed to serving real food yourself. Instead of complaining that the best days of your church were in the past, it would be great if you might actually get motivated to serve in your church and to enable its ministry to actually go outside of its walls and into the community.
Asbury hasn’t stopped meeting, yet for many mainline churches we cannot meet more than once a week. we’ve created traditions and allowed them to choke the life out of our churches to the point where the only baptisms occur from family members of existing families in the church. Its time to break those shackles and get back to what matters.
What God is showing us is that the revival that needs to happen needs to begin in each of us first, we need to rediscover our passion for preaching the Gospel to the lost and being on fire for Jesus like never before and seeing the power of Christ in us affect those around us because of the change that He has made in our own hearts and lives.
How much would it change your life and your church if at the end of the weekly service, suddenly people didn’t want to stop and wanted to keep sitting under the preaching of the word, singing praise and getting their lives right with God at the altar if your church still has one? Imagine it being 10 days in and still no sign of ending with people from all over pouring into your church and encountering Jesus Christ and receiving the revelation of who He really is..
Jesus Christ can break those shackles away from you and your church. – Your churches best days can really be in front of it not behind it. Get emboldened in Jesus and the revelation of who He really is and allow Him to really change your life forever.
Its been announced this week that Puffin Press, publishers of the popular Road Dahl series of books are bringing them in for a “ReWrite”….
Essentially any passages that relate to Gender, Weight, Mental Health and Race were Rewritten. For example, Augustus Gloop in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ is now “Enormous” rather than “Enormously Fat”, in “The Witches” A Supernatural Female working as a Cashier in a Supermarket” is now working as a “Top Scientist” or “Running a Business” and it goes on accordingly.
Its important to note that this Censorship which is very much Absurd Censorship originates in Left Wing Political Theology. In this case an organisation called “Inclusive Minds”, a ‘collective’ who say they work to make children’s literature more ‘inclusive’ and ‘accessible”..
Throughout history The Socialist / Communist / Political Left have sought to Ban and to Burn Books. Hitler and the NAZI Party, Chairman Mao, Pol Pot, the Current Chinese Communist Party have all indulged in Banning Books, Banning Freedom of Speech and Controlling peoples lives in any way possible.
The Current Chinese Communist Government only permit their version of the New Testament to be distributed which they have heavily edited rewritten and added to. In the story of the woman caught in Adultery thrown at Jesus feet for example, the actual text says that it ended with Jesus saying “neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”. In the Chinese Communist version it says “Yet it is impossible for anyone to be without sin, so I shall cast the first stone”… All completely false.
George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) had a number of insights into the future that he published, amongst them is this, “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute”.
George Orwell had insight for good reason, before becoming an author he had been a soldier in the Spanish Civil War and had his eyes opened to what his colleagues did in terms of viciously torturing and murdering prisoners and minorities all in the name of Socialism. Later Orwell who was held up by the left as someone who was anti religion actually attended the Christian Churches of the Karen Minority in his service in Burma and got a first hand understanding of what Christians are subjected to in terms of being persecuted for the faith and their freedom to practice Christianity. What happened in Spain happened in Burma and now modern China.
The blunt fact is that the Political Left openly want to control what you say and who you say it to. By ‘Cancelling” people, by making laws that force people to use their chosen words and pro-nouns. The idea is that they will rewrite your story and rewrite your history for their own financial gain inclusive of wealth and power.
Still cancelling people and pushing wokeness isn’t working out so well for the Political Left. Jordan Peterson is now more popular than ever. Christianity is still the fastest growing religion in the world and yet its left wing Liberal and Unitarian congregations that are plummeting the fastest in number. The Socialist Left make all the promises in the world yet cannot keep any of them and when challenged they immediately try to shift the blame or attack other Leftist Socialists with the suggestion that they are “doing it wrong”. Companies Like Gillette that push wokeness and political correctness have seen their profit margins fall quite dramatically as people leave their products on the shelves and walk away.
Absolutely no one will ever get to control what I decide I want to read or what I wish to say. I value freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of association. I value my Christian Faith and I’ll never submit it to Government or any Socialist group that wants to rewrite it as they wish to do with Roald Dahl. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” I’m not ashamed to confess to you that Jesus Christ is absolutely the ‘only’ way, to the exclusion of all other religions including Atheism.
Roald Dahl has written nothing in his books for children that calls for Censorship or being Rewritten. I encourage you to reject that outright and to continue to support Roald Dahl in his original work. Should you be interested, Roald Dahl also wrote some brilliant collections of short stories for Adults, they are well worth a look along with the rest of his work in spite of what the Labor / Green / Democrat / Communist Parties think.
As you read your newsfeed this morning no doubt you will be offered yet another article on the benefits of owning an E.V or how E.V’s are the future and you should rush out and get one now. Articles along these lines are flooding peoples feeds right now, primarily because the content is being paid for by the manufacturers or political groups or their influencers and often made to look like ‘news’ articles.
So i’d like to try and inject some shock horror, “Common Sense.,” into the discussion right here,
First and foremost, the number one reason why EV’s aren’t ‘taking over’ and won’t be for a very long time is simply the massive premium that is being charged on the purchase price and what kind of basic model car you actually get for your 90 odd thousand dollars, and then also the outlay required into the thousands of dollars for the correct charging equipment. The blunt fact is that Electric Cars arent even close to the ball park figure that it costs to purchase a Toyota Camry or any other popular selling vehicle. As a rough guide, an EV that offers the same size and similar specifications to a Toyota Camry will run into well over double the purchase price excluding the costs of the charging equipment and none of that is remotely unusual or unrealistic,
I had a friend who was keen to buy a DVD player when they first came out, so he paid out over $1200 for one that does less than one that costs $49 in Kmart today. Similar stories can be told about the first large flatscreen TV’s or Curved Screen TV’s / Monitors or any other new technology released. Because what happens is the item owes the companies initially a massive amount of Research and Development costs, the people that are wealthy enough to pay for those items first pay the bulk of that cost, enabling the companies to continue manufacturing the items and the cycle repeats. the manufacture of EV’s and Batteries is absolutely no difference here whatsoever. Governments are well aware of this fact and its why they don’t wish to subsidise them unless they think they can use that as a strategy to buy votes with,
Research and Development on EV’s is going to be continuing for quite some time yet and this will always be reflected in the cost price. Its determined that other sources than Lithium are needed to create the batteries and it needs to be invented in a mass produced model for some while to recoup those costs. Not simply just the battery, but its fast charging capacity, software and the capacity of the EV in general.
Many articles will discuss range, the problems of driving at speed and recharging in rural areas with networks not set up yet, but really those are all points that don’t make a great deal of difference because the actual point that isn’t being addressed is the cost prohibitive and unrealistic purchase price of the EV in the first place.
Most millionaires traditionally buy second hand cars and people that wish to make positive cash flow generally don’t take loans out on assets that depreciate, considering that a replacement EV battery costs more than buying the vehicle a second time, its going to be a difficult sell second hand when you still expect to get above the asking price of a brand new ICE Vehicle..
Into the future, if the technology does develop and answers to reduce costs are found then its likely that the cost of an EV will drop considerably. Until then however its the domain of the wealthy or those who still live their lives influenced by the media and do as they are directed to do so by the media.
Ev’s are certainly an interesting concept, they really are however just nothing close to reality yet for the majority.
As the world is painfully well aware, 360 days ago, essentially a year ago, Russian troops began their entry into the neighbouring nation of Ukraine. A brutal and bloody war quickly broke out and sadly its no closer to being resolved today than it was then.
Initially the response from churches of all descriptions was an overwhelming one. The war in Ukraine dominated prayer time as churches prayed for God to end this war quickly and to bring justice into this situation. Some churches held special prayer meetings, funds to help Ukrainian refugees were raised and different Para Church Organisations began distributing those funds and establishing workers into the local field or in neighbouring nations to Ukraine.
Yet no real resolutions seemed to be forthcoming, the media continued to cover the war in detail, yet over time as enthusiasm leaks in general for people, so to did the enthusiasm for being the helpers in the war in Ukraine. This is no real negative reflection however on churches in general, the simple fact is that often when a church begins a new group or ministry it can begin with great enthusiasm only to fall back later on as new things happen in the life of that church. Its for that reason that the only people that really should run any group or ministry in the church are those who are sure they really are called to that ministry or group by God and that its not simply something to do to help out.
Over time then the Political Left and whose actions include their colleagues in the Christian Left began to emerge. It was announced that the nation of Israel were taking Ukrainian people in with Jewish ancestry and a further 20 000 Ukrainian Refugees that had no Jewish ancestry. This sent various political left sites into meltdown as accusations were quickly made that these Ukrainian Refugees were being used to bolster the population of Israel and that their presence in Israel was a bad thing for the Palestinian people who live in Israel and the surrounding areas. Articles were printed trying to attack any Ukrainian Refugee that said anything positive about Zionism or expressed gratitude to the Jewish nation for sheltering them.
Yet what I really began to notice was the lack of protests from the Political Christian Left as they did during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars….
What has happened to all the stop the war marches and the various marches for peace that were held then, but not now?
The bulk of what comes out of the Christian Left today is either Outright Silence or Encouragement of Western Governments to supply Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Artillery, Tanks, Drones and Ammunition to Ukraine and to assist Ukraine to kill as many enemy combatants as they can in order to ‘win’ this war.
Its easy for all of us to think of war in its physical terms like this. this is how when the media these days ever has a story on Ukraine that its delivered.
Yet its important to ask the Political Christian Left what has actually happened to their views on Pacifism that they so desperately wished to impose on everyone else in terms of gun control and nuclear disarmament to name simply two issues?
It appears that many on the Christian Left have forgotten entirely what Pacifism is and why they once protested about the war in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan yet today have no real interest in protesting this war. Vietnam was about the dominant Chinese backed North Vietnamese taking over South Vietnam and its fair to say that there were many protests and calls for the North Vietnamese Communist Party to be facilitated to take over South Vietnam which they would successfully do, yet that does not seem to be the case in this conflict with Russia not receiving the Leftists backing to to the same thing, – well not yet anyway..
Pacifism was not unknown in churches in our World Wars, the Salvation Army, Adventist Church, Brethren, Seventh Day Baptists, Mennonites amongst others all practiced Pacifism and encouraged their members to enter the war in non combatant roles and to try to be the helpers in that situation. Mel Gibson’s popular film “Hacksaw Ridge” is one such story from those times.
The issue that Modern Liberal Churches have today is that they do not have strong points of Theology and adopt an anything goes mantra. Liberal Churches when pushed actually stand up for very little at all and routinely fight amongst themselves and criticise one another and will do their best to simply ignore an issue rather than deal with it. Its the same reason why as this war has taken place, various liberals in the United Nations have held meetings to again criticise the nation of Israel and vote though resolutions on it, yet will simply ignore the situation in Ukraine and have no meetings or resolutions cast on it. Its because they know no better and repeatedly take the cowards way out as opposed to actually standing up for anything,
The denominations that encouraged Pacifism were strong enough to take a stand for what they believed in, even when the content of what they were saying may not have been popular in the public eye. They also went into conflict zones and helped people on both sides of the conflict.
As to the war in Ukraine and war in general, this is what the founder of The Salvation Army had to say,
“What is the duty of Salvationists at such a crisis? … One thing is plain — every true soldier of The Salvation Army would cry day and night to God to avert so dreadful a calamity. Let him shut his ears to all the unscriptural talk of war being a necessity. It cannot be a necessity before God that tens of thousands of men should be launched into eternity with all manner of revengeful passionate feelings in their souls… Whatever may be the right method of settling human disputes and preventing earthly calamities, this cannot be the divine plan. This cannot be the will of God”.
So what then is General William Booth telling us to do here?
Firstly prayer, and not the kind of prayer that ends as quickly as they enthusiasm leaks away for it. Pray without ceasing, open the doors of your church and hold prayer meetings and repeatedly call on God to intervene and end this conflict and the other conflicts. Evangelical Christians openly believe in the power of prayer, we believe that God can and does intervene. Move away from doubt and move into faith.
Secondly, Stop swallowing what the media tell you and let God show you. Read Rolph Dobelli’s book “Stop Reading the News” and really understand how you are repeatedly being lied to and how sensationalism works and how you feed the profit machine of media companies. The same media companies that the Political Left claim to hate every other day. Quit giving your personal endorsement for war and choosing to ignore the suffering that goes along with it.
Finally realise that war will not settle this conflict, even if one side grinds down the other both nations will suffer for an incredibly long time. Everyone claims to want ‘peace’ but most people hardly know what ‘peace’ actually is…
For many, ‘Peace’ is the absence of war. For other its some type of Abstract Tranquillity Yet that is not close to the reality of what true peace is. Peace comes first with you responding to God and finding true peace with God. You cannot seek peace or justice for someone else if you do not know what peace is in your own heart first. As the Bible says “Therefore as we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us”. Romans 5:1.
We have Peace because we have been reconciled with God, because we have peace with God we can have the peace of God and we can stand on that promise.
Yes we can then have a focus on having a peace with others and helping people to be reconciled with one another and to help remove the causes of strife around the world. Yet its having a real peace with God and having real faith in Him to change things that enables us to do that. To go in His strength not our own strength.
My call to Liberal Christians is to ask God to give you the real revelation of who Jesus Christ really is and to see Him as Evangelicals see Him, not what you have simply read about him being a good person or a philosophical leader. Understanding who Jesus Christ really is, can change your life and the lives of those around you. You dont have to choose sides in a war or look the other way when your side launches their heavy weapons onto innocent people like your Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama did in Syria.
There is another way to live your life and for your church to be genuinely relevant in your community. its entirely up to you..
If you are familiar with the Lutheran Church of Australia, you may well be aware that this is a denomination that does not ordain women to be Pastors in their Lutheran denomination. This has formerly been the case in a few different Christian Denominations in Australia. You may be old enough to recall the Church of England (Anglican Church) going through a similar process and arriving at the point where they did choose to Ordain women as Priests, its worth pointing out though that there is not a single Anglican Church in Australia but various synods and some of those synods like the NSW Anglicans and Trinity Adelaide also choose not to ordain women in a similar fashion, so the LCA are by no means alone in this issue in Australia, but they are the ones currently debating it in the public forum at the moment.
As for some background information, its important to note that a Lutheran Pastor is seen by Lutherans in the same manner and vein that the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England see a Priest. Whilst being a completely separate denomination Lutheranism still works on a basis of Liturgical Worship and a Priesthood. A Lutheran Church without a Pastor is largely unable to operate. Communion can only occur in a Lutheran Church if a Pastor is there to provide it to the congregation. A sermon can only be given by a called Pastor, in instances where a Lutheran service is held and a Pastor is not available then Communion cannot be taken and the sermon needs to be one that the Pastor has written and can then be read by a lay reader as opposed to an Elder or a member of the congregation giving a sermon or providing a communion service. A Lutheran Pastor will also receive Confession and Provide Absolution for sin for members in a similar way to what happens in a Roman Catholic Church on a Friday.
Naturally there are no doubt plenty of instances where the rules are ‘bent’, but this is really the exception not the actual rule. The role of a Lutheran Pastor is taken very seriously and its interesting to note that both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England will permit a Lutheran Pastor to transfer across into their own Priesthood and minister in their churches if they wish to do so,
Still times do change and churches do also change over time. Its my experience that there was a time not to long ago in the Lutheran Church of Australia when Communion was Closed Communion, meaning that only a Confirmed Lutheran could be communed in a Lutheran Church, quite different to the situation in a Baptist or Church of Christ where anyone and everyone can be communed and the process there is called “Open Communion” accordingly. Over the years the Lutheran Church of Australia appear to have relaxed that rule and Christians of any denomination are provided Communion there if they would like it. There are no doubt still some LCA churches practicing Closed Communion, yet they are certainly much fewer and far between than they used to be.
Todays split in the Lutheran Church is over Women being Ordained into Ministry as Lutheran Pastors. This week the LCA have held their General Synod and the Box Hill Lutheran Church have put forward a motion to allow women to be ordained as Lutheran Pastors. This motion has failed, the final vote was 203 delegates in Favour, 136 opposed and 3 Abstentions. Because it requires a 2/3 majority to pass it failed to get those numbers and was not passed. As I am aware this is at least the third such vote on this issue at a General Synod.
The same issue has been debated overseas, in the United States, the ELCA – Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the NALC – North American Lutheran Church both ordain women as Pastors. The LCMS – Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and WELS – Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod do not amongst others.
The Lutheran Church of Australia are struggling with a shortage of Pastors and church closures. Its becoming more common for a group of Lutheran churches to join together and share a single Pastor which previously may have only occurred in rural areas. Its also occurring that other Lutheran churches are springing up in Australia that are not a part of the LCA and can take a more liberal or a more conservative view of the subject. Some of these churches are run by former LCA Pastors who feel that the LCA is going down a pathway of being less Confessional in intent and practice than what they are prepared to accept so they have left accordingly.
Looking at the voting patterns its suggested that its inevitable that into the future that the LCA will probably end up ordaining women as Pastors as was the case in the Church of England. No doubt this will cause a split in the LCA when it happens and we may well see a return to two separate denominations in the Lutheran Church in Australia as there was prior to them amalgamating in 1966.
To be blunt I find this whole thing an incredibly sad state of affairs.
If you go back to the history of the Lutheran Church in Australia, it was founded by Immigrants from a place called Prussia where the Lutheran Churches were being forced to amalgamate with the Reformed Calvinistic Churches run and administered by the State. The first Lutherans fled Prussia and settled in South Australia in Klemzig that they might be free and its fair to say that the Lutheran Church saw strong growth and established communities in Hahndorf and the Barossa Valley as well as Indigenous Missions throughout South Australia. Over half of the Lutheran Churches in Australia exist in South Australia and the next highest number are in Queensland and down on from there.
My main concern with the Lutheran Church in Australia is that whilst this whole issue is taking place, Evangelism isn’t happening. Its not an optional call to evangelise Christ. Jesus’s final words to the church were to “Go into to the world and tell them that I live”. Considering that is the last thing He said, I’d suggest that its incredibly important and not something to ignore or to treat lightly. There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for any Lutheran Church not to be providing catechism classes and baptising new members that they have preached the gospel to. That is your primary purpose and the call you are given.
Doubtless the theologians and leadership in your church will continue to argue and have votes over the issue of Ordaining women into ministry, at some point a resolution will be reached and no doubt it will please some and upset others. I hope that the LCA will not get into an acrimonious split over this issue and that it can be worked out with goodwill on both sides. Yet I’d like to ask you to return to the work that you are called to be doing in the meantime. Lets not see more Lutheran churches closing permanently to be reopened as retail shops or bed and breakfasts or whatever else people do with defunct churches, can we all not agree that that is the worst outcome for the church in general? A church that is growing and focused on what its called to do has little time to be caught up in arguments and splits over theology. I understand your desire to be defenders of the faith, yet its ultimately Gods church and He will openly direct its paths and get you through this time irrespective of the outcome of these meetings. Yet please do not neglect his call to reach the lost in your local community, ultimately you are His hands and feet where you live and where you are called to minister.
As Luke tells us in Chapter 14,
15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the [f]maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
Seeds Uniting Church Kurralta Park, formerly Hare Street Uniting Church,
Its fair to say that many of us over the years have perhaps become accustomed to the closure and sale of many older mainline church buildings. Its an incredibly sad thing to see a congregation close and their building sold only to then become a retail outlet of some type, or simply to be bulldozed.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve often enjoyed the experience of sitting in an empty church and feeling the life that has existed in that place, weddings, baptisms, dedications of children and so on, its the life that has been shared together in Christianity by so many people in that place. Its truly an amazing experience to see feel that passion there. I often think of the Salvation Army church that I grew up in and all the memories that exist in that building that are special to me, all the people that came and went and how we simply did life together as a group.
So I’m sure the same memories also exist for the former congregation at the now closed Hare Street Uniting Church in Kurralta Park SA. Hare Street Uniting was begun in 1955 with the Amalgamation of two Methodist churches. The Keswick Methodist Church founded in 1923 and the Kurralta Park Methodist Church founded in 1930 forming the Hare Street Methodist Church. In 1977 this church voted to join with the other Methodist churches in SA and amalgamate with the Methodist, Congregational and the bulk of the Presbyterian Churches as one new denomination which would be called the Uniting Church of Australia,
As the years went by the membership dwindled and last year the church was closed. its final service was held on the 27th of June 2022. It would be an incredibly bittersweet moment, on one hand celebrating the life of the church and everything that made Hare Street Uniting what it was, yet also the realisation loomed wide that it would no longer continue in the community and the remaining members would be moving on to other local churches which in itself would be no easy task after being a part of this family for so long for many.
Really that should be the end of Hare Street Uniting, but it seems that the State Leadership of the Uniting Church in SA has had some other ideas and rather than run to closure, the church will be relaunched with a new leadership team with its first service taking place on the 12th of February 2023. Its advertised that people will meet for a time of fellowship at 9.30am and the service will formally begin at 10am once people have had an opportunity to meet and greet and to get to know one another.
So how then does a closed church actually reopen, especially when its closed due to lack of members?
One advantage that has occurred is that in this denomination, the property deeds of the local church is invested and owned by the denomination. So the leadership of the Uniting Church in SA have been able to make their own determination about what will be done with this property. In this case the use of the property has been given to a fellow Uniting Church known as “Seeds Uniting Church” in Aberfoyle Park SA. The leadership of Seeds Uniting Church are replanting Hare Street Uniting Church as a Campus Church of their own church and will be allocating them their own leadership and planting team.
This is not the first time in SA that a mainline church has been renewed by making it a campus church of another church, but i’m unsure if this has happened in a Uniting Church in SA before. The Baptist SA church at in Broadview went through a similar process of being wound up after its attendance fell, yet before it closed it was offered the chance to become a Campus Church of the very successful Rostrevor Baptist Church. Fast forward a few years and Broadview Baptist has been completely revived and is very active in evangelising in the local community.
Popular Baptist Speaker and Theologian Tony Campolo once wrote a book called “Can Mainline Denominations Make a Comeback”? Its an incredibly positive and insightful book and it suggests that if mainline denominations can re-structure themselves in relation to the various changes that have occurred in both our local communities and in our churches then its entirely possible and probable that those churches can in fact very much make a comeback and continue to grow and to work in their local mission field.
One advantage that Seeds Uniting at Aberfoyle Park has, is that its an example of a local church that has worked hard to address what the future would look like and how they would serve and what they would do differently. The meetings are modern, they are not hamstrung by issues around the format of their meetings and how the praise and worship, communion and sermons are delivered there. Seeds isn’t just about what happens there on a Sunday, it has a busy program through the week and caters for all ages. They have been diligent and have grown the church and released many people into ministry over the years.
Its a good time to look towards the leadership of both the Uniting Church in SA and the local leadership of Seeds Uniting Church Aberfoyle Park and to express some gratitude that they both took this decision together and are committed to planting an Evangelical church in the City of Churches which many might see as empty churches. y
When the Salvation Army was first planted in Australia it was in Adelaide the City of Churches, two Salvationists wrote to General William Booth and said to him “the churches here have fallen asleep, please send Officers and plant the Salvation Army here in Adelaide that the church might be woken up”. These days its fortunate that there are still churches that are full of the Blood and Fire as we used to say in the Salvation Army, which is the message of the Blood of Jesus given by the Fire of the Holy Spirit. Yet its also very true and hard to say and to admit that there are churches where the fire is largely out and we so desperately need to be woken up again and lit on a ball of fire as opposed to simply being the smoking embers of the past.
If you are involved at Seeds Uniting at Aberfoyle Park or the new plant at Seeds Kurralta Park, then thank you and good luck to you. I wish you well and look forward to seeing how you go with this new challenge,
Alternatively if you are in Adelaide and are looking at what God wants you to do next, maybe going somewhere like Seeds Kurralta Park is a great first step and getting around people that are clearly doing a good work and following up on what God is calling them to do. Sometimes rather than be focused on finding out what God wants you to do, it can be a good suggestion to go somewhere where God is working and support that work and see where He leads you to from there,
Seeds Kurralta Park, 5 Hare Street, meetings 10am Sundays.
dontmakemeangrymrmcgee 