The Street City Church

Pastor’s Pen 12.09.10

“If we call upon the Lord, He has promised in His Word to answer, to bring the unsaved to Himself, to pour out His Spirit among us. If we don’t call upon the Lord, He has promised nothing – nothing at all. It’s as simple as that. No matter what I preach or what we claim to believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer. This is the engine that will drive the church.”

Jim Cymbala: Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.

These words of Jim Cymbala, the Pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church in New York have often challenged me and provoked me to prayer. He is absolutely right. We have seen the Monday night prayer ministry achieve far more than we could ever imagine. And now a new season of prayer has started. The third Monday of each month is prayer night.
The first of these was held in August and it was such a blessed time. We saw the Lord minister to people in so many ways and, I believe it has laid a platform for much more! I encourage you now to set aside the third Monday of each month to come and pray. If you sense you need prayer for anything, get in touch with Oban at the office.
Bless,
Nick
Experience of one of the attendees at previous Elder’s Prayer Night—
Recently my health hadn’t been the best and I had been struggling through the days with frequent feelings of faintness or shakiness, particularly at inconvenient times such as in meetings or on the bus.
I read what had become for me a rhetorical question in James 5:14 “Is any of you sick?” YES! The answer was simple: “He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.”
In response, I went along to the elder’s prayer night last month. I briefly shared how I had been feeling, Nick anointed my head with oil and people gathered around and prayed for me. Perhaps more than my health, the thing I had needed prayer for most was my struggles with fear. Fear of where would I be when I felt faint? Would anyone be there to help me? Without saying anything about this, one of the elders prayed for me about this very struggle.
Since then I am feeling heaps better and I am really learning to trust God with my health and pressing in to him to overcome the fear. (Anonymous)
Perhaps more than my health, the thing I had needed prayer for most was my struggles with fear. Fear of where would I be when I felt faint? Would anyone be there to help me? Without saying anything about this, one of the elders prayed for me about this very struggle.

Pastor’s Pen 03.09.10

Mission Strategy trip
The Street City Church has a relationship with a mission work in Manila through International Needs. We have in recent years funded the construction of a mini library, social work and church in the Olandes community, sponsored children in Philippines and assisted a church planting work in the area north of Manila through Pastor Boy Arzacon.
The time has come to work with International Needs Philippines to seek the Lord for the next 5 – 10 years of mission work. They have asked for our help to develop a plan to further deepen the impact of the gospel in the Philippines.
Therefore I am putting together a team to travel to Manila for approximately 1 week in the second half of January 2011, to sit with the Filipino leaders to develop a strategic plan for ongoing mission. We are looking for people who want to invest in a short-term strategic mission trip who have expertise in the following areas.
· Pre-school education: the new pre-school is a major thrust into the community and they need help in the implementation of the values of the programme in the community
· Health and Dental care: developing a health/dental health strategy for the area
· Business development: looking at job creation/small business/ micro-credit for business start up
· Strategic planning: Working with church leaders, helping them form goals and assessing what resources are needed to achieve them.

If you wish to register interest for this trip and receive more information, please make contact with Oban at the office. We will be confirming team members in the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Bless,
Nick

Pastor’s Pen 29.08.10

Elders’ update…
Serving as an elder at The Street is all about following a call of the Lord. We look for people who set their heart on this task, not as an ambition but as a natural consequence of a life surrendered to the Lord, a love for the church and in particular the church congregation at The Street, and a desire to see the church fulfil the great commission.
Elders at The Street are responsible to the Lord for the vision and direction of the church. They provide godly oversight and support to the Senior Pastor who leads the church.
- An elder has four major commitments as part of his role:
Governance meetings that are held approximately every 6 weeks where their task is to ensure we are fulfilling our God given mission, remaining true to our calling and values both spiritually and legally.

- Prayer meetings that are held on the third Monday of every month

- Vision retreats where the elders set aside a Saturday 3 or more times a year to seek the Lord regarding the church.

- Prayer for the sick, caring for people who are in need, visiting people who are confined and encouraging the members of The Street congregation.

I encourage you to continue to pray for the elders as they fulfil this important role. Especially pray for a new person we wish to bring before the Church this week. The Elders have sensed that Jonathan Peacey should come onto the elders team. Our process is to bring before the church people we sense are called and then give the entire church the following 3 weeks to provide feedback. So, we as a church will be praying that the Lord would confirm this call. If you have any feedback or reasons why Jonathan would not be qualified, please direct your feedback to the Senior Pastor or the chair of the elders via the office.
Bless,
Nick

Pastor’s Pen 22.8.10

Pastors Pen

I love baptism services!! This is where we get to see people stepping out in obedience to Jesus. It is where a person tells the story of how they have new life in Jesus Christ, how they have died to their old way of life, burying it with Jesus in his death and burial and then being raised to new life, sharing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Getting baptized tells the story of how a person is born again. Just as a person goes under the water and is then pulled back out again, we are “born again” into the new life in Christ. This happens when a person realizes that they are a sinner, recognizes that Jesus Christ died on the cross for them in their place, repents or turns from their sin and receives Jesus Christ into their life. And the moment a person makes that decision, the Holy Spirit enters their life, empowering them to live this new life for Jesus Christ!

Baptism is fundamentally a step of obedience. It puts into place a great principle that we live by as followers of Jesus, namely, when the Word of God tells us to do something, we do it! The blessing of baptism comes through obeying God. Some people may tell you that you receive a special spiritual blessing during your baptism, or God is withholding something from you until you are baptized however, those type of statements are misleading at best. The blessing that comes does so because you are choosing to put God first.

And for that we celebrate today, people are choosing to put God first!

I love baptism services!

Bless