We are on the lookout for a new full time (40hrs) Associate Children's Pastor to join our City team! We're looking for someone passionate about discipling children to become total followers of Jesus, and also someone able to equip, inspire and lead others to do the same. If you are interested in finding out more, please email office@thestreet.org.nz. Applications close 26 June.
Thanks to everyone that took part in the Shared Lunch poll last week! The results were (almost) unanimously positive and so we will reinstate these in July. Kahurangi School in Strathmore Park has agreed we can use their school hall which I have booked for the first Sunday of each month for the rest of the year, so our next shared lunch will be Sunday 3rd July - get it in your calendar!
If you like organising things and would like to help make these happen we’d love to hear from you. It would involve; getting disposable plates, cups, cutlery etc, opening up the hall, making sure everything is cleaned up at the end, and locking up the hall at the end. Let us know if that sounds like something you could do.
I expect we’re all used to algorithms at work behind the scenes, suggesting content and products that might be relevant. My guess is that if our Bibles had algorithms, Psalm 34 would be at the top of many people’s suggested readings right now. It’s a go to psalm for anyone in distress and from what I see and hear, there’s plenty of that going around.
In Psalm 34, David proclaims, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips” (Ps 34:1). He goes on to testify that “The LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18).
The intriguing thing about Psalm 34 is its origin. It’s thought that David wrote it while fleeing for his life from Saul and hiding among the Philistines. Yes, you read that right. The Philistines. They were no doubt wary of David who had recently killed their hero Goliath and so he pretended to be insane. It’s hard to imagine the distress David felt, and yet in that place he pens Psalm 34.
David writes this Psalm not in spite of his distress but because of it. David could write about God being near to the broken-hearted precisely because he was broken-hearted and had found God there. It means that while distressing circumstances are never good, God can use them to reveal something about himself that you wouldn’t be able to see at another time.
It’s why David could extol the Lord at all times. He had learned to find reasons to praise while the storm was still raging. This is profound. We often think of testimonies being shared when God answers prayer. But here David shows that there is a testimony to be shared of the goodness of God even when our prayers seem to go unanswered.
It’s why I often encourage people going through trouble to keep a journal of what they're learning about God and what they’re seeing him do. It’s a way of helping us find reasons to praise at all times, not just when things are as we want them to be. But I’d also encourage you to not wait for deliverance before you’re willing to share what you’re praising God for. It will raise the faith of those around you and be a powerful testimony to the people in our world who do not know the Lord. May his praise always be on our lips.
Much love,
Simon
This post is part of the Senior Pastor’s weekly blog. Go to the blog feed >>
Registrations for this seminar close on Monday 6th June so if you’d like to come, make sure you register through “Sign ups” in the new church app. If you don’t have the app yet, search for “Church Center” in the App Store or Google Play Store. If you need any help registering, please just get in touch.
We used to have regular shared lunches after a Sunday service until we moved our services to Hobart Street. There is another church that uses the building straight after us which doesn't give us enough time to squeeze in a lunch!
We're thinking of looking for a venue that may let us use it for a shared lunch on a Sunday - which would involve us all relocating somewhere after the service to eat together. But we only want to do it if people are keen. So please let us know by clicking this link and selecting whether you would come or not!
The Street’s Annual Report for 2021 is now published. You can find it here.
I’m thinking about grace and truth because I think it’s important. It’s important if we’re to be people who encourage one another to live lives worthy of God without becoming religious or judgmental. It’s really important if we’re to be a safe space for people from all walks of life to discover Jesus and become lifelong followers of him. And it’s really important because I think we often get grace and truth wrong.
The problem is that it often gets defined too narrowly. Truth gets reduced to telling people that what they’re doing is wrong while grace becomes a synonym for leniency. This makes grace and truth mutually exclusive and impossible to be embodied in one person. A broader view is needed.
John loved the word truth and made it a theme of his gospel and letters. We discover that Jesus is the truth who reveals the reality about God, his work and his ways (John 14:6). To know the truth is not simply to realise the mistakes we’ve made but to be invited into a personal relationship with Jesus which leads to freedom and fullness of life (John 8:31-32).
Grace is the way God chooses (Rom 11:5), calls (Gal 1:15), forgives (Gal 1:7), saves (Acts 15:11), builds up (Acts 20:32) and gives eternal hope (Titus 3:7). It’s by grace that God enables us to believe (Acts 11:23), serve (Rom 12:6), be generous (2 Cor 8:7) and persevere (2 Cor 12:9). Where sin increases, grace increases more (Rom 5:21). And it’s also the way God calls us to a holy life (2 Tim 1:9). No wonder we often sing about amazing grace!
Can you see that grace and truth are not mutually exclusive. Truth reveals the grand story God is telling and grace enables us to join in with it. Grace and truth are therefore powerful partners for life change.
It’s something I think I got to see in my teens. I grew up in a Christian home but ran in the opposite direction. My parents either knew or assumed what I was up to but rarely confronted me. Instead, they consistently modelled a better way to live and allowed home to be a place where I knew I was unconditionally loved and accepted. I also think they prayed a whole lot behind the scenes! It seems to me that what they did was create an environment of grace that encouraged me towards the truth their lives revealed.
I’m not exactly sure what this looks like for us or where it ends up. But can I invite us on a journey as we reach out and encourage one another to grow. Let’s be a church that seeks to reveal truth with our whole lives and that creates an environment where God is welcome to work in the fullest expression of his grace.
Simon
This post is part of the Senior Pastor’s weekly blog. Go to the blog feed >>
2021 was a year of challenges, learning and exploring new ways to be the Church. Our Annual Report is now available - have a read of our highlights, stats and financials.
I love to walk early and pray, especially under a clear dark sky. This week, it made me think about my friend Floyd’s T-shirt of the Milky Way, complete with Google Maps-style location icon indicating, “You Are Here.” It marks our place in a galaxy that’s 100,000 light years across and just one of potentially 2 trillion other galaxies. Unimaginably vast spaces created seemingly for God’s own pleasure and glory. I suddenly felt very small.
I love JFK’s speech in 1962 where he declared that America would choose to go to the moon knowing that it would be a huge undertaking. I think now of how much effort is going into establishing a permanent home for humanity on Mars. Journeys that are so incredibly far for us but a mere speck of dust in the grand scheme of things. I imagine these amazing feats as our own generation’s version of Babel that give us a sense of achievement and self-sufficiency. Yet, like Babel, I imagine God descending to have a look from his 2 trillion galaxy perspective and maybe not finding it so impressive.
I write this not because I have a problem with space travel. I actually love that God has blessed us with a predictable environment for us to test, explore and harness. I simply want us to stand back and make sure that we are not the measure of all things.
As I stand and look at the stars it does two things for me. One is that faith begins to rise up. I think of the impossibilities that face us in reaching out to people and planting new locations. The stars remind me that there is nothing God cannot do. I think of the physical, mental and relational problems in our own church and in our city. The stars remind me that the one who spoke the universe into being just needs to speak a word.
The second thought takes me to Psalm 8 where David couldn’t quite believe that humanity could be remotely significant to God in light of the vast expanses of space. And yet he wrote:
“You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour” (Psalm 8:5).
The truth is that as small as we may be, we are the only living creatures across 2 trillion galaxies deliberately created as a reflection and representative of God. You are hugely significant not based on size but on who created you and why. I pray that like me, your identity would be strengthened and your faith would rise as you stare at the stars this week.
Simon
This post is part of the Senior Pastor’s weekly blog. Go to the blog feed >>
A friend and mentor asked me last week how I was going with reading the Bible. I responded that I’ve been disciplined with it my whole adult life to which he replied, “That’s nice that it’s a discipline but are you growing in your love for it?” Do you love the Bible? Now that’s a different question.
Psalm 119:97 says, “O how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” You can see here that the writer had a daily rhythm of Scripture and a love for Scripture. The question is which came first? Was it the discipline or the desire?
I’m a big fan of disciplines. I read James Clear’s Atomic Habits over the summer and it’s been really helpful for me to make rhythms of the things that matter to make sure they happen. Jesus too was a man of discipline. Attending festivals and synagogue and withdrawing to lonely places to pray were habits that he had.
Habits, then, are valuable. For example, I would imagine most of us love cake but only because we’ve actually eaten cake. After all, you cannot love what you’ve never tasted. As I’ve read Scripture over and over, I’ve had moments of wonder as I see something new of God; moments of challenge as I see something new in me. I have found how much the Holy Spirit has been able to bring to mind just the right verse for just the right moment. I love it because I’ve tasted it.
It’s not about whether habits are good or bad but understanding that they’re a means to an end. Jenny and I have had a date night almost every week of our marriage. It’s been an important discipline but we don’t do it for the sake of the discipline. We do it because it helps us cultivate and maintain a love for one another. We celebrate the discipline only because it helps produce a desirable outcome.
Can I suggest it’s the same with Scripture. If you’re not sure if you love it, can I ask if you’ve got a habit of reading it? If not, today’s a great time to start. Start with little and often and go from there. Buddy up with someone else to keep accountable.
If there’s lots of discipline but no love, can I encourage you to change it up? Recently I started reading less every day but making time to journal and write out a prayer of response. It’s amazing how much this little change made the words really resonate in my life.
Let us be disciplined readers of the word so that we may learn to love the word.
Simon
This post is part of the Senior Pastor’s weekly blog. Go to the blog feed >>
On Sunday 22nd May we started a brand new sermon series. It’s based in the book of 1 Thessalonians and we’re calling it Blood, Sweat and Tears.
This book is a celebration of a church that against all odds is standing up for Jesus and growing in maturity. Paul had to flee and didn’t return. They didn’t get the input he would have wanted them to have. They were experiencing severe persecution and yet Paul finds them standing firm. So what does it take to be a church of robust Jesus followers that press ahead in the midst of change and hardship? The answer is a gritty approach where we dare to share Jesus, where we live imitable lives and where we agonise in prayer, determined to see others mature. It’s a church more at home in a boxing ring than an armchair. It’s a church that’s giving everything to help as many people as possible follow Jesus. It’s a church of blood, sweat and tears.
In preparation for this series, why not try and read through the book of 1 Thessalonians each week. It’s only 5 chapters long and it’s so much easier to engage with scripture when it’s familiar. We’re looking forward to us growing together as disciples of Jesus through this series.
Christians Against Poverty is an incredible organisation that comes alongside people struggling with unmanageable debt. Through CAP, we can reach out and help those who are doing it tough in our local community. Our Debt Coaches are passionate about seeing people released from poverty and living life to the full, so if you are interested in being a part of something bigger, please get in touch. Lesley has just become a Debt Coach with CAP and she recently did an interview about it on our online service which you can check it out by clicking here.
We always need Support Workers to visit clients alongside a Debt Coach and take on the role of friend to the client. This can be just for one client, you don't need to commit to multiple clients. We also need people to pray, make meals, and help with gardens or other practical ways. If you’d like to know more about getting involved in CAP please let us know
One of my favourite stories in Scripture is Peter walking on water (Matt 14:22-36). It’s hard to imagine what it must have felt like to tentatively ease out of the boat and trust that the liquid lake would take his weight. It had never worked before but at the invitation of Jesus, Peter dared to try.
Maybe it’s the reason the song Oceans has been precious to me in recent years. It draws on the imagery of Peter and invites us to dare and dream.
“Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.
Let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me.”
My life has been punctuated by trust without borders moments. Times like selling up in the UK to move to New Zealand or stepping into the Senior Pastor role. The thing I love about these steps is that you get to see God move in miraculous ways. There was a time when I wrote those stories down because I wanted to remember them all. I love to share them with people and watch their eyes bulge and jaws drop as God defies their logic.
But then I’m reminded of the story of a wealthy businessman who felt God tell him to give everything away. He was sharing in a church service one day about how he had been obedient to that nudge and then seen God restore it all back to him. As people sat amazed, the man sat down only to be tapped on the shoulder by an elderly lady who said, “I dare you to do it again.”
It’s easy to say that we trusted God once or to talk about things we’ve seen God do in the past. However, I have come to believe that every step of faith is preparation for a bigger step in future. Faith is not a once in a lifetime decision but a daily determination to trust God with more.
Think about the tragic entry of sin into Eden. Adam and Eve ate fruit in rebellion against God’s clear instruction. It was a moment when complete reliance on God turned into complete reliance on self and every one of us has followed this pattern ever since.
This is why I see faith as a journey. In our following of Jesus, God is working Eden out of us. He is weaning us off of self-reliance and teaching us that He is completely capable of the full weight of our trust. Perhaps this is why steps of faith feel so hard. We’re giving up control and placing our reliance on someone else. This is why worship, Scripture and prayer are so important. They enable us to discover more about our incredible and faithful God so that putting our trust in Him becomes the most obvious thing to do.
So what does stepping out of the boat look like for you today? Where do you notice a hesitancy to trust the Lord? I dare you to take the lyrics of Oceans and make it a prayer: “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders…” I wonder where that step will take you.
Simon
This post is part of the Senior Pastor’s weekly blog. Go to the blog feed >>
Last Sunday was Vision Sunday. If you missed it we’d really encourage you to watch it here.
You may watch it and wonder what it means for us. We already are gathering locally and have been for 4 years. We want to encourage you to allow this Vision Sunday message to reinspire you with the reason we gather here in Miramar. The reason we’ve put in so much effort over the years to set up and pack down a service each week. Let’s allow the Lord to refresh this vision in our hearts and renew our commitment to the mission of helping people become total followers of Jesus Christ where we live.
The recent months of vaccine passes and traffic lights have highlighted the breadth of views that can exist in a church. We’ve realised that we don’t always see eye-to-eye and I wonder how many of us were unnerved by this. Maybe we’ve struggled to reconcile being in community with people with whom we strongly disagree. Shouldn’t we just get along?
I want to gently suggest that I’m not sure this is true.
The core tenets of the Christian faith - those things someone has to believe in order to be a Christian - can be boiled down to about seven statements. Seven! That’s it. It leaves us with a lot of things we can see differently.
Secondly, the church has always been diverse. The very first church was drawn from a long list of different countries requiring the gospel message to be spoken in different languages. We can’t even rely on ethnicity or nationality to find common ground.
But finally, and perhaps most significantly, the church is made up of real people. It’s the only gathering where the requirement to belong is an acknowledgement that you don’t deserve to. It means none of us are perfect. We won’t always react very well and at times we’ll say things we really shouldn’t.
But, shouldn’t the church be different to the wider culture? Shouldn’t we be able to show people a different way? Of course. But perhaps our point of difference is not in the way we avoid disagreement but in the way we seek to resolve it when it happens.
For a start, we’re committed to one another. Baptism is the entry point into the church and it demonstrates that we’re committed to the people of the church. It means we don’t just walk away when it gets too hard. We don’t exclude people from relationship just because we disagree.
But I also take comfort from the fact that Jesus saw this coming. He gave us a daily prayer that includes the phrase… “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt 6:12). Jesus knew that we would disagree at times. He knew we’d fall out as we smooth one another’s rough edges. But he invites us to take these issues daily to prayer and ask Him to help us forgive those who sin against us.
I have found it helpful in recent weeks to use the Lord’s Prayer as a framework to guide my own prayer. Can I invite us all into this rhythm of prayer and forgiveness as a gift to one another and a powerful testimony to the world.
Simon
This post is part of the Senior Pastor’s weekly blog. Go to the blog feed >>
9 Hania St, Mt Victoria
Worship Centre
10am Sundays
66 Albemarle Road, Northland
Cardinal McKeefry School
10am Sundays
17 Spey Place, Papakowhai
Papakowhai School
10am Sundays
180 Hill Road, Belmont
Maranatha School
10am Sundays
Simon and Jenny have introduced to the website a weekly blog. The idea is to share what is going on in the head and heart of the Senior Pastors and to speak into the current season.
You can read the blog here.