2/11/2024 0 Comments On The HorizonWhat would it look like Oasis?
This is a question that confronted me. As I drove to a retreat day this question stuck in my mind. What would it look like if our church Oasis lived what Jesus said in our day and age. The more I thought about it the more it was like a prickle under the skin, something that needed my immediate attention. We’re a family church who encompasses every age range. When our children go out to their programmes on a Sunday morning it’s like a mass bail out of bodies, It’s great! As the seats vacate the adults prepare their hearts through worship and a message and ministry. But is that the win? The win surely isn’t to have another year of listening to sermons and becoming more informed, smarter Christians. The goal surely isn’t to be smarter. What would it look like if other than just a Sunday service we set our sights on what it would look like if we achieved what Jesus talked about in our day and age, in modern day Blenheim Marlborough. As my attention drew to this question and I talked quietly with the Lord, (I was in a library at this stage and didn’t want to appear like I’d lost it by openly discussing the probing thought) I was drawn to write down ways in which we could see evidence, or as Paul called it ‘Fruit’. What I came up with, I expressed in the Sermon on Sunday 11th February 2024. The day when technology failed us at every point. The Livestream wasn’t manned due to illness and even if it had been, the internet was down and to top it off the memory stick was full, so the audio wasn’t captured. – The devil vomits on my eiderdown again. Due to people asking for transcripts of my sermon notes I thought I’d put these seven points down in full as a record of what it would look like if we answered the question: What would a win look like for us? 1. We don’t know everyone in our row of seats. Knowing everyone and a close family feeling is something we naturally desire. We gravitate to what we know and the comfort of friends and family. The early Church wasn’t like this. Jesus’ disciple gathering often brought in people the others didn’t like (Matthew the tax collector), prostitutes, the sick and lame. The first book written about what happened after Jesus ascended called Acts describes that in one day, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Peter speaks and 3000 people come to faith. They weren’t ready for that; they weren’t organised for it. None of this was comfortable as the Apostles wrestled with and brought into being the words of Jesus. What freedom in Christ now looked like. How they had to struggle to be free from religiousness in their own lives. It was the rubber meeting the road. Not knowing everyone in the seats next to us is a win. It’s a big win. It means we are growing, and new people are finding Oasis home. The church home it was started for and inspired to be. In the last six years we have more than tripled in growth, that’s a lot of change and more than half the people with us have been with us less than five years. We weren’t designed to be an exclusive group but a friendly family welcoming of strangers and helping people to find a home. Not knowing everyone in your seat at church is a win. 2. When people say, ‘Send them to Oasis, they will take anyone’. While I have had this said to me in a jest, I think it’s true and a big win if we are seen as living up to ‘Come as you Are’. Our first mission statement. Without sugar coating it, we all have and come with baggage. None of us have experienced the semi charmed life – we live in a fallen world, have been hurt, banged up, struggle with insecurities, anxieties. A win for us is that we will take anyone in and show them the love of Jesus. It doesn’t mean we will put up with bad behaviour, but ‘Come as you are’ is an invitation to meet with God each week as His beloved Children, in belief and hope that we won’t stay as we are. Being ready to share God’s rescuing love to all who come to Oasis is a win and following what Jesus taught. 3. Staying relevant to culture will mean we inevitably change the way we do things (Not the gospel) and we will probably make some mistakes. Being relevant to our culture is one of Oasis founding principles. The church started out of a desire to be relevant to the culture it sat in. Contemporary in worship, relaxed in style. Without knowing it Oasis was working through ideas in Blenheim that were Vineyard pioneers John Wimber’s core values twenty-five years before Oasis met the Vineyard movement. To stay relevant, over time worship styles will change. The good news of God’s Kingdom and King Jesus will always stay the same, but how we deliver that and sing about it will be reinterpreted by the coming generations. Making mistakes is a part of doing things. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re either perfect or not doing anything. As a church we want to explore ways of engaging and doing church. New seasons bring new thinking. Often the next great breakthrough or revival will come with the next generation, our job is to shepherd those and give guidance but more than that blow on the flames with them – encourage. Sometimes we will make mistakes, but we will make other things to. 4. We are ministering to one another in all contexts. The next win is when we are ministering to one another in all contexts of meeting with one another. The early church was great at this. Ministering and meeting one another’s needs. When we choose to look for opportunities to minister to one another God meets us there. He loves being with His kids and answering their prayers. Ministering to one another, looks like praying for one another, noticing if someone has a need and meeting it, or praying with that person. In all contexts looks like whenever we are together. Not just on Sundays. If you’re in a meeting and notice someone needs prayer, the meeting can wait. When people see God doing things like answering prayer, healing, setting people free – basically God’s kingdom showing up, that not only encourages, but it’s also how every revival since Acts has begun. People are drawn to God through signs and wonders through hearing of the miraculous, experiencing the Holy Spirit. Ministry can be messy, but it’s doing what we see Jesus doing – wading into the mess of a broken world and bringing God’s rescuing love. A win for Oasis is when we see people praying and ministering to one another in every and all circumstances. 5. When people are coming to faith and being baptised. Let’s start as a church praying for this. We know from the day of prayer that this is big on the hearts of our church family. Maybe it’s relatives, maybe it’s that work colleague, son, or daughter. Whoever it is, praying for them to come to faith is your Heavenly Fathers desire. I’m convinced that coming to faith is one of the biggest miracles. When the Holy Spirit illuminates someone’s heart to the truth of who Jesus is, that person cannot be the same. The Apostle Peter said this: But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defence to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15 I love the wisdom Peter has gained through the years, the impatient Peter, the one with the most rebukes from Jesus, now calls us to have a defence of the good news of King Jesus, the hope we have but to have it with gentleness and respect. A win for us is when we see people coming to faith in Jesus and being baptised in accordance with Matthew 28:18-19. 6. We continue to have ‘Off the pedestal leadership’ – no one is king, everyone gets to play. Success for Oasis looks like a model in which all who lead do so with humility, gentleness. Anyone in the church can be used of God to minister to others. While we protect the platform for speaking to those with theological training for good reasons ministering to one another, praying for one another is something any of us as Christians can do. The Holy Spirit is looking for willing people to be open to Him to be used to bring God’s Kingdom in, bringing the light and love. The pastor up the front isn’t any more holy or better than, they the one who’s responsible to God for the shepherding of God’s people. A win for us is humble leadership, humility in ministry and an inclusiveness in helping each other learn to minister and pray for one another. 7. When relationship is greater than opinion, every time. Perhaps one of the best fruits we could see is when we align with Jesus’ command of loving one another. Believe it or not Christians aren’t immune to being overly opinionated and at times this has caused rifts with friends and family. As we saw recently in the covid pandemic opinions divided and, on both sides, people entrenched in beliefs and sadly for some they succumbed and fell short of Jesus first command. ‘I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; Just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you love one another”. – John 13:34-35 Love doesn’t look like convincing someone your view is the right view. Love looks to help and minister to those who don’t share the same view. It’s easy to be around people who share our same world view, it’s comfortable. My world view at times has been challenged and needed to be because I have been wrong. I’ve held in the past views that were wrong. I’ve held beliefs that I would have once said were God’s written opinion only to be shown by God they were abhorrent to Him. Sacrificing relationships for our opinions is distasteful to God – it's a cheapening of ourselves and those made in God’s image. A win for Oasis is when we hold our opinions lightly and put relationships with others before our opinions. Sacrificing our desire to be right says to them ‘You as a person matters to me more than my opinion’. 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39 Dave Maharey
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Oasis Family Church Hub, 21 Alfred Street, Blenheim, 7201
022 544 1946
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PO Box 916
Blenheim 7240 |