Starting a new church is hard at the best of times - starting a new type of church that looks a bit different to the norm is even harder. We've been confronted with some extra challenges at Mimos lately that has caused us to re-establish our purpose. Towards the end of 2006 we lost a third of our group who moved away from Melbourne. The Harrisons (our founding pastor - Ruth) moved to Thailand, Alicia moved back to Cairns, and Chris and Liz Logan moved back to the USA. Our second challenge was that we were notified that our regular meeting place - The Stolberg Beer Cafe - was not going to be opening Sundays anymore.
Annette (my lovely wife), who has taken on the responsibility of leading and coordinating the church, has been great at calling us back to our original vision. In a recent email she said
We need to strategically consider what we are doing in our own neighbourhood and encourage each other in this and keep each other accountable to the people God has placed on our heart. When we gather as the wider Network we will be spending more time hearing what God is doing and praying for each other. Let me share a quote from 'Organic Church' (Neil Cole) - "Every Christian is a church planter and every home is a church...This is a whole new way of seeing Christ's church and it is happening today all across the Western world. I believe it is a contagious movement that will connect with many people who are disengaged with the old conventional church but seeking Christ. We must take Christ into people's lives, and it must be in the context of relationships." I'd love to consider that each of our homes is a church ready to bring the truth of Christ to those seeking Him.
We met on Sunday at Bundoora Park initially and then moved to McDonalds because it was so hot (37C) and reconfirmed our committment to be primarily missional - that is each person and/or family focusing on building relationships and being Christ in their own neighborhoods/work places/schools etc and that we will gather together as a network on alternate weeks for accountability, teaching, worship, sharing, prayer and to refocus our mission. Our prayer is still that we would "Be imitators of God, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us (Ephesians 5:1-2)
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2 comments:
GOOD JOB MIMOS....Pete, I am sooooo proud of you and Net. Thank you for empowering Net.....husbands like you (and Col) are a rare breed. I read a blog like this one and am overwhelmed at the love I have for you all. Keep being who you are....God did a good job when He made you Pete. Tell Net that He did a really, really good job when He made her!!! Love you both.
Good on you mimos! I'll just echo Ruth, because she's stronger and wiser and fairer than I am. Well, wiser anyway. But Good on ya! We miss you all!
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