For the next couple of weeks all eyes will be on the Paris Olympics. It will be wonderful to focus on a global event that promotes unity in a world that seems so full of division. Every day we read about suffering caused by wars that don’t end, and tensions erupting around national elections. People fight each other, relationships fracture, and children grow up witnessing things they never should.  

It’s hard to imagine, but try to think about the world where everyone loves their neighbour as themselves. Where forgiveness is offered quickly, love is freely shared, and where all people feel safe and free. Imagine unspeakable joy and the deepest of peace because there is no fear but only acceptance, belonging and generosity. It’s hard to imagine, but if we try we get a glimpse into the beauty of heaven. 

A few weeks ago I had something like a vision. I was imagining this outpouring of God’s blessing into a vessel that represents The Grove. The vessel had four characteristics that enabled us to catch and distribute God’s grace into the people and neighbourhood around us. I attempted to draw what I imagined which was not awesome! But I managed to create four digital views of a vessel to explain what Jesus impressed on my heart. I shared these at our team and vision night, as biblical values that position us to steward an outpouring of God’s power and love through service.   

(pic of vessels)

A LOW VESSEL - HUMILITY

The word humility means low to the ground. Jesus demonstrated humility through becoming human, serving people, washing feet and being obedient to death on a cross to save us. John Dickson gave this definition. Humility is the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself. Let’s follow Jesus example to go low, serve and lift others up. 

A CLEAR VESSEL – INTEGRITY 

Character matters more than ability. When we serve people without hidden agendas, pretence, or self centred motives, we offer them genuine love and safety. Integrity isn’t about perfection but authenticity. Jesus taught that the pure in heart will see God (Matt 5:8). If we are clear vessels, not only will people see and experience Jesus through us, we will see Jesus glory with an unclouded view. 

AN OPEN VESSEL – AVAILABILITY

God is looking to fill the cups of those open to be transformed by his power, shaped by his word and available to make a difference. There is a growing hunger for God in our city, but that hunger needs to be even greater in the church. When our hearts, minds, time and resources are available to Jesus, then we become conduits of his transforming power, healing and provision into a broken and lost world.  

A SOLID VESSEL – UNITY

A cup won’t hold water if there are cracks in it, which is why the devil seeks to cause division in churches. But when we are quick to forgive and seek to be peacemakers, James called it godly wisdom which strengthens unity and produces a harvest (James 3:13-18). When the mission of God really matters to us, we will seal up cracks so that we don’t leak and dry up, but instead fill up and overflow

Leanne and I are so grateful to be part of a church family where humility, integrity, availability and unity are clearly evident. But we also pray with you that God would only increase the quality and size of our vessel that is low to the ground, clear, open and water tight. A greater outpouring is coming, and may we be ready to catch and distribute grace to many, so that God’s Kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Pastor Marty

There is heaps to be excited about as we kick off week 2 in our Everyday Disciple Series. Already I can see across the church the joy and wonder found in following Jesus. 

• Last Friday night we officially welcomed the grade 6’s out to youth. This launched term 3 with one of our biggest nights of the year with 35 in attendance. I had a great conversation with a youth around the topic of how we hear from God. 

• Our Wednesday prayer meeting was filled with expectation as we stood in the kitchen and prayed over the ministry and vision for the fit-out. A place that will support almost every ministry in the church in providing food and coffee for the church and community for many years to come. 

• We gathered as connect groups on Thursday night to launch the connect series as Marty shared a practical application of listening to God through the process of journaling. 

• Finally, this weekend Rev Dr Tania Harris is sharing with us at our women’s conference and our Sunday morning service. Sharing around the topic of her book “God Conversations”, we are again expectant for God to continue to speak through His word and his people. 

I can see a clear theme of listening to God flow through every aspect of our church. This is happening on an individual level as we seek to become more like Christ, but also collectively as the body of Christ. I’d encourage you to spend some time in the Everyday Disciple daily devotions. There is something special about being united in God’s word and devotions together that opens the door for God to speak. This week we look at the topic of being “immersed in scripture” and I will be sharing a word at our 5:30 PM service from 2 Timothy 3:16-17. 

“16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

God’s word equips us for every good work! What an incredible reminder this week as we continue reading His word and become immersed in hearing from our Heavenly Father. As we look towards the future we want to be known as a community that not only hears the voice of God but has the strength to step out in obedience and faith. My prayer this week for us is that we listen to God and continue to do the good work that God calls us to. 

Blessings,

Henry

At last Sunday’s members meeting, Mel Goopy was voted in as a new pastor at The Grove. Praise the Lord! What a wonderful moment this was in the life of our church. I must admit I got a bit emotional after the meeting, thinking about how good Jesus is and all he has done in the lives of Mel, Chris and their family. It’s also a wonderful answer to prayer as we have been seeking the Lord about future leaders for a long time. While we continue our search for a family’s pastor, finding a leader who is home grown in The Grove is a beautiful story of fruitfulness. I won’t tell anymore of the story, as Mel will share her testimony in the service this Sunday about how God called her to pastoral ministry.  

There is no greater moment for any person than hearing God call them. Lots of people and organisations try to grab our attention and suggest a way for us to go in life, or what to invest our resources in. Yet there is only one who has the credibility and authority to make a call on our lives. The one who fearfully and wonderfully created each of us, who loves us without limit, and who prepared in advance the good work and purpose that will fulfill our lives and change the world around us (Ephesians 2:10). 

On this Commitment Sunday we give thanks to God for his call on The Grove, which is a call on all who have made The Grove their spiritual home and family. We are called together to be a city on a hill in our neighbourhood, and in the new financial year, to increase our capacity to reach more people of all ages in our neighbourhood and the nations.

Jesus’ call on us is like his call on Peter to put his boat out into deep water for a catch (Luke 5). Peter wasn’t convinced about the plan at first, but the catch of fish was immeasurably more than he could have imagined. It was a defining moment in his call to become a fisher of people. This Sunday is our defining moment, to step out in faith and obedience into a place out of our depth. A place where only God can provide, and where only Jesus will get the glory for all he does. A place of tremendous fruitfulness. 

There are seasons where Jesus calls a small group to carry a larger load, but then the season changes and he calls for more people to join. A little like how Peter called for more boats to gather the large catch of fish. Movements of God can suddenly accelerate, and we can see the signs of this through a growing hunger for God in many. So by faith we are seeking to prepare, believing for immeasurably more. 

This year we are stepping out to grow a leadership team that matches the capacity of the building the Lord gave us. We are investing more in the next generation with pastor Henry moving to full time. We are preparing to love our neighbours by calling Mel, who will equip us with the COACH program to bring hope and help to those in need in our neighbourhood. And an exciting step is the fitout of our kitchen, which will be a much needed hub for hospitality, including our Neighbourhood Cafe dream. May God provide through our special offering this Sunday to raise a further $77,000. In our vision and finance booklet, there are many more visions we are committed to as well.  

Our response couldn’t be expressed better than God’s words to Israel through Joshua. 

Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things 

among you.” (Joshua 3:5).

Marty

I was reminded this week of a time the Lord spoke clearly to us through a single verse of his word to King David in 1 Chronicles 17:9. One Sunday we couldn’t meet in our usual venue, the High School auditorium, so had to relocate to Q block, a smaller building. I wrote this in the newsletter that day on 6 June, 2010.

…part of prayer is asking God to speak and guide us through his word (the primary way God speaks). Then when God provides direction, we simply obey what he says…question…”but how do I know its really God who has spoken…?” I find that God will make his word clear by matching it to situations that can only be God, then affirming it through his people. 

An example: the last time we met in Q block was late last year – it was an unexpected move we weren’t prepared for. I remember feeling at the time the difficulty associated with rented premises. That week I was doing my daily devotions and this verse jumped off the page. “I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed”. The timing of that word came as a wonderful encouragement, and as I shared it with others, it was strongly affirmed that God will provide all we need for the vision he gave us.

There’s actually more to the story, because when we arrived to set up in Q block, someone had changed the locks and we couldn’t get in. So we had to scramble and setup church in a sports hall. By some miracle we did it with minutes to spare. But the really cool thing is what was written on the front of the newsletter that day affirmed 1 Chronicles 17:9 as a promise from God for us. 

Praise God for changed locks and an inconvenience that powerfully confirmed God’s word. We look back fourteen years later from the place of fulfillment - the Lord has indeed provided. Year after year, God has led The Grove by lining up his word with our circumstances. In fact, He did it again last week.  

Last Sunday night Kris Foreman, the senior Chaplain at Grace College, filled in to preach at the 5.30pm service. The sermon was from Luke 5:1-11, the same story we shared on vision Sunday about Peter’s call. It’s a big bible, so I am confident Jesus was confirming his call to put out into the deep for a catch. That we can be expectant of an immeasurably more outpouring of God’s Spirit, resulting is many coming into God’s family at The Grove. Peter needed to call for another boat for all the fish…and so do we. 

This fills me with faith at the beginning of the new financial year, and an important week in The Grove. God is calling us to make ourselves available like those boats, for immeasurably more. We do this at our members meeting as we vote on the calling of a pastor. At our TV night as we align our teams with our vision. And on commitment Sunday when we express our calling together by bringing commitments to the budget and gifts for the kitchen fit-out to Jesus as an act of faith in his word to us. 

Grove family, let’s step out in faith together, confident Jesus is leading us by his word. 

Marty.

On Vision Sunday we launched our Immeasurably More vision, about the great things God has called us to focus on in the new financial year. On that same day Pastor Henry lost his dear dad, Aron, after a sudden health complication. Sometimes a season of life can feel like a mountain top, other times like a valley floor, but the more common experience is how good and hard seasons seem to happen at the same time. 

In a way, this paradox of real life confirms our calling as a church. It was a privilege to host Aron’s Thanksgiving service on Wednesday, where volunteers from The Grove served the family and friends of the Leong’s with such beautiful love in so many different ways - through worship, tech, ushering, car parking and hospitality. In many conversations, I heard similar comments of how loved and comforted people felt by those who volunteered. 

It became so clear to me last Wednesday, how central to our calling it is to use our gifts, and the building God gave us, to serve people with the love of Christ through all seasons of life. To do this on normal days, sacred days, through celebrations and lamentations - to love our neighbour as ourselves.    

Paul expressed it so well in his letter to the church in Rome, in Romans 12:10-16. 

'Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud.

So many practical expressions of love flow out of those verses. Our call to love is through real actions to serve the people and families of our church and neighbourhood. Jesus gave us such a wonderful spiritual home as a place to serve from, which is why hospitality is such a key part of our vision this year. Something special takes place; whether on the deck or in the foyer, where people love to linger in the peaceful and loving presence of God. 

In two weeks time is commitment Sunday. It's a day to offer our lives afresh to serve Jesus for another year. We are commissiong pastors, and asking for the Holy Spirit to fill us all with his life and love for immeasurably more. It’s also a day to bring financial  commitments towards the new budget, and we are taking up a special offering towards our Kitchen fitout goal of $77,000. A fully functional kitchen will make a huge difference to our hospitality ministry in sharing the practical love of Jesus with many. 

Leanne and I look forward to all God has in store for The Grove, as we 

love our neighbours together with you all. Marty.