A Time To Chart New Maps In Our City

Not only are there two ways to live in life – as a church, there are also always two ways to do ministry in our city. We’re either investing our lives in building the ministry of the gospel in our city or we’re happy being comfortable and safe where we're building up our own little patch in the city of Sydney. It’s always worth asking … what are you building – who are you following?

If your focus in the Christian life or even as a church is on your little patch in life (and honestly that’s all it is … a little patch of grass), and some have larger patches than others in nicer suburbs, the reality is that its still only a patch of grass in God’s scheme. This is the reality as Peter puts it, “All men are like grass, and all their glory (their work) is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And then we read that, "this is the word that was preached to you – this is the word that saved you". (1 Peter 1:24-25)

There’s nothing you build in this city that’ll last - grass grows and fades and withers, but it’s only the Word of God, the Word of the Gospel that saves, that’ll stands forever in our city. I want to make sure that we keep investing and building in what will last beyond our lifetime in this city. Personally, and as a church, what matters is growing the Word of the Gospel in our city. In fact, we’re believers today in the city of Sydney, because the apostles first preached the gospel in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.

In fact, the book of Acts is really a testimony to the living, enduring and growing Word of the Gospel. You read in Acts 1:8 where Jesus says to his apostles, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And today the Word of God is still going out to the ends of the earth in the lives of men and women who have received the gospel. Nations rise and fall, empires come and go, buildings are built and demolished, but the Word of the Gospel will always stand. In fact the growth of the gospel has never depended on the size of a church congregation or its facilities. The pattern you see in Acts is one where as the gospel is preached and received, there you see churches planted in those communities. Some churches meeting in homes, others in public lecture halls, still others in the outdoors.

What are we building and growing in our city? My vision has always been to grow a church not bound by walls, by tradition, by fear, by comfort, but a church with a vision to raise the next generation and to plant Bible believing, Jesus loving, Spirit empowered, gospel proclaiming, mission minded churches across the city of Sydney. In 2005 I cast that vision of sailing the deep waters which led to us starting GracePoint at Auburn. That was part of the start of a vision to plant churches across the city of Sydney: to be a church without walls, looking to plant 7 new churches in 13 years. It’s a vision I’m still committed to.

Between 1994 and 1996, the Institute for Church Development in Germany conducted a research project surveying 1000 churches in 32 countries (published by Charles Schwarz in Natural Church Development.) Churches were categorized into sets of 1-100, 100-200, 200-300 etc. They found that churches in the 1-100 category increased an average of 32 new people over the past 5 years; churches in the 100-200 category also increased an average of 32 new people; churches in the 200-300 category averaged 39 new people; and churches in the 300-400 category increased an average of 25 people (C. Schwarz, Natural Church Development. p.47.) And that means 'a small church wins just as many people for Christ as a large one, and what's more, two churches with 200 worshippers on Sundays would win twice as many new people as one church with 400 in attendance.' (Schwarz, p.47)

What about churches with more than 1000 people? They found that the smallest churches (with an average attendance of 51) won an average of 32 new people in the past five years, while mega-churches (with an average attendance of 2,856) won 112 new persons over the same 5 years.

In raw numbers it means that a mega-church wins more people than a single small church. But, if you keep in mind that a mega-church is 56 times the size of a small church, then the following calculations shows you the potential of the two groups more realistically. 'If instead of a single church with 2,856 people worshipping we had 56 churches, each with 51 worshippers, these churches would, statistically, win 1,792 new people within five years - 16 times the number the mega-church would win.' (Schwarz, p.48)

The effectiveness of small churches in terms of growth is statistically, 1,600 percent greater than that of mega-churches. The myth is that big is better. What we need are more Bible believing, Jesus loving, Spirit empowered, gospel proclaiming, mission minded churches planted across our city. Research also found that statistically more people are mobilized to use their gifts to serve in a smaller church than in a larger churches. If you look at our growth at GracePoint we fall into the small church category. When we started with our first congregation between 2000 and 2003 we grew from an average of 45 to 95 people attending our service (a growth of 50 new people in our service through evangelistic and transfer growth).

I believe we grow the ministry of the gospel best in our city by planting new churches or congregations. As each church plant grows and develops, we begin to plant new churches in different suburbs, which in turn eventually plants new churches themselves. And apart from achieving a much more effective rate of growth evangelistically reaching people groups across the city of Sydney, a smaller group allows for much greater involvement of people in terms of using their gifts in serving, less red-tape and structures to worry about, a much greater ability to maintain focus, and a much more personal church.

We can actually reach people across Sydney more effectively by planting new churches. You plant the first one, and then in 4-5 years time when you have a stable and strong congregation, you plant another new church in a different suburb, one out of our evening congregation, and one out of our morning congregation. If we did this, potentially by 2013 we could have 400 people spread across 4 churches or congregations, with all 4 churches ready to plant another 4 new churches.


Personally I believe it’s time to sail the deep waters again, to chart out new maps as a church in our city. We musn't be bound by walls, by tradition, by fear, by comfort. We’re called to love Jesus and his mission, and people in our city. We’re called to be a church with a vision to raise the next generation and to plant Bible believing, Jesus loving, Spirit empowered, gospel proclaiming, mission minded churches across the city of Sydney.

Pastoral Note - 20th June 2007

Have you ever met a 'rabbit-hole' Christian? A 'rabbit-hole' Christian is one who lives in a Christian ghetto. She turns up at university, goes to a lecture or tutorial and looks around the room to find a Christian friend to sit next to. She then goes to the university café for lunch and sits with all her Christian friends. And then the rabbit-hole Christian goes to a cell group in the evening and prays for all the unsaved in his tutorial group.

Then there's the 'undercover' Christian. An 'undercover' Christian is one who doesn't live in a Christian ghetto, but is so indistinguishable from his unsaved friends that no one knows he's a Christian. He goes to work, has lunch with his unchurched friends, never speaks of his Christian faith, appears to share their values and views on work and life. After work, he spends all his time with them socializing and enjoying life. And then on Sunday he turns up at church and prays for all the unsaved at his work.

It sounds harsh, but most of us if we don't fall into one of these two categories have a bit of both in us. How can we be the salt of the earth if we have never gotten out of the saltshaker? How can we be the light of the world if we have never shone? The truth is we fear ‘evangelism’. The fear of ridicule, the fear of being rejected, the fear of being labelled, the fear of failure, the fear of not knowing what to say. So we fall into our Christian rabbit-holes or we go undercover. The challenge for us is to overcome this.

Jesus' command to his first disciples assumes that the ongoing proclamation of the gospel will continue in the life of future disciples - you and me.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. ~ Matthew 28:18-20

The command to go and make disciples among all people is to continue in subsequent generation of Christians as they teach others to do the same.

When we turn to the book of Acts we again find in the words of Jesus the assumption that the proclamation of the gospel will continue to the very ends of the earth through his disciples.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8

And when we get to the end of the book of Acts, you find that the witness of the first disciples to Jesus has spread all through the known world. In fact the book of Acts is an open-ended book, because the story hasn’t ended – it continues with you. The witness of the first apostles to Jesus continues in the ongoing proclamation of the gospel in subsequent generations of Christians who have done likewise - Christians in every generation who have taken the gospel to the ends of the earth, from Sydney to Bathurst to Vanuatu to Bolivia. The fact that we meet as Christians in Burwood 2000 years on is witness to the words of Jesus and the faithfulness of generations of Christians before us.

God has always used men and women like you and me in bringing the gospel to the world – a gospel that is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe (Rom.1:16-17). Good news should and must be shared.

Pastoral Note - 25th March 2007

Evangelism is hard work. Evangelism is daunting work. Evangelism is embarrassing. It’s true isn’t it – 99% of us find evangelism hard for a range of reasons. The fear of rejection and ridicule. The fear of not knowing how to answer people’s questions. The fear of being marginalized at the office. Yet, we saw in last week’s sermon, that in a culture that despised and looked down on the Christian faith, Paul says in Romans.1:16, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel’. Why? As v.16 goes on to tell us, because it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. Because ultimately, the gospel saves! It saves people from the wrath and judgment of God, and their sin (Rom.1:18ff). I once said to someone at church that if you saw a friend walking towards the edge of a cliff, unaware that they are about to walk off that cliff, would you be embarrassed and ashamed to warn them, to yell out to them, to do all you can to get their attention. Wouldn’t you do all you could to convince them to turn around?

The same holds true if you understand the gospel. Because a far greater destruction awaits those who do not know Christ. Are you ashamed and embarrassed to warn people, to get their attention, to convince them?

This coming Friday will be a great opportunity with our Outreach Dinner, to reach out both personally and as a cell group. It will be an opportunity both in terms of pre-evangelism and evangelism. For most of us evangelism is daunting enough by ourselves, so let me encourage you to do this with your cell group. If you knew that when your friends came, there would be some people from your cell group sitting with them and talking to them, it would take the pressure of you wouldn’t it. But more than anything else you don't just want your friends to hear the gospel, you want them to meet other Christians who’s lives have been changed by the gospel.

So let me encourage you to maybe speak to your cell group this week, to see how as a group you can be preparing for Friday. Maybe, you could organize a table or two as a cell group for you and your friends? Maybe, you could work out which two people would be best sitting with the friend or friends you bring. Maybe, you could organize to have pre-dinner drinks with your friends and some people from your cell group, as there is a coffee bar with lounges right next door to the function centre (which makes great pizza as well). I'll leave it to you - but take the opportunity.

Secondly, I think the Outreach Dinner this Friday will be an opportunity to help you be more confident and bold in your personal evangelism. If you can't invite a friend to dinner, I suspect you won't take the next step to share your testimony or faith with them. Let this week be a first step for you - to invite your friends, family and colleagues to a dinner. Even if they choose not to come, at the very least they will know that you are a Christian, which will then provide you with further opportunities as you have just opened the door to your faith.

One of the things that saddens me is that so often when we have outreach events over Christmas/Easter, I have people say to me - 'that was a great talk, I wish I'd brought a friend, didn't think it would be relevant to where they are in life'. The reality is that a chance lost, is a lost opportunity to bring unbelievers one step closer towards God’s kingdom. I believe every opportunity counts. For as Paul says, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.’ (Rom.1:16)

This week let me encourage you to pray for this Friday night, the speaker, those in your cg, their friends and those you are inviting to the dinner. And more than anything else to not be ashamed of the gospel!