Reach - May, 2010

Without A Vision My People Perish

Being highly involved in church doesn’t always mean that you are highly committed. A recent study of Australian churchgoers revealed some surprising truths about the type of people that sit in the pews every week. The study defined two types of commitment expressed in the lives of believers. The first type is behavioral commitment and the second is affective commitment.

Behavioral Commitment

This type of believer would never think of missing church and will often be involved at church during the week. They are most likely driven by an obligation to behave and act in “right” and moral ways. All this is great but what is missing? A deep connection to others in the church. The heart is not moved by love for others or for the church. Selfinterest is what characterises their experience of church.

Affective Commitment

Someone with affective commitment is driven by a strong sense of belonging to the members of the congregation. They feel close to others in the church and have high levels of trust and confidence in their community of faith. This connection and affection for the church and those who belong to it, makes a real difference when it comes to witnessing. Those who have an affective commitment are more likely to share their faith and invite others to attend their church. They are more likely to have what we might call a “passion for evangelism.”

Researchers really wanted to get to the root cause of this commitment problem. Why are some congregations driven by a sense of obligation and others compelled by a deep sense of belonging to something worthwhile? The simple answer is VISION. There is an overwhelming connection between the individual believer being committed to the church’s VISION and having AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT. Does your church have a clear vision? Do you even know what it is? Apparently what the wise man said in Proverbs 29:18 is still true today. “Without a vision my people perish.”

Pastor Justin Lawman

Having a clear vision...

Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner define a vision as “knowing who you are, where you are going, and what will guide your journey.”

The tree key elements to a compelling vision are:

1. A significant purpose or reason for existence.

2. Clear values that guide your path.

3. A picture of the future or what you want the end result to be.

From the book Full Steam Ahead , Berrett- Koehler Publishers, 2003, Ken Blanchard & Jesse Stoner

From Russia with Love

everywhere in the Western world. Whereas in Russia, it is very easy to get people to come to any service if they see that it is of value. Here your main day is Saturday when you can do best for the Church. So that is the only difference that I have noticed. In general, people in Australia and Russia are similar in their spirituality. People in Australia are very spiritual; they are a people of prayer and zeal.

you go out and directly witness of Christ and the doctrines of the Bible to a person with a specific target that the person must become a disciple and be baptised and become a member of the Church.

Pastor Vadim and Helen Butov have recently moved to our Conference from Russia. Vadim, Senior Pastor at Avondale Memorial Church, shares his views on evangelism with the Conference Evangelism Director, Pr Justin

Lawman

Q. It’s great that you are in Australia, Vadim. Tell me, what are the big differences you have noticed between the Church in Australia and the Church in Russia.

Vadim: Firstly, the Church in Australia has exceeded my expectations. I have found it to be a very active Church, full of the Spirit with great zeal for the Gospel. I was told that in the Western world, the Church is very secular, weak and lukewarm. I have not found this, at least not at Avondale Memorial Church. I have seen that the Church in Australia has a giant potential for preaching the Gospel. It is a great family, and well organised.

The secularism of Australian society and its ‘anti-God’ mood is reflected upon the Church. It is more difficult to get people to attend programs in the middle of the week. People are very busy

Q. Vadim, the Church in Australia, in recent decades, has stalled in its growth – it is not growing strongly like it once did. What are some of your observations in the area of evangelism that may be future directions that the church might take to get growing again?

Vadim: The Church in Australia is right now at a cross road of choosing methods to reach society. We should keep in mind that there are two theologies in soul winning. One is called the Theology of Soul Winning and the other is the Theology of Harvesting. I believe both should exist. The Theology of Soul Winning is social work, welfare, helping the poor, the

When Australia became secular two or three decades ago, the Country’s face was changed — new buildings, stock exchange, banks, industries, people earning more money. When the country became wealthier, harvest evangelism became much more difficult, and the church outside refocused itself to sowing evangelism.

The Australian Church in general is very good at helping society. It has over-focused on serving rather than on harvesting. We think that people don’t want to hear or listen. People don’t come, so we have developed our own attitude that the theology of harvest will not work. People think that if we cannot harvest let’s at least serve so that the people can hear. Then when the people are sick or in need they can come to God for help. This may happen or this may never happen. So I think the church needs to reconsider

aged, organising events for young people, providing humanitarian help – when the Church tries to get a good name in the eyes of society.

The Theology of Harvesting is the heavy duty evangelism, when

its theology. We need to have a balance.

I think we are too focused on society rather than the spiritual needs of salvation and Christ. I believe we should have an equal balance between both social

“It is idealology, or in our case theology that determines your thinking your thinking determines your actions and your actions determine your society.”

work and harvesting, taking into account that public or personal evangelism will never be popular with people walking in the darkness.

We should expect that there will always be people who accept it and there will be people who won’t. Evangelism is a difficult job to do but we should be doing it. The Theology of Harvesting is something we need to get into the minds of people. Carl Marx used to say, it is idealology, or in our case theology, that determines your thinking, your thinking determines your actions and your actions determine your society. It is theology that drives the Church. I believe that the Church has the right theology; it just needs to balance its focus.

People in the church must always remember, this is my city and I need to evangelise to it, no matter what it costs.

Donations to Hope Channel Increase

While Hope Channel is a free service available to anyone with a satellite dish, it still costs money to run. This cost is shared amongst the Conferences throughout Australia, with North NSW contributing over $56,000 a year. The good news is that any donation to Hope Channel from North NSW church members reduces the amount the Conference has to contribute.

Donations from members during 2008 totaled just under $30,000, leaving the Conference to make up the difference of $26,000.

Thank you for your financial support of Hope Channel.

Church Planting Goals

The evangelism department has set a goal of planting a new evangelistic congregation every twelve months. The Conference church planting committee has commissioned a demographic study of North NSW to determine the best location for new church plants within the Conference. It is hoped the study will be completed by the end of May and it will identify three areas of significant demographic growth.

While God can use anything, too often new churches have developed as the result of a theological schism, worship war, or some carnal power struggle. This culture or spirit never seems to leave the group and they very rarely have significant growth. New church plants must be established for the purpose of mission! This means we need to seek God’s guidance and act strategically to develop a healthy culture in any future church plant.

REVIEW: REVELATION

Hope, Meaning, Purpose

The long awaited Revelation series by Dr Jon Pauline and Dr Graeme Bradford has finally arrived, and everyone is asking, “What is it like? Can I use it?”

I must say that I am very impressed! This series is a valuable tool in the local pastor’s arsenal and is the best series the Church has released on the book of Revelation to date.

The student manual goes through the book of Revelation like you would exegete a passage of Scripture. Some of the lesson manuals of the past have not always allowed the book to speak for itself, but this series places a high value on the original meaning of the passage. The series uses a Catechism format (questions are asked in reference to a verse or passage and then an extensive answer is given). I personally prefer students to discover their own answer from the Bible and for the teacher’s material have the extensive answer. But others prefer it this way. Either way, this can be easily worked around by the person presenting the series.

If I had to find fault it would be the lack of conviction this scholarly approach brings to some important issues, for example, the identity of the second beast in Revelation 13 is left very open. The strongest statement given in lesson 16 is, “At this present time, we see the potential for this more in the United States than anywhere else in the world.” But again the presenter can speak from their own conviction.

Please note that this is a review of the student manual only (there is also a presenters resource kit and a DVD of the series itself available, which I have not yet had the opportunity to look at).

-- Review by Pr Justin Lawman

TOP TEN Guiding Principles

What are the values of Australians? What does the average person use in their life to guide them in making choices between right and wrong? Here are the top ten life principles (in order of importance) that Australians use to guide their everyday life according to the Australian Community Survey conducted back in 1998. The results might surprise you. May God give us the grace and wisdom to reach our precious neighbors for Christ.