The last time we gathered together for Heartbeat,
someone said to me afterwards,
you were just so relaxed,
and it was just great to see you so relaxed and casual up the front.
So I'm going to do that again tonight.
Just bear with me for a moment.
OK, ready to go.
So I think 12 months ago,
we sat in this room,
and we had this in front of us,
Heartbeat, November the 8th,
and it was our picture for what was ahead,
it was the input, in fact,
the entire input of what I gave and talked about.
It was in the beginning of our series on radical,
what it meant to be a radical disciple of the Lord Jesus
and the radical choices that we need to make as a church.
And one of the questions that Stuart Wendy put in front of me
as we were doing the preparation leading up to this
is it would be good to highlight some of the markers,
the changes, the progress we've made in the last 12 months.
Because if you were here 12 months ago,
you would know that this was a time of an element of uncertainty.
We picked radical because of a chance for us to really,
we needed to really focus on what we're doing as a church.
We just found out that Sam Lowe,
one of our ministers here,
was leaving after eight years of ministry,
and it was a time of change and flux for us
and what it meant.
And so I think there's a lot,
when I look back at the last 12 months,
there is so many things to celebrate,
where 12 months ago,
I might have been feeling a little bit uncertain
about where we were or where I was
and how we're going to move forward.
God has just kept pushing us forward
and been building momentum throughout the course this year.
And yet at the same time,
in many ways, it's been a hard year.
I feel it.
I feel like it's been a hard year.
There's been a number of things which have happened,
which I didn't want to happen.
And yet what God does,
he just uses those times to continue to sharpen us.
And so we, as I said,
back in November the 8th last year,
where plan was to move to two congregations,
we've done that.
And our translation team,
which was like two or three people,
has grown to,
we celebrated last time around 14 people,
something like that.
And can I just put out a bit of a thanks here tonight
for Flora and Dorothy,
who have just taken the My Purpose Checkup document
and totally translated the thing
in the last week or two
or in that timeframe.
They just got onto it.
And under their own initiative,
and I just want to say that is superb.
That's a massive amount of work.
So thank you for that.
So we've seen that change.
We saw miraculously with the provision
of the money we raised on Vision Sunday,
as well as the increase we saw in our pledging.
The Barnets,
which we were not expecting to be able to do this,
but Barnets came on full time just after Easter.
And so we were intending on employing a children's pastor.
And we've not just got a children's pastor,
we've got a children's pastor
and a maturity pastor wrapped up into one.
And so that's worth celebrating.
We've just celebrated boom.
That didn't exist 12 months ago.
And one of the things of bringing a children's pastor in
was in fact to start an after school kids ministry
that has now started.
And I think James has done a phenomenal job in that
by building the team first.
But he spent a lot of time preparing the team,
building for it.
And so I'm just so excited about that.
We were looking to employ Takeshi and John.
And frankly, you can say boom all you like,
but no one can say it like Takeshi.
And he ought to be,
he's not here, is he?
He's studying for exams.
I'm assuming he shouldn't have been here.
But yeah, so we've been able to employ these guys
and they've done a fantastic job
and helped in a big way in the transition
from three congregations to two
and turning us more transcultural.
We got a faculty approved to move furniture.
That went through.
10 years ago, that would have been a bun fight.
Now it's not.
Now it's actually a move forward
forward because we wanted to see more and more people
seated in this building here in the gospel.
So while we haven't broken the 200 barrier,
which we talked a lot about this time last year.
In fact, the goal for that was to do it between,
you know, 2018 and the end of 2020.
2020, we have building momentum in that direction.
And it's fabulous.
So we're now almost halfway through our vision series for this year.
As you know, our theme is His Purpose, Our Purpose, My Purpose.
And I was asked a really good question
about a week or so ago, a couple of weeks ago.
And the question was,
why this, why now?
Why this, why now?
Why His Purpose, Our Purpose, My Purpose?
Why this and why now?
And my answer is,
because it's all about breaking the 200 barrier.
That's why we're doing it now.
In case you're new to this,
the 200 barrier is, if you like,
a cultural barrier that the vast majority of churches face.
Very few, in fact,
something like only 10% of churches
will ever break the cultural barrier of 200 members.
I introduced it to us at Heartbeat last year
and set the goal that we'd break it before the end of 2020.
The 200 barrier is where a church,
either deliberately or just by the fact of inertia,
decides, subconsciously or consciously,
to stick below 200 members
because it's the way they like things to be.
And I said,
God may choose to never grow St. Paul's,
but for us to deliberately limit the size of the members of St. Paul's,
I find that morally, spiritually reprehensible.
We've got to do everything that we can to grow God's kingdom.
And so one of the key aspects of breaking the 200 barrier
was the need to align the church
around the mission, vision, values and strategy of the church.
That's one of the key elements of breaking the 200 barrier.
And there's at least about eight of them,
but this is one of the key ones.
Alignment is about all ministry pulling in the same direction.
What happens when every ministry pulls in the same direction
is that it forces out the personal agendas
and the personal preferences
that abound in churches that prefer to stay small.
And it causes us to focus on God's mission.
That's what it does.
And so that's what this vision series is about.
It's about alignment.
It's about giving us clarity on our purpose,
on how St. Paul's, in fact, not just St. Paul's purpose,
but how St. Paul's, in fact, structures itself,
how we balance and how we resource these five purposes.
The ministry one's hiding behind me here
because ministry is what we're doing tonight.
So it's balancing these five purposes.
In fact, at this heartbeat last year,
I mentioned six crucial decisions churches need to make
in order to grow in size and depth.
And three of them have to do with this one, ministry.
Have to do with leadership, service, ministry choices.
The course that some of you have been introduced by me,
from me, called Breaking 200 Without Breaking You,
mentions eight key strategies for breaking the 200 barrier.
Five of the eight have to do with this one,
the way we think about ministry,
the way ministry gets done.
And that's our focus tonight.
And the shift that we are looking to do in the next 12 months
is to move away from a church of individuals
filling roles on rosters, plugging gaps, doing a task,
to being a church where we do all of the work of service within teams.
That is, we're doing it together.
We're serving together as opposed to me just doing my bit
that I want to do in my time.
Now, this is simply a flow on from what we looked at last Sunday.
If you were here on Sunday,
you would have heard from me
about Christ-exalting connectedness in God's family.
God's intention is for all of humanity to magnify him.
That's week one.
Week two, God's intention is to draw us together in order to magnify him.
Week three, which is coming up,
now that he's drawn us together to magnify him,
what is his intent for each one of his children?
He wants every one of his children to grow up into the likeness of his true son.
He wants all of his children that he brings into his family
that he gathers to himself to grow up into the likeness of his son,
to have the character of his son.
Week four is that he doesn't want us just to grow up into the likeness of his sons.
He wants us to grow up into the ministry service attitude of his son.
That's God's internal purposes.
And when he builds up his church in that way,
he sends us out into mission.
That's week five.
So let me just take you to the Bible really quickly on this one
and the idea of teams.
Jesus modeled something for us in terms of relationships.
From all of his hundreds of followers,
he chose 72 for a special ministry.
Luke chapter 10, he sends them out two by two.
Doesn't send them out by themselves, sends them out two by two.
And Jesus knows,
Jesus himself didn't,
knew that you could not know 70 people closely.
And so he also,
amongst that 72,
had his 12 for a closer partnership in life and ministry,
where he specifically instilled stuff and did things with them that he didn't do with the 72.
In Mark chapter 3, verse 14,
it says he appointed 12,
designating them apostles that they might be with him.
But even 12 are sometimes too much,
and especially if you're an introvert.
And so Jesus has a closer bond with Peter, James and John,
just three of the 12.
And on a number of occasions,
it was just those three who had a special time of development with Jesus.
Often, in fact,
at the most significant times of Jesus' life and ministry,
those three were there.
And sometimes even three is more than some kinds of friendships will allow.
And Jesus seemed to have a particular bond with John,
which John mentioned several times in his gospel,
because he got an opportunity to do that.
The disciple who Jesus loved.
By the way, that's me.
I'm talking about you.
Don't know what it says about the other 11,
but anyway.
But five times in his gospel,
he refers to himself as the disciple who Jesus loved.
And so Jesus had his crowds,
he had his 72,
he had his 12,
he had his three,
and he had his one.
And as he put his mission and his church in motion,
he not only modeled these various levels of relationship,
he sent his ambassadors out into teams
with different levels of relationship.
See, life and ministry for Jesus
was life and ministry together.
It was not even for him,
it was a solo affair.
Life and ministry for him
was life and ministry together.
Then you get to the Apostle Paul
and he follows the same pattern.
Christian ministry appears,
is a ministry together,
service together.
I don't think it's an accident
that in every single church,
the Apostle Paul planted,
go and read Acts on this,
he appointed not one elder and pastor,
but multiple elders.
And when Paul and Barnabas,
they had their tiff and they fell out,
and they were wondering what to do
with John Mark who abandoned them
on the first mission,
these two giants of the faith
did not have a falling out and disappear
and do their own thing.
They formed new teams,
got the blessing of the church,
and then they were sent out.
Barnabas took Mark with him,
he sailed to Cyprus,
Paul chose Silas,
and he departed in Acts 15, 39, 40.
When he met Timothy in Acts 16,
he asked Timothy to travel with him
as his ministry co-worker,
even though Timothy was the junior,
learner,
just a kid,
learning still.
And over the next six years,
of the 13 letters that Paul wrote,
he addresses them to the churches
as coming from him and Timothy,
even though Paul was the one who wrote.
He wanted to send it from the team.
Now, of course,
the pattern of our life together
is not just a matter of ministry,
strategy,
or partnership.
I said on Sunday,
the New Testament is just,
is just this dominance
of connectedness language.
And so I want to take us
to one of those passages now,
really quickly,
1 Corinthians 12,
12 to 27.
If you've got your Bibles,
if you've got Bibles apps or whatever,
open them up now.
I'm going to jump through this really quickly.
I want to see six things,
briefly,
this is not six,
this is not a six-point sermon,
it's not double length,
this is six things,
really briefly,
that highlight
about life together in here.
So,
first of all,
it says,
the church is a body
that's made up of many parts.
Made up of many parts.
And without the parts,
there is no body.
Church is made up of many body,
many parts.
It's a body made up of many parts,
but without the parts,
there is no body.
I went looking for my Mr. Potato Head today.
When I say mine,
it's the kids.
You know,
it was beside my bed,
but not anymore.
I went looking for it today,
because it would have been great
to have it here in front of us,
but imagine Mr. Potato Head
and
with just the body,
but no bits attached to him.
That's the picture here,
that it's not a body
without the parts.
Number two,
verse 12,
the unity of the body
is achieved
through the diversity
of the parts.
That is both the diversity
of the people
and the diversity
of the gifting
of the people.
Verse 12,
the body is a unit,
though it be made up
of many parts,
and though all its parts
are many,
they form one body.
So,
you'd have Mr. Potato Head,
you'd put all the arms on
and the hat on
and the legs on
and nose and the ears
and everything,
you go,
there it is.
It's now looking
like it did on the box.
It's functional.
Number three,
third point,
the diversity of the parts,
all the diversity of the parts,
all the difference of the parts,
serve the unity
and the function of the body.
So,
verse 14,
now the body is not made
of one part,
but a many.
If the foot should say,
because I'm not a hand,
I do not belong to the body,
it would not for that reason
cease to be part of the body.
And if the ear should say,
because I'm not an eye,
I do not belong to the body,
it would not for that reason
cease to be part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye,
where would the sense of smell be,
or sense of hearing be?
What?
Yeah, that's right.
If all I couldn't hear,
that's right.
It's the Bible right here?
If the whole body were an ear,
where would the sense of smell be?
And so,
if you had my Mr. Potato Head here
and just had all the arms,
you go,
well,
that's dysfunctional.
That doesn't,
and yet,
that's how we often work church to be.
We often have church in that way.
When we work church to be the homogenous unit principle,
where we like,
gather with like,
then it looks like a dysfunctional,
weird looking Mr. Potato Head.
Number four,
all the parts need each other
if the body is to function correctly.
In other words,
whatever your part is in the body,
don't ever say,
I have no need for that other part over there.
Verse 20,
the eye cannot say to the hand,
I don't need you.
And the head cannot say to the feet,
I don't need you.
On the contrary,
those parts of the body
that seem to be weaker
are indispensable.
And the parts that we think are less honorable,
we treat with special honor.
And the parts that are unpresentable
are treated with special modesty,
while our presentable parts
need no special treatment.
But God has combined the members of the body
and has given greater honor
to the parts that lack it.
So the negative warning here
is don't say,
I don't need those other bits.
Paul says here
that those who we view as weaker
or unnecessary or unimportant
are absolutely necessary.
every,
I mean,
this church functions
on the gifts of so many people
working together.
Sunday by Sunday,
you see that.
There is so many things
that happen in the background
that you don't even see,
that you know.
And without those things
not functioning,
the place starts to fall apart
real quick.
see what happens
if the person
who normally cuts the grass
doesn't turn up
for three weeks.
The so-called unnecessary bits.
See what happens then.
The person who
most of you don't see
who weeds the gardens.
How quickly it would deteriorate.
How quickly people would say,
well,
no one's living there.
Verse 22,
on the contrary,
those parts of the body
that seem to be weaker
are indispensable.
They're not just optional,
they're necessary.
Not just helpful,
they are necessary.
Number five,
let's have the same care
for one another
so that,
this is verse 25,
so that there should be
no division in the body
but that its parts
should have equal concern
for each other.
If one part suffers,
every part suffers with it.
If one part is honoured,
every part rejoices with it.
These verses are all about
what James would call
favouritism.
Certain parts
that we'd want to honour
over more,
others,
James would say,
no, no,
there's no favouritism
with the church
and this is saying
care for everyone equally,
honour all equally.
It's no mistake
that this description
of the body
is immediately followed
by 1 Corinthians 13.
The great chapter of love.
Whatever our gifting,
it is only effective
if it is used in love.
Number six,
if only my Sunday sermons
move this quickly.
Number six
is an encouragement
to trust in God
who composes the body
as he wills to compose it.
To trust God for this.
Verse 18,
in fact,
God has arranged
the parts in the body,
every one of them,
just as he wanted them to be.
Let's give thanks to God
that he has chosen,
that he has ordered,
that he has appointed,
that he has distributed gifts
at his goodwill
for the unity of the church.
That ought to encourage us,
it ought to humble us,
regardless of whether
we hold a prominent place
or we don't have
a prominent place
in the body.
God has given you
your place.
And yet,
this text
ends
with this
final challenge.
We're told in verse 18
that God arranged the parts
to everyone
that he wants them to be,
but somehow,
verse 18
doesn't negate
verse 31
where Paul says,
but eagerly desire
the greater gifts.
In other words,
grow up
in your service.
Now,
you can't get
the greater gifts
unless God chooses
to give them to you,
but presumably here,
their earnest desire
and preparing
of themselves
is seen
as a preliminary
to receiving
the greater gift,
at least in some cases.
And so,
the challenge here,
I think,
and this is something
we're intending on
deliberately picking up,
quite intentionally picking up
in the next 12 months
in St. Paul's,
is to,
is the challenge
to go further,
the challenge
to train,
to develop,
to equip others,
to recruit,
to seek new opportunities
to serve.
That's the individual
challenge for us all.
And,
and the other thing
that we're seeking to do
is that this
connectedness
and interdependency
culture
that you see
in the New Testament,
the language
of the New Testament,
is something
that we traditionally
really emphasize
through community groups
and we're going to
continue to emphasize
that through community groups
when everyone in the community
groups and connected,
but it's also
the way we want to see
our ministry done
amongst us.
Connectedness.
Working as part
of a team.
Can I just divert
a little bit here
and emphasize
this point?
I've been here
for
nine and a half years.
possibly
the greatest delight
I have had
as a senior minister
of St. Paul's
is the team
that I work with
day by day.
That,
that's for me,
stands out
as the high point
of my nine and a half years
at St. Paul's.
Without a doubt.
And I would extend that
to talk about
wardens and parish council
as well.
Without a doubt.
I have the privilege
of working with
a number of staff
and,
and a good number
of staff
over
the time
that I've been here
and a good number
of that,
those staff
for some time
who have
all contributed
to my growth
as a disciple
and contributed
to me
in ministry,
in sharpening
my ministry skills.
We have worked
closely together.
I said to someone
recently,
when Sam left,
it really hurt me
in the sense of
I really felt
his loss.
Think about this.
I work with him
for five days a week.
We traveled,
as I said,
I think it is farewell.
I've been in hotel rooms
more with Sam
than anyone else
apart from Nat.
We work together
closely
five days a week
for eight years.
That's equivalent
of 40 years
of Sundays.
That's equivalent
of 40 years
of Sundays.
Together,
as a staff team,
we have had
greater impact
than any of us
could have had
individually
exercising our gifts.
We have collectively
deepened
and expanded
the ministry
of St. Paul's.
I want to suggest
that the reason
that we continue
to push forward
as a church
is because
you have
a phenomenal
staff team.
I'm not talking
individually.
Every one of us
individually
is weak
and we have
our failings
and our blind spots
and our
bits where we're
not gifted at.
But collectively,
we are strong.
And collectively,
we've had a greater
impact than any of us
could have done
by ourselves.
And I would suggest
that collectively,
we have deepened,
we've expanded
the ministry.
God has made us
all very differently
and yet collectively,
we make up
for our weaknesses.
We've all grown
together in
gospel conviction.
We've grown
together in
character
and we've grown
together in
ministry competencies.
We have
fellowship,
we have
encouragement,
we have fun
and we share
the burdens
and the joys
of life.
Sometimes it feels
more like the
burdens and the joys
but we share the
burdens and the
joys of life.
If you've never
noticed it before
and this is
not,
if you think
this is me
being proud
then forgive me
for that
but just hear
the point.
We have
modelled
something,
the staff team
over the last
nine years or so
and particularly
increasingly so
in the last
four years
have modelled
something as
a staff team
that the church
should see,
acknowledge
and duplicate
in all its
ministry teams.
I think it's
the best
illustration I
can throw in
front of you.
It needs to be
duplicated in
every ministry
team.
We want to
see it deployed.
We are modelling
something that we
want deployed
across the church.
everyone
serving as
part of a
team,
loving each
other,
growing in
character,
in competency
and together
you will
achieve more.
Every
member of
St Paul's
serving as
part of a
team on
purpose.
Now,
I have
gone over
my time
already.
Do you
want to
just watch
the video
for a
little bit?
Is that
alright?
And then I'll
come back.
Let's have a
break there.
So it is
turning into a
sermon.
The six
points are
over by the
way.
So this
is just a
bit of a
taster for
team ministry
if we can
get that
up.
Before we
do,
let me just
hit a couple
of things.
As we
move on,
one of the
things I
said some
time ago
was that
each church
needs clear
expectations on
what are we
expecting for
our disciples.
So what's
our discipleship
pathway?
What does it
mean to grow
up to be a
member of
this church
and to
grow as a
disciple of
this church?
And secondly,
what is the
ministry pathway?
I'm happy to
say that both
of those things
have now been
developed for
St Paul's.
The
discipleship
pathway,
it's right
there,
it's up in
front of me,
it's up there,
has been
developed.
And you'll
notice that
each one of
these five
purposes is
reflected up
there.
The goal we
have for every
member of St
Paul's,
including myself,
is to continue
to reassess,
am I on
purpose?
For God's
purpose,
for my life,
for this
church,
am I aligning
myself with
it?
Am I growing
in each one?
Which is my
weakness one that
I need to work
on and have a
plan in the
next six months,
12 months,
to get better
at that
particular
purpose,
whatever it
is.
And so you've
seen that
rolling out
through the
course of
this vision
series.
I want to
commend James
again for
that and
developing that
for us.
Secondly,
on your
seats,
you've got
this big
thing.
You'll
notice that
all of our
ministry teams
are connected
in one way or
another to our
five purposes.
purposes.
And this is
just a snapshot,
if you like,
a visual image.
Thanks, Jess,
for putting this
together of how
every ministry
at St. Paul's
is connected to
one of these
purposes,
bringing greater
alignment to
every single
ministry team.
You know where
you fit,
what your purpose
is,
and how your
purpose fits
into the
mission and
vision of
St. Paul's.
That's what
this is all
about.
Not every
single ministry
team is there,
and you'll
notice there
are two
things,
such as
ministry
support,
which is
not quite
red,
it's an
orange,
it's out
there a
little bit.
Ministry
support's
job is
effectively
to support
the five
purposes,
and next
gen,
because it
is a
unique
ministry
and that
certain
requirements
are there
because you're
leading young
people,
it sits
over slightly
to one
side,
and because
of the age
of the people
that are there,
it sits to
one side.
However,
all five
purposes get
worked out
in next-gen
ministry.
We just
want to
separate them
out and
make them
slightly
distinct because
there are
certain higher
requirements for
leaders in
that area.
So ministry
teams,
we've got
alignment as
a disciple,
where you
fit.
As a
disciple,
my expectation
as a member
of St. Paul's
is to grow
in these
five purpose
areas.
Where do I
serve?
In one of
the teams,
in one of
the five
purpose areas,
and our
goal for
every member
is that when
you are in
a ministry
team,
if you move
over to
ministry pathway
now,
is that you
will know
at what
level you
fit,
who you
report to,
and what
your job
description and
expectations are
within that
ministry team.
So that's the
ministry pathway.
We like to
see everyone
fit into the
ministry pathway,
and on
top of that
is that what
sits over the
top of a
ministry pathway
interacting with
a ministry
pathway is
ministry grid,
which is what
that lady just
mentioned in the
video.
It's a whole
training program
that's,
it's an online
training program
designed to
develop you in
whatever part of
the ministry
pathway you
fit.
And so the
intention as you
move forward
is not to
hand someone,
there's your job
description,
we need you to
help out at
boom,
we'll see you
if something
goes wrong.
And there's
your job,
go and fill
that function.
Ministry is
part of your
discipling,
it's part of
your connectedness
of growing a
disciple of the
Lord Jesus.
And so our
plan as we
move into,
to roll it out
totally between
now and the
end of next
year is for
every person
to know where
they fit in
ministry teams,
to be placed in
ministry teams,
to know where
they fit in
that ministry
team,
to be developing
in that ministry
team and to be
coached in that
ministry team so
that you've got
relational connection
as you develop.
That's the plan
to roll out,
that's our major
agenda,
is to get the
members of St.
Paul's engaged
and on purpose
in the next
12 months.
We see it as
crucial in us
breaking the
200 barrier.
So, by this
time next year,
I would love to
be standing in
heartbeat and for
everyone here to
be able to say,
I know what my
role is,
I know how this
role serves the
vision,
I know how this
role is connected
to the purpose,
one of the five
purposes,
I'm on a
team,
I know every
member of my
team,
I know who my
leader is,
and I'm being
coached and
developed personally
and intentionally
by my leader.
That's what I'd
like to see by this
time next year.