Pastor Edgar Mayer;
For more sermons and other writings check
out pastor’s homepage: http://www.lca.org.au/pastors/edgarmayer
Vision 2007
Living Grace had its beginning on
Now what will the new year – 2007 – bring
to us? What is the ongoing vision of our congregation? This is not an easy
question and in a sense I do not know how to answer this question. Just this
week I conversed with another pastor about congregational visions and he could
tell me in one sentence what the purpose of his congregation was: “We
are a catalyst to bring unity to the body of Christ for the transformation of
cities and nations.” Another one
sentence purpose statement for another congregation would be, for example:
“We exist to be a voice for the poor in Toowoomba.”
Could we formulate such a single-minded purpose
statement for Living Grace? No and –
I’m not sure – God may never give us such
one specific long-term task.
Leaving
that aside for a moment – when you look
at many congregations’ mission statement (in their most common draft form) they are rather general and in fact they
all seem to say the same because the general mission statement for every
Christian and every congregation is in fact the same – straight from the Bible
– Matthew 22:37-40: “Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind
… Love your neighbour as yourself … ” Matthew
28:19-20: “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.”
Rick Warren and the Saddleback church distilled these
two Bible passages into the following purpose statement. I quote: “We exist to bring people to Jesus and membership in his family, develop them
to Christlike maturity, and equip
them for their ministry in the church
and life mission in the world, in
order to magnify God’s name.” That’s a comprehensive and great purpose
statement and it has been taken up by churches around the globe including
Living Grace. Its basic five-fold structure shaped the best-selling book The Purpose-Driven Church, which we
studied intensively in 2002 and its content is now even reflected in our
by-laws. The same five-fold structure then shaped the best-selling book and
best-selling church campaign: 40 Days of
Purpose, which we did in 2004.
What on earth are we here for – as individuals and as a church? The five-fold answer is – Purpose 1: Worship. We were
planned for God's pleasure! Purpose 2:
Fellowship. We were formed for God's family! Purpose 3: Discipleship. We were created to become like
Christ! Purpose 4: Ministry.
We were shaped for serving God! Purpose 5:
Evangelism. We were made for a mission.
However –
again – this is a helpful tool in
assessing whether we cover our core reasons for existence and it has been very
helpful in considering our staffing needs but the five-fold purpose statement
in itself is rather general. It does not specifiy particular goals or
prioritize needs. There is no concrete vision emerging. The same purpose
statement applies to the house-church and the mega church and forms the
foundation for any of the churches that have more concrete corporate
objectives.
What will the new year – 2007 – bring
to Living Grace? What is the ongoing vision of our congregation? I am not quite
sure but I am curious as to what the answers to the question will be. My
personal conviction is that so far every year we have been in the will of God
and by his grace we focused on his agenda for us – there was no lack of
clarity – but as to what the future will
hold I do not know. Anything is possible and nothing is certain or even predictable.
For instance, what will be our future role in the
ministry of the newly combined Concordia Lutheran College, the local Lutheran
community, the denomination of the Lutheran Church of Australia, the city of
Toowoomba, the mission to the Aboriginal community of Hopevale, the nation …
our future role in overseas mission? There are signs as to what could emerge
but it will be exciting when God chooses to reveal more fully his plans for us.
In many ways that’s why we are doing Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God course – one key-initiative of 2007, starting date 18th
of February – because the whole course
is about the question of God’s guidance. What is he doing and where does he
want us to be involved in his work? Where is he leading us? How can we experience
God – knowing and doing the will of God?
May I repeat –
before anyone misunderstands – that so
far – I think that – we have been in
the will of God and by his grace focused on his agenda for us. We’ve had some
amazing years with wonderful confirmations of God’s favour on us but my feeling
is that God will take us further this year.
In a book I read the phrase: “Beginnings determine endings” and when you think about it there is truth
in this statement. Often the seed of future significance or destruction is
found in the way something was set up or came about. Beginnings determine
endings. Now – think back – what was
of note in our beginnings which continued to give us shape and purpose?
There is much that would be worth mentioning such as the
roots of our culture.[1] Much happened in our beginnings but I think
that two early seeds of what we have become and might become even more so in
the future are the following: 1) God moved us deeper into the things of the Spirit, and 2) God moved us into unity with the one people
of God from all denominations.
See whether you agree with me and whether from that we
do get an incling of where God wants to take us next. When some of us
traditional Lutherans planted the Living Grace congregation we had planned to
become a contemporary church with bands and drama and clapping – that’s what we wanted – but God in his love had something else planned in addition to that. He
led us into renewal and what a surprise that was – at least to me. Not only the worship style changed but also
worship in itself – what goes on in our relationship with God. God moved us deeper into faith and the
Spirit.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised because the
youth at their monthly 300-strong youth services were always querying about getting
more real with God and the gifts of the Spirit: “What about them? Can we get into that?” They were mixing with youth from other
churches and that’s what happens when you mix outside your own circles: You
learn to ask new questions.
As with the youth in many ways this renewal among us
was brought into our community by the other Christians outside the Lutheran
church. I remember that we began to do Alpha courses and listened to Nicky
Gumbel, the presenter – an Anglican. At one time for one of our courses we had
more than 50 participants who were mostly traditional Lutherans and to most of
us it was an eye-opener when Nicky Gumbel – two-thirds into the course – began
to teach about the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit and he
even had a section on the gift of speaking in tongues. I had never heard anyone
preach on that.
Then the other Christians outside of our own
denomination ministered to us in weekend retreat camps – called Emmaus Walk – and that was again eye-opening – God used them to make us experience
his grace – and that was humbling
because we struggled with mixing with these others especially around the
communion table. And yet, that’s how God brought renewal into our midst –
through these non-Lutherans.
I think that by now we can already see that the two
early seeds of what we have become and might become even more so in the future
are connected and intertwined with each other. I repeat them: 1) God
moved us deeper into the things of the Spirit, and 2) God moved us into unity with the one people
of God from all denominations. We could now say – bringing out the
intertwining connection: God –
through his people from all denominations – moved us deeper into the things of faith and the Spirit and thus impressed
on us our unity with all Christians.
Back to the beginnings. When Living Grace became its
own self-supporting congregation in 2002 and called me to be the first
full-time pastor I finally – being
able to relinquish the care of the two other Lutheran congregations in the
parish – I finally had the breathing
space to join the local Christian Leaders’ Network which is basically – on
average – about 40 pastors and
church-leaders praying together every Friday morning and attempting to walk in
unity.
At the same time or even a little earlier our youth
coordinator Gretchen Mitchell already partnered with this group, grew in her
faith and began to steer our youth into a citywide mission context.
The Friday morning prayer meetings were a revelation.
What I tried to do among the local Lutherans – work towards unity in the one Toowoomba Lutheran Community – these pastors were trying to do citywide
and while the local pastors of my own denomination treated me with suspicion
these citywide pastors welcomed me with open arms. What’s more: I was not used
to the strong focus on prayer and worship and laying hands on each for
encouragement and support, the joint cry for renewal and spiritual awakening in
Toowoomba. My Lutheran experience was a brief opening prayer, theological
debate – heated at times – and then
the benediction at the end. These Friday mornings were breathing something
different and I loved it.
One Friday morning as we were praising God – most of the others standing and singing but I was
sitting down – I prayed and – as
many of you already know I may share that now again – as I silently prayed the name of “Jesus” I felt that there were more words that
wanted to come out of my mouth. I began to speak and out came words that I did
not understand. It was not emotional or ecstatic – no one else even noticed
– and I thought to myself: “What’s
that? I guess that must be the gift of speaking in tongues.” I had never asked for that gift and never
actually wanted that gift – like many among us here – because I like to know what I am saying when I pray. [It’s probably
a control issue.] My first thought was:
“Oh no. I cannot tell Tatjana because she will be so disappointed that her
husband who never wanted the gift receives it while she prays and strives but
has not yet received.”
Why did that happen to me? Maybe – or rather certainly – God blessed me against my will so that I would learn to preach at
Living Grace what I knew to be true myself. I think that here we have another
piece of the jig-saw whereby God arranged circumstances and set us up to move
deeper into the things of the Spirit and – I think that this is significant
– for me it came as I worshipped in
unity with the other Christian leaders of our city.
Maybe I should add one clarification. The Friday
morning prayer times with the other pastors are not charismatic. No one speaks
in tongues there or does anything that would freak out traditional Christians – there’s a genuine mix from all denominations – but God’s Spirit moves there nevertheless.
Once more – can I point out again the intertwining connection
between our seeds of renewal and church unity – also in my personal case: God – through his people from all denominations – moved us – also me – deeper into the things of faith and the
Spirit and thus impressed on us our unity with all Christians.
Still in the first year of our existence as a
self-supporting congregation – at the
end of 2002 or in January 2003 to be precise – there was another significant event which built on and became part of
our beginnings. Pastor Gemechis Desta Buba, an Ethiopian Lutheran pastor, was
invited to tour a number of Lutheran congregations across the nation. “By
accident” he had not yet a booking
for his first Sunday night in
That was new. I found myself catching many of our
members as they fell after Gemechis prayed for them. What was going on? What
was perhaps even more surprising: No one seemed to get upset. There was an
unmistakable sense of the Spirit’s presence in the chapel which we had never
experienced like that before. People received different blessings. Some were
filled with an incredible peace, others received healings of hurts. There were
prophetic words and even deliverance. After that night Tatjana and I finally
began to the practice of praying together and there was much more fruit in many
people’s lives.
Pastor Gemechis’ visit was never a controversial issue
among us but what surprised me a little was that we likewise did not strive to
aim for repeats of that Sunday night. There was no sudden craving to have
people fall down in every service. Instead this tied in with the other
beginnings of spiritual renewal and encouraged us further to concentrate on
faith and prayer. We learned to expect more from God and learned to reckon with
the operation of the Holy Spirit among us.
How did these early seeds progress among us over the
last few years? I try to make this brief. In the case of church unity we
continued strongly with the ministry at Emmaus, joined in citywide worship
services, combined youth outreach efforts, prayer meetings, workplace
evangelism, and so on. Within a short period of time I myself was invited to
become part of the Christian Leaders’ Network steering committee and especially
in 2005 I made a contribution by writing and overseeing the citywide 40 Days of
Unity and City Transformation campaign. Last year I was involved in setting up
the Toowoombachurch.org webpage, the citywide church email newsletter, monthly
citywide prayer meetings, the citywide Life Journal, and so on. Even this
afternoon I will go to the Sunshine Coast and spend a few days with the other
members of the Christian Leaders’ Network steering committee praying and
reflecting where God wants to take the one church in the city next year. Is it
time for joined Sunday morning services, a citywide eldership, repent over our
divisions at Holy Communion, and so on? Thus, there continues to be a strong
commitment from Living Grace to church unity for city transformation.
The seed of moving deeper into the Holy Spirit has
also found expression among us over the past few years. We were intentional in
becoming a praying congegation and I think that this has left an imprint on our
public worship and private devotions. There are now various prayer groups
operating including one on Sunday morning before our two worship services. We
began monthly Healing and Holy Spirit nights and so on. My preaching over the
last few years often focused on prayer and the things of the Spirit and – this is my impression – last year’s six-part sermon series on the Holy Spirit may finally mark
the end of the phase where we worked through – on the basis of the
Scriptures – what happened on the night
that Gemechis was here. There is still more to teach and learn and not everyone
may want to embrace everything but as a congregation we put a stake in the
ground – gained territory – whereby
we brought it all together in an in-depth study. As a congregation somehow we
have come out acknowledging the Bible truths about the infilling of the Spirit
and the need to minister in his power. There was some reaction to that from
within our denomination – the district president rang me and wanted some
clarification – but that has now passed
and so it should have because we stand on the Scriptures.
After all of this we go back to our intial question which
began this sermon. What will the new year – 2007 – bring to us? What is
the ongoing vision of our congregation? I still hesitate to be too specific and
you may also struggle with a single-minded purpose statement for Living Grace.
Not everyone has to be involved in the same ministries and in many ways we
already function more as a hub of various activities and outreach ventures.
However, if beginnings determine endings, then we could suggest that whatever
God has planned for us next, has to do with this: The things of the
Spirit and church unity! God –
through his people from all denominations – moved us deeper into the things of faith and the Spirit and thus
impressed on us our unity with all Christians.
Maybe one reason why today we spend so much time on
our vision for the new year is that there are signs of a new stage in the life
of our congregation. The unity among Christians in Toowoomba may be ready to
enter a new phase – that’s certainly
our prayer – but in an ever clearer way
God’s work among us seems to enter into something new. My impression is that in
our beginnings God led us into renewal and then over the last few years he made
us put down roots of learning and living with him – laid a foundation of
truth and faith – which now is ready to
be built on. The things of the Spirit were always meant for mission and while
we are by no means that mature yet we seem to be ready to venture out –
more.
I hope that this is also your impression. Somehow we
seem to see an increase in mission activities among us. God seems to bring new
people into our midst – some of them proven
evangelists who would be able to draw us into this work – and then we just recently had a greater number of people coming to
faith in our church. The Hopevale ministry enjoys deepening relationships. The
youth makes noises about reaching into Harristown. Lauren evangelized at
schoolies. AJ went overseas. Christine committed to another year in
I close with three Bible readings and three points.
This is going to be brief because this sermon is already long. 1. THINK BIG. Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within
us, to him be glory … “ According to
his power – not our power – but his
power that is at work within us God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or
even imagine. What may God want to do through us in 2007? We may not be quite
sure but we are encouraged to THINK IMMEASURABLY BIG.
2.
EACH ONE TEACH ONE. 1 Peter 3:15: “ … Always be prepared
to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that
you have … ” That’s pure grace. Each
one of us has reason to hope. As entangled in sin as we are, the blood of
Christ cleanses us from all ungodliness and admits us to a life which will
continue in heaven for eternity. What a hope – through Christ – for each
one of us – and therefore we all need to
share that hope with someone else. Frank Laubach was a missionary in a remote
corner in the
3.
IT WILL COST US. Jesus said – Luke 9:23: “ … If anyone would come after me, he
must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” If we are going to be serious about
ministering in the power of the Spirit and reach out in mission, then our
relationship with Jesus has to become even more a priority than it already is. Following
Jesus into mission will cost effort and sacrifice, discipline and dedication,
resilience in the face of adversity and time spent soaking in the presence of
God for renewal and power. IT WILL COST US.
What will the new year – 2007 – bring
to us? What is the ongoing vision of our congregation? There are unknowns but God will continue what
he has begun in us. Let’s be ready for it. THINK BIG. EACH ONE
TEACH ONE. IT WILL COST US. Amen.
Living Grace Prayer
Night – 2007 Start
1
Significant
events and developments in the last year – 2006
— Tensions developed over worship and the use of banners in our Sunday services. However, God preserved our unity and confirmed the culture of our congregation whereby we deal with issues in humility, affirm each other in love and grant each other freedom in our faith expressions.
— In 2006 we wanted to learn more about ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit and towards the end of the year we had a solid sermon series on the Holy Spirit which stretched us, laid out the truth for faith to cling to and already bore fruit among us. At least three people received the gift of tongues after hearing those message and all three of them had been traditional Lutherans for many years. All of them were older than forty and two of them were even past sixty. No one is ever too old to learn something new about God. Someone reported to me how she saw a vision for the first time in one of our worship services. More and more people seem to grow in the prophetic, …
—
There was also increased prayer and an
intentional openness to the Holy Spirit in our new Healing & Holy Spirit
nights and in our Sunday early morning prayer meetings. There is also an
important prayer group operating for the welfare of
— God raised up the men in our congregation with about 70 doing the Valiant Man course and having them lead worship for a number of weeks.
— The ministry to women via special inspirational and social evenings keeps drawing great numbers and is a highlight for many.
— Nat Baker has been cleared of leukemia.
— We mourned the passing of Kevin Graf and Werner Abel but rejoiced in their welcome in heaven. Nat Baker has been cleared of leukemia.
— New weekly youth meetings for fun, friendship, shared tea, growing faith and the preparation of six-weekly Sunday morning youth services began and continued with blessings.
—
There was an increasing awareness of our mission
task and engagement in mission. The Hopevale ministry continued in a strong manner
and various people volunteered for further short-term mission work (e.g.:
Lauren, AJ, … ). Christine Mennell committed to another year of being a
volunteer nurse among Aids sufferers in
— Pastoral Assistant Jenny Sutton works absolute wonders in the pastoral care and administration of the congregation.
— New staff
V A pastoral assistant for worship (Kirsty Humphrey) because we wanted to grow in the area of prayer and worship.
V A pastoral assistant for prayer counselling and teaching (Tatjana Mayer) because we needed more leadership in ministering in the power of the Spirit as it relates to prayer counselling and wanted someone to oversee possible discipleship pathways for new converts.
— Every year we keep increasing the budget by a big margin and every year God blesses us with meeting all of our expenses.
2
Where do we
sense that God is leading us in 2007?
— We seem to be ready to venture out and get even more into the work of mission.
—
The National Church Life Survey came back with
saying that our top strength is innovation (average was 5 but we scored 10)
which is a very useful strength in mission work, cf. 1 Corinthians
— We will do an intensive study of Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God course which will aid us further in getting to know God’s will and doing God’s will – individually and as a congregation. This also has a strong mission focus because God himself is on a mission and it is his will to involve us in his work.
— As we do the Experiencing God course we continue to foster small groups for fellowship, mutual support, accountability, study and mission.
— Using the citywide Life Journals we want to encourage the discipline and joy of having God speak to us through daily devotions and Bible reading. We want to know God intimately and mature.
— The youth plan to engage the Harristown school and see that school as one of their mission fields.
— We complete the set-up for recording our services and get serious about the production of teaching resources for wider distribution (cf. 40 Days of Unity, Seminar on the Holy Spirit, … ).
— Branch out in even more mission work. E.g.: various small groups could take a special interest in the Australian Prayer Network, Australian Christian Lobby, the LCA, partnerships with other congregations, the persecuted church in other nations, Hopevale, overseas mission, the care ministry to struggling farmers, … city connect groups, …
— We may commit even more to the one church in the city through joined prayer meetings, Australian Gospel Music Festival, Family Week, considering citywide church leadership, …
3
Living
Grace’s Circles Of Influence – Current Work
— Toowoomba
V Monthly citywide prayer
V Connecting and providing administration for citywide prayer network
V Overseeing the Toowoombachurch.org website and producing the citywide church e-letter
V City connect groups
V Emmaus Walk retreat ministry
V Girls Getaway ministry among highschool students
V Staff involvement in the Christian Leaders’ Network
V Citywide church leadership
V Getting behind Christian Leaders’ Network initiatives – also financially
V Australian Gospel Music festival
V Family Week
V Joined worship services
V Future possibilities, directions, opportunities: How much more does God want to achieve through us?
—
V Ongoing leadership in the synod resolution which asks for alternative routes to ordination.
V LCA Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations (CTICR)
V Teaching input through our webpage, speaking engagements at conferences, email, small group resource(s), …
V Hopevale partnership
V Networking with other pastors and congregations (e.g.: the email group Network_03@yahoogroups.com, the close contact and friendship with Pastor Peter Steicke and people at Paravista Lutheran church, … )
V
V Future possibilities, directions, opportunities: How much more does God want to achieve through us?
— Nation
V
Australian Prayer Network & the national
Solemn Assembly in
V One Heart working group which works towards citywide church unity across the nation (publisher of the One Heart magazine)
V Teaching material such as the 40 Days of Unity
V Christina Weston and her work for Campus Crusade’s student ministry
V Future possibilities, directions, opportunities: How much more does God want to achieve through us?
— Overseas
V Christine Mennell’s work as a volunteer nurse among South African Aids victims
V Teaching material such as the 40 Days of Unity which are in the process of being translated into Japanese. One of the talks was translated into Dutch and published in the Dutch Herstel magazine (2005).
V
Future possibilities, directions, opportunities:
How much more does God want to achieve through us? [
4
Developing
The Vision
— Beginnings may determine endings:
V Pastor Gemechis Desta Buba visited us in 2002 and in the worship service with him the Holy Spirit descended on us in a powerful way and manifested itself by many people falling to the ground as he ministered to them and others in various ways. During the next few years we consolidated the Bible teaching and truth behind what we experienced. We put down roots in our practice of prayer and intimacy with God. We were intentional about becoming a praying congregation, small groups, learning to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit and so on. Now – as we have also gained a new appreciation that we do deal with the eternal fate of people (either in heaven or hell) and confront the conflict with the powers of evil – we seem to be ready to go out into mission work – like the disciples after the day of Pentecost.
V In 2002 I also began to attend the citywide Christian Leaders’ Network meetings – together with the then pastoral assistant Gretchen Mitchell – and from the beginning was drawn into a citywide focus. In the same way the congregation embraced the one church in the city through the Emmaul Walk retreat ministry, openness to non-Lutheran guest-speakers, citywide youth ministry, appreciation of non-Lutheran study material (Alpha course, Rick Warren’s 40 Days of Purpose, … )
V The way God birthed us may determine how he wants us to continue: move deeper into the things of the Spirit and move out in unity with the one people of God.
— Ephesians 3:14-21: THINK BIG (cf. Zinzendorf and the Moravians).
— EACH ONE TEACH ONE. Everyone is needed with our staff facilitating the release of all of our potential and gifts. Each one of us may also be involved in different ministries with the congregation functioning as a hub of activities where we come together for mutual encouragement, resourcing and praise.
— Luke 9:23-29: IT WILL COST US.
5
What Now?
— Look towards our amazing God who is at work around us and among us. He loves us.
— Stay close to Jesus and be faithful in your everyday walk with him.
— Develop the discipline of a daily quiet time with God (cf. Life Journal).
— Commit to studying the course Experiencing God and while you learn Biblical principles commit to knowing and doing the will of God.
— God may not yet reveal to us where he wants us to be in twenty years time but every new day we want to recognize where he wants us to be in mission as individuals and also as a congregation. THINK BIG. EACH ONE TEACH ONE. IT WILL COST US.
6
Consecration
of our church and individual church people.
[1] Some of
the roots of our culture are: informal, trying to involve everyone in
leadership – also in worship, the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them,
the willingness to try something new, a focus on youth and families, the
strength to withstand opposition, … We could also elaborate how in the first
year “by accident” I did buy Rick Warren’s book “The Purpose Driven Church” and
how we ended up buying more than thirsty copies – together studying and
learning to be different from what we were. Furthermore, we could reflect on
our mission to our denomination operating out of the College chapel to the
school boarders and beyond.