From the pastor's desk March

 Last week I had two texts with questions sent to me from two different people. One of them helped me to really focus down on to a subject and the other caused me to expand my thinking and open up to a subject.

The first was simply “What creates a great environment in church”. That needs a whole blog by itself, so I will come back to that one at a different time. The second question, which I want to focus on here was, “From a pastor's perspective what are the three most important things that a church attendee could do to help you build the house?”

That got me thinking. There are lots of things that I could have replied with but how do I condense it all to the three most important to me, in our setting and at our stage of growth?

Is it about finance? Is it about serving? Is it about attitude? I tried not to over think my response and so replied within a few minutes. Here is what I wrote to him (not in order of importance)

1. Keep connected to the right people, especially when it gets tough.
2. Be a disciple & disciple others.
3. Have a daily encounter with the three things Jesus left behind-

• His word,
• His Spirit,
• His Body.

There you have it. That’s what I would want you to know.  There are many other actions and behaviours that will flow from these three. For us as a church at our stage of development, this is what I want you to do to help build our church community.

Keep connected to the right people, especially when it gets tough.
Over the years this has been one of the most crucial things that has helped the church, grow, decline or plateau. When we move out of connection with the right people we stop being discipled and pastored. This can happen due to tough life circumstances or due to being hurt or messing up. It's not just staying connected to people, it is staying connected to the RIGHT people. Are they encouraging you to be part of the community that has loved you, fed you and looked after you or are they pulling you in another direction?

“If the people you hang with don’t like your church, give it a month and you won’t either.”

Be a disciple & disciple others.

This is our commission. Jesus told the people he was discipling to go and do what He had done for them. I don’t want a church of attendees, I want a church of disciples.

Have a daily encounter with the only three things Jesus left behind.
We live in grace but we are called to certain disciplines as disciples. Are we getting the word of God into our minds and hearts? It will bring health and growth. Learn to feed yourself on the Word, this is what mature followers of Christ do.

Jesus said He would leave His Holy Spirit to comfort and encourage us. He gave us a language to speak that will build us up. Do we use it daily? The Spirit gives gifts to build the church not for our own little parties.

Jesus said that He would build His church. He is coming back for His church. He loves His church. That is you and me. It is what He uses to refine us. In all her beauty and flaws, she is what Christ loves. Are we meeting together, not just on a Sunday, but as a daily habit? Meeting in formal and informal settings.

If we can continue to get these right, we stay healthy as disciples, we continue to do what Christ has told us to do and we stay connected to Christ. The house will be built.

There is a lot more I could say on all of these three factors but would take far too long.

I hope this has helped.

Yours,
Pastor Jon Cook

The impact of growth

Dee & I have just returned from an inspiring visit to one of the world's most interesting cities, Mumbai. I will do a mail out soon with my thoughts and feelings when I have had time to process them a bit more. I am very exited to say that Pastor Biju Thampy who runs the organisation and the church that we visited will be with us in December. This is a Sunday that you will not want to miss.

This week we have the privilege of having to add an extra service in Newcastle to cope with the number of people joining our church community. I find it humbling that so many new people have joined just in the last nine months. We haven't changed how we do things, we haven't had an extra big evangelistic push or changed our structure in any way that would cause people to come in. I think we have grown in depth and health over the last 2 years that we are beginning to see the fruit of that as a church now.

Whenever growth happens we have to expand our thinking and be flexible in how we do what we do. As I get older and more set in my ways, change does become a bit more difficult, but I also realise that I cannot and will not put my personal comfort above what God is doing in and through our church. Growth will not only bring change, it will bring challenge. Are you prepared for both?

Some areas that growth in church will impact-

•   It should impact my set routines. Very practically, as our service times change we have to adjust our Sunday routine.

•   It should impact my friendships. I have the opportunity to open up my life to new friends. There are so many people in my life now that I did not know before being part of this church.

•   It should impact my serving. In whatever area that we serve, we now have the responsibility to train other people who are new to help us in that role. What happens when we have to go to three then four services? Our existing team will not be able to cope, so we need to recruit, train and disciple.

•   It should impact our midweek community. Our Connect Groups will need to expand in numbers to help people not just attend a service but be brought into the life of the church community.

•   It should impact my prayer life. New people equals new need and areas of brokenness that we have to trust God with.

•   It should impact my level of faith. As we grow so should our faith. Are we believing for the north east to change because we are here?

Pastor Brian Houston has said that we should be a small church with lots of people. Whatever the number of people that attend our church and however we organise structure to help with growth we all still need the same things-

•   Relational connection with each other

•   Opportunities to serve and contribute to our community

•   An environment that facilitates our growth.

•   A cause that we are part of.

As we fulfill the mission that Christ has commissioned us with and stay healthy, we will grow across all our campuses and growth involves change. Lets make sure that our hearts are prepared for this and our attitudes are the same as Christ who embraced change and put others' needs before His own in order to bring people into relationship with His Father. (Philippians 2).

This Sunday our services are

Newcastle- 9:30am, 11:30am and 5pm

Teesside- 11am

Newcastle North- joining with Newcastle at 5pm

Mwanza- 11am

We are Family

 

As many of you will already know, the 31 March was the launch of what is known as the Hillsong Family. If you have questions about what this is, I suggest you read Pastor Brian Houston's blog which will give a few details on what our family is and what it isn't. You can also find out who else is with us in the Hillsong Family

Pastor Brian states this about the churches he has chosen to call "family"

"The HILLSONG FAMILY is a group of like-spirited, forward thinking, kingdom-building visionaries and ministries working TOGETHER for a greater cause. This group of churches and ministries are joining our ‘FAMILY’ in an effort to develop and strengthen one another – a family relationship in which to find wisdom and encouragement, spiritual accountability and support as they continue to build the church and ministry that God has uniquely called them to do."

 

I guess I just want to give a bit of my perspective on what this means to Dee & I but also what it means to us as Newcastle Christian Life Centre.

When Dee & I set out from London 8 and half years ago to plant a church in the north east, we knew that we needed to stay connected to something bigger than ourselves. This wasn't just a need to give us credibility, it was a relational need. We knew that we wanted to stay strongly connected to the church that a helped give birth to our dreams of planting a church in Newcastle. The church that we had made home, the church that had shown us what a Christ-centred, passionate, disciple-making church could look like in the 21st Century.

To go back a bit further, when we moved to London, Hillsong church did not look like it does now. Hillsong Sydney was just coming into view with Darlene Zchech's music gaining popularity. The church in London was known as CLC London and had just gone through a transition of pastors and were left with about 80 people meeting in a little university hall. The journey of phenomenal growth in people and influence that was seen in London brought recognition to what God was doing in that local church.

Dee and I had the privilege of serving under the amazing leadership of Pastors Gary and Cathy Clarke. The time with them caused our lives to grow and our vision to expand. That vision grew into taking what we had learned at Hillsong and planting a church with the same heart and culture in the north east of England. To Dee and I, the family is a recognition and formalisation of what we chose to align ourselves to just over 8 years ago when we came from Hillsong to Newcastle. In our hearts we did not leave Hillsong, we just brought a taste of it to the north east and now into Tanzania.

Every time I go to London to spend time with Pastor Gary and the team I am reminded of what we can accomplish here in the north east, if we keep Jesus at the centre of everything we do and keep introducing people in our world to the good news that He brings. Let's not settle and think we have done enough. There are more people walking through Primark on a Saturday than meet in our church on a Sunday. People that need to know Jesus. Even if we grew to 6 services on a Sunday we will still be only making a small dent in the north east and Mwanza, Tanzania.

Being part of the Hillsong Family means that we are connected to something much larger than ourselves. This helps us see that we can continue to move forward, continue to grow and continue to see the kingdom of God advance in the cities where we live.

I would love for you to take a couple of minutes to read through The Church I see. If you have already seen it, read it again and remind yourself of where we are heading.

One church, three cities, four campuses, many hearts.

The Church I See

The Church I see is large and expanding in size, with an influence and reputation that is not bounded by any geographical areas.

It is a church that loves God and is sold out for His cause.

Its people live for something bigger than themselves, to show Christ’s love to each other and everyone in their world.

This church knows the value of a servant heart and is dedicated to welcoming home every person that walks through its door.

This church is based on God’s Word and lives to worship Him. Its message is clear and impacting; its worship touches the heart of heaven and changes lives on earth

The church I see is a church that is generous beyond its borders. It values people as God’s creation, not because of achievement, money, need or status.

This church is a house of safety for those in need and a house of worship for those who love God.

The church I see is a place where there is no unmet need because its people have looked among themselves to meet the needs from the overflow of their lives.

This church is a place where people belong and every person plays their part. They all care, they all contribute, and everyone is a soul winner and takes responsibility for people in their world.

This church I see shows God’s love and His commitment to excellence in everything it does. It always gives people the opportunity to make their peace with God. It is committed to raising leaders from every generation and seeing them fulfil their God-given potential.

The church I see is fulfilling its mission by building an awesome God focused, challenging and inspiring Sunday service and also building a great people connecting, mid-week community where lives flourish and relationship needs are met.

 

THIS CHURCH COULD WELL BE OUR CHURCH - NEWCASTLE CHRISTIAN LIFE CENTRE.

Our mission is to reach and influence the world by building a large Christ-centred, bible-based church, changing mindsets and empowering people to lead and impact in every sphere of life.

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