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

What is our focus?

Christmas is less than two weeks away. Yet again I have to ask, where has the year gone? I can't believe how quickly the last 12 months have gone. Yes I know it is a sign of growing older that time becomes compressed. The year or so has gone so quick yet so many events have taken place.

In the last 14 months we have seen two amazing young people leave this Earth to take their place with their saviour. Some lovely friends have left and returned to their homelands, taking a piece of our hearts with them. New people have come in and added themselves to our community, some because they have come to know the grace, love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ

This is our focus.

I have been so challenged lately by the apostle Paul's words in Romans 9:3 where he is basically saying that he is so desperate for his Jewish community to come to know Christ that he would be willing to accept separation himself if that were possible. Think of the impact and consequences of those words for a minute. Those are some pretty big feelings that Paul is pouring out there. This is the same Paul who can seem quite harsh and focused on the personal purity and growth of followers of Christ. He lets his feelings for his fellow Jews overflow with desperation as he sees them following the same legalistic road that he once travelled.

My challenge for us as NCLC is, are we more focused on our own personal walk with Christ (which IS essential) than we are to see our friends and our world saved from a life without Christ and a lost and dying eternity? Do we have a bit of Paul's desperation in us? We don't have to be alienated from Christ, but we may have to give up some of our "me" time.

This coming year our challenge as a church community is to keep our focus on the lost and to also grow more Christlike.

We will be making some changes in the new year that will allow us to move forward and see our communities impacted with Christ.

Over the past eighteen months we have bought our own office space and moved from doing everything in our dining room. We have also moved Sunday venue three times, ending up in our venue, the place we now call home. We have brought structure, policies and procedures to our staffing, finance and HR areas. This has all helped set a great foundation for the organisational side of our community. Despite the tragedies of lost loved ones, people leaving the community, "God has crowned the year with His favour."

Now it is time to continue our forward momentum.

The church leadership is being very intentional about looking at all aspects of our community to see what has stagnated and what is working. We will be reintroducing some things, leaving some things behind and starting some fresh initiatives. All done within the boundaries and culture of who we are as NCLC and with the question in mind...

"Will it MAKE and GROW healthy DISCIPLES?"

I am excited to see what God will bring in 2013.

But we still have a few more weeks to serve the purpose of God in 2012. Our Christmas presentation is not just a nice service at Christmas, it is an opportunity to present the good news of Jesus to those that don't know Him. On the 23rd December we have the Cottey's back with us from Tanzania. Then our last service of 2012 on 30th December at 5pm will be a great night of worship and baptisms. If you haven't been baptised, don't put it off any longer, obey what the word of God has told us to do. What better time to be baptised in water than as we end one year and head into the next.

Are we prepared, as Paul was, to give up something of ourselves in order to bring the lost to Christ. This is our challenge. Will you join me?

See you Sunday.
Teesside 11am
Newcastle 6pm.

Merry Christmas

Yours
Jon, Dee,Théa, Imani & Judah Cook
(not forgetting our newest addition to the family, Breck our black labrador puppy)