Ever since I came up to Newcastle in 1992 for a college mission (SMBC) I felt "called", if you like, to plant churches in Newcastle. I didn't really take this seriously but we somehow ended up in Newcastle anyway due to other reasons.
Newcastle is a spiritual desert. The amount of decent Bible teaching churches equivalent to yours (Dominic's church I assume) can be counted on one hand. All the rest are either liberal or charismatic (including many Baptist churches).
Our church is one of the few you can count on one hand so I'm fairly happy as a church member and elder there. But I think the need is great. So many Novocastrians are headed to hell and so many Christians here are being misled. We have a Christian radio station up here that broadcasts sermons from Joyce Myer and other word of faith heretics, and plays "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs in between.
We had 2-3 families turn up in the past month who are refugees from various Baptist churches that are either splitting up or going Hillsong or both.
So I'm all for church planting - the more the merrier imo. And I'd love to be involved in it - I have a lot of knowledge and creative ideas that I reckon will work.
But planting a church doesn't mean being independent. Being involved in church planting can mean being a plant from our church in Charlestown. It could also mean being independent to start with and then approaching the presbytry for oversight. It may also mean approaching a different Pressie denomination such as the Westminster pressies.
4 comments:
Is it something you want to do? I thought you were pretty happy at your current presy church.
Also, do you think there is an accountability risk with independant house churches? What are your thoughts on how they should be run?
Ever since I came up to Newcastle in 1992 for a college mission (SMBC) I felt "called", if you like, to plant churches in Newcastle. I didn't really take this seriously but we somehow ended up in Newcastle anyway due to other reasons.
Newcastle is a spiritual desert. The amount of decent Bible teaching churches equivalent to yours (Dominic's church I assume) can be counted on one hand. All the rest are either liberal or charismatic (including many Baptist churches).
Our church is one of the few you can count on one hand so I'm fairly happy as a church member and elder there. But I think the need is great. So many Novocastrians are headed to hell and so many Christians here are being misled. We have a Christian radio station up here that broadcasts sermons from Joyce Myer and other word of faith heretics, and plays "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs in between.
We had 2-3 families turn up in the past month who are refugees from various Baptist churches that are either splitting up or going Hillsong or both.
So I'm all for church planting - the more the merrier imo. And I'd love to be involved in it - I have a lot of knowledge and creative ideas that I reckon will work.
But planting a church doesn't mean being independent. Being involved in church planting can mean being a plant from our church in Charlestown. It could also mean being independent to start with and then approaching the presbytry for oversight. It may also mean approaching a different Pressie denomination such as the Westminster pressies.
Sounds good Neil.
So mate - how can you make it happen? Whats the next step?
Convince the wife, who has been bitterly disappointed over the years by our attempts to get into ministry.
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