Shakers East

Yarra Plenty Church has cast an historic 100% vote to become a part of Planet Shakers. The Church has been going through some difficulties for the past eighteen months and this move has now provided a platform for a future by which the hopes, dreams and vision to see a large Church involved in the local community and missions abroad can be fulfilled.

Pastor Russell Evans, senior minister Planet Shakers, is delighted by the outcome and the possibilities but also understands the responsibilities and the challenges ahead. Pastor Warren McMartin is the new Campus pastor and reports that attendance, salvations, spirit and offerings are all up.

Well done to the YPC leadership, State Executive members and Pastors Andrew Evans and Warren McMartin who were involved through the difficult times successfully negotiated.

New Churches

News about new Churches planted and new Church opportunities as well as Churches saved from closure are found here.

Schoolies

Much has been made in the news about Schoolies week. Most of the time authorities and parents hold their breath in the hope that nothing goes very wrong. Schoolies week in the past has had major problems associated with a time of unsupervised tension relieving past-times involving drink, peer pressure and hormones.

Enjoy Church hosted a supervised Schoolies trip for their young people to have fun and adventure overseas. The Enjoy schoolies travelled to Tacloban Philippines with Pastor Georgie Baxter and a team of adult leaders.

The idea was a great success. There was fun and laughter and they also fed the poor and visited a women’s prison, churches and children’s work. They were also involved in running a Tacloban Youth Leadership Conference.

This is a great idea with all kinds of positive spinoffs that more churches or groups of churches could also do in their own unique ways.

Psalm Reading

Pastors Gary and Doris Soh report a fun and productive strategy they used at their local community festival. They booked a stall where they advertised Psalm Readings and when people came in with their palms out they quickly told them to pick a number between one and one hundred and fifty.

The Psalm was read and explained and explored in relation to the person receiving the reading. Pastor Gary reports that several people made decisions for faith in Jesus and were being followed up. Creative daring that worked.

Ordinations

In 2011 22 ministers’ ordinations were recognised by the ACC. We now have 595 ordained ministers in Victoria along with @@@ other credential holders. We applaud the years of study and ministry that these people have undertaken to become ordained.

Thank God for good people who have committed themselves to lifestyles of service, sacrifice, credibility, perseverance and faith.

Well done to:

• David Joseph
• Simone  Turner
• Ashley Battle
• Brian Beardsmore
• Ernesto Cartas
• John Doubikin
• Franca Heins
• Bruce Lawton
• Maria Moscatelli
• Silvano Moscatelli
• Scott Tolley
• Rogelio (Jnr) Bucao
• Brendon Marshall
• Wendy Marshall
• Lukas Edwards
• Elisabeth Griffin
• Todd Hall
• James  Musgrove
• Justin Trevan
• Ripeka Walters
• David  Humberstone
• Shaun  Hunter

While writing about ordinations it is of note that ACC International now has the same ability as a state to process credentials for their missionaries, relief workers and staff. These people will still be valued extended ministers of their respective states but because ACCI can better evaluate and supervise their ministry, this is a good move.

Churches die because….

Post-mortems on the Churches that have closed in the past five years have been completed and they show clear causes of death. If these things could be addressed early perhaps it could reduce the annual Church death toll.

The following common factors for Church deaths are couched in familial terms:

1. They were born prematurely and failed to thrive.
2. They were born into a high risk environment lacking support.
3. They had parents not equipped or suitable for the role.
4. They had parents who never associated with competent parents.
5. They had parents who refused to grow themselves.
6. They were a high risk dysfunctional immature household.
7. They had parents who fought amongst themselves for control.
8. They had too many people leave home and live elsewhere.
9. They refused to share and became inbred, weakening the gene pool.
10. They lost their parents and were being looked after by non-parents.
11. Parents simply decided to disband the family unit.

Each of these points has sad stories attached and most of them can be teased out further through some contemplation. Most could have been avoided by dealing with each cause early in the pre-life of a Church. Some can be addressed along the way although the longer these factors are working in a Church, the harder they are to deal with. Continue reading…