Tag Archives: worship

Day 2 & 3

Posted by Jess on January 1, 2013

Day 2&3 Prayer Focus: Worship (Personal and Corporate)

Now many people who hear the word ‘worship’ in a church setting resist the groan caused by their frustrated attitude towards singing in church. If this is you, keep on reading. If it is not, keep on reading.

The fact is that although music is universal, tastes in music and the use of the music is not the same for everyone. Some enjoy classical, others a bit of rap, still others love a good country and western (if that even exists), and a bit of techno is all it takes for clubbers to get on the dancefloor. Some use music to win over a love, others to express emotion whether it be joy or a bit of blues, its used as a weapon of wits, and a confession of guilt, possibilities endless. Some enjoy a good piece of music in an opera or grand event while others have it playing constantly day and night. Need I keep going?

The fact is when we limit “worship” to music (as we often do in church settings), it is not always going to strike a key with everyone. But it doesn’t need to either.

  1. What worship really is: Worship is expressing to God how much He means to you, and this needs to be more than simply words you sing. This is a heart attitude and can be expressed in limitless ways. Creative people will sing, dance, draw, design and so forth; intellectuals will write; social people will talk and facebook; introverts may simply pray quietly; as we are all unique this can really look totally different for different people. What does it look like to you? Worship God today in your own unique way.

 

  1. Corporate worship: Some people do connect with God in corporate singing, and you only need pick up the bible to find an example or an encouragement to practice this expression of worship together. This in itself should be enough for those who love God and His church to take part. If God enjoys it when we sing, when we are unified, and when we hold the interests of others above our own, why not put aside our own agenda for only 30 mins a week and glorify God with your attitude? Pray for your attitude towards corporate worship, and the whole church’s corporate worship time. Pray for those who lead worship, and those with creative giftedness. Pray our church will continue to grow in creative ways to worship without song.

 

  1. To also note: Life Group is a place to honour God together in many different ways. With fewer people worship time together can be extremely personal and powerful. Some people do enjoy connecting with God in song but don’t like the styles they have heard, the good news is, at home and in life groups there are plenty of styles available to you. Search the web, Christian bookstores (and your own musical giftedness of course).

 

What Does a Life Group Look Like???

Posted by Jess on July 16, 2012

It all can sound a little strange, small groups of Christians meeting in homes to do “Life Group”… so to take away the mystery of it, this is a little run down of what would typically happen at a Life Group and why.

WELCOME- Everybody arrives (usually about 8-10 people). This is an element of life group where we all just get to know one another, and although different groups go about this in different ways, it seems to ALWAYS involve yummy food and drinks! Often the official part of the night will kick off with someone saying a short prayer to focus the time on God, but as God cares about the people in the group, so do we. Whether its chatting about how the week went, laughing about stories from when you were young, or just getting to hang, its really nice to come into an environment where people genuinely care about one another and love another.

WORSHIP- Worship simply means to give expression of honour to something or someone for what it is worth. So in Christian worship, we give honour to God in many ways. Our main expression of this is by living each day in submission to Gods awesome plan for us, but practically on a night at Life Group, someone may play a song, someone may share about what they think about God and who He is, Read a bit of the bible, or Praying for one another… Worship in Life Group has that awesome element of not having restrictions of lots of people or “official business” so it can be raw and different. Do not be alarmed if you are not a Christian or dont understand somebody’s worship, there is no pressure involved in worship and we all do it differently, which is part of the wonder of worship in life Groups- seeing how many different ways we can give glory to God. This part of the night is often a blessing to me, my favourite is when someone who is really gifted in singing, just sings a song of worship and I get to think about God and listen to the beautiful sound.

WORD- Ever wondered what the bible says and what it has to do with you? This is the part of the Life Group where you get to all look at a bit of the bible together and see what it means, see how it impacts your day to day life with God, and ask the hard questions. In our life Groups at Living Temple, we leave our bible ‘teaching’ for Sunday. Life Groups is not about a Bible College student laying out some knowledge on everybody, but it is about about reading what the bible says, applying the bible to your life, nutting out the hard stuff and finding the answers together. After the word for the night, there may be a chance to pray for one another, depending on how the night is going. 

WITNESS- We want to encourage the Christians at Living Temple not to get comfortable with their relationship with God without thinking of those who are not experiencing the same blessing. So in different ways each group has an element where they pray for their friends outside of the group, see how they can bless them (Just like Jesus), and love them. We encourage each of the groups to have a blessing list, which is a list of names of only 2 special friends each who the whole group pray for daily (how nice it is to think that people love their friends, and their friends friends enough to pray for them each day!). We have seen great answers to prayers for friends, and want to continue to remember those people God has put in our everyday lives to be a witness to the awesome love and Power of God. On the night a life group may be planning a hang out for the group and their friends, planning ways to help somebody out, someone may share about an amazing thing God has done in the week, or simply pray.

IT DOESNT END THERE… After an hour and a half, (for some groups 2 hrs), the group has ended for the week and everyone goes home, but life together continues each day. Your group (and life support partner) are right there behind you in prayer and support every step of the way.

Time spent in life groups is well spent, it is an investment in the spiritual health of your life and your future. Those who come empty, leave filled and encouraged. Perhaps consider today, will you be at life group this week?

The stink of bums on seats!

Posted by Dave on June 23, 2011

One of the biggest challenges I have faced since planting a life-group based church is shifting my thinking and focus from inside the church building, to outside.

I have been in traditional churches for about 9 years – 7 of them as a paid pastor -  and I need to say it’s EXTREMELY hard to shake counting “bums on seats” as a measure of success… I use the term “success” loosely.

The reality is that our life groups are absolutely charging!

  • They are growing, bearing fruit and reaching people for Jesus.
  • God is being extremely faithful and gracious…
  • God is blessing us with exactly what we were praying for.
  • People are truly living for Jesus everyday… and
  • Our Sunday celebration (although awesome) is NOT the big deal at Living Temple…

Now all I need is for old habits to die, as I yield completely to the Holy Spirit. I need my thoughts and feelings to line up with the truth.

The truth is that “bum’s on seats” is a bogus indicator potentially championed by Satan and insecure men. It causes a spirit of competition, pride and false self-worth and hinders God multiplying his church his way. In the past it has caused me to sell-out on my convictions and banter to humanistic needs instead of God’s will. Christians obsessed with “bums on seats” (as I have been before) need a reality check…it’s a joke and nobody is laughing (just my opinion).

God is growing Living Temple Church. I cannot control it, I cannot manage it, and all I can do is leave it to God who is actually able to do the job I cannot.

Please God, Kill everything in me that is not of you, and give me freedom to follow you, your way. I repent of counting numbers and choose now to humble myself and pull my head in. Thanks for understanding me God, you’re the best!

Dave

A ‘Slam Dunk’ service!

Posted by Dave on May 23, 2011

Our first service was a Slam Dunk! We didnt know what to expect really, but God truly blessed us as usual.

The support for this church plant has been absolutely amazing. The number of people who have chosen to sew into this new church testifies that when God’s people stand for Jesus, unity is possible no matter what that looks like.

Personally, I have had to take a lot of time lately to just breathe and let everything sink in. For some people, planting a church would be more like punishment than blessing, but for me, It is really one of the high points of my Life. Not because of the status (lol…. as if pastors have status in Australia), or the pay (lol again) but because I feel like this is something I was actually created for. I feel like my wife and I are within God’s divine plan, and that God in His wisdom has brought us the “dream team” to carry the vision.

We are not alone in this, we have never been. This launch is simply the collective efforts of a whole lot of amazing people who serve an incredible God. God builds his church with everybody, and we want to be a church that actually lives this out, no matter what the cost.

Love you all!

Dave

My dirty flyscreens

Posted by Jess on March 26, 2011

“That’s so disgusting!” I couldn’t believe my eyes as I wiped the black soot off the flyscreens over my windows. It was no wonder I had been coughing and sneezing so badly lately- all that dust was flying into my house (and lungs)! Usually a reasonably clean person, I was surprised at how this problem had crept up on me to the point it was causing problems to my health.

Perhaps you have heard it before “when did I put on all this weight?” “I am really overdue for a haircut” “How can that be due already” “I cant believe I’ve been on the computer so long!” You may not have been doing something wrong, but the failure to do something right has caused you problems. I didn’t put dust on my flyscreens, but my failure to clean them regularly meant that I was getting sick.

The same is true of our spiritual life, it’s not always the astounding sins that do us the most harm, it can sometimes be the failure to practice spiritual disciplines that clean our hearts on a daily basis. Disciplines such as quality time with God in prayer and worship, reading the bible, meeting with other believers, and serving others in love draw us closer to God and reveal to us the “dust” we need to clean out before it collects and does us harm.

What “good” are you neglecting that could be causing you harm today?

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” Galatians 6:9

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