1

GatherGrowGo

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

Heathcote Engadine Baptist Church

Logo Concepts 1

Gather GoGrow

2

A document like this does not just come out of no-where. This document is the result of my experience over the last 25 years of ministering in two different countries and three different denominations.

Unquestionably, the church is the Lord’s and He has a plan for her however, in His wisdom He purposefully gives gifts and abilities to those whom He calls to lead the church.

Although I believe the Lord has called me to this immense task of leading this church, He has mercifully allowed me many wonderful experiences including sitting under and learning from many faithful and mature teachers and pastors who have all contributed to me arriving at this point. For which I am extremely thankful to the Lord for.

Ian WooleySenior Pastor, Heathcote Engadine Baptist Church

Intr

oduc

tion

Editorial design by Andrew Bradley

VisionState-ment

3

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

VisionState-ment

4

We all know how important it is to use, say an electrical device, the way it was intended and the possible awful consequences when not. I still remember the tears running down the face of the Principal of my Primary School as he had the disturbing job of telling the assembly, that one of our class mates had died of electrocution because he thought that the bar heater would heat up his cold bath water.

The church (the people whom Jesus has redeemed) deserves to know what they have been redeemed for. My aim with this Vision Statement is to help us know.

What the Vision Statement is notIt is not a new church model developed in another country and being sold to the Australian churches giving them something new to do. It is not a series of new programs to keep us so busy that we succumb to spiritual exhaustion because every single space on our calendar is filled with something to “do” with church (so the church leaders can watch you like some kind of big-brother program).

What is a Vision Statement?

5

What the Vision Statement isFirstly, I believe that a vision statement needs to be simple. It needs to be designed around a straight forward and strategic process that moves its people through the stages of spiritual growth (“Simple Church” Rainer & Geiger, pgs 60+61). Let’s spend a minute thinking about this statement.

A vision statement needs to be “designed around”. To create a vision statement one needs to know two important things: One, what the Lord of the church says about the church worldwide. And secondly, what the local church is like. We can see what the bible says about the church, but to know what our church is like needs some prayerful and careful consideration.

The next part of the statement speaks about “a straight forward and strategic process”. Naturally in the light of the spiritual darkness that we live amongst, we can’t become stagnant and dead, rather we must be living and active. Therefore we need to keep moving, ever changing.But what is it that we want to be moving towards and changing to be? Well the final part of the statement tells us that it is towards a “spiritual growth”.

Ultimately we are called to make disciples for Christ, that is, people who will learn and therefore grow spiritually. What this means is structuring everything we do to allow the Spirit of God the opportunity to speak to the people of God to purposely and consciously, change them to grow more like our rescuer Jesus and less like the world we’ve been rescued from.

Therefore this vision statement presents my desire to aid every person: church member; attending Christian brother or sister; those looking for a new church; and those who still need to hear about Christ, to know what the church is.

6

Our ultimate authority is found in God’s word the Bible. Our church government is derived from our Constitution. Our directive and my vision for the church is to Gather Grow Go.

Our core Church Values

7

My vision is that Dedicated Disciples of Jesus will Gather each Sunday to hear God speak through the preaching of His Word, have the opportunity to respond in worship through repentance and praise and to encourage one another.

Dedicated Disciples will be encouraged to actively attend Growth Groups, where individuals will Grow in their love and knowledge of the Lord Jesus and of each other through further study and application of the word preached at the Gathering.

Jesus commanded His Disciples to “go make disciples of all nations”. My prayer is that in our Growth Groups the Lord will give us a vision of where to go in order to make Disciples for Jesus and bring them back into the Gathering so that these new Disciples in turn will Grow and then in obedience Go out and make more Disciples for Jesus.

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

8

Jesus’ high priestly prayer for the Church

We know from John chapter 17 that Jesus spoke about six essentials Marks of the church, they will be:

#1 A Joyous People, v13#2 A Separated People, vs15-17#3 A People rooted in the Truth, v17#4 A Missional People, vs18+19#5 A Unified People, vs20-23#6 A Loving People, v26

So essential were these Marks in Jesus’ mind, that He prayed to His father that His church would exhibit them.

The purpose of this paper is to bring these Six Essentials from Jesus’ prayer into a simple format that everyone can remember, understand and embrace and therefore know the direction of the church.

9

Our purpose therefore is, that we: In obedience to God’s command, Gather to glorify Him, with the aim to Grow to be more like Him, and to fulfill His Command to Go and make disciples in His Name.

10Gather.

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

11

The most important thing that God’s people will do is Gather Together. As the purpose statement expresses: In obedience to God’s command, Gather to Glorify Him.

From the very beginning man was made to be a social creature, to live in a family, a community, where everyone belonged together, inter-related and inter-dependent. We see this in the Genesis account (1:27+28), So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number.” As we know, our first father Adam disobeyed God’s command and took us all with him, we now find ourselves hating God and not trusting each other!But God had a plan (from before the creation of the world and therefore even before Adam sinned) to restore this creational ordinance.

God began with a man named Abraham, who became the father of the nation through whom God would eventually send Jesus, to save us. As the biblical story goes, Abraham’s family grew (as initially commanded in Gen 1:28) until, three generations later, the land that Abraham’s children were currently living in could not sustain them due to a severe drought. So God, in His mercy and according to His sovereign plan, led them to Egypt, to be, of all things, rescued by one of their own whom they had previously rejected (sound like a familiar story – Jesus!). All went well for a while

until there was a change of leadership in the Egyptian Royal household, and all of a sudden, Abraham’s Children, Israel, became slaves in Egypt. God, never swaying from His plan to raise a saviour through the family tree of Abraham, raised a saviour-type named Moses to gather His people in the place that He’d set aside for them – The Promised Land!

It was on the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land that the Lord God spoke to Israel so they would know with no uncertainty, what it meant to be His people and what it meant to be different from the other peoples of the world, who were still living in rebellion against God. The way the Lord achieved this was by giving Moses the Law. The Law in its entirety is fairly long and quite involved. God in His mercy gave Moses a ten word summary of the Law, which is commonly known as the 10 Commandments. The fourth Commandment is simply this: (Ex 20:8) Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

But it also has a wider explanation attached to it which says, (Ex 20:9-11) Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The principle behind the need to Gather

12

As you can see, in God’s mind, it is imperative that His people Gather together. It can be said that the main idea of the Gathering from this passage was to hear God speak as He and Israel did when they received the Law.

Moving now some 1,800 years from this mountain top experience, we find that one of the first things that God the Son (Jesus) does when He begins His mission to save the world is to Gather a bunch of men around Him with the express purpose to learn from Him (which is what the word disciple means – Luke 6:13). What were they to learn? Amongst many things, they would learn what it was to be a community, a Gathering. They saw this best, naturally, when they observed Jesus’ fellowship with God the Father. We read in Matt 3:15 at Jesus’ baptism, that John the Baptist wasn’t at all sure whether he should baptise Jesus or not. Jesus replied with these words, Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. In other words, Jesus knew that to be in perfect harmony with God the Father, He had to, unlike Adam, perfectly obey God’s commands. Once Jesus had secured our salvation and returned to heaven (the ultimate Gathering Place), we see the disciples, by then apostles, speaking directly and indirectly about the absolute importance of the Gathering.

Probably the best statement for us to finish with is this brief explanation which comes from Hebrews 10:25, Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Here we see the Scriptures strongly urging us not to give up on Gathering with God’s people. It would seem even from the earliest days of the church’s existence that there were those who decided, not too dissimilar to Adam back in the garden, to play god and decide what’s best for themIn summary, from cover to cover the bible makes it clear that God’s people are to Gather Together. Why? Because in doing so, she will be obeying God’s command and glorifying Him.

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

We began by considering the 7 Marks of the church according to Jesus’ prayer in John ch17. By intentionally Gathering, which of these Marks will we fulfil?

#1 - A Joyous People, v13#2 - A Separated People, vs15-17#3 - A People rooted in the Truth, v17#5 - A Unified People, vs20-23

Jesus’ prayer for the Church

13

What are some practices we should consider in order to glorify God in our Gathering?

Set aside Sunday to be the day to •Gather with God’s people regularly

Acknowledge that it’s the day that •the Lord has ordained to speak to His people corporately

Prayerfully prepare yourself to be at •church and to hear God speak

Be expectant that the Spirit of God •will speak through the Word of God to rebuke, correct and train you

Desire to encourage our brothers •and sisters, which cannot happen, if we decide not to Gather

Be part of the corporate witness to •the community by saying that church is important, therefore we Gather

Align ourselves with the direction •given by the ordained leadership

Contribute to the life of the church, •prayerfully, physically and financially

The practice behind the need to Gather

14

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

Grow.

15

When Jesus sent His disciples out in Matthew chapter 28, He did so with the command to go make disciples. The word disciple is important as it describes a person as being a “learner” and not simply a convert. Therefore a true disciple will be the person who is continually learning from his or her master, Jesus. This is where the second point of our Vision statement needs to be considered.

To Grow means to change and in this sense change for the better, or positive. A good example is our kids: We want them to grow up and become mature and self-reliant. Naturally we can’t expect a 3-year-old to understand and accept things that an adult can and should, but we recognise that as children experience things, both good and bad, their experiences contribute to the process of growing.

According to Dr Luke’s account of Jesus’ ministry, not long after Jesus had chosen the 12 and designated them as disciples (6:12-16), Luke records what’s often called Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” (similar to Matthew’s account of another teaching session of Jesus’ commonly known as “The Sermon on the Mount”, Matthew chapters 5-7). It would seem that what Luke is presenting here is the pattern, that once the Lord has enlightened a person to his (or her) dire need for a saviour and he receives Jesus as his Lord and King, then this person has a lot of things to unlearn and a wonderful lot of new things to learn.The apostle Paul put it like this to the church at Ephesus (2:8-22):

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles… 12 you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Notice how Paul speaks about us as once being foreigners to Israel (v12) and without hope, but now, those who are in Christ are foreigners to this world. This change, which only Jesus can bring about, means that there will be a lot of relearning. Anyone who has experienced living in a different culture to their own will know of the struggles one faces with language and culture. The average person who begins to learn a new language as an adult, notices very quickly how much relearning one must go through.

The principle behind the need to Grow

Grow.

16

Similarly, the new disciple of Jesus, after years of living in the old culture of the world, will have to unlearn many of the world’s ways and begin to learn the ways of his new home, heaven. Growth Groups & Sermon Based Bible Studies In our context, the way to achieve this Growing as Heavenly Citizens is in “Growth Groups” (formerly BCG). The term Growth Group says it all: People will meet with the express purpose and desire to Grow. But what type of Growth are we looking at? I believe it will be a growth in love (1 Cor 13:13)

The first area of Growth we should see is a growing love for Jesus. The more we read and understand what Jesus has done for us - the cost of His rescue mission & how unlovely we really are - should make the individual members of these Growth Groups fall all the more in love with Jesus. Therefore we should see a Growth in the Love of Jesus in our Growth Groups.

The second kind of growth we should expect to see in our Growth Groups is a love for the church. The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 4:20+21 that If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. Growth will only come about when we learn to love each other as God loved us.

The third kind of Growth we should expect to see in our Growth Groups is love for the individual members that make up our Growth Groups. This will occur when as individuals we commit ourselves to each other to help one another apply what the Spirit of God is teaching the church through the Word of God at a much more intimate and deeper level. It’s more so within these Growth Groups that we can better care for each other in a lovingly pastoral way as we struggle with the Scriptures and allow them to (2 Tim 3:16) teach, rebuke, correct and train us in all righteousness.

By Growing in love for Jesus, His church here on earth and her individual members, will Grow in a way that will honour and glorify God. We’ve said already that the most important thing that God’s people will do is to Gather in obedience to His command, which will obviously, glorify His Name. So how will the Principle to Grow and our Growth Groups contribute to Gathering and Glorifying God?

I envisage that the way to achieve this is through what’s called Sermon Based Bible Studies. Basically the passage that is preached on any given Sunday will be the text and topic for bible study in the Growth Groups throughout the church the following week. Naturally, no one sermon, or preacher, can perfectly apply the truths of Scripture to every single person Gathered. But by using the sermon based bible study format in our Growth Groups, individuals will

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

17

have an opportunity to dig deeper into the biblical lesson/s that the Spirit of God has revealed to the church of God as the word is preached. Furthermore these truths can be more thoroughly considered and pastorally applied on a much more personal level as Growth Group members prayerfully and lovingly encourage one another to submit to the Spirit’s teaching.

As I’ve said already; the Gathering is to be our main focus as a church. If this is so, how will our Growth Groups help us with our main aim of honouring God in our Gatherings? There are those in our Growth Groups who do not attend the Sunday Gathering (at HEBC) for various reasons – some quite genuine! My hope is that Sermon Based Bible Study Growth Groups will encourage those who do not make the Sunday Gathering a priority to see that they are missing out on vital teaching which will help them as they study the Scriptures in their Growth Groups. Therefore the Growth Groups should always be pointing people back to the Gathering as the main emphasis of the church.

What are some practices we should consider in order to glorify God in our Growth Groups?

Understand the place of Growth •Groups in the church’s Vision IE They exist to assist Gatherings

Allow the Sermon Based Bible Study •format to be used by God to speak further to the people of God •Become a member of a Growth Group •Be willing to learn more from the passage/s preached at the Gathering •Be prepared to help fellow Growth Group members learn and apply the Scriptures •Be willing to be taught by fellow Growth Groups Members •Aid the members of your Growth Group to exercise what the Spirit of God is teaching the People of God to do through the Word of God.

The practice behind the need to Grow

We began by considering the 7 Marks of the church according to Jesus’ prayer in John ch17. By intentionally desiring to Grow, which of these Marks will we fulfil?

#3 - A People rooted in the Truth, v17#5 - A Unified People, vs20-23#6 - A Loving People, v26

Jesus’ prayer for the Church

18

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

Go.

19

Australia, as with many western nations, is facing a current crisis: Obesity. There are many reasons for this, but for our exercise, I’d like to mention just two. Firstly, our senses have been numbed. We have become, both passively and actively the proverbial “frog in hot water”. Passively we have dulled our senses by becoming, not ashamed, but annoyed with the ads on our TVs of the starving millions whilst trying to eat our dinner and be entertained. And actively, we have “up-graded” our lifestyle to the point that we have “Super” markets with aisles (nb the plural) dedicated to food “types” that contribute to our current obesity epidemic.

The second reason for the obesity crisis in our society stems from the accelerated pace at which we all live. More often than not both parents are working. Overtime is an out-dated concept replaced by the company’s demand to simply work longer hours to keep your job.

Coupling these together we have less time to live and eat well. Gone are the days when mums had a whole day to cook a good healthy meal of “meat and two-veg” (our taste buds may be enjoying the roller coaster experience they receive from Food Additive “621” (MSG), but at least in the old days we got our two vegetables daily!).

It’s been observed that the church in Australia is facing a similar crisis today: not physical obesity, but spiritual obesity. It’s been suggested that with the extremely fortunate situation we

find ourselves in with so much good bible teaching (especially in Sydney) the church is experiencing spiritual teaching saturation! It’s possible that on any given Sunday a single Christian receives, from the pulpit, 5 biblical exhortations to exercise their faith that week but has very little time or energy to implement them. This can lead the Christian to either feeling constantly guilty, or the teaching simply washes over them like water off a duck’s back.

We know that the Lord Jesus gave us the command to go make disciples of all nations and as a church, historically, we have taken this command seriously. We have a great heritage of acknowledging people’s gift and abilities, training them both locally and through formal theological education and sending them out to serve the Lord in our name. We’ve done this, not only to the “ends of the earth”, but also to our neighbours in our surrounding streets, suburbs and State.Therefore to continue this good and God-pleasing work, our Vision must include the need to remain obedient to Christ’s call which is the command to GO.How are we to do this in the light of our fast paced lives and the fortunate situation of having so much good spiritual teaching? By making our Growth Groups Mission Stations!

My hope is that by encouraging all of our Growth Groups to embrace an additional dimension, of being intentionally missional, we will be found obedient to Christ’s command to GO and make disciples. Let’s not burden ourselves with further programming to fill up our

The principle behind the need to Go

20

already busy weeks, rather let us use our already existing Growth Groups to help us exercise our faith.

Naturally, the church’s Mission Committee will continue its vital role of bringing before us the needs of Global Mission as well as facilitating and caring for the needs of those whom we send out to the “ends of the earth” in our name. Whereas our Growth Groups will enable us to be missional on a more local level. Our Growth Groups consist of people with things in common; some exist because of age, some are gender orientated, still others because of interests. Many in our Growth Groups are already involved in some type of mission, but it’s equally true that many are not, possibly because they simply don’t know what they can do on a smaller level. This is where our Growth Groups can help us. The idea is this; that each Growth Group becomes a mini mission station. Each Growth Group will be encouraged to seek out ways to Go out and make disciples for Christ. For example, a Growth Group inviting their non-Christian friends whom they have been praying for to join them for a BBQ. Or a Growth Group becoming aware of a family in need, say from Heathdene, who they can help and therefore build relationships with. Or a Growth Group choosing to venture overseas to visit our missionaries on a short term mission trip. Basically, the skies the limit, as they say!

How do we begin? Consider what your gifts and abilities are as a Growth Group. Observe what needs are around you. Pray, asking the Lord, to open doors to

show you, whether or not your idea is in His Will. Then, speak to the Pastors/Elders about your idea to GO and make disciples for Christ.

Ultimately, by Going out in obedience to Christ’s command and as we exercise our faith, it will only be through the mercy of God, that we make disciples for Jesus. When this miracle of salvation takes place, we will naturally teach these new disciples to also obey everything Christ commands including being part of the Sunday Gathering. To get the most out of the teaching being presented at the Sunday Getherings, the new disciple will be encouraged to join a Growth Group to deepen his understanding of God’s revealed word the Bible, as well as being encouraged and prayed for by loving brothers and sisters. And being part of a Growth Group, the new disciple will be encouraged to GO with his fellow Growth Group members, to be involved in whatever missional activity they serve in to further make disciples for Christ.

We began by considering the 7 Marks of the church according to Jesus’ prayer in John ch17.By intentionally Going out to make disciples for Christ, which of these Marks will we fulfil?

#4 - A Missional People, vs18+19#5 - A Unified People, vs20-23#6 - A Loving People, v26

Jesus’ prayer for the Church

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

21

What are some practices we should consider in order to glorify God in our missional Going?

Recognise that as followers of •Jesus, ALL of us have been given a command to go out and make disciples •Acknowledge and support the church’s missional activities realising that we can achieve more corporately. •Meditate on the fact that faith without works is dead (James 2:18, 20+26). •Prayerfully consider what your Growth Group can do as part of Christ’s call to Go. •Investigate your options and put a plan in place •Bring your missional activity to the church leadership •And in the mercy of God, Go make disciples for Jesus.

The practice behind the need to Go

22

Anticipated QuestionsNaturally there will be questions raised in regard to the process of establishing Gather, Grow, Go as our Vision for the church. Here are some…

If we decide not to Gather weekly then we will still be obeying God?

We need to consider why God gave us a 7 day cycle which included one day of rest. This day, the Sabbath, became the day that God’s people were commanded to rest and Gather together to meet with Him.

Therefore fortnightly or monthly attendance cannot equate to regularly Gathering. Christians who believe that they are exempt from this weekly Gathering when there is nothing hindering them from doing so ( EG illness, governments or distance), need to consider that if Gathering with God’s people weekly equals obeying God, then deliberately choosing not to must mean the opposite to being obedient.

Is it really that important to be part of a Growth Group?

If we believe that we are the church of Jesus Christ, whom God the Father has revealed to us in the Word of God (Bible), and that the Spirit of God works with the Word of God to change the hearts of the people of God, then we should make the most of every opportunity to dig deeper and deeper into this word. Therefore may we never fool ourselves into believing that there is “nothing new in the bible for me”. That, “I’ve heard it all before”. According to the great apostle, we cannot fully fathom God’s love for us in Jesus. The way to know, or at least keep trying to scratch the surface of knowing Jesus, is to humbly and prayerfully study and search the Scriptures.

Of the Scriptures, the Apostle Paul, who was no beginner, prayed in Ephesians 3:17+18 that the church be rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

What better way to achieve this than to do so with a bunch of like-minded brothers and sisters who will encourage us as we study and search the Scriptures together.

23

If we organise our Growth Groups to Go and make disciples for Christ, what will become of our “People Ministry” Committees?

The missional focus of the Growth Groups is designed to complement the ministries of the specific people ministry committees of HEBC. Part of the aim of these committees is to facilitate evangelism (GOING) however a large part of their role is ministering to the believers at HEBC. Therefore no conflict should exist and they will continue in their role and function.

Heathcote Engadine

Baptist C

hurch

Logo Concepts 1

Gather

Go

Grow

Heathcote Engadine Baptist Church

Gather Grow Go

Logo Concepts 1

Gather GoGrow Heathcote Engadine Baptist Church1181 Old Princes HwyEngadine NSW 2233

Phone: (02) 9520 2551Post: PO Box 50, Engadine, NSW, 2233Email: admin@hebc.org.au