Well the Annual Stanhope Fireworks festival happened last night (postponed from orginal timing because of rain).

It was a really great night…but let me start from the beginning:

We (Stanhope Anglican) had the opportunity to participate in the Festival in some capacity and after some strategising we decided we needed to do something that a) blessed the community and b) gave us opportunities to meet and talk to people.

From these objectives the idea of a soup stall came together and this is what we did.

We set up a big marquee with a serving table for dispensing soup and selling glow sticks. We also provided an area of tables and chairs where people could sit, relax and enjoy their soup. This was warmed by a couple of outdoor gas heaters to provide maximum comfort. To top it off, kids colouring activities were provided free of charge to help out the parents. The whole area was heavily branded with our logos, so there was no doubt as to who we were.

Aside form the glow sticks, Pumpkin soup was our sole product…and it was a winner. By the end of the night, we had sold over 170 cups of steaming soup. I can pin the success down to 2 factors: 1) the soup was really, really good (in fact a number of people told us it was the best they had ever tasted!) and 2) at $1 a cup, it was outstanding value on a cold night.

Now at $1 a cup we weren’t in it to make money (though I’m pretty sure we covered our costs). Our objective was community connection and to this end I believe God blessed our endeavours. 170 cups meant at least 100 connections with different people. Some of these were short (20 seconds) and some were longer (I had a few 5-10 min conversations). In all cases we were able to serve with a smile and a heart to bless.

If anyone is looking for a way to meet people and connect with their communites, getting involved in events like the Stanhope Festival is a great way to do it.

The annual Stanhope Winter Festival & Fireworks is happening next weekend.

My church is using the opportunity to be involved and connect with our community in a hopefully meaningful way.

We had two aims in deciding what to do:

1. Be a blessing to the people there
2. Provide an opportunity to talk to people for a few minutes

To this end we are running a stall selling nice hot pumkin soup. To encourage people to stay and chat we are offering tables and chairs and free kids helium balloon decoration. All under some gas heaters which should be appreciated on what will be a cold night.

Please pray for us…

Matt Stone is a Sydney based missional thinker and former Sydney Anglican (he’s gone Baptist, but we still love him).

Matt comments on the recent Total Church conference and peripheral discussions on his blog.

If you were at the conference or have some views to share, head on over to Matt’s blog.

Here are some hits from the Total Church conference that I managed to capture:

Total Church is all about Christians living out their lives in community that is shaped in every way by the Gospel. (this was hammered throughout…made sense to me)

The gospel is the air we need to breath every single day – it’s not just something we pull out for evangelistic purposes. (I had already come to this conviction recently…the need to preach the gospel to believers not just un-believers)

The life of the believer is one of joyful repentance (Luther). It’s like we are continually saved, continually responding to the gospel. (Same as above)

We model to a watching world our covenantal life together. (It seems to me we don’t show the watching world anything much better/different than what they already experience…tough call)

Mission is the central purpose of the church in the world – central, not peripheral. (Pretty standard, missional thinking here)

More often than not the gospel and mission becomes the last bolt-on element to our lives.

So decision making goes: Job -> Location -> House -> School -> Church -> Gospel/Mission.

Instead it should be: Gospel/Mission -> Church -> Location/School/House/Job

(The above observations are so so true…The Crowded House guys really challenge their people to think very counterculturally on this)

When you use the word church, you are immediately mis-communicating as the word has so much baggage and misperception. (I have sympathy for this view, though I am in two minds about what to do about it)

The bedrock of gospel ministry - Long Term, Low Key, Relational (this was foundational…as an approach this seems so much more authentic than hit ‘em hard, confrontational evangelism)

Living with gospel intentionality in the everyday ordinary things of life. (gospel intentionality was a phrase that permeated the whole day. It very much underpinned the above ministry approach)

A commitment to building relationships and living out the gospel and talking about it as part of normal conversation. May require the introverted people to become relational. (Yep…fire up introverts)

I am reading the Total Church book at the moment which is helping to round out the concept. One key outtake, which others have also noted, is the concept of Evangelism in community, which really exhorts outside relationships being built in the context of the gospel community living out it’s life in all it’s dimensions. I really like the concept, but doing it in practice requires a huge shift in praxis, and it’s foreign to our fiercely individualistic culture.

I have to admit, I have had little enthusiasm for blogging over the last few weeks. Not sure why…probably just been too busy.

Anyway, as always, I have been reading.

My current list is:

• Pierced for our Transgressions - Rediscovering the glory of penal substitution (Jeffery, Ovey, Sach)
• The Future of Justification: A response to NT Wright (Piper)
• Total Church (Timmis, Chester)

I am enjoying all three. The Piper book, which tackles the New Perspective on Paul, is pretty heavy going but good to stretch my brain.

Well my attempt at live blogging from the Total Church conference was cut short due to my laptop battery running out.

Never the less, I managed to get some good notes so will post a summary of these up soon.

All in all it was a good day and I’m really glad I took the time to get there.

Steve has reminded us about the imperative of the gospel – the gospel enables us to live. God’s people need the gospel continuously - it is the air we breath, the water we drink. It is not just something to be pulled out for evanglistic purposes.

I am here with about 100 others at the total church conference down at Moore College.

Steve Timmis has kicked off expounding the gospel and the kingdom of God primarily from Mark’s Gospel. He is keen for us to understand this before getting into any issues of ecclesiology.

I am taking the day off work next Tuesday to go along to the “Total Church” conference being pulled together by my friend Shane Rogerson.

 I am really looking forward to hearing from Steve Timmis, and also hanging out with brothers and sisters from different backgrounds and situations. I’m hoping I’ll get to meet some people I only currently know digitally.

No doubt it will provide much food for thought (and blogging).

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I intend to put some thoughts up on how a reformed theology might inform and shape our missiology. Before doing that I wanted to give some prefatory comments.

First, I am not intending on exhaustively defending a reformed theology - there are others much better qualified than I to do this. The validity of the viewpoint will be assumed.

I will not be suggesting that my conclusions are the be all and end all.

I will inevitably “contrast” against a more free-will orientated viewpoint, but will try to be as gracious as possible in doing so.

Here we go…