Contact Us
Lloyd's musings
Lloyd's December Update
05/12/12 15:00
Here’s a December update from Lloyd Rankin, the national director of Vineyard Churches Aotearoa New Zealand.
DOWNLOAD GOLD AND CHURCH PLANTING PROCESS RESOURCES HERE
Subscribe via RSS Feed, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to not miss the next entry.
A Christmas Message
17/12/11 10:19
It is God’s mercy & kindness that He gives us distinct markers which enable us to manage our lives well if we use them effectively. He gives us time periods – days, weeks, months, years and even decades – which allow us to make “mid-course corrections’ in our lives.
The 24 hour period is the most fundamental marker. We begin each 24 hour period (using the Jewish tradition of the day starting with the evening & ending in the evening) with rest and sleep which enables us to roll off that day’s events – some successes and some failures – on to Jesus to make sense of, and to celebrate and build on, and to mourn and repent of. It is significant that each of our days start with darkness and rest – just as the creation story starts with darkness, and the invitation of Kingdom life is to start from rest (Heb 3 & 4; Ex 33.14 “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”) When we wake from rest we align our day with what God would have us do, and go into the day to spend it well.
The other kind of markers God gives us are commemorations and celebrations.
Christmas is the Church’s celebration of the incredible entry of God Himself into the human race to effect a rescue. It was the stupendous act of courageous, humble sacrificial love for Jesus to leave the Father’s side, living in total perfection, to be born as a helpless human baby in “less than ideal” conditions. But what Christmas tells us is that God’s invasion has begun. His loving, benevolent rule in our broken and fallen world which is continually advancing through people like you and I.
So as you go to sleep on Christmas Eve, take some time to roll all your hopes and dreams on to the Saviour of the world – the one who “came to give life – life in all its fullness.”(John 10.10). And roll all your failures and disappointments onto the One who was & is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1.29) As you wake on Christmas morning you wake to a world – both global and personal - where you have a “friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Prov 18.24) Where you are in relationship with the One who created the world, and “will save the world” (John 3.17). Give the gift of your life to the one who gave you the gift of His life. He is looking for obedience from us – but not a compliance born out unwillingness – rather a surrender of our lives. We get to surrender to Love!
Then a week later another marker! As you go to sleep on New Years Eve, it is a wonderful time to realign your life. To ensure that the life you are living, is really the life that wants to live in you. It is a time to align your passion, and talents, and calling, and circumstances to living a life that makes a difference. When you wake on the 1st day of the new year, take time to be with your God, and ask Him to align your life with His plan for your life. Ask Him for fresh grace and passion for a new year. Ask Him to clear the way for you to live your life on purpose. And He is utterly, completely and passionately committed to working His fantastic plan through ordinary people like you and I. He brings us alive more than we ever dreamed possible.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a purposeful new year. I look forward to working with you again in 2012.
A Community of Disciplers
10/08/11 13:00
We have probably heard the saying “it takes a whole village to raise a child.” In the same way it takes a whole church community to make a disciple. Making disciples is the “business” we are in as Christians and as churches. I would like to draw our attention to 2 key words in this article.
Firstly “disciple.” Essentially a disciple is someone who is becoming an apprentice of Jesus. We are called to partner with God in making full-time students of Jesus. Our privilege is to transform ordinary people into disciples / apprentices whose ordinary lives are immersed into the reality of God. Apprentices of the King who routinely do the continuing work of the Kingdom – preach heal, deliver, etc.”
We are called to turn lost people into missionaries!
I am very grateful for 2 men who invited me, as a brand new believer at the age of 20, into their busy lives to give me some of their time, wisdom and experience, and to receive from their spiritual gifts. One did Bible study with me and gave me an enduring love of study and appreciation for the transformative power of the Bible. The other showed me how to grow in my faith and give what I had experienced away to others, by inviting me to join him on the streets in sharing my story and faith experiences in “open air” preaching and in personal witnessing. I learned the value of continually growing and freely giving away what I had learned, which led me into a lifelong adventure of “joining God in His mission.”
I still have their finger prints on me, which have been joined by many other finger prints over the years of following Jesus. You and I are the result of the people who have discipled/influenced us over the years.
I urge you to be very deliberate about starting or continuing to be deliberately discipled, and as part of that, deliberately discipling others that you can give your life and experience away. This is the main way the Kingdom advances, and we must give full attention to it.
The second word I want to draw our attention to is “community.” When we grasp the importance of the practice of being a functioning part of a church community and serving each other and our surrounding communities as a cohesive whole rather than a group of individuals it spares us 2 almost inevitable undesirable Christian extremes – the super Christian and the non functional Christian.
Sometimes Christianity is portrayed as each individual Christian needing to encapsulate the whole gospel in themselves. So we feel this pressure to be a great evangelist, who can counsel deeply and powerfully, and move strongly in the prophetic, perform signs and wonders regularly, teach profoundly, organize proficiently, move mountains by faith, pray up storms, and generally be a super-Christian who is always happy, who perfectly portrays the whole image of Christ at all times! Of course that is too heavy a burden for the vast majority of ordinary Christians and can lead many to the opposite extreme of non- functioning because its all too far beyond mere humans.
Being part of a community frees us to simply bring the aspect of Christ that we best reflect, and to use our gifts in the community-wide process of making Kingdom disciples.