It gives us great pleasure to announce that registrations for Invasion :: Winterscamp 2013 are now open! This year our national youth camp has moved from Taupo to a new site in the Waikato, at Narrows Park Christian Camp.

Spaces are limited, so get your youth to register now as last years camp was booked to capacity two weeks prior. Don’t delay, or you’ll miss out!

Early bird registration is $80 and closes June 21, so get fundraising and get registered!

Click here to register

This GROW 2012 excerpt is taken from Lloyd’s Leadership Letter Spiritual Formation, which you can download in it’s entirety here

The goal of spiritual formation is to become like Jesus. Galatians 4:19 (TNIV) "My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you..." We have the privilege and task of becoming both Christ-like (Christ being formed in us) ourselves, and helping others become Christ-like, like Paul, labouring to see Christ formed in others.

There are central teachings that Jesus gave His followers that move us towards this goal of having Christ fully formed in us and within those teachings, tools that are central to helping that formation. Two key spiritual formation verses in the New Testament were both a result of Jesus reinterpreting Old Testament passages.

Every Jew from their earliest age would have learnt and recited the “shema.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (TNIV) "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Jesus reminded the expert in the law who asked Him what was the most important command first of this Old Testament command, and then added Lev 19:18 "Love your neighbour as yourself." And then He goes on and further refines it in John when He says, John 13:34-35 (TNIV) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Jesus was saying if you do these two things – love God and love others (and of course you must love yourself if you are to love others properly) – then you will look, act and be like children of God, and Christ will be fully formed in you. Jesus also took a common prayer the Jews prayed – the kaddish ("Magnified and sanctified be his great name in the world He created according to His will. May He establish His Kingdom during your life and during your days, and during the life of all the house of Israel, speedily and in the near future. And say amen.") and developed it into what we now call the Lord’s prayer. Both of these are profound spiritual formation statements and tools of discipleship. The goal of following Jesus is that Christ is formed in us – in other words we act like Jesus would if He were in our skin. A Kingdom disciple can be described as a person who loves God, loves him/herself and loves others. And they regularly pray a prayer centred around these priorities.

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Tags: Lloyd Rankin, Spiritual formation

Want to know what you’re getting yourself into by coming to What Love Can Do 2013? Well, here’s a snapshot. Check out Alan Scott’s archive of speaking at his home church for all you keen podcast listeners!

Get you and your team registered for What Love Can Do 2013, the national conference of the Vineyard churches for 2013.

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Tags: Alan Scott

Want to know what you’re getting yourself into by coming to What Love Can Do 2013? Well, here’s a snapshot. Check out Kathryn Scott commenting on the importance of integrity as worship leaders.

Get you and your team registered for What Love Can Do 2013, the national conference of the Vineyard churches for 2013.

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Tags: Kathryn Scott, Worship, Integrity

Want to know what you’re getting yourself into by coming to What Love Can Do 2013? Well, here’s a snapshot. Check out Alan in action at the Vineyard UK National Leaders Conference last year.

Get you and your team registered for What Love Can Do 2013, the national conference of the Vineyard churches for 2013.

Click here to register

Tags: Alan Scott, Vineyard UK, What Love Can Do

Get you and your team registered for What Love Can Do 2013, the national conference of the Vineyard churches for 2013.

Click here to register

This GROW 2012 excerpt is taken from Lloyd’s Leadership Letter Vision, Calling and Vocation, which you can download in it’s entirety here

I have always found it easier to hear God’s “no” than to hear God’s “yes.” Sometimes my enthusiasm or desire can sound too much like God’s “yes” for me to trust it in a lot of situations! So my practice is to assume the answer is “yes” unless I hear a “no” from God. God is very able to communicate “no” through losing my sense of peace, through the scriptures, through people and circumstances. God also seems to speak more when we are drifting “off course,” than telling us over and over that we are “on course.” Is 30:21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

So while I don’t have a clear sense of “calling” to be leading churches, what I do have, however, is a very deep sense of the calling to follow Jesus (John 21:19), and to be a servant of God. My identity as a Jesus follower is that I am a servant of God. I choose to live a life of voluntary restraint - choosing to obey God over and over again, and build my new life around His ways. Since making this decision to follow Jesus in 1977 I have had the privilege of training to be a secondary school maths and science teacher, serving as a youth pastor and assistant pastor, a Bible college lecturer, a church planter, and a church movement leader. I have of course also had the great privilege of serving my wife through being a husband to her, and serving my family through being a father to my children

I am utterly convinced that the role of the servant is the best role one can have in this life. (Yes, I am aware that Jesus said I no longer call you servants, but friends - but this is referring to our relational connection and identity rather than function). The wedding guests at Cana (John 2.1-11) got to drink the finest wine, but they had no idea where it had come from. But the servants who filled the jars with water, got to see water turn into the finest wine right before their eyes.

We are servants who lead, not leaders who serve. There is a very profound difference between those 2 statements, and they produce very different leadership styles

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Tags: Lloyd Rankin, Leadership

Get you and your team registered for What Love Can Do 2013, before the early bird runs out this month.

Click here to register

This GROW 2012 excerpt is written by Fran Francis, co-pastor of Shore Vineyard Churches. It is taken from GOLD - Vol 1, which you can download in it’s entirety here.

Twenty years’ experience in rented halls comes to you right here!
Use your senses: Sight (add light or colour). Smell (add a reed diffuser – not too feminine/flowery. Go for fresh). Sound (add floor coverings to help absorb sound). Feel (add screens/arrange seating in a way that feels humane). Taste (how’s the hospitality? Good coffee? Great baking?).
People don’t like to rattle around in a space that is too big, nor to be jammed into a space that is too small. People need about a metre each to feel “just right”. If you don’t have that much room for each person – time to move! In fact, if your space is 70% full people will perceive it as too crowded so you will lose them.

If the space is big you have to make it more intimate and the best way is with screens. Large “office divider” screens arranged in a semi-circle at the end of the hall going lengthways will draw the eye to that point. That’s where the worship team will stand and you can arrange seating in one block or two (with a central aisle) according to your numbers and the kind of seats you have. Hessian from Spotlight or Harveys is an affordable way to change the colour scheme. Velcro strips along the top of the fabric, which just happens to be the perfect width for those screens, makes it easy to attach. You can then use this backdrop to hang a painting, an A1 poster that illustrates the sermon theme or a wreath at Christmas…

This semi-circle of screens can be placed as far forward or back in the space as you need. For example, in the summer numbers are often reduced while families are on holiday so move the screens forward to create a smaller gathering area and put out fewer chairs. On special days such as Christmas Eve or Easter, move it back so there is room to accommodate visitors.
Why a semi-circle? Because curves are organic and “friendlier” than hard lines.
Folding Japanese-style screens from The Warehouse or folding fabric screens off TradeMe are lightweight and relatively cheap. Use these to create the same effect if you don’t have access to 2m x 1.4m office screens. They are easier to store, which is often an issue in rented spaces.

Dampening sound on wooden floors can be achieved by using carpet runners. Anything from hardwearing rubber-backed “garage” carpet from The Warehouse to vintage Axminster-patterned hall runners could be considered. We use a combination of charcoal grey rubber-backed commercial carpet with colourful Trade Aid rugs to cheer things up a bit. Make sure you eliminate trip and slip hazards – remember your “public liability”! We tape ours to the floor each week, covering sound leads and cords at the same time.

What’s the lighting like in your space? Too gloomy? Vintage standard lamps with or without shades are great for brightening the room. Or go for an industrial look if that fits better. The design rule for lighting is three points of light in a domestic room – scale it up for your space. In fact, three is pretty much the magic number. If you can’t afford a big semi-circle of screens, which would likely be seven, get three and space them out a little bit.

Make sure the tea and coffee area is attractive and accessible. At Harbour, we use two vintage drop-sided wooden tables (easier storing) and coffee plungers, matching teapots and polka dot cake tins with the week’s baking in them. At North City, we use two trestle tables with covers made from coffee sacks to disguise the trestle. A layer of clear plastic from Spotlight protects the fabric from inevitable spills.

Change it up seasonally. How can you make it special for Holy Days such as Lent, Easter, Advent, Christmas, baby dedications, Mother’s and Father’s Days, or special preaching themes. This is your shop window – dress it up!

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Tags: Fran Francis

Pastors and leaders, get that fresh new 2013 diary out and filled in with these great events!

Tags: Events, Calendar, 2013