“Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)
After the Babylonian Exile, the people of God couldn’t simply re-install a ruling king. Israel was no longer large and in charge, the dominant voice in culture. So Ezra the theologian and Nehemiah the builder formed a new and more modest partnership to lead the people of God in a new place and time. And their word to the people who wept for the old dominance was to cheer up: joy and strength could be found in this new day.
John Chandler
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In the same way, the churches of New Zealand (not to mention the Mid-Atlantic) are no longer the stack-pole around which the city gathers. But that is not necessarily cause for weeping. It may give us an angle from which we can address a healing, saving word to our community.
Alan Jamieson (read his books!) is pastor of Spreydon Baptist Church in Christchurch. He points out that the church intentionally blended its architecture to match that of the neighborhood. This is the largest Baptist church in New Zealand, with weekly worship attendance of about 2,000. (Remember that New Zealand’s entire population is 4.3 million.) Yet Spreydon’s building is modest, understated and eminently practical. The sanctuary is in a gym, and is used seven days a week, mostly for children’s programs.
Symbolically, the church does not tower over the community, but stands within it as a servant. Its witness is in its connectedness and help to its neighborhood.
Spreydon’s front church sign actually sits behind a large tree. “But the tree was here first,” Jamieson says, “so the tree stays.” The sign peeks around the tree. A small thing? No. It communicates that the church is integrated into the city and is there to love it (not dominate it) in the name of Christ.
Currently, more than 300 people in Christchurch have jobs because of trusts/businesses/ ministries set up directly by Spreydon Baptist. The church invests, creates, blesses and releases. Because of it, untold residents are being served in the name of Jesus.
What I saw in New Zealand, I hope to see in the Mid-Atlantic: modest, effective Baptist churches not waiting for their neighbors to show up and prop up their ministries, but churches who show up in the neighborhood with a heart to bless.
Trending is written by John Chandler, leader of the Spence Network, www.spencenetwork.org./equip.htm.