Gleniti Baptist Church
Location: Gleniti Road
Denomination: Baptist
Website:
www.baptist.org.nz
Church Services: Sunday 10 am
Groups: Youth Group, Kids group, starting up home groups
My own visit
Date: 30 January 2005Service: Sunday Service
The building:At first glance the church complex looks like a suburban row of shops, complete with a letterbox. Only at closer inspection does one end of the building look like a hall - possibly even a church hall, since some of the windows are very high.
There is ample car-parking around the complex. The building itself is constructed out of red brick. Beside the auditorium, it also houses the church café, the church office, a toy library and the salon of a beautician.
The décor: The main auditorium looks like a hall from the inside as well. The brick walls are painted in a light beige colour. Beams support the flat, relatively low, ceiling. At the front the cross is depicted in a prominent artwork made out of corrugated iron sheets and other farm odds and ends. The music group and microphones are assembled at the front. Bang in the middle up there is the overhead screen on which the songs are projected. Plants around the church add a bit of greenery.
Smiling face at the door: Certainly, twice to be sure. I also got a newsletter and a sermon outline, detailing the passages of scripture referred to in the sermon.
Start of service: We were welcomed. The pastor expressed the feeling that the Holy Spirit will move in this place today. He then launched into a prayer. The worship leader then took over and we were into singing songs and praising God.
Congregation (approx) 0-12: 15; 13-20: 13; 20-40: 5; 40-60: 30; 60+: 20
Liturgy: not really any liturgy there.
Music: Generally we just had worship songs, most of them quite reflective. But somehow it sometimes was a bit hard for the congregation to follow the music. During the offering the piano played a lively piece.
Instruments: Guitar, piano, keyboard and a group of singers.
Children’s Talk: The pastor gave a group of kids a spoon to pop a balloon, another group a pin to write a letter with and a third group a pen to make a cup of coffee. The group that had to pop the balloon eventually succeeded, but the others had more difficulties. They just had the wrong tools for the job.
God is in the business of giving us the right tools. If you’ve got the tools and the dreams then God can do amazing things. Some people have given up dreaming. We often don’t believe that God can fulfil my dream. But God does give us dreams and works with them.
Sermon:
-Length: 30 minutes
-Method: The sermon was preparing
for the 40 days of purpose which were being held at the
church. It was really based on a topic and referred to several
bible verses along the way. The pastor delivered his sermon
quite freely and in an entertaining way, referring to his own
experience and making lots of jokes about himself.
-Bible reading: Lots of scripture verses were referred to. I will indicate them (using translation supplied) in the sermon content. The heading was Ephesians 5:15-17: Be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.
-Content: We do like to dream dreams. There are things I would like to achieve. But we often think that God is limited to our bank balance. So often we pour cold water on our dreams. We may have been disappointed in the past and no longer dare to dream. To dream is an ability God has put in us. 40 Days of Purpose does not leave realism at the door.
You should dream in the way God has wired you to dream in. God can work through us in our situation, our circumstances and our attitudes.
We humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation. We are body, soul and Spirit. The Spirit is eternal and will one day stand before God. Let’s focus on the eternal. Ephesians 5:15-17 is saying to us to be careful – in other words “don’t be careless. Don’t stumble or cruise through life. How often do we know, really know “Yes, I was born for this!”?"
1. What does God want? He wants my life.
Give yourself completely to God since you have been given new
life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for
the glory of God. Romans 6:13
A Culture has grown up where we think that we will have to
give up so much if we give our life to God, for example sex.
Rubbish! God wants us to enjoy it in its proper place. God is
not just in one segment of our lives, rather he is in all areas
of our lives. We often split our life up into slices of work,
family, TV time, church etc. Rather than being just one slice, God
is the icing on the cake that is in all parts.
This is what the Lord your God wants you to do: Respect the
Lord and do what he has told you to do. Love him. Serve the Lord
your God with your whole being. Deuteronomy 10:17.
So often we have excuses: I will serve God when I’m financially independent, when I’m retired. But God wants to act in your life right now. There’s actually an enjoyment in life when God is No 1 in our life.
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24.
There’s something in life that has to be the No 1 priority. God is saying: “I want to be the priority in your life.”
In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and
crown your efforts with success. Proverbs 3:6.
Our Lord does wish to give us blessings.
2. What does it take? Discipline.
Discipline yourself to the purpose of godliness. 1 Timothy 4:7
There are good things that come from this. We could also call it our habits. Maybe you just automatically stop when you see somebody in need. Can we change our habits – of course we can. When we know the things we should and can be doing, it also becomes clear what we shouldn’t be doing.
Spend your time and energy in the exercise of keeping spiritually fit. 1. Timothy 4:7b
Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easilty hinders our progress. Hebrews 12:1b
Weights are not always bad, but they are unnecessary. They might be things we need to drop.
God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose. Philippians 2:13.
So often we might pray: “Lord, give me the desire and the boot to get things done." And this is what the Lord is doing. There are choices to be made.
3. Why should we do it? Because of the cross.
He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2. Corinthians 5:15.
It cost Jesus to die for us. It may cost us to give everything to him, but otherwise we are forfeiting our destiny.
Brothers and sisters, in view of all we just shared about God’s compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him. Romans 12:1.
This is why we are doing the 40 days of purpose. The idea is not to be beaten around the head, but to be refreshed. Maybe it’s just an opportunity to get to know others by becoming part of a home-group. 40 Days of Purpose is not the answer, it’s just a resource.
We beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvellous life God has given us! 2. Corinthians 6:1
Lord, I have heard the news about you; I am amazed at what you have done. Lord, do great things once again in our time; make those things happen in our own days. Habakkuk 3:2.
Other Highlights: The youth did some skits at all sorts of unusual places during the service to let us know that the church will be into 40 Days of Purpose: 40 days of porpoise with somebody wanting to swim with the dolphins; 40 days of porches with a girl keen to build a porch; 40 days of purses with somebody wanting to get free handbags.
Another man talked about the book “The purpose-driven life”. It has had a great effect on him. He said a few million copies had been sold and it had been on the best-seller list for a long time. It gives an overview rather than going into the nitty-gritty of scripture.
Wrap-up: We ended by singing more choruses, also returning to one we sang earlier on. One lady went to the microphone and talked about the theme of finding peace in all the turmoil and business – a theme which seemed to run through the songs and which no doubt was meant for some person there.
After the service: I talked to the person next to me. Beside polite conversation we talked at length about the churches and me going to look at all those in Timaru. We considered the various directions a church may go in and the style of worship they follow. Apparently quite a few in this Baptist Church are former Presbyterians who have found a new spiritual home here.
Quality of morning tea: Each cup of tea or coffee was prepared individually. Muffins were for sale to raise funds for the youth group. They have a café-style area where people can sit at little tables to talk .
Reflection: It’s really encouraging to hear a message that gets you to work on your dreams again. Clearly this church is passionate in developing the members of their congregation and moving forward together. They also emphasized that no-one is too old, we all have to have a purpose in life.
From what has been mentioned the aims of the book “The purpose-driven life” are a tall order. There’s always the danger that it becomes another book on the self-improvement shelf of the book shop, another book that brings a bit of spirituality into our otherwise modern worldview.
4 questions:
Jesus' death and its relevance to our salvation. With the statements
taken as you have written them, (c) shows where we are at. Jesus'
purpose in coming to earth was to take the penalty of sin upon
himself. He was not simply a good man or a volunteer, but
God's son, and the only one able to pay the price on our
behalf. Christ's resurection is God's visible proof that sin
and death has been defeated. We look forward to Jesus'
return. (b) is a reasonable statement, but needs to be added to
so it acknowledges the deity of Jesus.
The 10 commandments are most definitely an authoritative guide for Christian living today. They formed the basis of the law, and Jesus clearly said in Matthew that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. He did not come to rewrite or reinterpret the law, but to express its full and proper intent.
How are leadership positions/positions of
responsibility allocated in this congregation?
Leadership positions. 2 main forms of appointment. For senior
leadership (eg pastor, elders and deacons) it is a system of
nomination and voting by formal members of the church
(as per our constitution). A majority of 3/4 for pastor
and 2/3 for elders and deacons has to be achieved at
the vote (this is a little simplistic, but please assume other
details of covering the process in prayer, matching known skills to
the required role, etc)
For other positions (eg home group leaders, Sunday School teachers, the elders make the appointment by the following manner... (according to a formal policy we have adopted) consider the position and the spiritual and practical gifts needed to fulfill it prayerfully consider possible candidates seek God's guidance on who he would have in office make the appointment, and formally induct the person into the position on a Sunday morning the person is also formally released from their position at the end of their tenure (the church is kept informed as much as is possible at each stage)
As Pastor, I would not conduct such a ceremony, neither would we make our premises available for anyone else to do so.