9
Philippian Partnership
While sitting in a Roman prison, the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians,
It was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. (Philippians 4:14-16)
The Philippians were faithful and generous friends who repeatedly supported Paul in his rescue work of preaching and planting churches. Though poor themselves, they gave “beyond their means” and “overflowed in a wealth of generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:2-3). And when Paul landed in prison, they kept on supporting him. “Once and again” meant a lot to Paul. The Philippians loved Paul and believed in his mission, so through their faithful support they partnered with him to rescue others.
It is this kind of partnership I would like to invite you to join as I lead a team on mission between the City and Bondi. If you would like more information about our thinking and planning you can read more here. Otherwise I hope these monthly emails will enable you to prayerfully support us in mission.
A venue for our meetings
So far we have gathered a team of roughly 6 marrieds, 6 singles and 6 children who are excited to be on mission between the city and Bondi. Our plan for this year is to begin by planning, praying and studying culture and scripture. We will meet monthly until July, fortnightly until October, weekly until December, and then biweekly in 2011.
At present we have been meeting at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. The centre is located on Crown Street amidst designer stores, cafes, restaurants and pubs. The centre itself was designed by FJMT architects and City of Sydney, and “is a lavish architectural exercise in modernist eco-thinking, exotic materials and intricate detailing.” The venue reflects the kinds of people we hope to reach with the story of Jesus: ecologically sensitive and aesthetically attentive. It contains a function room which can accommodate 100 people seated theatre style, or 48 seated around 8 tables. Additionally there is also a separate meeting room in which we expect to run kids church, and a commercial kitchen.
During our meetings this year we will spend time planning, praying and dreaming of being the kind of church we see in Acts 2:42-47.
Please pray for us and let me know especially if your would like to be more involved in planting this church.
Living in Christ’s story
Toby Neal
(If you would like to sign up to join the Philippian Partnership click here and signup for the monthly emails.)
Hey,
Nice prospectus. I think it is great for the gospel and I always admire ppl with creativity and courage to try new things.
Being a pratical-thinking kind of person, I tend to ask the ‘how’ questions before others.
about living, playing and workig in that area. One question is: who will be/go/travel to there on a weekend when you plan to have a church meeting.
If I live there, I may or may not play there Sat/Sun. (but i think most will be).
If I work there, and dont live there, I dont think I will be near there on a wkend.
If I only play there, you only catch me when I play.
Another question is, If I am a non-Christian, what do I think about brining my young children to a pub on a weekend, (evening)? (This is a genuine qn, because i dont go to pubs, i dont belong to the target group and i dont think pub is a place for kids)
to me, the first thing i like to know is what kind of (and how many) 18-35 yr-olds are/live/work/play in city-bondi. this guy has this tutoria thing on his blog to help you tap into AusBureStats’ data which i found helpful when i was trying to find out about my neighbourhood for NTE mission last yr. But that is only for the ppl who live there.
will keep praying for you guys, and let us know how to wire the money through.
one last thing, why is the twitter and faceb subsription buttons are reversed?
all the best
http://bit.ly/g9xjv
that is the link to that tutoria
Hey Leo
Thanks for stopping by. Where are you at church this year?
Yeah I agree with your questions re live, work, play. I guess my point is that the area is a good option for Church because people tend to like living there and/or people are willing to drive into the area.
The question of church in a pub is an important one. In the end we couldn’t find a suitable pub for young families. They do exist, for instance the Bavarian Bier Cafe Entertainment Quarter but we couldn’t afford it. In the end we found an attractive and functional space at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre .
Thanks for the link to the tutorial on maps. I will definitely use it.
Toby
XHTML Tags didnt work
Bavarian Bier Cafe Entertainment Quarter
http://www.bavarianshavemorefun.com/home/
Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre
http://www.twothousand.com.au/stray/surry-hills-library-and-community-centre/
[...] who I met with last year gives a bit of an update of his plans for the year and a call for a Phillipians-style partnership. So far we have gathered a team of roughly 6 marrieds, 6 singles and 6 children who are excited to [...]