Spreydon update (Thursday 23 June 2011)
Because it has been such a harrowing nine months I am writing to encourage us all to look out for each other, put our hand up when we need help and keep doing the basics.
We are all affected by this sequence of earthquakes in different ways and I want you to know that we are here to help in any way we can and want to offer practical, personal and prayerful support. If you or someone you love or know needs practical help (food, some help with heating costs, a weekend away, help with home assessments or advice for dealing with engineers, lawyers, insurance assessors etc) support), personal support (a shake break, someone to talk to, or skilled counselling) or prayer support (personally and privately or team wide support) please contact Di or one of the pastoral team. Please ask. We as Cantabrians aren’t good at asking for help but we won’t know about a need unless someone tells us.
We are living through a very difficult time. The greatest natural disaster in New Zealand since the British arrived and the greatest tragedy of any type to hit New Zealanders since the Second World War. Like the bombing of London in the second world war our tragedy is on-going, we don’t know when it will hit again and we don’t know where. We are living in a climate similar to a war zone. And emotionally that is a very difficult place to be. However as those in London managed through the war we will manage too. And as they look back and realise how much that time shaped them and formed their character we will look back with similar gratitude.
While this is a tremendously tough time we are doing it well. As a church staff and community ministry teams we are doing this time well. Really well. I have been encouraged to see how people are supporting each other, helping each other with work-loads and work-flows as they are able and praying for each other. Let’s keep this up.
At church it is a bit like a perfect storm. We are working through an earthquake season, a financial recession and a major change in the basis of how we come together as a church (moving to our base of belonging being local) and on top of that making some changes to how we structure our working together. not surprisingly, in a time of such upheaval, some people’s situations are changing and are having to leave their existing roles or jobs and some are taking up new positions. For example this weekend we will be advertising two positions. A café manager and a financial person.
While looking ahead is very hard to do we can have a high degree of long term optimism and Christ inspired hope. The optimism is born out of the facts. Christchurch is the second largest city in NZ with over 350,000 people. It is the gateway to the south island and a major exporter. While the city has been badly damaged the primary economic base of the Canterbury plains has been unaffected. The Canterbury plains are the food basket of the country and a huge export base that is transported overseas via Christchurch airport and Lyttelton port. This is a very strong economic base. Coupled with this is a strong, and largely unaffected, manufacturing industry surrounding Christchurch. The city also has three major tertiary institutions and is the gateway for south island tourism. While the universities and tourism will be affected in the short term careful planning for the future should ensure they grow in the medium to long term. For example Canterbury University should develop a world leading base for earthquake and seismic activity, new forms of construction for earthquake zones and disaster planning and psycho-social support. Coupled with this in the short term is the fact that billions of dollars will be coming into the city for the rebuild and this will attract employment and skilled labour.
But more importantly we have a Christ based hope, a rich heritage and a task ahead. In the most difficult times God inspires hope. Suffering and pain are always the context for hope to flourish. A hope that keeps looking to Christ. Our rich heritage reminds us that this city was built to honour the name of Christ and this, surely, compels us toward the task of rebuilding communities where the name of Christ will be known, the deeds of Christ be seen and people become followers.
With this fact based optimism, faith-based hope and the care and support we offer and receive from each other we can go forward together.
And there are some good things happening including:-
· Very positive Family Week with high interaction with the wider community, some well attended seminars on families, fatherhood, relationships, singleness, seeking employment etc. As part of this Steve preached a great message on family and where families fit in scripture.
· Mike Pilavachi weekend was superb. It was great to laugh so much together and he taught us about the work of the Holy Spirit in a very down to earth and natural way.
· Start-up nights to explain and discuss our priority for locally based networks were well attended and there was a very positive response for the direction ahead from the continuum forms that were returned. There has also been an initially positive response from people to putting their names up on our map of Christchurch.
· Easter weekend was superb both in terms of the services here and the youth group Easter camp
· ‘Living together’ with Grace is going well and the Sunday night services are a very positive time for many people. The word that was shared on Sunday night about looking to God not the destruction was timely and reminded us of Gods deep love and care for us all.
· The growing use of our website. It seems there are about 1000 hits a week to our site. Slowly this is becoming our most important communication tool. For example apparently last week my blog site had over 100 hits. For me that is a big incentive to write a lot more on the site.
· Giving has been good. Especially considering all we have been through. The general church giving has been just on target each month, a little above in March and a little below in April and May. Missions giving though is down quite a bit.
And coming up we have
· Another Baptism Sunday with five people booked in already
· Camp this weekend at Wainui for local village initiators and pioneers
· The rolling out of the last booklet in our discipleship series for small groups
We don’t want to over pack winter so we are asking everyone to do the basics well, look after each other and pray heaps for us as a church, our partner churches (Grace, Breezes Rd, Oxford Terrace) and our city.
Grace and peace
Alan
ajamieson@spreydon.org.nz
