Category: South Darebin

Why do people start coming to church? What should we do at South Darebin to encourage new worshippers?

The 2020 National Church Life Survey indicated that around four in ten Australians are open to being invited to church if invited by a family member or close friend. However, about a third of Australians said they would not attend if invited by a family member or friend, the survey indicating that scandals are the biggest barrier to Australians attending church.

The survey indicated that if it is important to the inviter that a person attend, a person is more likely to do so. The next most selected factors for an accepted invitation were whether the church is perceived as doing good work in the community (19 per cent) and if the person is confident of feeling welcome in the church (18 per cent). Being made to feel welcome is a more important factor to Australians who describe themselves as moderately religious or spiritual.

These findings provide us with food for thought as we seek to attract more people from the wider South Darebin community to join us in regular fellowship and worship.

Grace and peace to you all,

Chris

A message from the Rev’d Stephen Delbridge

Today we celebrate the Martyrdom of St Peter and St Paul. Tradition holds that Peter and Paul were martyred during the persecution of Nero in 64 to 68 AD. By the sixth century there were 25 credible references to the deaths of Peter and Paul during Nero’s persecution. Most place them separately in 64 AD. Some traditions call Peter and Paul the ‘first Holy Martyrs’ – but I am rather perplexed about what this means for the martyrdoms of Stephen and St James the brother of John (St James the Great), described in Acts Chapters 7 and 12. Many of us will have a favourite saint and St Peter and St Paul each rate highly, very highly, as the ‘most popular favourite saint’. St Peter for his willingness to speak up (‘where else will we go, for you have the words of eternal life’) and for his seeming clumsiness with words (‘we will build three booths, one for you, one for Elijah, and one for Moses’). St Paul for his eloquent letters, for his declarations such as ‘we are heirs of the Father, joint heirs with Jesus’ and ‘in Christ there is no Jew no Greek, no male no female, no slave no free, for all are one in Christ.’ Those might be my favourite Pauline lines, and my favourite Peter story is in Acts 10 and 11, Peter’s dream and the call to baptise Cornelius and all his household. So as we celebrate this feast let us celebrate the gift of the Spirit, the beginning of the church, the coming of faith to the Gentiles – which includes all of us! Thank you for being part of the Community of St James and All Saints, Elizabeth and I are grateful for your love and faithfulness and are drawn to share in this life and be part of this witness.

Blessings to you all,

Stephen

Today we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist who was a cousin of Jesus. Both John and Jesus had miraculous births heralded by an angel. Little is known of John up to the start of his ministry, not long before Jesus’ ministry began.

The commemoration of John’s birth is distinct from the birth of other saints who are usually celebrated on the day of their death. This underscores John’s special role in Christian theology as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus – the one who prepared his way.

John’s life and ministry should serve as a reminder for us to prepare our hearts and lives for Christ, just as John prepared the way for Jesus’ earthly ministry. His message of repentance and renewal is timeless and relevant for all.

Grace and peace to you all.

Chris

My wife and I enjoy watching ’The Repair Shop’ on TV.  The Repair Shop is a place where highly skilled furniture restorers, horologists, metal workers, ceramicists, upholsterers and all manner of skilled craftsmen and women restore for people objects that hold a special place in their hearts.

It is wonderful to see the transformations of the objects, but it is even more wonderful to see the joy on the faces of those who brought the items to be repaired and receive them back like new.

In a similar way, Paul reminds us in our epistle reading this morning that when a person is joined to Christ, there is a transformation in them which makes new all that is damaged in a person’s being. When I was a children’s minister, I used to teach 2 Corinthians 5:17 as a memory verse using the Living Bible translation. I think that it expresses the truth of the verse well:

When someone becomes a Christian, they become a brand-new person inside. They are not the same anymore. A new life has begun!

How wonderful this truth is!

Grace and peace to you all.

Chris

Somebody once said:

“You can never look into the eyes of someone that God does not love. Always be kind.”

How true this is!

Every person is loved by God. Every person is made in God’s image. Every person should be loved as they are – as a child of God. This is certainly how Jesus treated those he met.

At one level it is easy to give mental assent to the statement. However, it can be extremely challenging when the people we meet are angry, violent or oppositional to our religious or other position. These people are loved by God too. Our challenge is to love them despite their anger or opposition. Sometimes these ‘difficult to love’ people are others in the church. Our Lord’s command remains, “love one another as I have loved you”. (John 13: 34)

Grace and peace to you all.

Chris