WHY THE CROSSING?

Why that Goliath?  Why that Promised Land?  Why step out of that boat?These are all questions that are driving at the same challenge. How do we know God’s leading in a particular situation?”  People are saying to me, “I have the faith that God can provide, I just would like to know how we can tell if this is the particular giant he wants us to face?  What if he wants us to do something else?It is a great question, and I hope to share with you my perspective on it in this paper.It really is a question of guidance.  We each face guidance questions all the time in our lives: “Should I marry this person?” “Should I buy this house?” “Should I take that job?” “Should I go to this church?” …So here we have a guidance question before us as a Church.  It goes like this: “Should we as a church give the concept of the Crossing our very best shot?”I firmly believe the answer to this is YES! I honestly believe that we have a number of options before us that are also to a greater or lesser degree good.  But for this time and in this place, with the way God has led and shaped us as a Church, I believe the Crossing Vision is the best of all options.To come to this conclusion I have applied traditional Christian methods of Guidance: the Bible, History, Community of Faith, wise counsel, counting the cost, circumstances and prayer.Not one of these indicators is “God’s clear voice” on its own.  However, I believe that put together they amount to God’s guidance being ‘Yes’.

THE BIBLE

1. The clear calling of the Church is to be Missional. At TBC we are not asking the question, “Should we be missional?” or even “Should we be MORE missional?” – Scripture settles those questions.  TBC exists as a church to live lovingly and missionally for glory of Christ and for the sake of the world. That is our core purpose for being.  In one sense, whenever we are seeking honestly and faithfully to be missional, we are within God’s overall will for our lives.  In that sense, you could say, “It is better to act with some doubts, but with a missional heart, than to do nothing at all.”

2. The clear calling of the Church is to be Incarnational and Holistic in its presentation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Following the ministry of Jesus, the life of the church should be deeply engaged within the community God places it.  For too long the church has been separate from the world around it.  This is the opposite of Jesus’ ministry. He was incarnational. The other mistake the Church has tended to make is to reduce mission to ‘speaking’ the gospel. Again Jesus’ ministry was holistic. He ‘preached good news, healed the sick, set captives free, bound up the brokenhearted and brought peace’.  The ‘whole gospel’ declared to the ‘whole person’ involves both proclaiming the truth AND embodying the healing presence of God’s kingdom in society. 
   TBC exists as a church to engage deeply with our community, ministering to the needs of mind, body and spirit. Whenever we are doing this, we are within God’s overall will for our lives.
   Over recent years we have tried to do this through things like Beach missions, Light Party, cleaning up Kaurilands School, refurbishing a church in Fiji, helping needy neighbours in our community clean their properties, running parenting programmes and M&M’s. The list could go on. The Kingdom of God is expressed both in proclaiming the message and in concern for the social needs of those around us.

3. The clear calling of the church is to live by faith in Him who called us.  The question is not, “should we be living sacrificially, full of faith and trusting God to do more than we could ever ask or imagine?” – Scripture also settles that question.  TBC exists to live a sacrificial, faith filled, God dependent life.  We exist to live not by our might or power, but by God’s Spirit. Whenever we are living by radical, sacrificial faith for the Gospel, we are within God’s overall will for our lives. “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:35

HISTORY AND CIRCUMSTANCE

The history and circumstances of this Church points toward the Crossing as a next step in our growth as a missional Church.

1952 – we were donated the land that our property is on to plant the very first church in this area

1953 – we began a mission to this community with half a dozen people who started a Sunday School believing God called the church to reach families in this neighbourhood

1992  - God planted a Parenting ministry in our midst that was to shape us for the next decade as a Church that had a heart for the needs of marriages, parents and children. Ministering to families became strongly embedded in our DNA.

1997-2000 – we made several attempts to purchase properties that would have moved us away from this area to start a new work with a large church building. Each time the door closed. Each time we sensed God saying that we were to stay focused on the Kaurilands/ Konini/ Titirangi communities.

2003 – we began to talk about the existing properties becoming a HUB for our community ministry. This Centre would be a place where we could increase our ministry potential in our neighbourhood.

2007 – we confirmed that God had not called us to build a large church building centered on a large auditorium.  We believed God wanted us to continue our relationship with Kaurilands School, worshipping in their hall, and then ‘gift our facilities to our neighbourhood’ by creating a purpose built community centre designed to be a tool for loving and serving our neighbours.

2008 – a very significant donation was made to the church to enable the effective scoping and development of the Crossing Vision. 

2009 – as we began to formally scope out the project we realised that we needed more land.  At this time our two ideal properties, either side of the church building, became available and we purchased them.

COMMUNITY

Although we can act in good faith based on our biblical convictions, our history and circumstances, we also need to look outward to consider whether we will actually be filling a need in our community.In 2008 we had a community study done by Robyn Mellar-Smith, which included a survey of 77 people unrelated to our church, who lived in our immediate neighbourhood.  Among other things the interviewees were asked, “how do you think the church can assist the community?”

“In conclusion, it appears that children and family are important to the Kaurilands/ Konini people of Titirangi … many people live in the area because of its lifestyle and schools. If one travels near Titirangi Baptist during the time immediately before or after school hours, one can be overwhelmed with the number of parents and children around. Many of those surveyed in the residential area around the church suggested that the church could help the community in the area of parenting classes, running events to develop community, and giving practical help to families. It is to be noted however that there are also many people living around the church who do not have children, or their children have grown and left home. An outreach to this area needs to include these people too.”

During the recent consultation phase of our planning we had opportunity to talk with leaders in the community and wider about our vision.  Here is some of the feedback we have received.

“I am impressed by your church’s drive to develop your church building into a facility that can potentially be used to benefit the wider community. I wish you all the best for the future in your venture and look forward to hearing about the progress on this.” 

“Many Westies are shy about turning up and joining something. They need easy, gentle ways to get in. Sometimes a new purpose built facility is crucial. The patronage doubled with new libraries. When you have the right facility with right people running it, it can become the heart of a community.”

"A valuable asset to any community. A place for everyone to come together for the benefit of parents, families and many groups. The more opportunity there is for community based programmes, the better." 

“As an avid promoter of Parenting courses, and any other endeavour that strengthens families, their members, and the community itself, I think the proposed Community Building by the Titirangi Baptist Church is an inspiring and timely concept. West Auckland is significantly lacking in such facilities.To have a modern and interesting building, that is welcoming to the general public, and which can offer flexible room sizes for courses, meetings and activities - will be an invaluable asset. It is a sound investment, which will provide a strong foundation for the sort of future that is being demanded.” 

“Admirable. We can't expect the community to come to us. Church has to get out of comfort zone, and the limiting concept of bringing people to church to hear the gospel … At the cutting edge of thinking in establishing relationships with local schools. Don't see any, churches of similar size doing similar. I'm encouraged by the thinking.”

“Fully endorse it. They are thinking it through … what would Jesus do? Taking cognisance of what others are doing. No hesitation, its scary in size and cost, but on a par with others churches, eg. Whakatane Baptist $4m.” 

“Close proximity of schools is a huge strength. Research (Judith Duncan) shows early intervention leads to more effectiveness. In excellent position with preschool and primary/intermediate schools. Churches engaging with community in 3 specific areas: parenting, strengthening families and money management is pivotal to family life.”

Charles Hewlett (Principal of Carey Baptist College)

Wow!! A vote on May 17th. It’s about time Titirangi Baptist Church! In my role as principal I have the opportunity to visit many churches throughout New Zealand. I am yet to find a congregation with the gifts that God has given to you lot - awesome teachers of the Bible, stable marriages and families, able leaders at all the stages of life, an appreciation of the importance of education, people who want to connect with the community, the ability to earn good salaries, and a location in the middle of so many schools! How exciting that you are about to make a decision that will unleash you in a new way on West Auckland. God must be very excited about being able to use your abilities to share the gospel message of love, forgiveness, healing, and hope to so many people. Don’t wait any longer – the world desperately needs you to open your doors, roll up your sleeves, and get into their mess. As William Carey put it, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” Go for it!!

This feedback has encouraged me to believe that we are on the right track in choosing the Crossing as a vehicle to become more missional in our community.

COUNTING THE COST

It is also important to ‘count the cost’ of a vision or dream before embarking.  Not because we will only do things if are already certain that we can succeed (there is no trusting God in that), but because we need to be willing to embrace the sacrifice a vision asks of us.As part of our ‘counting the cost’ we have commissioned a professionally run feasibility study to assess whether our church is ready for a sacrificial vision like this.  In his Executive Summary of this study, Wayne McKenzie writes,

“it can be said that the indications of support for this project and campaign are sufficiently high for us to endorse any decision to proceed with acampaign …” 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

We are contemplating a major step in the life of our Church. For me personally, this is the scariest and most thrilling time in all my years as Pastor at Titirangi Baptist.  Never have I believed more strongly for the potential of our Church to work together to become like Jesus, and reflect the wonder of his Kingdom for the benefit of our community.  God has blessed us enormously as a Church and we are rich in resource and faith.  I strongly believe that it is time for us to take seriously the truth that we have been blessed to be a blessing.  It is time for us to take seriously the social and spiritual needs of our community and focus our prayers, efforts and money in reaching those needs with the ‘love and hope that Jesus brings’.  In many ways I don’t feel adequate. In many ways I am threatened by this vision.  However, my times of prayer and seeking God over this give me so much confidence that He is wanting to show Himself as great through our weakness.  I believe He wants us to trust Him with the dream of the Crossing.  I believe He wants us to sacrifice together for a combined mission effort that will create a fantastic meeting place in our community.  I believe He wants us to trust Him for the building and operating of a meeting place that will bring together our desire to love our neighbour and our neighbour’s search for community, hope and understanding. As I said earlier, we have a number of options before us.  But I believe the Crossing is the option that God is leading us to.  It is the vision that will give us the greatest opportunities to work together, serve our community, partner with others, and give voice and hands to the our church as we partner with Jesus to bring His Kingdom into the lives of those he loves.Thank you for taking time to read and consider these thoughts.Serving together with youPastor Jonathan

Tags: Giant, Faith, Guidance