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... S I IFE RIST L W NE G, CH NITYE IN MMU TH E V G O A L D CORMINITH THEL. RE SFO D W OSP T N G CE TRAN ORL W
WE FACE A HUMANITY THAT IS TOO PRECIOUS TO NEGLECT. WE KNOW A REMEDY FOR THE ILLS OF THE WORLD TOO WONDERFUL TO WITHHOLD. WE HAVE A CHRIST TOO GLORIOUS TO HIDE. WE HAVE AN ADVENTURE TOO THRILLING TO MISS. Theodore Williams
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GOD’S HEARTBEAT
God’s heartbeat is mission. From the Garden of Eden forward, God has been seeking to save and restore humanity and the whole creation. God’s rescue mission culminated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. In this, God demonstrated the infinite magnitude of His love for us and the world.
But the good news does not end here. You see, God has engaged all who claim faith in Jesus - the church - in his work of renewal and restoration in the world. The church is not a club, nor is it an institution. The church is God’s missionary movement, living out in word and deed the good news it has discovered in Jesus. Newlife is a missionary movement. Our heartbeat is summarized in the statement ‘changing lives, transforming the world.’ God is transforming this world one changed life at a time. By God’s grace we are seeing that change and transformation more and more in our midst. God is growing us numerically and spiritually. Perhaps the best thing about my role is having a front row seat to observe God’s activity in so many people’s lives in our community. Each story is sacred as each person is precious to God. And there are many more people precious to God who need to hear the gospel. God wants to do more in and through us. And that is what this little booklet is all about. In it you will find a highlight summary of our mission and ministry plan for 2011 – our five faith goals and some specific strategies attached to each. These plans have arisen out of plenty of prayerful conversation amongst the ministry team and Elders. Each goal, measure and strategy represents the vision we believe God has placed before our church right now.
IT’S NOT THE CHURCH OF GOD THAT HAS A MISSION, BUT THE GOD OF MISSION WHO HAS A CHURCH.
2011 will be a watershed year for Newlife. On Pentecost Sunday (June Archbishop Rowan Williams 12) we plan to hold the first worship celebration of a new campus on the northern Gold Coast. God has already provided the person who will lead this amazing new venture – Orrell Battersby. Then in May and June we will be embarking on the challenge of raising funds to begin the first stage in extending our Robina property. These are big dreams born out of the big heart of God. So here is my request to you. Please read what follows carefully and prayerfully. As you read, be asking God how it is He is calling you to participate in His mission in and through our church.
WHERE AND HOW IS GOD CALLING YOU TO SERVE?
HOW IS GOD CALLING YOU TO PRAY?
WHAT AND WHERE IS GOD CALLING YOU TO GIVE FROM YOUR FINANCES? In the end we each have the privilege of participating in God’s mission in the world. It is a privilege that God does not force on us, but offers to us by His grace. It is our choice whether we embrace that privilege. Will you join me in the next chapter of God’s missionary adventure for us at Newlife? I hope and pray so! Blessings,
Stu Cameron
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R U O ION S I V CHANGING LIVES TRANSFORMING THE WORLD ‘BUT YOU WILL RECEIVE POWER WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES ON YOU; AND YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES IN JERUSALEM, AND IN ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA, AND TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.’ Jesus in Acts 1:8
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CROSSROADS
KIDZLIFE
OP SHOP
YOUTHSTREET 39 SMALL GROUPS
ACTS 1:8 MISSION
12TWO LIFEKEYS 4 PLAYGROUPS
FUNSTUFF
KEENAGERS COFFEE @ NEWLIFE GNOME NEWLIFE CARE CHRISTMAS TOY RUN
LENDING LIBRARY
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT MAD
CAROLS BY THE WATER
WE ARE:
CHRISTMAS HAMPERS NEWLIFE MEN NEWLIFE WOMEN
1113 ADULTS KIDS AND TEENAGERS +452 CROSSROADERS +266 DIFFERENT BIRTH +34 NATIONALITIES +6 WORSHIPPING COMMUNITIES 5
FAITH GOAL 1: CREATIVELY CELEBRATE GOD. IN 2011 WE WILL SEEK TO GROW OUR SUNDAY WORSHIP ATTENDANCES TO 950 (CURRENTLY 800). Over the last five years God has grown our community. Five years ago 580 people gathered for worship every Sunday. Today that number is 800. We have more children, teenagers and young adults who call Newlife home than ever before. Every week 400 people gather for Crossroads celebrations at Robina, and now at Helensvale as well.
Combining Sunday worship, Crossroads and Youthstreet on Friday night, almost 1300 people celebrate God through the Newlife community.
GOD IS GOOD! We believe that God can and will continue to grow us by His grace. To that end, we are praying, planning and expecting for our Sunday worship attendance to increase by 150 over the coming year. Of this, we believe an additional 70 people will be worshipping at our Newlife campus, and 80 new people will be celebrating God each week at our new northern Gold Coast campus. We believe that as we creatively celebrate the presence of God in our midst, those who have not yet experienced His love will be drawn by the Holy Spirit to encounter the living God. It’s not the church of God which has a mission but the God of mission who has a church. (Archbishop Rowan Williams)
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IN 2011 WE WILL ESTABLISH A NEW CAMPUS OF NEWLIFE ON THE NORTHERN GOLD COAST, WITH THE FIRST WORSHIP CELEBRATION TO BE HELD ON JUNE 12, 2011 – PENTECOST SUNDAY. Four years ago God birthed in us a vision to be a church that plants other churches. Last year, together with our friends at Helensvale Baptist church, we established Crossroads – Helensvale, which now consists of 80 people at weekly worship. And now, after years of conversation, dreaming and prayer we are ready to establish another campus of Newlife on the northern Gold Coast.
GOD HAD ONLY ONE SON AND HE MADE THAT SON A MISSIONARY.
God has already provided for us in so many ways. One church has gifted us with $40,000 for establishment costs for the new campus. David Livingston And God has called Orrell Battersby, our Church Plant minister, to lead this new initiative. Orrell will begin his ministry amongst us on January 1. For five months he will build and empower a team of 30-40 people who he will lead in planting our new northern campus. Our new campus will cost us. It will cost us time and money. We will ‘send’ some of our best people from Robina to help establish this new worshipping community. Like all births, there will be some pain involved. But with birth also comes joy – the unspeakable joy of seeing the miracle of God-given new life.
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FAITH GOAL 2: INVITE PEOPLE OF ALL AGES AND BACKGROUNDS INTO RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST AND ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH. IN 2011 WE WILL SEEK TO CELEBRATE 80 PEOPLE MAKING FIRST-TIME COMMITMENTS TO CHRIST.
THE CHURCH WITH NO GREAT ANGUISH ON ITS HEART HAS NO GREAT MUSIC ON ITS LIPS. Karl Barth
God still changes lives as people encounter His love, mercy and grace through Jesus. Through 2010, 50 people have decided
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for the first time to follow Jesus as their Savior and Lord. These decisions have been made on Sunday mornings, at 12two, in our Crossroads Communities, at events like Women’s Retreat, Funstuff and in conversations in Small Groups. On every occasion, heaven has rejoiced that a lost son or daughter has found their way Home. And so should we rejoice! Across our city, thousands of people are dying of spiritual thirst. They long for living water that will quench their parched souls. Through 2011 we will be increasing the challenge to all of us at Newlife to stand up, step up and speak up about the Good News to our family, friends and neighbors. We will be offering practical training that helps each of us to enjoy the incredible privilege of sharing the love of God with others.
FAITH GOAL 3: EMPOWER PEOPLE TO USE THEIR GIFTS TO LEAD OTHERS TO JESUS, TO BUILD THE CHURCH AND SERVE THE WORLD.
IN 2011 WE WILL CALL AT LEAST 20 PEOPLE TO SERVE ON MISSION TRIPS WITH OUR ACTS 1:8 OVERSEAS PARTNERS. Through 2010 we have immersed ourselves in the story of the early church recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. From the moment that first community of believers experienced Pentecost power it witnessed the love of Jesus, rapidly expanding its reach to the far corners of the Roman Empire. Jesus’ prophecy that they would speak His name to ‘the ends of earth’ was spectacularly fulfilled. This now is our mission mandate. God has provided us with amazing partners in mission – in the Pacific (Solomon Islands, Hawaii), Asia (Thailand, Cambodia) and Europe (Bosnia). We are committed to building on these wonderful foundations through Newlife members visiting and sacrificially serving our brothers and sisters overseas. We know that in the process we receive far more than we give.
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FAITH GOAL 4:
GROW OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND EACH OTHER THROUGH COMMUNITY, PRAYER, STUDY OF THE BIBLE AND WORSHIP.
IN 2011 WE WILL INCREASE THE NUMBER OF OUR SMALL GROUPS TO 48 (CURRENTLY 39). As God by His grace grows us larger, so too we must become smaller. At Newlife we are not a church WITH small groups, but a church OF small groups. We believe that intimate Christian community is critical to our faith and development. It is in community that we learn best to love God and our neighbor. It is in experiencing community that we model our lives on the character and nature of God – the community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For these reasons and many others we will do all we can to encourage every adult who calls Newlife home to be a part of a small group.
CHRISTIANS ARE LIKE COALS IN A FIRE. WHEN THEY CLING TOGETHER, THEY KEEP THE FLAME AGLOW; WHEN THEY SEPARATE, THEY DIE OUT.
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Billy Graham
IN 2011 WE WILL AIM TO REGISTER AT LEAST 200 PEOPLE IN A DAILY, COMPREHENSIVE BIBLE READING PROGRAM. We are a people of the Book. Our Christian life is informed, regulated and fed by the Word of God we encounter in the Bible. Through the inspiration of its many different human authors, a Divine Author speaks to us of His amazing grace. Through 2010 hundreds of us have committed to studying God’s word through Winter College, Small Groups and our NT in 90 reading program. Every piece of recent research indicates that the most important factor in fostering spiritual growth is establishing a regular and consistent discipline of reading the Bible. In February we will be launching a successor to our NT in 90 reading program that will encourage a church-wide exploration of the Scriptures. We will journey together as we seek to allow the Word of God to read us even more than we read it.
THE BIBLE IS A LETTER FROM GOD WITH OUR PERSONAL ADDRESS ON IT. Soren Kierkegaard
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FAITH GOAL 5:
John Wesley
MAKE ALL YOU CAN, SAVE ALL YOU CAN, GIVE ALL YOU CAN.
CHALLENGE PEOPLE TO LIVE AUTHENTIC, CHRIST-LIKE LIVES.
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IN 2011 WE WILL SEEK TO INCREASE GIVING TO NORMAL TITHES AND OFFERINGS TO $700,000 ($610,000 IN 2010) Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all he had and to give the proceeds to the poor (Luke 18:22) but his wealth had so captured his heart the man could, or would not loosen his grip. To love Jesus is to lay down our life, take up our cross and follow where He leads. Laying down our life includes shifting our approach to money and possessions from ownership to stewardship. God has blessed us with financial gifts He calls us to bless others with. One of the primary ways we do this is through supporting the work and ministry of our local church out of the resources God has blessed us with. The vision God has given our church to see lives changed and our world transformed by the gospel requires the regular, proportional and sacrificial – and cheerful - giving of all of us who call Newlife home.
VISION 1000 IN 2011 WE WILL SEEK TO ESTABLISH A VISION 1000 FUND TOTALING $180,000 TO INVEST IN CHURCH PLANTING ON THE NORTHERN GOLD COAST.
Over sixteen years ago four churches stepped out in faith, walked away from the safety of what they knew to embrace an uncertain and yet exciting future. In doing so they established Robina-Surfers Paradise Uniting Church – now Newlife Uniting Church, Robina. Sixteen years ago the suburb of Robina was only just being developed. Varsity Lakes was still empty paddocks but as the church was built, the surrounding community grew. And so too did our church. Sixteen years later, God is calling us to live out a similar vision as we establish a campus of our church on the northern Gold Coast – a region of new sub-divisions and rapidly filling ‘empty’ paddocks. Now is the time to plant. Not tomorrow, but today! And
as we do plant we are called to invest the finances God has given us into the work of His kingdom. Starting this month we are establishing a Vision 1000 fund through which we will seek to raise over the coming year $180,000 over and above our normal tithes and offerings to seed our new northern Campus. Why Vision 1000? We believe that with the continued growth of our Robina campus and the establishment of a new northern campus, God will grow our Sunday worshipping community to over 1000 over the coming two years.
Why $180,000? Our budgeting indicates this is the amount of money that will adequately fund this new venture as it seeks to establish a strong foothold in its community.
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BUDGETING FOR GROWTH OUR BUDGET FOR 2011 REPRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT STEP OF FAITH BASED ON OUR CONVICTION THAT GOD IS CALLING US TO PLANT A CAMPUS CHURCH ON THE NORTHERN GOLD COAST. WE WILL NEED A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN OUR CURRENT LEVELS OF REGULAR WEEKLY GIVING (16%) IF WE ARE TO MEET OUR GOALS IN OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY, IN THE WIDER GOLD COAST AREA, AND IN SUPPORT OF OUR ACTS 1:8 MISSION PROJECTS IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS, THAILAND, CAMBODIA, HAWAII AND BOSNIA.
WHY REGULAR GIVING? Regular giving is vital for the vision of our church and allows everyone to be involved. Whilst the level of your giving is between you and God we encourage you to prayerfully consider the biblical standard of the tithe (10%). No matter the level you determine, it helps the church to budget and plan wisely if your giving is regular i.e. weekly via envelopes, or fortnightly or monthly via direct debit. Giving by direct debit helps you and us in that your gift is still made, even if you have to be away from worship for a period of time e.g. while travelling.
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THREE OPPORTUNITIES TO GIVE: Regular giving will provide for the important everyday work of our church throughout 2011. We invite you to make a regular weekly, fortnightly or monthly commitment to this. Vision 1000 will provide the additional funds that are needed for our campus church plant on the Northern Gold Coast. We invite you to make either a one off gift or to commit to a giving a smaller amount monthly over a 12 month period. Your commitment to Vision 1000 should not replace your regular giving. Newlife Education Building Fund will commence in May 2011. This fund will provide the capital required to extend our worship auditorium, the courtyard, and children’s facilities. More details about the Newlife Education Building Fund will be available in the new year but we anticipate that you will be able to make a commitment to give to this capital campaign over and above your regular giving for a period of 3 years. * Please note that all commitments are only an intention to give. We understand that circumstances may change and your commitment is in no way binding and can be altered at any time.
WHAT ELSE CAN I GIVE?
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Although our monetary giving is very important, so too is our capacity to serve God with our time, talents and testimony. It doesn’t matter if we choose to serve God in our church, our community, or indeed overseas. What really matters is that we do so willingly and joyfully. Our personal testimony is very powerful in God’s hands – each of us is called to share our faith with those around us!
As part of our stewardship program you will receive a commitment card and envelope. We ask you to fill in this card and bring it to worship with you on Sunday 5th December – Commitment Sunday. Alternatively, you can send it to the church office. Your commitment is between you and God – we do not need to know your name. We simply ask for your written response so that we may make appropriate decisions in the areas of budgeting and planning. Please pray about your response and make this decision as part of your commitment to Christ and his church. 15
Newlife Uniting Church p 07 5578 9322 add 4 Greenwich Crt, Robina Qld, 4226 w www.newlifeuniting.com e admin@newlife.unitingchurch.org.au