Over the last few weeks, a change has happened to the way I view my work here in NP. Over the last 6 months of life here, my time has been about getting to know the community that revolves around the UNOH work and Rainbow church. It has been about getting to know the people, building relationships with those in the community, and seeing where I can help out... It has been a great time, a time of affirmation, a time of finding purpose in life.
But mission is not about maintenance, it is about going out (well strictly speaking being sent out - but I guess the important bit here is the word "OUT"). It is too easy to focus purely on maintenance, to get caught up on the busy work of keeping a church community running smoothly. It is so easy to continually look inward, and forget about looking out. This is the big error of the western church, in my opinion, it is the same error that the nation of Israel made, that in many ways resulted in the Kingdom being taken from them and given to others (I can't be bothered proving this right now - maybe some other time). But if the church is not looking out it is not doing its job. Likewise, if an individual Christian is not looking out he is not doing his job either. I could keep going on about this, discuss different models of church; centripetal verses centrifugal and really get stuck into the nitty gritty of it all - it actually is a topic I am very passionate about...
But the point is, that even with my passion, I got sucked into an inward focused mindset (centripetal - sucked in - its a pun! -get it? - geeze I'm a nerd!!). And God has begun doing a job on me, shifting my focus back outwards, back onto the wider community of Noble Park. I have begun to purposefully walk the streets of this community, firstly in the morning I go for a prayer walk, visit all of the major community centers within walking distance, praying and seeking God as I go along - there is not much ministry going on here, as there are not that many people out and about at 6am, but this is laying the ground work on a spiritual level, and allowing God to increase my passion for this neighborhood. I also intentionally walk places as much as possible to get to know the people out and about. Time permitting (and I feel I need to make a conscious effort to make more time for this) I will also go for a walk around the community at times that people are more likely to be around, becoming more familiar with the people and places of NP, and looking to build entry level relationships with the people I meet.
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