Under Valued gifts (3)

3. The Gift of Supporting World Mission

World Mission is something most of us put into the ‘too hard’ basket. We admire missionaries who go off to other side of the world but actually what they do makes little connection with our lives.

Instead let’s learn to think of PBC as a family where we all have the same purpose, to “... make Jesus known to people in the Inner West of Sydney and throughout the World.”

Mark and Rochelle are simply carrying out that purpose in a different country but they are just like you and me. (Well, Mark is not just like anyone, but you get my point.) They are a normal family with normal needs and normal hopes and fears. They miss family and find evangelism hard work just as much as you do.

Therefore simple things like sending them an email / card just saying “G’Day” really encourages them. Gifts for the kids say a lot. Most of all they crave our prayers. Pray for them regularly and tell them that you are praying for them when you pray.

They need financial support to stay in Slovenia so consider either giving to PBC or supporting CMS directly. Although it is a sacrifice to give money it is not particularly hard, in the sense that once you’ve set up the bank transfer it happens automatically and you don’t even have to remember - easy as!

However, if we are a united family at PBC then we should also consider going ourselves. What about a holiday to Europe? Visit Slovenia on a short-term mission trip and you might love it so much that you want to stay. Scary, yes, but exciting too!

• Encourage - what can you do this week to encourage a PBC misho?
• Pray - buy a copy of Operation World, and then use it!
• Give - nuff said.
• Go - short term mission trip to one of our mishos? Long term mission?

“⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.“ (Philippians 1: 4-6)

Under valued gifts (2)

2. The Gift of Small Talk

Here is another gift that it is worth exercising at PBC - the gift of small talk.

I want to stick up for small talk and the hard time it often gets in churches and in sermons in particular. How often do we hear church lambasted for how shallow it is? Allegedly all you hear over morning tea is, “Hi ... nice weather ... go the Rabbitohs!” Apparently this is stopping us from bearing our souls and sharing our deepest struggles so that we can grow as Christians.

Well, I want to amount a defence of the beleaguered small talk. I fully agree that much of our conversation can be shallow and that Christian growth means increasing openness. However, it is a cop out to cut out the small talk. If we are to get to know one another we need more small talk, not less.

When I’m struggling in my marriage, when my Mum gets cancer, or I’m made redundant, I’m not going to suddenly unload on complete strangers. Instead if I’ve been saying “G’day” to you every Sunday for the past few years then I’m much more likely to open up when the time comes.

It is true that small talk can be used as a barrier to genuine openness but normally it is the route to it. The way we learn to share our lives with each other is just by talking to one another... about anything. Of course for this to progress past the superficial we need to meet regularly otherwise each time we speak will feel like starting again - hence the gift of presence last week.

So here are some tips on how to develop this ministry. As you will see this is not just for the upfront or extrovert. Anybody can do this:

✓ turn up early (before 9.30am) - newcomers usually do!

✓ sit somewhere different - it’s probably warmer :-)

✓ ask about what you talked about last week - people will really appreciate the interest.

✓ be the first to say ‘hello’ - then they have to think of something to say.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another....” (Hebrews 10: 25)

Under Valued gifts (1)

Gifts of the Holy Spirit:

1. The Gift of Presence

As the series (sermon series at PBCam on What we believe) gets more practical I’m going to write a few short articles on some of the spiritual gifts you don’t hear about so often.

Let’s start with the gift of presence. I mean the gift you use at church (or Bible study group) by simply showing up. In order to exercise this gift you don’t really have to do anything else except say “G’Day!” It is really encouraging to see you every week. Your presence encourages everyone else that, in a world that rejects Jesus, you are still hanging on in there and you are still trying to follow him. It also communicates powerfully that you think it was worth getting out of bed to meet with God’s people. All that just from turning up!

However the effort comes in developing it as a habit. You see for the gift to be effective it has to happen regularly. Of course there are occasions when we have to miss church for all sorts of good reasons, but if I turn up no more often than I’m away then my absence speaks just as loud (if not louder) than my presence.

As I’ve said already this gift is probably more noticeable by its absence. What I notice is that if I miss church then I always feel more distant from people when I return - relationships become harder work. And that becomes a vicious circle - I’m less likely to come and so I feel more distant. (And I’m the Pastor :-) )

On the other hand it is immensely encouraging to meet the same people week after week. Some weeks all we do is smile but the connection has been made. The gift of presence has been exercised. I’m not mad making a church a priority after all! All these people stand with me in faith.

So here are some tips on how to develop this ministry. As you will see this is not just for the upfront or extrovert. Anybody can do this:

✓ turn up early (before 9.30am) - newcomers usually do!

✓ sing enthusiastically - the musos will feel their practice was worth it.

✓ listen attentively - the preacher will get so excited he will finish early.

✓ smile at people - they will think you are up to something.

✓ be the first to say ‘hello’ - then they have to think of something to say.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another....” (Hebrews 10: 25)

Under appreciated gifts

Okay, so here now starts a series of posts on gifts that are seriously under-appreciated at church.

I've called them 'gifts of the Spirit' but basically I mean things we should be doing to encourage one another when we meet together - so, in that sense, gifts we should be exercising.

Resurrection!

I have no idea how people find the time to post to their blogs once a day (never mind several times a day) I seem to regularly find more important things to do.

Nevertheless this PBC blog is pretty pointless unless there are regular posts.

So to kick start it (again!) I'm going to upload a letter I'm putting in the church bulletin each Sunday morning at the moment.