Archive | October, 2009

12 Mistakes of Christmas #2 Not being creative

October 15, 2009 by hayleyneal 1 Comment

Picture 7

Pop you Green Thinking Cap when planning Christmas. Creative thinking and letting people run with statements of provocation and investigation, and seeing where a thought may go can often lead to an idea that is just that more a little out of the ordinary. Maybe it is a new Christmas service suiting different demographic or accommodating Families in your services, or thinking up a new way to promote your services or even just shaping new ideas around the gifts and talents and resources and skills they are given to your church family. Some call it the Purple Cow, the WOW principle or the Big Idea.

So let’s ask ourselves, have you been doing the same service/s without much variation every Christmas for the last however many years?

Have you become invisible to your local community because you do the same old, ordinary things?

If they went one year to the Christmas Service would they get the ‘same thing’ if they went the next year? Sure let’s keep the message about Jesus the same but let’s strive for creativity so our churches are seen, people would come and so people would hear the message of Jesus you are preaching.

Church, Ideas, Jesus

Do It, Don’t Blog It…

October 14, 2009 by hayleyneal 0 Comments

… That moment forced me to begin reflecting on how much time I spend on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other online social networking sites. I wondered, If I spent less time online, could I be spending more time building friendships? Have I become so consumed with reading about mission that I’ve forgotten to actually engage it? As these questions arose, I started to get uncomfortable.

Don’t misunderstand me. I find blogs quite encouraging. I’ve learned a lot about missional living by reading insightful bloggers. I have even gotten reacquainted with non-Christian friends from years ago on Facebook. But in truth, the bulk of my Facebook time is spent conversing with Christian friends and other church leaders. And most of the missional discussion I read online does not include stories of people coming to faith, but theoretical definitions and debates about what being missional actually means…

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Technology

Attitudes to mission, evangelism & outreach…

October 13, 2009 by hayleyneal 0 Comments

Does your church have a core value or guiding princple for evangelism or outreach or local mission?

My church is re-thinking its mission & vision for the next year and so I am curious to see how other churches place evangelism. After a quick scan of some church websites I discovered that there are not many which clearly detail outreach projects they initiate or are apart of nor are their many church websites that share their vision for local mission or if they do it is almost a side note.

I wonder how indicative this is of the churches’ attitude to missions and the place it has in their calendars, budgets and life of their church?

Can you pick which churches the following statements about outreach come from?

Missions is more than just a one-time event or an experience; rather missions is a lifestyle. This means that in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, work places and in every other area of our lives, we are to carry ourselves as ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20; 1 Peter 2:4-9)… the Church as a whole has been called to seek the good of the city (Jeremiah 29: 5-8). We seek the welfare of the city by focusing our corporate missions efforts on improving the health, safety, education and commercial opportunities available within the city. Check who

The foreign missions work and outreach ministries of our church aim to glorify Jesus by gathering more and more worshipers. They are all built on the reality that outreach is not the ultimate mission, nor the primary end of our church. Worship is. Foreign missions and outreach ministries exist because worship doesn’t. In other words, outreach ministries and missions work is the means to glorifying God by more and more worship. Check who

We are…part of a Church that seeks to steward God’s message of freedom for local, national and global communities with personal involvement, example and generosity. Check Who

God desires all people to be saved through trusting in Christ and submitting to his Lordship, obeying him in all things. We are committed to equipping people and encouraging them to present the Lord Jesus by word and deed. (1 Tim 2:3-5, Mt 28:19, 1 Peter 3:15) Check Who

we don’t want to live in a “holy huddle”, isolated from the world outside, so we run activities and events that enable us to connect with and serve the community around us. Check Who

Church, Evangelism, Technology

The Briefing Library: Laying the foundations…

October 9, 2009 by hayleyneal 0 Comments

The Briefing Library: Laying the foundations at Church by the Bridge

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Church

The Life of an Artist… Carla Hananiah

October 2, 2009 by hayleyneal 0 Comments

Picture 1
What do you think is the most important influence in your art?
My artwork is a direct response to what feeds my soul. The level of need I feel to create is directly linked to how healthy I feel in my soul. With this is mind, my relationship with God is the determining influence in my artwork.

How important is the subject matter to your artwork?
Subject matter is a starting point for the journey. Personally I work best when I have a structured subject matter in mind for a body of work. At present my studio research is the exploration of spirituality and the sublime within landscape. From there, I go on a journey – it could start as landscapes inspired from poetry (such as Psalms) and lead to landscapes based on my imagination created in response to my spiritual journey.

What do you see as the role of artists in society?
Art in society is often regarded as a luxury rather than a necessity. However, art (whether it be visual, music or performance-based) is essential to the human condition. We need beauty in our world, it’s what keeps us from being jaded by everyday routine.

And how about the role of the artist in the Christian community?
Art should be a form of worship, advocacy of justice and an agent for change. As an artist I desire to reflect and glorify God in my work. Each person is responsible to respond to God in worship with their gifting – mine is painting, so when I paint I glorify God. Before I begin each painting I have developed a habit of quietly speaking out a one line prayer over each support I’m about to start a painting on – it keeps me purposeful.

How does the gospel inform your vocation as an Artist?
Most importantly, art as a vocation could be seen as a self-indulgent profession – my understanding of the gospel and my relationship with God challenges me to create artwork with purpose behind it. This purpose could be to challenge, bring aid to a cause etc. Recently I created an artwork for “The Face of Compassion” to raise awareness and funds towards aiding children suffering due to the global food crisis. Contributing to causes you believe in with your gifting is very fufilling.
In regards to actual studio practice, at present I read a Psalm for inspiration before beginning a new painting. Often a verse or an impression I get from a piece of scripture will be the title of my work.

CHECK OUT CARLA’S WORK >>> www.carlahananiah.com

Arts, Creatives Stories, Jesus, People
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