“Each Xmas I have helped different charities and have managed to get our clients to contribute to give as well each year! This year I personally want to help 3 different families in our area locally that need some help this year. I would like to arrange a hamper for each family and hopefully I can get clients to donate gifts & goods to the chosen families. I was told that your church would know who would benefit from this.” 

This is great on so many levels:

• Partnering together to care for those in need.
• Its a great thing for those in need to receive this Christmas.
• We both cross promote each other, as we let people at church know and they let their clients know about the venture… awareness of both groups grows. Mutually beneficial.
• It’s an encouragement to know that we have a reputation in the community of “doing good” and would know people in need this Christmas.

So this Salon will do up some hampers and then we will distribute it to 3 people we know who would welcome such a gift this Christmas.

Check out post 1 and post 2 in this 3 part series

• Seeking prosperity.
• Raised the profile of the cafe within our church & local community (online & offline)
• Mutually beneficial.

See the first post in this series

Some do’s and don’ts in connecting & serving businesses:

1. Pursue mutually beneficial partnerships - Don’t exploit local businesses. Often churches only approach businesses to get something out of them or assume they ‘should’ help churches out and donate to our cause or allow us to put posters up … but what do they get in return.
2. Seek their prosperity. Think of things that might bless them, help their business to thrive. What things can you do to help them build new connections, clients or customers. (This can still be ‘beneficial’ to your church also – wait for the next post in this series for an example.
   
   
3. Lead the way on important issues. Demonstrate to your community how we ought to repsond to tragedy, disaster or poverty around us. Although our motives my be different, I think it is good for the church to be the leader in mercy activities. Help unbelievers care about other people and perhaps include them in to your already established structures that contribute to those in need

1. OFFER – Action to gain a reaction.
   A strong offer is an offer that clearly gives a directions into which a scene / the conversation might evolve.
• My name is Hayley… what have you been up to this weekend?”
  
2. ACCEPT – Saying “YES” to an offer.
   Receive an offer allowing conversation to continue. Taking on board what has been said and going along with it.
• My name is Hayley… what have you been up to this weekend?
• Oh Hi, Im Bob… yeah I’ve been up to heaps this weekend and thought I’d top it off with church.
  
3. BLOCK – Saying “NO” to an offer.
   Conversations can collapse Not accepting other persons offer… destroys offers and conversation. It’s like getting a kite to fly or a fire started…
• My name is Hayley… what have you been up to this weekend?
• Oh, Not much. (MIGHT BE PURPOSEFULLY BLOCKING…. Just wants to leave, let them leave. Pray)
  
4. EXTEND – Develop or explore the original offer.
   Want to talk more? Then don’t stick with just the offer and accept. Unpack the original offer, ask questions, probe a little and see if this conversation takes off
• My name is Hayley… what have you been up to this weekend?
• Oh Hi, I’m Bob… yeah I’ve been up to heaps this weekend and thought I’d top it off with church.
• Sounds exciting – by heaps do you mean…  HEAPS Busy or HEAPS Good?
  
5. ADVANCE – Contribute a new idea to move the conversation forward or deeper.
   This is where active listening is important, you may want to revisit something already said. Conversation is where revelation happens. By moving beyond the mundane, we are able to explore the person more and reveal more of ourselves.
• How come you chose to top it off with church?
• Would you normally top off your weekend with church?
• Same here… heaps good… I went off on a weekend away… love spending the weekend out of Sydney… how about you?

*based on drama improvisation principles

Art and About asked Sydney WHAT IF… ?

They have now displayed Sydney’s answers on banners around the City…. Why not use them as stimulus for conversations with your friends, especially banners like this one… Could get you into a great conversation.

At our evening services last week Paul Dale preached a cracker of a sermon on Romans 5:12-21, reminding us that nothing stirs the heart for mission quite like knowing the dire situation for people who are still dead in their sin and are yet to know Christ.

Eight years ago I was dead in my sin, a ‘dead-woman-walking’. Looking back, I am so thankful for those who shared the gospel with me. These people loved me when I didn’t want to be loved; they spoke the gospel into my life when I didn’t want them to; and unbeknown to me they were praying for me. They really invested their time and energy into helping me encounter the super abundant grace of God. My whole world and eternity changed when I met Jesus. Hallelujah!

It is my prayer that God would be pleased to use our Church family mightily to impact eternity during our mission week coming up in October. I Heart Kirribilli provides us with an amazing opportunity to invest a bit more of our prayers, time and energy into making connections with friends and the local community, in hope they too would encounter the gospel of Christ and be brought from death to life.

Will you get involved?

There are lots of different volunteer opportunities. Some might seem a little more mundane, unseen, task-focused, or daunting, while other opportunities seem high energy, public, creative or easy. But each area is significant in how we are to effectively enable meaningful connections between people, and between people and God.

Please take a look at the volunteer opportunities form and prayerfully consider how you can use your gifts/skills and where you are willing to serve.

If you are new to Church by the Bridge or you’re looking for a way to serve or want to try your hand at a new ministry, we welcome you to join us on mission! Volunteering during our mission week is a great way to get involved and belong.

In Christ, Hayley Neal
Community Pastor

*To read more of the weekly newsletters and articles written by the pastoral staff at Church by the Bridge, please check out our blog

Who is involved in this ministry? Who makes Community Lunches Happen:

• Connect Groups| We urge every Connect Group to take part in one missional activity together in a year. Connect Groups play a key and essential role in contributing to provide a warm and welcoming environment by loving our local community with friendship over a meal.We understand that each individual within Connect Groups have gifts suited to some tasks and not others. Some will better serve with gifts of preparing/cooking the food, others will wait on tables, while some will better serve sitting on tables engaging in conversations. It is our prayer that: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”  - 1 Peter 4:10

• Belinda | Welcoming
  Name Tags, Welcome Drinks, Response slips

She wrote:

Art is extremely personal. I like to think of art as a visual diary. Whether the artist intends it or not, when you see their art in the best possible way, you get to see another dimension of them that you may have not known before. I was surprised to catch myself learning new things about each of the artist involved in this project. In a way, I was experiencing the benefits of doing Art in Community…Through the gift of art, we related to one another in a different way.

This is one of the reasons we (Church by the Bridge) hosts I Heart Kirribilli Art Exhibition and Prize. We want to know our neighbours in Kirribilli. We want to know what our neighbours think about the suburb they live in. More importantly we want to SEE what the visual diary of Kirribilli. What the community loves, experiences and knows about Kirribilli.

This year we are inviting Artists to create “AN INTRODUCTION” to Kirribilli. If you had to explain or introduce to a stranger on the street, the suburb of Kirribilli (her people, character, profile, charm), what would you say?

We are pleased to introduce two new categories this year: Graphic Design & Poetry/Prose. (unfortunately this will mean sketch/drawing and fashion will not be prize categories in 2011)

Check the website for more info (Dates, Terms & Conditions plus the online Entry Form etc)

For more about Art in Community from Jenny – click here.