This is a partnership the team for I Heart Kirribilli came up with for a local business:

- Seeking prosperity.
- Raised the profile of the cafe within our church & local community (online & offline)
- Mutually beneficial.
See the first post in this series
This is a partnership the team for I Heart Kirribilli came up with for a local business:

See the first post in this series
You accept an invite to come along to church with a friend.
You find the people friendly.
You come back a second week.
You end up having dinner with the friendly people after.
You miss a week.
You come back for a third time.
You actually found the sermon interesting.
You hear about [insert evangelistic course name here] that the church is running.
You sign up and attend the [insert evangelistic course name here]
You begin to see how Jesus & Christianity seems to make sense of the world.
You get a bible given to you from your friend.
You understand more of the sermons preached at Church.
You miss a week at church to go to family dinner.
You read the bible most days.
You tell your friend who brought you first to church: ‘I prayed for the first time this week… I can’t believe how much sense Jesus makes, thanks so much for bringing me along to church’
You choose to join a mid week bible study group.
You love Jesus.
You get thrown a curve ball at work, its really stressful.
You love Jesus but realising the more life needs to change.
You’ve been coming to church for 4 months now.
You don’t even care now the taunts from your family that you are ‘a good church goer now’.
You don’t feel like you are chasing after something when you drink, you just drink a glass now because it’s refreshing.
You realise the way you have been living for the last 29 years has had the wrong focus all these years.
You know of the freedom that comes with being a ‘child of God’. You now the love and security that only can come from God.
You keep finding amazing things while reading the bible and have heaps of questions.
You get thrown another curve ball this time its concerns with your family.
You begin to find your non-Christian friends difficult and selfish.
You wonder whether they were ever your friends in the first place.
You feel like you don’t know the people at mid-week bible study well enough yet to share with them the trouble going on…
You know Jesus’ forgiveness well.
You are convicted you should really forgive [insert name of family member] for the hurt they have caused over the years and currently.
You struggle to cope with the stress at work.
You struggle to really surrender all things you’ve enjoyed freely for the last 29 years.
You wrestle every morning with the stress of your family.
You pull out of mid-week bible study to begin to cope with the demands of life.
You go to dinner for your twin brothers birthday instead of church one week.
You haven’t been to church in 6 months.
You are still friends with the friend that took you to church, but you find it hard to talk about what’s going on with your faith.
*Based on a the story of a friend of mine. Join with me in asking God to hold on tight to them and the many other wandering & lost sheep.
“Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me”
-Robert Robertson
Many of us cringe at the prospect of inviting friends or neighbours to church. Which is unfortunate, because our weekend services provide great opportunities every week for those you know to sit under the sound of the powerful gospel and be changed by it. (Romans 1:16)
These are just 5 tips that may help ease some of the cringe and fear!
We should all look forward to meeting each others friends at church, evangelistic evnets or at some social function.
Oh and… just a small favour, please be nice to my friends when they come along!
My friend Jenny has again written an article on art.
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.
Dear Church by the Bridge,
Jesus’ interactions with the crowds in Matthew 9:35-38 motivates us to open our eyes to see the crowds around us and also to open our hearts to see them with the heart of God:
“When he saw the crowds, he [Jesus] had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus is filled with a tender concern for the crowds. Jesus saw that they are stressed, vulnerable, pressured, deceived, leaderless, disorientated and powerless!
Often we associate this description of desperation with the materially poor and vulnerable in society. Rarely do we associate such desperation with in our professional, geographical, social or familial networks. We are so readily tempted to think that our friends are all right, comfortable, and in need of nothing, for they are decent people, with nice homes, beautiful clothes and good careers! But Jesus sees them differently. He sees their spiritual brokenness. Do you? Are you filled with compassion for them because they too are harassed and helpless?
All people, whether rich or poor, need to be looked upon with the compassion of Jesus, this includes those you know and even yourself! Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, in New York once said:
“The more you see yourself as spiritually poor and the recipient of God’s wonderful grace the more your heart is going to go out to the poor. When you look at the materially poor you know that in a sense you are looking in a mirror.”
The compassion of Jesus is a great leveller. Without it we lose the sweet humility of sharing the treasure we have so freely received. With it we can loudly sing & declare:
“everyone needs compassion, the kindness of a Saviour”.
For Christ’s Fame,
Hayley Neal
(Community Pastor)
How do you look out on the crowds of people who need the gospel of Jesus?
Do you see them through the eyes of a:
Fashionista– “They make me look bad. If I was to include them in my life, it will reflect badly on me… they don’t suit my image.”
Economist –” Nope can’t do that! They will take too much time, too much money, too much effort, for very little return, they are not a worthwhile investment.”
the Moral Police (Pharisaical) – “Can’t believe they drink so much, I don’t even understand why they think that is enjoyable…”
When he [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Dear Church by the Bridge,
Jesus’ interaction with the crowds in Matthew 9:35-38 supplies us with great motivation for evangelism and helps shapes the way we do outreach here at Church by the Bridge :
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Like Jesus, we should see the ‘crowds’ and have compassion on them, whether they from in Kirribilli or our personal lives. It is in the contexts of our many outreach initiatives – such as Playtime, Kirribilli Kids, Community Lunches, I Heart Kirribilli, Simply Christianity and other courses, Fitness mornings, Carols Under the Bridge, and even our weekend services – that we can better see, know, love and share the gospel with our neighbours and friends. All of these activities are intentionally created to help us build genuine relationships with the ‘crowds’ and the success of them relies on each of us playing a role.
Instead of just bringing in the ‘professional-up-front-evangelists’, the Billy Graham‘s or our own church pastors, the majority of evangelism will actually be done by all of us, as we together live out 1 Thessalonians 2:8 :
We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
I am convinced, that as we faithfully share the gospel and our lives with those we know and are yet know, we will be a church marked by rejoicing. For what praise ought we to give God when we continue to witness His work in bringing the crowds to receive the gospel and to join in with us living for Jesus and loving like Jesus?
For Jesus’ Fame,
Hayley Neal
(Community Pastor)
* this was written for the weekly newsletter that we print to hand out as an insert in all the bibles. this is 1 out of 2 in a series.