WOW!!!!

Last Saturday evening we held an International dinner at our corps. This started off as a fellowship type activity for the corps so that people could get to know each other better. It ended up as perhaps a corps direction changing outreach opportunity.
While there was great support for the event from our regular attenders the large number of people who came was directly because of new people bringing their unchurched friends. The main organiser of the evening attended a local Primary School disco and spoke to heaps of parents about sending their children to a Reading Group at the corps. Some of these were followed up by a lady who attends the corps who made sure they came to the dinner as her friends.
Suddenly our lovely fellowship night for 50 or 60 people became a night for 125 people; a significant proportion of whom had never been in our building before.
The CO's worries about enough food proved fruitless as there was plenty of food left over. The miracle of the loaves and fish was repeated as people under the inspiration of God brought more food than they had indicated. Some corps people broke away from their friends to converse with the people they didn't know.
On Sunday we wondered if the greatness of the evening would translate into positive outcomes or negatives. The organiser had already suffered some unjust comments made to her before the event as well as an horrendous afternoon in other ways. On Sunday the comments were overwhelmingly positive. God was at work! One of the patriarchs of the corps, a godly well respected long term Salvationist, told the Bandmaster and his wife that it was the most exciting thing he had been to for a long time. Indeed he went so far as to indicate that if that was what we had to do to get people into the building then we ought to scrap all our traditional Salvationist ways and go that way.
Now the hard work begins! How do we build on this success? How do we follow the desires of the long term Salvos and the newer people and the very new people? Strangely the desires are all fairly similar. More of these type of events is the common thread. Such consensus can only be the work of God. This event has come at a time when the direction of the corps is continuing to swing strongly outward. No negatives at corps council about starting new community focussed groups, only lots of excitement at the possibilities.
Strangely I remember some people indicating to me that Friendship Evangelism wouldn't work at our corps. Maybe my preaching on building relationships with the lost and urging people to reach out into their community to make new friends is bearing fruit after all.
God, keep bringing the lost into the fold! Help us to lead them to Jesus!

Boost

This was the title of our Divisional Officers' Fellowship. A variety of speakers were designed to give us a boost. Plenty of time was scheduled to give us a physical boost as well by allowing for rest and recreation. Different speakers affect different people and some that were highly motivational didn't particularly inspire or motivate me at all. But some of the sharing by colleague officers was very helpful and my spirit certainly received a boost.

Today the mission of the Doncaster Corps received a boost with the installation of an Assistant Corps Officer. A good crowd gathered to witness Captain Dianne Gibbons being installed in that position. We see Dianne's appointment as a boost to the mission resources of the corps.

In the congregation was a young man who it turns out I'd had a telephone conversation with around last Christmas. When he hadn't arrived it had slipped my mind. He had also visited on our Planned Giving Pledging Sunday and left half way through. Today he was one of the last to leave the Hall. He is a guitarist. That means that God has given us a young Keyboard player and a guitarist within a few weeks. This certainly should be a boost to the musical resources of our corps.

One of the new families has just welcomed a brand new boy into their family. This is also a boost for the congregation. God knows what He is doing. Our new officer has a baby boy a month old. We now have 2 baby boys and a baby girl. God's plan is fairly clear to me. After a period of time when the corps had very few babies being born we now have the great opportunity to reach out to young families. 3 babies may not seem many but when you consider that each of these families has come to the corps within the last 8 months you can begin to sense my excitement.

Now we need some brass players and some singers and some leaders and some more converts and more soldiers and more money and more ...

Maybe God is providing what we need and we shouldn't run ahead of Him.
Thanks God for the various boosts! Please keep them coming!

Successes and failures

Throughout life we are faced with both successes and failures. Ministry is no different. There are people who respond to the call of the gospel and there are those who don't. There are those who allow us to pastor them and others who just don't relate to us or trust us at all.

Last week I wrote about a growing congregation. It seems that almost every time I write about new people coming or successes, I can guarantee either a poor congregation numerically or people leaving or a failure of some sort. On Sunday after well over a month of larger than average congregations we had dropped back by a third and most of those who were missing were the new people. Jennifer's children's message was adapted to big kids. The Youth Bible study also had less people than normal, despite an excellent guest speaker. Sunday School didn't even operate due to the absence of the children.

So are these failures or smaller congregations being used to teach me something about humility. Sometimes I think so! Then after a period of soul searching I recall that it is God that I glorify in the telling of the Doncaster story. For He is the one who has brought the people to His church. It is not my doing in any way, shape or form. Most of the people I invite haven't actually come.

Perhaps it is the result of the Evil One's work in order to frustrate some great plan of God's. Then I remember that he is a defeated being through the Cross of Jesus. Other times I realise that this is just part of life and ministry in an age where commitment is viewed differently. Church is OK unless there is a better offer.

Lord Jesus, build your Church!