It is the end of one season today.
Summer that is. And a strange Summer it has been, sometimes mild, sometimes really hot and rainy. But that idea was only meant to be a Segway to the idea of a new season for Church on the Hill. This week we begin a new season.
This Sunday we are moving to the Tennis Club. For some it is "back" to the tennis club, as we worshipped there from about 2016-2019, until COVID affected many public spaces. But for others it is moving into an unknown space. So it is a good time to remember that while the space may be unknown, the God who is leading us there is not unknown.
We will work out some practical elements of this space this week, and in the coming weeks. But we believe from the Scriptures that the place we worship within (the building) is much less important than the one we worship (the living God), and the people we worship with (the church). So we will continue to learn and adapt to the new space with the same God and church.
We did a helpful exercise last Sunday in terms of processing. I placed 3 baskets up the front of church for people's ideas and prayers. The baskets were labelled:
Excited. Concerned. Grateful.
I'd like to actually share what the participating adults and children wrote in each of these categories. I will try as much as I can not to edit or change the entries, I hope the honest reflections of the CotH community willl bless and challenge your own experience with church spaces.
Excited:
"I am excited for the new location, it is so close to many community spaces."
"Excited about the place, the way it looks, and how we teach/get taught."
"Worshipping in community space."
"Because we just don't know what 'glad surprises' He has for us this year. We don't know what He will teach us or how He will grow us. We don't know if there will be more new faces and new friends, more baptisms as people decide to publicly declare they want to follow Jesus."
"I'm excited for what God has planned for us in the new venue."
"I'm excited to play tennis."
"i'm excited we're closer to town."
"Behold I am making/starting new things" I am excited to see what God has for us this year 2023 (Isaiah43:14)."
Concerned
"I'm aware that we need some sort of temp fencing to keep our littlest ones safe."
"Concerned about how we do church."
"I am concerned some people might not come to the tennis club because it is different."
"I'm concerned about change itself. I STRONGLY dislike change (added a little cartoon which read "me disliking change")."
"i'm wondering how worship will change at the club."
"I wonder how kids church will go."
"I am concerned about how it goes straight onto the road." - I will edit this one to say that the venue doesn't go straight onto the road. Outside the tennis club there is a road going through the park which is about 50-100m away. Turning right there is a main road another 100m at the end (Boundary Rd). So yes a road of sorts, but not straight onto the road.
"Loss of space to play."
Grateful
"I am grateful for meeting at the COC of new friends who have the words of God and Jesus, like I do."
"Grateful for building/growing of the church people, new families."
"I am grateful for my Urunga holiday."
"I am totally fine with anything and not concerned."
"I am grateful for everything."
"The things I am grateful in the time we shared in the COC were having a great time with the other lovely people and sharing the word of God. Loved every minute."
"Grateful for incredible worship and powerful words of encouragement from God's word."
"People we've welcomed into this space. Version ??? of CotH." Edit - I think it is version 6.0 or 7.0
"Having fun at church."
"I am grateful for the people who came here after COVID, because we were here (in the COC)."
"Opportunity to have bigger worhsip times together."
"I'm grateful that this space was COVID friendly and available when we needed it."
"I'm grateful for the kid friendly area. I'm grateful for the PA system."
"I am grateful abawt my famly." edit: I kept the spelling "as is" for this one, so you can hopefully hear the age of the person writing.
"Grateful that we can do church."
"We need to pray for everyone in our church to love Jesus."
"I'm grateful about the spaciousness at COC and that they have gates. Because then kids can't run outside the church space (we need to consider that)."
"I'm grateful for the amount of space we've had at the COC."
"Growing families and kids ministry."
"For new faces that have joined us and new friendships made. For all that God has done in individuals during this time."
"For baptisms."
So there you have it. Some candid and beautiful responses from the CotH community as we step into a new season. There are always going to be some questions with a new season, and some of these questions need to be addressed. But I would challenge us all to ask them to God first, because not every question needs an answer from people. Sometimes we just need to hear from God on things. When God challenged Moses to go back to Egypt and challenge Pharaoh boldly with the words "let my people go" Moses had a lot of questions, but he brought them all to God. When he went to the people he had already sorted it out with God. Maybe some of this process (much smaller in scale!) will happen with some of your questions about the old space or new space. It is NEVER wasted time to take something to the Lord, so let's keep being the people who do that.
Looking forward to seeing you this Suinday at the tennis club.
XTy