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Matthew 13v3b-9.  The parable of the sower.

OUR GOD IS A MISSIONARY GOD!

Notes from Bishop Graham Cray's visit at clergy conference.       

Culture has changed.

The world has changed without our permission.    Note the evidence of church attendance.

The church has stayed in it’s own culture bubble while the rest of the culture has changed.

A changing world needs a changing church that knows how to take Jesus to people.

Our God is a Missionary God!   Remember he reached out to us.

It is God’s missionary work, - and we are invited to join in.  Matt 9v35-38.

Mission is what God does first -  and we second after seeing what God is doing and joining in.   John 20v21.

Mission is more to be seen as a gift from God that brings life, not a task that brings guilt.

God’s continuing passion for Mission should be in his people.

There is Church because there is mission. If the church ceases to be missional then it ceases to be church , or at least has forgotten who it is.

Wise Christians realise what God is doing and give plenty of space for it to happen.

Listening to the Spirit. To see and hear what the Spirit is doing in the church and community by listening and watching for those signs of life in people or situations.      Acts 16v6-10.

In every situation we can ask, what are you doing in this Holy Spirit?            

The Gospel Seed has all the DNA it needs to grow into the Church.  1 Cor 3v5-9.

Not necessarily the way we know now, but rather in a way that suits the culture it is planted in. A fresh expression in the culture it is planted in, not a clone of the present church of a past culture. It will be different because Jesus is alive and will meet people where they are. Can you imagine what church would look like for Offspring, teenagers, skate-boarders or for surfers, or for Farmers, Firemen or care workers? It would look different because the culture it grows in is different!

Mission is Incarnational.

Mission is not something we do to others and neither is it getting people to come to church. It is planting the seed of the Gospel, the living the presence of Christ, out within a different culture and letting the new church grow within that different culture.

Incarnation means moving into the neighbourhood.

The underlying principles are:- 1. Imitating Jesus.   2. Following the Holy Spirit.

Mixed Economy.

Old and new styles of worship working side by side, not one or other but BOTH AND!

What might we imagine God is already doing, where we are?

That is where we need to be and working with him.