Churches

One thing that is important to us as a church, is that we have positive relationships with other churches in the city. There aren't a lot of churches in the north-east part of Christchurch (which is why we chose this area) and some of them seem to be closing up , but we are hopeful that our church can be on the same team, or work for the same cause as the ones that are here. We also aren't interested in shifting the small percentage of people (less than 10) that do go to church so we really want other church leaders to know what our goal is. 

Today Joe and I set out to find some of the churches that we had looked up in our area. Though not completely surprised by what we found, we thought we would share some of the results with you. 

As you may be able to tell from the pictures, we found everything from closed down old buildings, to a church for sale, and even a church that is now a craft store. One thing that I noticed at some churches is that the handles were missing from doors. This continually reminded me of why we are here. If there are no handles and the doors are not used, that must mean that no one is going into the buildings. 

Please continue to pray with us for the people in the north-east side of Christchurch. 

Who We Are Now

As of May first, when all of the families had arrived in Christchurch, the New Zealand Church Plant Team no longer existed. We have now changed into two new groups, the launch team and the church plant staff. At this point, there is no difference in who the people are, just in what we do. We are excited to continue to update you as our launch team begins to grow in preparation for our September preview service. 

Meet the Launch Team (formerly known as the New Zealand Church Plant Team): 

Joe and Amy Flammer, Hamish, Molly and Liam Taylor, & Nate, Whitney, and Lane Hutchison

Meet the Staff:

Amy: Children & Family  Joe: Pastor of Outreach  Hamish: Lead Pastor/Preacher  Nate: Worship and Creative Arts

New Contact Info

Our New Zealand Address is: 

Joe and Amy Flammer 

7 Fleur Lane 

Burwood, Christchurch 8083

 New Zealand 

Also, please remember that we have a new forwarding agent as of the first of May. Our forwarding agent is responsible for most of our Stateside matters, including finances. The address for our new forwarding agent is: 

South Pacific Christian Fellowship 

c/o Mindy Bennett 

6 Natick Circle 

Rochester, IL 62563

Love

The other day while reading 1 Peter in the Bible I ran across a verse that stuck out to me in a new way. The verse is 1 Peter 1:22:

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

Love each other deeply with all of your heart. Other translations say "love each other deeply and earnestly" and "love as if your life depends on it." These words are powerful and they kept coming back to me throughout the day. I really started to think about this idea of loving others if my life depends on it and loving others so deeply and earnestly. 

Yes, we are in Christchurch to start a new church, but how do we do this. For me, this verse sums it up. How do you start a church from nothing? How do you get people interested in a God that can change their lives? The answer to me can be found in 1 Peter 1:22- loving the people of Christchurch as if my life depends on it! Sounds easy enough, but what does that mean? 

What does that mean when I am frustrated that our house isn't in great condition when we moved in? 

What does that mean about how I act towards our landlord or the people that have been in our home getting it together? 

What does it mean to the lady behind the desk I see at the library? 

What does it mean to the person I am running next to at the gym?

What does that mean when I interact with our team?

How does it look when I interact with Joe?

What does it mean to our new neighbors?

I must ask, how can we show everyone we come in contact with the love of Christ? Maybe it is performing every action and even going out of our way to love people as if my life depends on it. Hopefully with this pure love, the people we interact with begin to see the hope that we have in Christ. 

After all, we love each other because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).