So here we are, one month away from our first preview service. Our website will be up soon, we have a logo, we have a venue secured, we have a service planned, we have begun marketing and we have people that we hope to invite.

This is the face of rechurch in Christchurch, New Zealand. Soon this logo will be all around the north east side of the city and hopefully it will direct people to our church or at least to start exploring what this ‘rechurch’ is all about.

Even though you are on the other side of the world there are a couple of things you can do to help us.

Keep praying- Our service next month officially kicks off  he beginning of rechurch. We are looking to build a launch team using our monthly services as a way to do that. Please pray that God will send people to our church who want to join us in our vision to help start a healthy and relevant new church.

Visit our website- rethinkchurch.co.nz We are trying to get a lot of hits on our website so that it is one of the first things that comes up when people are searching for a church in Christchurch. We have purchased the domain, but the website is still being designed. Please keep in mind that when you visit our website, a page has been displayed by FreeParking as a place holder until our page is designed. The content on this page has nothing to do with our church at the moment, but any visits to this page will increase our hits. You might even want to think about setting it as your homepage. 

 

Set up at The Fox

Last Sunday we had the opportunity to do a mock-set up and The Fox & Ferret, the venue that is looking the most certain for our preview services. We were able to go in to the restaurant before it opened and move everything around to what we thought looked okay for a church service. We were surprised by how much space we were able to make by clearing out all of the tables and setting up rows of chairs. 

Nate and Joe up front discussing plans 

                A veiw from the front/stage area

     A view from the balcony with Hamish and Laney up front

We are very excited about the potential of using this venue for our preview services that start next month. Please pray with us as we begin to negotiate the price and begin advertising for our first service! 

Lately

A Couple of weeks ago, we asked you to pray about our venue selection. As we have continued to research venue options, some doors have been closed, and we are now focusing on our final two possibilities. One is a popular restaurant, and the other is a movie theatre. Both are located at e Palms Shopping Centre, which is a hub for shopping and entertainment in northeast Christchurch. Both options present challenges as well as opportunities. Please continue to pray that God will lead us to the right venue through which we will introduce ourselves to the community.

It has also been cool to watch our staff members begin to work in their area of 'expertise' as we prepare to start meeting. As Outreach Minister at Rechurch, Joe  has been helping the Rechurch staff develop their personal evangelism strategies, as well as helping to provide encouragement and accountability. e staff is also going to be working together to get some practice in having spiritual conversations. e goal of this is to create a safe environment where each staff member will be able to build some confidence in this area, so that when opportunities arise, each person will already have an idea of how they want to share their personal perspective on

faith.

Building bridges isn’t easy. It takes planning, research, and extensive knowledge of the laws of physics. Fortunately, building relationships with non-christians doesn’t require physics, but it does require a lot of prayer and a bit of confidence. Practice helps. Talk with your Christian friends about ways to take everyday conversations with your non-christian coworkers, friends, and family to the next “level.” Practice with each other. Afraid you’ll feel silly? Of course you will! But what you’ll gain is an important dose of confidence that will encourage you to capitalize on opportunities as they present themselves.

“Always be prepared to given an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...”

1 Peter 3:15