St Peter’s Goes Beyond Church… Our New Online Church July 4th, 2009
This is my very first blog and I write it just as our website goes on line for the first time.
I really do believe that this is a very significant time for our church in all sorts of ways. God is doing so many new things, there are signs of new life everywhere and this website is just a part of that – and I hope it gives everyone a taste of what is going on here.
Some people, across the country and here in Morley I know struggle with developments in the church as a whole. New ways of worshipping, new ways of being community, new ways of being church for the good of the world around us can be threatening to some.
So, why a website at all?
Well, the church must always be reflective, we must always be discerning what is essential to our life together and to the mission God has given us; and also what is not essential: What we cannot change and what needs to change will inevitably focus some of our reflection together.
Let me make a few suggestions on this, see what you think:
The gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ will never change, what may change is how we communicate the truths of God.
There is a fundamental need in all of us to worship (and we all worship something) and it’s a need to worship God himself. This will never change; the way we worship will most certainly change: The truest worship should reflect the majesty and grace of God but also who we are. Different cultures will express worship in different ways.
The need for relationship, the need for community is wired into all of us; what may change is the way that community is expressed.
The church is called to make disciples of all peoples and to be signs of and agents for God’s Kingdom here and now. How this is done and what it will look like will depend on where our church is and what the local community (or communities) is/are like.
I believe this website will be a tool which God will use to communicate the unchanging good news about Jesus in truly effective way.
As the world changes, and as it changes quickly so must we, whilst holding fast to the eternal truths and purposes of God.
What is your response? What do you think is negotiable? What is non – negotiable?
This entry was posted on Saturday, July 4th, 2009 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Chit Chat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
4 Responses
sarahandclare Says:
Hello St Peters!
This is Sarah and Clare Foxwell commenting from Romania 
The website is looking good and we hope you all have fun at the launch today and it’s as sunny as it is here!
Love Sarah and Clare
Alan Clark Says:
It was good to see Sarah & Clare’s comments on the 5th and I hope they have had fun whilst working hard. The website is great, it is informative, easy to explore and a necessity in the 21st century, although as a computer numty it is a ‘bit of a challenge’.
I do believe that the site will help to grow the Church in Morley and help us, the St Peter Family, to fully play our part in that growth.
Dan Clark Says:
The website is a great way to get people in need of help, as Nick says, spiritualy. the only main concern i have about it is that youths may come on and abuse our faith.
Anyway Well done Daniel!
Daniel Says:
Hello to the good people of St Peter’s and All Saints’.
Well, it has been two months since we launched the ‘beyond church’ website at St Peter’s on July 5th. I just wanted to give you an overview of what people have been looking at on the website (and also how many people have visited!).
Since July 5th there have been 5000+ visitors to the site! Amazing for such an early stage. The top 5 most visited pages are:
> Sermons
> Blog
> Church Life
> Youth Zone
> Prayer Request
Visitors are flooding in from all over the world, including China, Mexico, Australia, the Seychelles islands and Cocos (Keeling) Islands. I had to look up where the Cocos islands were! They have a popularion of just under 600 people. How wonderful is it that a small island nation 7000 miles away in the Indian Ocean has found their way to St Peter’s Morley?!
Keep up the good work everyone.
Daniel.