A City-wide Vision

Naturally a vision for a great city will combine both local & city-wide aspects. Melbourne is in many ways a large organism. People cross it every day to work, study, play and relax. It has its regions, its local government areas and its neighbourhoods, but it also has an identity as the city of Greater Melbourne. From the CBD to its outer suburbs, there are radial lines of road and rail. Radio and TV stations serve the city.

An urgent task for the Melbourne church is that we work together on a Kingdom of God vision for Melbourne that arises from the compassionate yearning of Jesus for the lost. The word 'together' is crucial, because a fragmented vision and fragmented efforts will continue to lead only to results that are fragmented of God's vision for Melbourne. This is a city with potential to become a centre of God's activity - and with people of so many nations in our midst, it could be a city of global influence for God. A century ago it was called 'Marvellous Melbourne' because of its wealth, culture and architecture, based on the gold-rush. If the church in Melbourne loves it enough to work as one, and if God hears our prayer for Melbourne's transformation, then it may indeed become a city to marvel at, because here we will experience God's shalom and here the yearning of Jesus for His people to enoy freedom and riection under God will be finally satisfied.

May the body of Christ work in one accord, for the transformation of Marvellous Melbourne.

A Vision For Melbourne

Melbourne has been ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world. The city is known as the sporting and cultural centre of Australia. It is famous for its multicultural diversity, yummy cuisine and beautiful sceneries. However, the reality is that Melbourne is full of deep unmet human needs, including homelessness, loneliness, conflict, situations of abuse or despair, depression, addiction, poverty and oppression etc.

Even deeper than unmet social needs is the spiritual need of the city. The All Melbourne Matters Research gives us a picture of the whole Church (Body of Christ) across the Greater Melbourne: the great strengths, resources and regular attendances - as well as the challenges.

So what is our vision for a transformed Melbourne? What would Melbourne look like if the Gospel took root and blossomed in this city - both in the local (community) and city-wide aspects? I would like to invite you to actively imagine, dream and pray as you walk with God in this journey of seeing the vision for the transformation of Melbourne. Please write your comments here.

Riverwalkers

Have you ever thought that you may be a riverwalker and a sojourner – travelling through this barren land, using dry riverbeds to guide us?

Sue Tinworth, the leader of Transforming Melbourne, sent me an email sharing that riverbeds show us the course, and offer a smoother way through. We see the history of the land in its rivets and curves. We find residual moisture in its depths and protection from its banks.Even though the river is invisible, we learn to rely on it.

The real challenge, God explained to Sue, is that riverwalkers need to be taught how to swim. How else will they be prepared when the waters come?How do you teach people to swim in a desert? (Moses did it.)While walking by faith on earth, we need to learn to live in a spiritual realm. There are channels that God is opening to pour through us, His love into the barren places.We have nothing of ourselves to give, but He will not do this without us. It matters that we speak to the Rock, rather than striking it. (As Moses did.) That’s about obedience and trust.It matters that we know Jesus as our Foundation. That’s about obedience and trust too. It helps if we look upward in expectant faith. We are riverwalkers but we will walk on water when His power comes.

The Gospel, Piercing The Darkness

Written by Kumar Abraham - Coordinator of Melbourne Conferences for Ethnic Evangelism

Jesus, the disciples and the saints invaded the darkness around them. Jesus spent more time in Galilee than in Judea or Samaria, perhaps because He and most of His disciples came from there. The Samaritan woman and several other Samaritans encountered Jesus. A few years later Philip and others “saw Samaria had accepted the word of God” (Ac. 8:14). Jesus reached Matthew and he in turn reached out to his fellow tax-collectors (Mt.9:10). Barnabas was from Cyprus, and that was his first stop as he and Paul travelled establishing the new faith (Ac. 13:4; see also 11:19-20, 15:39, 21:16 to see how the church grew there). Paul was from Tarsus, Turkey and he spent much time spreading the gospel there. The seven churches of Revelation were all in Turkey. Jesus and his followers followed new believers to their homes and workplaces, to “their world”, instead of isolating and insulating them from their world.

The gospel is subversive in the positive sense of praying, planning, preparing for the downfall of Satan and his kingdom and setting his captives free. By the third century AD it had penetrated North Africa, Asia Minor and Europe, and had seen the downfall of the pagan Roman empire and the rise of a “Christian” one in its stead, in the midst of much opposition.

Instead of only inviting “sinners” to join the “saints” and growing the bases of light (“church”) on Sundays, the church should be helping set-up new bases in uncharted territory (presently Satan's territory) – in neighbourhoods, schools, universities, offices, sporting places, hospitals, prisons etc. These then become places where people can worship, study the Word, share in common and serve their community of atheists, secularists, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims. It is imperative that we encourage, equip and support the saints towards seeing this happen within their circles of influence.

Therefore, if there are 300,000 in our churches on Sunday, we could say there could be potentially 60,000 bases or beachheads (1 base per family unit of five) to share “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ“ (2 Co. 4:4). Pray then! Share the light!! Make disciples!!!

At present we have about 1,800 to 2000 churches in Melbourne. Can you imagine having 60,000? Jesus says, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” (Jn. 4:35b). Can we see this happening? What can you do? Size does not matter…it is even “where two or three come together in (His) name…." May the gospel blossom and bloom in Melbourne through you and me.