This past weekend we have visited our commitment to Christ’s body. This body through whom he wants to fill everything in every way!!! That bodes the question – How do we posture ourselves in this world?

Throughout history we see the Church has taken various positions:

●       The Protesting church – sees the world as evil and we must posture against. There is a time to be a prophetic voice – but that should not be our only identity.

Picket lines, demonstrations, and public protests are hallmarks of this approach

●       The Absent church – Christian community seeks to isolate itself. Where the Church abdicates its role in society – Society quickly moves on without it, seeing the church as irrelevant. We are not of the world, but need to be present in the world.

Absence = Irrelevance

●       The Cultural church – The pendulum swings to the other side with the church assimilating the value system of Babylon and is indistinguishable from the world.

Pollution = Powerlessness

●       The Incarnational church – When we do live in and for and through Christ, something extraordinary happens, we become carriers of His grace.

As Jesus – we engage with GRACE and TRUTH

What does being incarnational mean? It is found in the truth of how Christ came and lived in us. A working definition of incarnational ministry is “the immersion of one’s self into a local culture and ‘becoming Jesus’ to that culture.” Incarnational ministry seeks to dispense with ministry “from a distance” and embrace ministry “up close and personal”—the love of God and the gospel of Christ are “incarnated” or embodied by the person ministering. Just as the Son of God took on human flesh and came into our world, we should adopt the culture to which we are ministering and “become Jesus” within it. A central tenet of the incarnational ministry concept is “live the good news and preach the good news.” This means that when we are present we are taking the presence of Christ into our world. We actively dismantle the deception of dualism by integrating Sunday’s faith with Monday’s realities!

'If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. '

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV

We are excited to be providing another online service for our church family this coming Sunday, with restrictions only lifted to 50, and so much interest in returning onsite, this creates a logistical challenge with only a few days to resolve them, so we will look to hold something onsite and online from the following Sunday, June 20th.

Please join us online live via YouTube or Facebook, if you would like a notification to inform you when they are about to begin just follow these steps.

YouTube

1. Click www.youtube.com/channel
2. Click ‘Subscribe’
3. Click the ‘bell icon’ displayed beside the ‘Subscribed’ button
4. Click ‘All’

Facebook

1. Click www.facebook.com/berwickchurch
2. Click ‘Like’
3. Click the three dots ‘…’
4. Click ‘Follow Settings’
5. Click Follow Settings to ‘Favourites’ You’ll see posts higher in your News Feed
6. Click Notifications section, ‘Live Video’ > to All Notifications (All live notifications from this Page).
7. Click the top left arrow back
8. Do step 6 and 7 for ‘Posts’ and ‘Video’ notifications
9. Click ‘Update’

We apologise for Sunday live stream on YouTube abruptly shutting down during our closing songs.  There was a copyright misunderstanding that has now been resolved. You can watch the full service on YouTube or Facebook.

We have progressed the Gift assessment process and have sent out 185 tokens to our church family, please email [email protected] if you are having any issues and we will do our best to make this an easier process.

A full breakdown of these processes was in last week's communique if you want to check that again.

We are excited to get our youth back onsite this week, please register via Trybooking if your teenager wants to come, limited spots due to government restrictions so do not delay.

See you at 7pm, in the Family Life Center entrance on our western side glass sliding doors, $5 entry for a great night of reconnection.

2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

We are thankful that restrictions have eased allowing a minimum number of people to meet in public venues and outdoors. Also thankful that schools have come back allowing most families to be free from home schooling. However, there are still many who are not coping well and would benefit from practical assistance. The winter season brings about the winter blues and many people are suffering from colds and other breathing-related illnesses. On top of that, the recent severe weather conditions mean that some families are living without electricity.

We encourage life groups to reach out, check in and support each other, especially in this season. The Living Springs Counselling Centre is available if you need them by calling them on 9702 6687 or emailing them at [email protected]. If you need practical assistance in the form of food and groceries, then the Food Pantry is available on Tuesdays from 10:30 am to 12 noon operating in drive-thru mode.

Also, if you need a listening ear, someone to talk to and pray for you, call us on 9702 1011 or send us an email at [email protected] and someone from the team will reach out to you. As a church, we are called to serve and comfort each other and it would be great if we could be available to each other in this season. Even if it's just making or taking a phone call. God Bless!

Thank you for being His Presence in Every Place! 

BRAAM BOTHA

Senior Pastor