Posts from Tim Blaber's Blog

August meetings

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:53:24 GMT

School holidays have arrived and Sunday meetings in August promise to be exciting times here at NCC. We will be having only one meeting, starting at 10am, with a different ‘guest’ speaker each week taking us through the book of Jonah. It will be great to have different preachers from the church during this period.

During the summer break, we also tend to see an increased number of visitors, and so it would be great to have as many of you as possible attending, to give them a sense of what this church is about.

As a church, we are blessed with God’s presence every week, and August will be no exception. So if you are around, make sure you come along full of faith and expectant of meeting powerfully with the living God!

What a Privilege...

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:16:03 GMT

It’s been a superb few weeks at NCC with John and Linda Lanferman joining us on the 11th and Scott & Clare Marques on the 18th! Both John and Scott brought words to us which were tremendously encouraging, urging us to keep believing God for the promises spoken over us and to cover all that we do in love, for God and each other.

There was one thing in particular that Scott mentioned worth reflecting on. A few years ago when Scott was last with us we took a spontaneous offering to help the ground breaking (no pun intended) work being done in Zimbabwe, aimed at training local people to be excellent stewards of the land in farming and agriculture. This was a remarkable moment, when as a church we gave £15,000 towards the £100k needed to launch this new initiative. Scott informed us last Sunday that this initial figure of money proved to be the catalyst in enabling the other churches in Zim and Africa to follow suit, incredibly then finding the additional money required to launch the project. This training centre has, to date, equipped over 10,000 (!!!!!!) men and women to run their own farming businesses, thus providing for themselves and their families. Wow!

What a privilege it is for us as a Church in South East London to be involved in a project which is affecting a whole nation. Through Scott and Brian Oldrieve’s leadership the Foundations for Farming initiative is being adopted by other African nations, blessing thousands upon thousands of people.

We’re involved in no small thing!

Check out the Ebenezer Agricultural Training Centre here: http://ebenezerzimbabwe.blogspot.com/

Tim Blaber

Football for kids!!!!

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:44:28 GMT

(Speaking after the Germany game) our national team have been at best abysmally woeful, at worst…well let’s not go there. We have decided as a church we’ll do our bit in making the World Cup of 2022 a little more successful by training our kids in how to play the game!

From September we will be running Saturday morning football sessions at Waring Park in Sidcup. I’ve had a number of parents mention to me that their kids would love to have weekend football available to them. So now it’s happening.

Our very own Sam Haseltine, who has various FA coaching badges, will be running this for us together with some others and it promises to be a fantastic opportunity not only for our kids but also for those who are not currently members of the church. Please do get in touch if you know your kids might be keen.

While on the subject of football, over the summer we will be running Monday night kick-abouts also at Waring park from 7.30pm: all are welcome!

Click here for more information on our church football team.

Tim

NCC E:Newsletter

Fri, 28 May 2010 01:41:06 GMT

Welcome to your first New Community Church e:news letter!

We are aiming to be as effective as possible at communicating NCC news with church members and others who are interested. Whether it’s to do with Dave’s travels, significant events coming up in the life of the church or answers to the Sermon Q&A blog, we want you to be kept ‘in the loop’!

Our aim is to send a weekly to fortnightly email, containing significant uploads to the website. We will also use this as a tool to send you any ‘ad-hoc’ news items that occasionally surface in the life of the church.

If, for whatever reason, you don’t want to receive these regular email notifications (can’t think why!!!) then you can always unsubscribe. However I trust you’ll find this to be of genuine benefit in helping you remain totally informed about all things NCC!

Your friend,

Tim Blaber

Centrul Crestin Church Brasov

Tue, 18 May 2010 04:27:17 GMT

This is an interview I did with Jurgen, an elder Centrul Crestin church in Brasov. I can’t overstate how significant I believe their building project to be towards the facilitation of reaching the city of Brasov, Romania and Eastern Europe more broadly with the gospel.

This really is a wonderful church, led by gifted men and women who have an infectious passion to reach people with the gospel. I hope you’ll find this interview inspiring, please join us in prayer for this faith venture.

Tim

Having a Global Vision

Fri, 14 May 2010 10:06:35 GMT

‘A church fully involved in our shared apostolic mission to extend the kingdom of God globally through the recovery of New Testament church life, making disciples, training leaders and planting churches by all means, including wholehearted financial commitment, welcoming translocal ministries, regularly attending corporate gatherings, promoting our publications and communicating our news.’

Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time in Antioch. The church there became a vital base for them from which they were sent out to plant and strengthen many churches. What were the hallmarks of this excellent church? And to what extent should local churches today seek to model these qualities?

Receiving Church

The church in Antioch was established following the persecution of the disciples in Jerusalem and the subsequent movement of believers into the surrounding regions. Given that this church was formed in such a way, it would have been a quite understandable especially given the absence of 21st century telecommunications and transport, for believers in Antioch to have become isolated and detached from the church in Jerusalem, at the very least for fear of encouraging the spread of the persecution there. According to Luke’s account in Acts 11, this couldn’t be further from the truth, for despite distance and having become self established the Antioch church had a shared global mission and received a wide variety of input from outside ministries, not least from Barnabas and Paul who spent a year with them teaching and laying doctrinal foundations.

It is such a joy to be able to receive gifted men sent by God to help strengthen and establish the local church. At New Community we have been exceedingly blessed over the years, receiving apostolic and prophetic ministry from leaders based in other churches, some from churches in other nations, who long to see us as a local church become all that we believe we are called to be. Through initiatives such as Front Edge we have had evangelists amongst us who have been used by the Lord to lead many to Him, resulting in numerable baptisms. I’m so glad we’re not a forlorn, isolated church!

Sending Church

In addition to Paul and Barnabas, Agabus and other prophets spent time in Antioch, significantly prophesying to the church of a coming famine across Judea. Hearing of this crisis ‘the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea’ (Acts 11:28-30). This gift was taken to the church in Jerusalem by Paul and Barnabas. Such was the strength of relationship that existed between these churches that they were compelled to act, sending provisions to ‘the brothers’, for this was a family relationship.

Famine and deprivation are tragedies not confined to the 1st century. In recent years throughout Africa these humanitarian crises have been all too common. Last year as a family of churches we gave upwards of £500k during the crisis in Zimbabwe an astonishing figure that had been equalled in previous years following drought in Kenya. For us as a local church to have the opportunity to give our money to trustworthy men, who share with us a longing to see the advance of God’s Kingdom across nations, by feeding the poor and clothing the naked, is a humbling honour.

In addition to giving financially, the church in Antioch were also led by the Holy Spirit to send Paul and Barnabas who had become key leaders, “for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13: 1-3). As hard as it must have been to part with two exceptionally gifted and loved leaders, for a church like this, committed to apostolic advance there was no hesitation and in the process became a blessing to many. As a local church we have had the joy and heart-ache of sending many people to plant and lead in other church settings. It is always a bittersweet moment, for on the one hand you are seeing a dear friend move on and yet there is the hope that their leaving will result in many lives transformed through gospel proclamation in a new place- mission must supersede sentimentality. Had the church in Antioch buckled at this point how different might the evangelisation of Asia and Europe have been?!

Praying Church

Luke makes a point of noting that the church gathering to pray was central to sending Paul and Barnabas on from Antioch. Reading on through chapter 14 we see why covering this apostolic work in prayer was so vital, for with every moment of advance and fruitfulness, persecution and opposition quickly followed.

As a church we are committed in prayer to the apostolic mission we have as a family. In recent prayer weeks we have invited leaders whom we sent on in previous years and who are now leading new churches, to be among us that we might cover their front-line work in prayer, times like this are invaluable where faith is stirred afresh. The call of God upon us is both adventurous and dangerous hence prayer cannot be neglected, meeting with hundreds of other church leaders for days of prayer and fasting for example remains an occasion of utmost importance in ensuring all we commit to in the UK and beyond is commissioned in prayer.

Equipping Church

Having successfully completed the work they were sent to do, Paul and Barnabas returned to the church in Antioch, bruised and tired, but with a stunning story to tell. Luke paints a wonderful picture as he describes how they “gathered the church together” and “reported all that God had done through them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they stayed there a long time with the disciples”.

It is so plain from this account that mission into new places and nations, isn’t something done independently by a few but is an enterprise owned, from start to finish by the many, rooted and established in the local church. Not only does this give the Antioch church an exciting global vision, but also provides those sent, with a base to return to, where their needs can be met, where they can be served.

A few years ago following the death of Simon Pettit who was leading a pioneering work in South Africa, we as a church sent Dave and Liz Holden for several 6 month periods to provide support and leadership for the affected churches. What a privilege it was for us to be able to respond in such a way. Upon their return, we were so encouraged to hear that Dave alongside others had been used to identify new apostolic ministry and commission new teams to continue this work. For them being able to return to a church that loves them and is eager to hear about all they’ve seen and done is essential, equipping them for future tasks.

When we gather in Brighton each year for the leadership conference, we are similarly hearing reports of new breakthroughs around the world and receiving ministry from those spearheading what we’re doing apostolically, all of which filters through into the local church.

The result of all this is a church that lives and breathes apostolic mission that develops and sends leaders, ultimately resulting in transformed lives and Kingdom Advance. This is how it worked out in Acts and long may this continue today!

Tim

Baptisms Young and Old

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:39:57 GMT

There are few things more wonderful in church life than baptising people. It has been our privilege as a church during the past year to be baptising every month; indeed Sunday was our second lot of baptisms in April!

Doris, a mighty 90 year old, stepped up and declared before all present that she loves Christ and in obedience is getting baptised (a pretty awesome spectacle: someone at that age not allowing anything to hold her back!).

Fiona and Rachael then followed suit, both having been on our last Alpha course, both having had wonderful encounters with God. It really was a fantastic time. We’re praying we’ll have the privilege of many more baptisms in the coming months! Click here for more baptisms

Foundations

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Last night we kicked off our membership course. Over the coming few weeks we will be taking a group of people through the key doctrines and values we have as a church as they explore with us whether or not we’re a church they want to belong to.

Many of these individuals have come through our Alpha course, others have come through joining us on a Sunday morning: either way we’re so thrilled whenever we have the opportunity to help people come among us.

Moses could say confidently ‘Come with us and we will do you good!’ During this course we will be echoing this appeal, knowing that as Christians we are called to be on mission together. As we unite in this purpose, we can all enjoy the benefits of investing in treasure that won’t rust or be destroyed and which thieves can’t break in and steal. Exciting days!

Christmas Carol Services

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:00:00 GMT

How good were the two carol services?!! We were thrilled to have nearly 800 people, including hundreds of guests attending.

The school choirs from Hurst and Royal Park primary schools were a real highlight, with some unquestionable talent on display. With all the superficiality that often shrouds this time of year, having an opportunity to celebrate Christ, our greatest gift, with so many people was a wonderful privilege for us.

We gave away hundreds of welcome packs and J John’s booklet “The Gift.” Let’s pray that over these weeks people would receive the gift of Jesus for the first time.

Church Vision Part Two

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Not only is our worship and preaching shaped by the Word of God, but every other area of church life is too, not least how we understand Christian community.

Our community is diverse in age, nationality and background, this is made possible by the storgos love of God, which brings together those who as C.S Lewis puts it, are 'most emphatically, even comically, not like each other". We long to be an increasingly more diverse community but are grateful to God for the measure of grace we have already received in this. We are also a community for the community. There is great need in our society and the local church needs to respond to this. At NCC we are being challenged to engage more with these needs and are launching various Social Action projects which we hope to give you more info about over the coming weeks.

Lastly Dave reminded us that we have a call to be a church for the nations. A privilege we have is that we have strong relationships with churches around the world, from Holland to Romania, from Zimbabwe to Dubai. We have been involved in training and sending many people to other nations to lead churches and join churches, what a joy this is! We recognise also that reaching nations needn't require us to jump on a plane and fly thousands of miles, on our doorstep we have people from every continent, either working in London or studying at University. We all therefore can play a role in reaching the nations by reaching neighbours, work colleagues, uni mates, by being faithful witnesses to the gospel.

We're not a perfect church, but we are a great church, a good one to join. If you didn't get a chance to hear these sermons then please jump over to our resources section and have a listen!

Church Vision Part One

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:00:00 GMT

September has whizzed by at break neck pace and we are well into a new teaching series - 'Crossing the Divide' which Chris Taylor kicked off wonderfully for us last Sunday. I just want to reflect briefly on our four week 'Church Vision' series.

It was great to state boldly through four sermons that we are:

1) Word based Church

2) Spirit led Church

3) Community Church

4) Church for the Nations

For those that are new to us at NCC I hope you found these four sermons reaffirming to you that we're a church you can join confidently!

For those who have been around for a while, I hope you were reassured that these values remain vital to us.

It can be all too easy to allow the 'values' of the society and cultures around us to dictate what we should believe and what we should teach. Our conviction is that as soon as we allow our values to be determined by worldly sources our message will be diluted and will lose its potency. We agree with the apostle who was 'not ashamed of the gospel' and we're committed to 'guarding the good deposit entrusted to us', the gospel is our greatest treasure and our greatest weapon, we cannot tinker with it!

We are a people of the Spirit. In Paul's writings Word and Spirit were never opposed to each other but existed hand in hand. At NCC you'll find that we not only preach and believe the Bible, but that we are also very open to the work of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. When we gather together our expectation is that we will encounter God and that people will prophecy, have words of knowledge and that other 'gifts' of the Spirit will be used to edify and encourage each other to the Glory of God.

Cont. Pt Two

Are We a Pioneering Church? Pt Two

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Being a church on mission should be at the very core of all that we are and all that we do.

We are all called to be salt and light in our communities, to bring restoration where there is rot and decay and to bring light where there is darkness and despair. The church in Acts was genuinely a pioneering church, proclaiming the radical story of Jesus with great power in the city streets and synagogues of Jerusalem. Perhaps most remarkable of all was the authentic change in peoples’ lives. To list a few, they became a community that was filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:4), that had everything in common (Acts 2:44), that feared God (Acts 9:31), and that grew daily through salvation (Acts 2:47). God by His Spirit is working the same changes in us.

Moving back to our building in Station Road and going to two services are decisions driven by a longing to pioneer. As Steve Tibbert challenged us, this will involve cost and change, but this is necessary if we are to prioritise the agenda of the gospel, there can be no alternative. A pioneering church is one that is filled with individuals who are not passive and who do not sulk and whinge, but who resolve to give God everything. It is a church like the one in Jerusalem, filled with the Spirit, that fears God above all other things and which at the core is a community united in purpose and mission. Are we a pioneering church? Well that question is not answered by how many services we put on, where we meet or what condition our spire is in, it is answered by looking at the people: the microscope is on us. In what ways do I, do you, show to the onlooking world that we are a church on mission, that we are a pioneering church? How does our attitude to serving, to our neighbours, to our work colleagues, to friends and family display the inner activity of the Spirit, the life changing work of Christ in our lives? I believe in many ways we are a church on mission, in many ways we are pioneering, however we know there is a long way to go, there are many battles still to fight and many victories yet to be won.

Our prayer is that as a church we would see restoration beyond pigeon ridden church spires. We are on mission and as John Piper puts it, “mission fuels worship’s flame”. We exist to see the name of Jesus glorified!

Are We a Pioneering Church? Pt One

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Following our recent teaching series on the first 12 chapters of Acts entitled “The Pioneering Church”, we must ask ourselves the question: “Are We a Pioneering Church?”

A few months ago we were informed that the spire at the top of our building is rotten and could at any point give up the fight, so to speak, the sorry consequence of many decades worth of rain, wind and ill-disciplined pigeons and their IBS... not nice!

The UK skyline is littered with spires like ours, of all shapes and sizes and with varying degrees of avian defilement. These spires speak of an age when buildings were filled with worshippers of Jesus, a time when to be a Christian meant something, and to have a Christian worldview was not weird and old fashioned, but exciting and relevant. Many of these classic buildings have their origins in the ‘Great Awakening’, a revival that spread throughout the UK and America, which produced such heroes as John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards (to name a few). Nevertheless, only a few years prior to this revival the church in this country was accused of being irrelevant, of having no future and that Christianity was a waning, dying religion. Today the church is again, allegedly, in a perilous situation with at best a bleak, and at worst, a dire future ahead. The rotten condition of our church spire and the demise of many hundreds of church buildings in the nation today are sadly analogous to the wider and more severe problem, which some have dubbed the ‘divine decline’, and which begs the question... where are the worshippers? Our conviction is that the church is required to once again pioneer, to forge ahead with the same mandate given to the first believers, to make Christ known to all peoples, in a word, we are called to ‘Mission’.

You’ll be relieved to hear that we are going to work on our spire, as it would neither be funny nor clever to render unconscious any unsuspecting church members who might happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! And yet far and above the problems presented to us by brick and mortar is the urgent battle for souls which the Church must engage in and must not be passive or ignorant of.

Cont. in Pt Two