Brave Changes by Stewart Perry
On the way into church last Sunday a church member handed me an old newsletter from September 2013. I think it might have been the newsletter from the first Sunday he & his wife came to church at Robina. The reason he gave it to me was that, included in it, was an announcement about my appointment to Robina and the date of my commissioning being the 15th of November 2013. As I write this newsletter reflection I’m mindful that 12 years ago to this day I would have been writing my first ever Gold Coast based newsletter reflection.
A lot has changed in those 12 years. For one, this newsletter reflection is not just going to the parish of Robina/Mermaid Beach, but also to the parishes of Burleigh Heads & Gold Coast South. If my memory serves me me correctly, as I was arriving the diocese had just made the decision to close the church building at Coolangatta.
A lot has changed in those 12 years for our family. 12 years ago I would have been dropping off my daughter at school at All Saints Anglican School. Today Anika will drive herself to work as an Occupational Therapist. 12 yeas ago, before I went to the office, I would have dropped our son off at the childcare centre at our church, which back then was known as Rainbow Town, as he was getting ready for his first year at school. Today the childcare centre is now known as Riverwalk Early Learning Centre & Caleb will drive me to school (with “L Plates” on the car) as he prepares to start the last year of his schooling. 12 years ago my wife would have travelled to Brisbane to work. Today she will still travel to Brisbane to work but she has had 2 other jobs in between the job she had then & the job she has now.
12 years ago we use to include the people who were rostered on to serve the coming Sunday in the newsletter. As I looked through the list of names, there was a few people who are still part of our worshipping community at Robina but also some who had since moved away, while others have entered eternal life. The other thing that I noticed, that did make me cringe, was the number of references to “TAM” which was the acronym we used for Trinity Anglican Mission - the formal name of the Church building at Robina. The first major change I lead in my incumbency here was to stop referring to the church as TAM because nobody outside the church knows what a “TAM” is.
There has been a lot of changes in those 12 years. The Parish of Burleigh Heads has a new priest & planning some very exciting new adventures. The Parish of Gold Coast South now has me overseeing it but equally exciting things are a foot. As we collaborate together there is a growing sense that not only will we be better together, rather that God will continue to move in new & surprising ways as we continue to collaborate together. What we see throughout scripture and the history of the church is that when God moves things change.
I remember years ago at a conference, a speaker who was speaking on change used the illustration to prove a point that people actually like change despite the popular view that people don’t like change (especially in the church). He said that if I offered you a brand new car, you’d love that change. His point was that when we are leading change, we need to help people see that it is for their benefit. The problem with that is that the work of God in the world is only secondarily for our benefit, primarily it is for the benefit of others. The great commission calls us to “go therefore” & make disciples. We are called to be the hands & feet of Jesus in the world. We are of course empowered by the Holy Spirit but it is us through the Spirit’s power who will do all the work of God’s change to see the Gold Coast transformed by the love of Jesus.
Yes there have been significant changes in the last 12 years. You personally might not like all of them. I personally haven’t liked some. I could have done without some of the changes we had to make during Covid! I do believe however, we are on the cusp of more significant change. God is still God & God will always move. We are still called to see the Gold Coast transformed by the love of Jesus. While our churches have changed a lot in 12 years, I believe we will see significant change in the next 12 months. To do that we will be increasingly called to take the attention off ourselves & turn it to those who aren’t in church yet & those who don’t yet know the love of Jesus in their lives.
To finish I won’t quote scripture but instead the late David Bowie… can we “turn and face the strange changes”. Strange changes can be brave changes if we are focused on those who are not here yet. If we do we will align ourselves with the mission of God and when the Church does that, that is when we see renewal and revival.
I’m blessed to have 12 amazing years to look back on but I am much more excited about the 12 months I have to look forward to.