Into The Light by Stewart Perry
Epiphany is a day in the church calendar, always the 6th of January & always the 12th day of Christmas, you know, like the song reminds us with 12 drummers drumming. Each year on the 6th or the Sunday closest, we think about the Wise Men & their visit, the gifts & then we pack up the decorations & move on with our year.
I’ve always been of the view that Epiphany is not just 1 day a year, it’s a whole season which runs up to the beginning of Lent. It’s a season of multiple epiphanies or revelations.
In the lead up to 2020 (life before Covid), at Robina, January was always our busiest month. Robina is the biggest Anglican Church on the Gold Coast & as such we use to have a bit of a “reputational” draw for people moving into the area from other parts of Australia or the world. We’d also get a number of people who’d been bitten by the New Year’s Resolution Bug. When I’d do the stats for church attendance, January was often our biggest month which is in contrast with many churches in other parts of Australia who have low attendance & some even shut down for a few weeks in January.
Because of this, more than once I launched the vision for the year in January. This year we’re doing something similar across all of our 3 churches. Over the next 5-6 weeks, we are going to preach into the values God is calling us to: Love, Faith, Proximity & Empowerment. But I won’t steal the thunder of Eron, Nate & myself… make sure you don’t miss a sermon over the next few weeks!
This is a big year for us… not only is the season of Epiphany a season of revelation as we understand who God is and who God calls us to be. We’re revealing some very big things… it is very exciting.
Towards the end of last year, we were successful in receiving a funding grant from an organisation that wishes to remain anonymous to facilitate significant resourcing and growth at Robina which has a deliberate intentionality of revitalising the parishes of Palm Beach & Burleigh Heads.
This organisation has the confidence, not only in the vision we presented to them, but also that this vision is not of human construct but is of God.
I’m a planner by nature, I like to have things worked out with a clear goal in mind & I like to have as much detail as possible. After Easter last year Eron & I went to the UK to experience the revival & revitalisation that was happening in our denomination in the UK. We went with big plans, we’d been praying, dreaming & preparing together for years… since 2021 to be precise. That’s when the seed of parish collaboration was first activated. What emerged towards the end of the trip and has continued to be revealed since, is so much bigger than the 2 of us had come up with & we thought our vision & plans were already pretty big.
I remember almost 10 years ago, a Pentecostal pastor’s wife asking me what my vision was for our church at Robina. I’m pretty sure I said I believed God was calling us to double in number. What I do remember distinctively is her looking me dead in the eye & saying: “you’re vision isn’t big enough”. She later apologised for being way too direct but in that moment I recognised what God was saying to me through her: “my plans are not your plans my ways are not your ways”. Gods vision is always way bigger than ours… God’s timing is also different.
What does this funding mean in practical terms? Do we have so much money that we don’t need to give in the collection any more… absolutely not… in fact this will propel us to a greater level of generosity than we’ve known before… will we become a mega church or 3 mega churches… absolutely not… our vision is to remain highly relational & distinctly Anglican.
What we do have is a significant amount of money that has to be spent in a specific way on particular staff who can catalyse growth at Robina in the first instance, & then replicate & resource growth in Palm Beach, Burleigh Heads & we believe beyond. This funding is for a defined period of time, 2 years.
We have strict accountability with the funding & also some significant key performance indicators. The anonymous organisation believes & expects that we will grow, train leaders, disciple new Christians & revitalise, renew & plant congregations. As the person called to lead this project I am equal parts excited & terrified but I continue to be reassured that this vision is so big it cannot be mine & has to be God’s.
We have been putting out feelers but are now formally advertising for 4 new positions:
A Worship Pastor (full time)
A Rising Generations Pastor (full time)
A Communications Lead (part time)
A Production Team Lead (part time)
None of these roles will be ordained clergy but will be specialists that can resource, disciple & lead us into a new paradigm. We may also have capacity for other roles as metrics are met & funding is released. Current roles across all churches will all be impacted as we face towards this new season & deliberately prioritise those who are not yet part of our church & those who are searching to know God. The role for all of us is to share Jesus with them.
God’s revelation is not finished. God calls us not only to step into the light but for us to be the light that others step into… not because of how amazing we are, but solely because of who they see through us… Jesus. Let’s step into the light this season of Epiphany and let’s be excited by the revelation of who God is and who God is calling us to become.