Stories of Opportunity: Vision Month week 2
In week 2 of our Vision Month, Tim Horman continued to explore our theme of Yesterday, Today and Forever and shared some exciting news about what we believe God has in store for us in the coming years.
Below you’ll find a summary of the sermon, a video and audio version of his message as well as a questions for personal reflection and small group discussion.
In his sermon, Senior Minister of One Church Blackburn, Tim Horman delivered a powerful message as part of One Church Blackburn’s Vision Month, titled “Stories of Opportunity.” Drawing on Hebrews 13:5-10, 14, and 16, he focused on how God’s faithfulness in the past gives the church confidence to face the opportunities and challenges of today, as well as dreams for the future.
A Call to Trust in God's Faithfulness
Tim opened the sermon by reading from Hebrews 13, emphasising that God has promised never to leave or forsake His people. This, he said, gives believers the confidence to declare, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” He reminded the congregation that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This unchanging nature of Christ is the foundation of the church's faith and vision for the future.
Tim explained that this trust in God’s enduring presence is central to the church’s mission. It’s not about building an earthly kingdom, but about working towards the Kingdom of God, which will last forever. He highlighted that the church's task is to walk in God’s kingdom, serve under His rule, and follow the example of Christ in loving and serving others.
A Life of Sacrifice and Generosity
As followers of Christ, Tim urged the congregation to live lives of sacrifice and generosity. He emphasised that the church’s ministry is about people, not programs, buildings, or budgets. Ministry is about helping people encounter Jesus and become His disciples. He called on the church to focus on how they can use their time, energy, money, and resources to effectively serve others and glorify God.
Reflecting on the past year, Tim celebrated the multigenerational ministry at One Church Blackburn. He praised the church for its commitment to discipleship across all ages, from birth through to senior life. However, he also challenged the congregation to press forward, as there is always more to do to serve the Kingdom of God.
The Church’s Role in Changing Culture
Tim shared his conviction that the church can have a significant impact on today’s culture by being a loving, supportive community. He pointed out that in a world where loneliness and disconnection are growing, the church has a unique opportunity to offer genuine connection and friendship. He highlighted how people crave real community, and how life-on-life discipleship can transform lives in ways that online interactions and virtual connections cannot.
He emphasised that the way the church loves and serves each other is its greatest testimony to the truth of the gospel. By living as a vibrant, loving, and welcoming community, the church can make the gospel plausible and desirable to a sceptical world. This, Tim noted, is how the church can change culture—not by clever arguments, but by being the church.
Vision for the Future: Hospitality, Creativity, and Church Planting
As the sermon progressed, Tim shared some of the dreams and plans for the future of One Church Blackburn. He introduced ideas for enhancing the church’s physical space to better serve its ministry goals, especially in areas of hospitality and midweek kids’ and family ministries. He spoke about reimagining the church’s facilities to create more welcoming, safe, and functional spaces for ministry, prayer, and community gatherings.
One of the major goals he shared was to strengthen the church’s capacity for hospitality. Tim expressed his desire for the church to be a “home away from home” for people, a place where they can experience friendship, support, and the love of Christ. He also spoke about the importance of creativity, prayer, and worship in the church's future, hinting at more exciting developments to be revealed in the coming weeks.
Perhaps the most exciting announcement was the church’s intention to start preparing for a new church plant. Tim revealed that while there is no set timeline or team in place yet, the church leadership has been praying about the possibility. He invited the congregation to pray and consider being part of this new venture, which will aim to reach new communities with the gospel.
Recognising the Importance of Physical Space
Tim shared personal stories from his time as a church planter in Vancouver, illustrating the importance of having a dedicated physical space for ministry. He spoke about the challenges of being a “mobile church,” setting up and packing down every week from a van. It wasn’t until his church had a permanent space that they could fully focus on building local relationships and engaging in effective ministry.
While acknowledging the benefits of low overheads for a church without a building, Tim stressed that having a dedicated space allows the church to be deeply embedded in its community. He warned, however, that buildings should not become the focus of ministry, but rather a tool to serve the gospel. Buildings shape the way ministry is done, and it is essential that the church keeps this in mind as it moves forward with plans for facility enhancements.
A New Visual Identity
Another significant update shared during the sermon was the announcement of a refreshed visual identity for One Church. Mark Bentley, who played a key role in creating the current brand, presented the new logo and explained the importance of updating the church’s branding after 19 years. The new logo, along with a refreshed colour palette, is designed to be flexible and adaptable for digital platforms and physical spaces, helping the church connect with its current community and those it hopes to welcome in the future.
Conclusion and Communion
As the sermon came to a close, Tim led the congregation in preparing for communion. He reminded them of the significance of the table, where Jesus’ body and blood represent the forgiveness, mercy, and grace that bring new life to believers. This family meal, he said, is a powerful reminder that all who follow Christ belong to one family under God, and it is through this community that God’s love and power are made visible to the world.
Tim encouraged the congregation to reflect on their own lives, lay down any burdens, and prepare their hearts to receive the elements. As the church moves into a new season of vision and opportunity, he called on them to embrace the new things God is doing and to be open to His leading as they seek to grow in faith, community, and mission.
Questions for Reflection and Small Group Discussion:
What stood out to you from Hebrews 13:5-10, 14, and 16? How can we apply these verses to our daily lives as a church community?
Tim spoke about the importance of hospitality and community in church ministry. How can we improve in these areas as a small group and as a church?
Reflecting on the vision for One Church’s future, what are some practical ways we can support and contribute to the church’s growth and mission?
What does it mean to you when Tim says, “We can either have control or we can have growth, but we don’t get to have both”? How can we as a group embrace this challenge?
Church planting was highlighted as a future goal. How do you feel about the idea of being involved in a church plant? What excites or challenges you about this possibility?
Tim’s sermon mentioned that "our greatest apologetic is not our clever arguments, but our life together as the people of God." Do you agree? Why or why not?
Tim spoke about the cultural crisis of isolation and loneliness. How can our church community address this issue in practical ways?
Reflect on the statement: "We can either have control or we can have growth but we don't get to have both." How does this apply to your personal faith journey?
What excites you most about the church's vision for the future (e.g., facility changes, focus on hospitality, potential church planting)?
Transcript of Tim’s Message
Opening and Reading from Hebrews
Well, good morning. We don’t often do this, but I thought today we might just stand for the reading. Let’s stand for the reading of God’s word from Hebrews 13:5-10 and verses 14 and 16.
"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence—let’s say this together—‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere humans do to me?’ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you, that great cloud of witnesses from Hebrews 11. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith, for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. We have an altar, which we’re going to be celebrating today, from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank you for this reading. We thank you for what we are able to do today together as we gather in your name, in your presence, to remember that we are children of God and to worship you, to give you glory and honour and praise. And as we look at what this passage is telling us and as we explore what it is for us as a church to be following your lead, I pray, Holy Spirit, just as we’ve been singing, that if you’re not in it, we don’t want it. Lord God, we want your Spirit to move; we want your power to be evident among us, and we want to be faithful as we follow your lead because ultimately, that’s all we have. We don’t manufacture the Kingdom of God; we receive it by the gift of the Spirit and follow the leading of the Lord Jesus as we do what he has shown us—to love our neighbours, to pray for those who need healing, to preach the good news, and to build up the church in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Please be seated.
Introducing Vision Month - Stories of Opportunity
So today, as we jump into week two of our Vision Month, we want to spend some time today talking about some of the opportunities for ministry that God is opening up for us right now, and some of the things that we’re dreaming about for the near future. So we’ve called today—if you can look on your cards, which you should have near you or on some of the seats around you—we’ve called today’s message Stories of Opportunity.
If you can recall from last week, we’re building this series out of the passage we just read from Hebrews 13:8, which tells us that we can have confidence to trust in the promises of God because Jesus Christ is the same—Hebrews tells us—yesterday, today, and forever. Let’s say that together: yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Or, as Isaiah 40 puts it, “The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord will stand forever.”
Jesus, Faithful in Every Season
So, Jesus has been faithful to us in the past as a church. He is faithful today, and he’ll be faithful forever. His Word, his promises, his Kingdom will stand forever. And as we just heard in the reading from Hebrews 13, we don’t have an enduring city in this world that we are putting our hope in, but we have a city that we are looking forward to, that we are longing for, whose architect and builder is God. And that city will remain forever. That’s the hope we have—the hope of our salvation—that one day there will be a kingdom that will reign on the earth, that will last forever, that will never decay, will never be destroyed. And it’s already beginning now.
That’s why Hebrews tells us it’s not just a forever promise—God has been faithful from the beginning, he’s faithful today, and he will be faithful tomorrow and forever. And the heart of all of this is that God is with us and that God is leading us. I mean, that’s what we really believe.
A Life of Sacrifice and Generosity
As Hebrews says, if this is true, if God is really with us and God is really leading us, then that means we can live lives that are a sacrifice of praise, that are generous, that seek to do good because that’s what pleases God. And I think all of us, individually, want to please God with our lives. And we want to do that as a whole church as well—as a community of faith, we want to please God with what we do, with our time, our energy, our money, and our effort.
I mean, that’s what the elders and the staff, other ministry leaders, and I’m sure all of you as well, are praying and thinking about all the time. How do we do the ministry that God has called us to effectively and faithfully? How do we give glory to God with the resources that he has given us? We’re thinking about this all the time, praying about this all the time. How can we make sure that in what we do as a church, we are being faithful, we are proclaiming the gospel, we are seeing people become disciples of Jesus, and we are giving glory to God with what we do?
Ministry is About People
And so, what we’re exploring is what that has meant through the series for our church over the years. And last week, we celebrated just a snapshot of the last 12 months of what we’ve seen God do among us. And if you weren’t here or you didn’t get a chance to see that, there’s a fantastic video that was produced for that Sunday which gives you a bit of an overview of many of the highlights of last year, which was so exciting and so encouraging to watch.
So that was kind of the “yesterday” component of our vision—what this church has been about and has been doing. And our presence here goes a lot further back than just last year, of course, and we’ll talk a bit about that this morning as well. But what especially stood out to me as I was watching the video last week and just thinking about our ministry as a church is—you know, one of the things we’ve said in our vision document, which if you haven’t seen a copy of, you can get that at reception—it kind of unpacks a lot of what we’re talking about today in much more detail.
But one of the things we are longing to see happen among us is that we are a church that emphasises multigenerational ministry—that from birth right through to senior life, we are effectively leading and discipling and equipping each other to be followers of Jesus.
Celebrating Multigenerational Ministry
And I think that really stood out to me watching the video last week, how effective we’ve been at that so far. And that’s super exciting, but there’s more to do. There’s a lot more ahead of us. We’re not yet where we need to be. We’ll never be where we need to be—that’s the honest truth. But we pursue the Kingdom of God with faith and trust that he will do good things among us as we walk with him.
We’re so blessed as a church to have fantastic ministry happening across the generations. And really, as I said last week, that is what it’s all about, friends. Ministry is not about programs, it’s not about buildings, it’s not about budgets—those things are helpful—but ultimately, ministry is about people. People encountering Jesus and us, as the people of God, helping each other to be disciples of Jesus.
Building Community in a Changing Culture
This is not just about the Sunday sermon, worship on Sunday, programs on Sunday, or throughout the week. We do those things so that we can equip and encourage each other in the journey of following Jesus. It’s about people, and we want people—our heart is to see people encounter Jesus and be transformed by his love. And then us, as a family of God, helping each other keep following Jesus faithfully.
And the only way I think we will change the culture around us—and we talked a bit about this last week, but I’ve been reflecting on it more over the last few days, and it’s occurred to me really that the only way from my reading of church history, apart from flashpoints of revival, that the church has ever really changed the culture around it is not only by the preaching of the gospel, though that’s an absolutely crucial part of it, but primarily—this may seem like an obvious thing to say—but primarily, the way the church has changed culture is by the church being the church.
The way the church has changed culture is by the church getting on with being the church. And being part of the church means that we are kind of—we’re not at odds with the world, but we don’t necessarily feel, as the Scriptures tell us, that we really belong in the world.
Living as Aliens and Strangers
To be in the church, to be in the Kingdom of God, means that you will live your life feeling like a bit of an alien and a stranger. That’s what 1 Peter tells us—that we know that our partnership with Christ and each other as the body of Christ in this world means that we will feel like we don’t quite belong here. And that’s by design, because we don’t.
As Hebrews has told us, we have a better city waiting for us. We’re not trying to build a kingdom here on earth—the Kingdom of God is coming. It’s God’s kingdom, it’s his work, it’s his power. Theologically speaking, we don’t build the kingdom, we don’t advance the kingdom, we don’t establish the kingdom—Jesus does all of that. What we do is we walk in his Kingdom, we serve him in his Kingdom, under his rule, and he does the work of building his church.
As Jesus said, “I will build my church.” Not us—he will build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Our task is to make sure that as the body of Christ, we are continually coming under and submitting to his lordship and his leadership.
Being the Church
So, as the body of Christ, getting on with being the church, it’s in our life together, as we serve and love each other and serve and love those around us, that we will be a sign and an embodiment of the reality of the resurrection life and the power of the Kingdom of God that has come in Christ Jesus.
The way we show the world that Jesus is alive and that the Kingdom of God is here is by how we love and serve one another and love and serve those around us. In fact, the author, Will Willimon, puts it like this:
"The most eloquent testimony to the reality of the resurrection is a community of people whose life together is so radically different, so completely changed from the way the world builds community, that there can be no explanation other than something decisive has happened in human history."
That is so true, and I long to see that here among us—that in the way that we love and serve each other and do community, those around us will say, “There is just something happening here that I have never seen anywhere else.” And that is a work of the Holy Spirit. We can’t manufacture that, but we can pray it in, and we can ask the Spirit to help us. And then we walk faithfully with Jesus and try to love each other sincerely from the heart.
Praying for the Spirit to Move
Again, this is what we’ve been singing—Holy Spirit, come and help us. Come and burn in us. Sanctify us. Sanctify our lives, sanctify this community. Help us to be the kinds of people who can burn with your glory and your power.
I’ve shown this quote before, but I think it’s so good—from one of my old professors, Gordon Fee, who writes this:
"To be saved, in Paul’s view, means to become part of the people of God, who, by the Spirit, are born into God’s family and therefore joined to one another as one body, whose gatherings in the Spirit form them into God’s temple. God is not simply saving diverse individuals and preparing them for heaven. Rather, he is creating a people for his name, among whom God can dwell, and who in their life together will reproduce God’s life and character in all its unity and diversity."
A Vision for Our Church
I love that. In some respects, that’s a beautiful summary of everything we’ve written in our vision document, and in our longing together as a church. That’s what I want to see—I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want to see. I want to be part of a community of Jesus where we are seeing God’s life and character being reproduced in all its unity and diversity across all of us by how we serve and love each other and display the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want. Do you want that? We need to pray for that. We need to ask God that he would empower us with this because I think when we’re truly living in this, the world will see that the gospel truly is plausible.
I mean, the way the church serves one another will make the gospel plausible to a sceptical world. Our greatest apologetic is not our clever arguments but our life together as the people of God. That’s our greatest apologetic; that’s our greatest testimony to the truth of the gospel.
And the way we love each other as the church is what makes the gospel then desirable to a hurting world. Like if among us there’s such love that it leads to healing and transformation, then that will be desperately and deeply attractive to people who are longing for that.
And the way that we love and serve our neighbours is what will make the gospel accessible to a lost and lonely world. And so, that’s what we’re going for, and we’ve expressed it in our vision in these ways: that we want to be a renewed humanity—that together, in our community as the people of God, we are seeing the renewal of the life of Jesus among us.
We want to be people of the Holy Spirit—yes and amen. We want to be a church that’s making disciples, and we want to be a church that is committed to being a priesthood of all believers. That it’s not just about the professionals who do the ministry for everyone else, but that all of us together are pressing into the gifts of the Spirit and using them as the Spirit leads us.
The Priesthood of All Believers
That’s what we are—we are a priesthood of all believers, from Revelation 5, that we’ve been appointed by Christ to be kings and priests to reign on this earth. And again, that’s not about having power over people—that’s about us reigning with Jesus in the way that he does, by loving and serving and laying down his life for those around him.
And that is hard—that’s a hard calling, which we won’t do unless the Spirit of God is compelling us. Because we are all selfish people. We like comfort, we like security, we like to look after ourselves. But the Kingdom of God runs against all of that—it pushes against that kind of self-centredness. And we see in Christ this call to take up our cross, and that means each of us have got to wrestle with that for ourselves so that we can be effective in the Kingdom.
So those are the four things that we’re going for as a church.
Serving Our Community in Blackburn
But as a church community, we can’t be everywhere, and we can’t do everything. So, we have to take seriously that God has placed us here, in this community, in this space, at this time, and that God has called us to be salt and light in Blackburn, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
So that’s what we’re going to be focusing on this morning. This is the kind of "today" aspect of Hebrews 13. What is it that today, Jesus is calling us to do? What does he want to do among us? What are the opportunities that he’s given to us right now?
Recognising the Importance of Physical Community
One of the things that has become super clear to me after being here for four years at One is that our presence here in this community is something that we shouldn’t take for granted and is crucial to our ministry.
So yes, we value online ministry, and for anyone watching online, love you, thanks for joining us today. We value online ministry. Online ministry is important, and we are obviously invested in work across Australia and around the world. So we have mission partners that we support and invest in and pray for all around the place.
But God’s placed us here for a reason. And I think the importance of life-on-life discipleship—following Jesus together as a community, in actual relationship with each other, face to face—is something that cannot be replicated through online ministry. Nothing can really replace that.
I’ve actually just come back from the Leadership Institute retreat—there they are, all those beautiful people—and that was our meal last night, which was fantastic. We were away for the weekend, praying for each other, opening Scripture, talking about how Christ has called us to serve him, how we can go deeper in our relationship with him, how we can deal with the things that are blocking us from being free in Christ. We were doing all of that kind of work together, praying for each other, and there’s just nothing that can replace that kind of face-to-face intensive discipleship that’s based in relationship.
You can’t reproduce that by an online course. You can’t get that from an education program. It’s something that, I think as Jesus has shown us, incarnational, face-to-face, heart-to-heart, life-on-life discipleship is the way that he most powerfully transforms people. Because it’s not just about information—it’s about relationship. And the way that Jesus always transforms us is through relationship with him, not just by giving us information.
Now, you can get a lot of good things from education, from online courses—I’m not dismissing that—I’m just saying that there’s nothing quite as transformative as walking in community with other people as we follow Jesus together and help each other on the journey. Does anyone have an amen to that?
I’m sure you’ve all experienced that, which is why we value small groups so much, because they are a place where that can happen.
Loneliness and the Need for Community
And so, as much as we do value online ministry for reaching people for the gospel, I think the thing that people are most deeply craving is real community, real connection, even if they don’t realise it.
And I think that is an aspect of church ministry that is becoming even more important right now, culturally speaking. The degree of isolation, loneliness, disconnection, relational poverty, and friendlessness that people experience now is unlike anything that we’ve seen before. And it’s becoming an actual cultural crisis.
Our phones and social media especially have had a net negative impact on our health and our sense of connection, even if we are more virtually connected than we ever have been before. So, look at this chart, for example, which shows the daily average time people have spent with friends over the years. You’ll notice that there’s been a big dip, particularly in ages 15 to 24, from about the year 2010 onwards.
And that was incidentally—I know correlation doesn’t equal causation—but incidentally, 2010 was the year that Instagram was released.
The New York University professor of psychology and author Jonathan Haidt says in his new book The Anxious Generation that as more and more of our relational connection has moved online into virtual space, especially social media, he says the great irony of social media is that the more you immerse yourself in it, the more lonely, anxious, and depressed you become.
And that’s from his book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.
So there’s a lot of discussion about this—educators, psychologists, politicians, parents are talking now. As you probably know from the news, it’s a conversation among politicians at the moment—how we can try and reverse this trend, how we can try and help people, and especially young people, rebuild meaningful connection and friendship with each other.
But it’s not just young people. Loneliness is recognised now as one of the biggest health issues we have in our culture, for both mental and physical health.
So friends, what I’m saying to you is—oh my gosh—that if there was ever a moment for the church to shine in the culture, to do what we should be able to do best—that is, to be a community of love and to bear witness to a lost and lonely and hurting world—this is the moment.
I can’t think of a better time than we’ve ever had to make the gospel plausible by enriching our community life together and truly being the body of Christ. It’s in our DNA as the church. It’s who we are called to be—a community of Jesus, following Jesus together, loving each other.
And apart from speaking of the church as a body, the second main metaphor that the New Testament uses for the church is a family. And that together, under our Father, through our brother Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have become adopted children of God, and we belong to each other.
So much so, that the New Testament is quite clear that even biological family is second to our belonging to the body of Christ.
God's Timing for a Cultural Impact
And so, I think God is giving us—I really believe this, and I don’t say this very often—but I feel like the Lord’s really spoken to me about this, and almost prophetically, I think God is giving us, in this cultural moment, almost on a silver platter, the way in which we could have massive impact for the gospel in our current cultural moment.
And it’s that our church—and I’m talking about both our physical space here and our community together, our presence here as followers of Jesus, here in this community—our life together as disciples, we can make the gospel plausible to a lonely and hurting world by being the kind of community together where people truly do experience the love and hospitality and welcome of God among us.
And if people come in contact with this family, and it’s a vibrant, loving, compelling community of service and generosity, it will be deeply attractive to people because people are lonely. People are hurting. People feel lost. People don’t know how to connect like we once did.
The Power of Togetherness
And that is obviously too big for any one of us, but together, if we each do our part according to our gifts, we can build something beautiful, and it will be powerful. As Jesus said:
"By this, the world will know that you are my disciples, by the…"—come on, you all know this—"By the love you have for each other."
Amen.
So, it’s been said before that people might be attracted to a church community by the quality of the programs—and we run some fantastic programs—they might experience the presence of God in our worship and our prayer, and we have amazing worship here in this church. They might believe in Jesus through the preaching—and I’ll leave that to you to decide whether the preaching is any good—but they will stay and become followers of Jesus by their experience of community.
And that’s one of the reasons I think why Alpha—why I love Alpha so much, but why I think Alpha is so powerful. Because it joins discipleship and community together. It’s not just about receiving teaching, hearing the gospel, but about becoming friends with people that you’re on the journey with. It’s about relationship, and I think that’s so powerful. Hospitality, friendship, and Jesus—what’s not to love about that? Hospitality, friendship, and Jesus—it’s a winning combination, friends. And so when you bring those things together, it’s life-changing, and that’s why I think Alpha works.
And why I think actually, Alpha is going to become—or something like Alpha, it doesn’t matter if it’s Alpha—but something like Alpha is going to become even more important in the future, not less important. Even more important that the way we do evangelism and discipleship is embedded deeply in relationship, and friendship, and community.
A Vision for Hospitality and Creativity
So, as a church family here in this place, we have something beautiful among us that is happening, which God is going to use to draw new people into his Kingdom and into his family. I really believe that. I believe we have an anointing and a calling on us to see many new people come to faith.
I said last week that the 16 baptisms we’ve had so far this year are just the beginning. God is going to do amazing things among us if we’ll walk with him and follow him.
So, God is using us here in this space and in this facility for all kinds of amazing ministries—not just our Sunday programs, but we have some amazing things that happen during the week. Midweek programs like Mainly Music, Playgroup, Senior Service, the Food Pantry, which is incredible. There are lots of ways in which we are connecting with the community around us, but again, it’s just the beginning.
So, we want to enhance our capacity for hospitality here in this church and for doing things like Alpha, because as I’ve said, hospitality is one of the best contexts for building community and friendship. And I think we also want to see this church become a house of creative prayer and worship, and I’m going to talk a bit about that in just a minute. But we have some big dreams around that, and some of that will be revealed in week four, so stick around for that.
But today, what we want to focus on mostly is the spaces that we inhabit here as a church, in three senses: our virtual space, our physical space here where we gather to worship and serve together, and some potential space where we think God might be calling us into in the future.
Reimagining Our Spaces
Although the church began meeting in homes in the first century, we know that it wasn’t long before larger homes were converted into church buildings, even before the end of the first century. And like the Jewish synagogues that they were modelled on, they were so much more than just places of worship for Sunday. They were hospitals, they were places where the poor could find help, they were places of teaching, places of community, places of prayer and worship, and music and creativity. And eventually, as cathedrals were built, often in the very centre of a community, a town, they were all of those things and so much more.
And so, I have a dream that this space—this facility—might be all of that: a place in the heart of our community that is kind of like a cathedral of community and creativity in our neighbourhood.
And today, we’re pressing into some of this already. Today, we’ve sung one original song this morning, and we’re going to be hearing another one in a few minutes. So, we want this place to be a third place—if you’re familiar with that term, a kind of home away from home—where people can feel like they can connect with others and be known.
We need that desperately because places like pubs—I mean, cafes have kind of taken that space in our culture now—but once it was pubs, or community centres, or even libraries, places where people would gather to meet and build community. Much of that has disappeared off the landscape in our culture as we’ve moved most of our connection into online spaces.
120 Years of Ministry - And Just Getting Started
So, One Church here in Blackburn, and in various other locations, has been here serving this community for 120 years. And I tell you, we are just getting started! God is doing something amazing among us. He’s given us something amazing here, this facility, which many of you were part of making happen. I mean, the old building that was here is still here, but it’s been kind of covered over by this new facility. This building is now 20 years old—or 10 years old for the other side—this part of it is 20 years old.
And I have some very exciting news for you this morning. I just wanted to announce before we move into the next part of the morning that we have now paid off in entirety the mortgage for the construction of this facility, which is amazing! Praise God!
And that’s happened because of your faithfulness and your generosity. The total cost of the construction of this facility was $10 million, and we’ve now fully paid that off over the last 20 years. So, that’s awesome! Praise God for that.
Future Dreams for Our Church
Now, I’m going to share a little bit about where we’re headed with our plans for this building in just a minute. But first, we’re going to turn to the screen, and I want to hand it over to Mark Bentley to explain a little bit of how we got here, why we’re called One Church, and some exciting news about what’s next for our visual identity. Let’s watch this.
Our current brand mark has been around since 2005 when we, as Bub Community Church, merged with the Boxill Church of Christ, and we became One Community Church. It was also aligned with the new building that was being developed at the time. In 2015, the decision was made to shorten the name to One Church, and this is what you see currently.
Our brand has served us well, but after 19 years, it is time for a refresh. It is important to refresh in order to remain relevant to what is happening around us. Branding has emerged as one of the cornerstones of defining any organization, and churches are no exception. Our brand needs to speak clearly to an ever-changing world, particularly to those who are on the outside looking in.
One of the main things in designing a new brand is to ensure it has flexibility, adaptability, and memorability. What do I mean by flexible and adaptable? It must easily apply to a growing digital space, particularly websites and social media, but also to other applications like signage on our building, even down to a postcard that sits at reception. And it needs to be memorable. We want it to be instantly recognized, not only on social media but also by those driving past our building who see it and can make the connection.
So, our new brand is made up of a simple typeface combined with what we are calling the OC graphic. This graphic, as you will see, is a flexible element that will appear in different forms as we start to roll out our new brand over the coming months. Along with our brand mark, there is a refreshed colour palette that you will also begin to see in the very near future. We believe this refreshed brand will help us better connect with both our current community and those we hope to welcome in the future. It reflects who we are as One Church: unified, welcoming, and adaptable to the world we are called to serve.
As you see the new brand in action over the coming months, we invite you to embrace this change with us as we continue to grow and build on the strong foundation that’s been laid over the past 19 years. We are excited about what’s ahead and how this new visual identity will help us share the message of hope and love with an even broader audience.
[Music and applause]
A huge, huge thank you to Mark for all the amazing work he’s done for this community. There you are, Mark—thank you for this community. Thank you! The visual identity of this community is really down to Mark’s creative input, effort, and vision, and that continues to be the case for our new logo, which is fantastic—our new identity. I’m super excited about that. You will see it rolled out across the church in the coming months. There’s going to be a bit of overlap, of course, as we make this transition, but it’s the beginning of a refresh that we want to do across the whole of our church.
That’s a refresh in terms of our branding. Now, I want to talk a little bit about what we want to do—some dreams and ideas that we have for the future of this facility.
I know how valuable space is in ministry because I’ve been a church planter. When we were planting in Vancouver, apart from a very brief time at the beginning, we were in this dilapidated old Lutheran chapel that turned out to be full of mould. I had an office there and was sick that whole year without knowing why. Eventually, one day, the floor of the building collapsed, and it turned out it was full of standing water and mould throughout the building. I think it’s a miracle that I’m still here, but that’s where we started as a church, back on Pentecost Sunday in 2005—our first service in that building. But we quickly had to move out, and our church went into a van.
For the next seven or eight years, our church was mobile. We set up and packed down every Sunday out of the van. There were some Sundays when I’d be helping set up, and my fingers got crushed underneath the road case in the edge of the van, and I still had to preach with my fingernail falling off. Not fun! I didn’t enjoy that at all. Was it dynamic? Yes, but it wasn’t until we were in our own space that we really felt we could bed down in the community and begin to do local, effective ministry. We weren’t so focused on setting up every Sunday, which requires so much energy—we could get on with focusing on other things.
So, I know the advantage of having our own facility, and what it feels like to be a kind of rootless and mobile church. Obviously, the advantage of having no building is that you have low overheads, in theory. But it is really hard to feel connected to your community. One of the benefits we have here as a church is how embedded we can be in our local community. We can focus on and put our energy into things that will enable us to keep reaching the lost and lonely around us with the good news.
There are amazing advantages to having a space. But on the flip side, the danger is that facilities can become the focus—building them, maintaining them. Some churches think that just by building a great building, they will magically attract people to Jesus. You know, that Field of Dreams quote: “If you build it, they will come”? No. That is no longer true in our culture. Just having a great building does not mean people will come in and encounter Jesus. We have to go out, but our building helps us form a place where we can do ministry from and invite people into. So, it’s really important and powerful to have a space, but we shouldn’t make it an idol.
No building can do the work of the ministry of the gospel for us, but it can be an amazing context where that can happen. It’s also true that we shape our buildings, and then our buildings shape us. So, buildings can easily determine, if we’re not careful, the shape of what’s possible for us in ministry, if we don’t keep on recognising that the buildings we have are just tools—they are instruments for us to be present and to do the work of the ministry. They are not the focus of our ministry, so we must not make them an idol.
We need to see our buildings, our facility, as the gift of God for us to use to reach people, not the focus of our ministry. That’s why I think, at this point in our ministry, having been in this space now for 20 or so years—this new facility—we feel it’s time to make some changes to enhance our ministry capacity in terms of where we see God calling us.
There are four elements to this. Number one—and I’ve been speaking about this this morning—we want our church to be a place of community and hospitality, for connection, for Alpha, as a third space, as a home away from home—all of that. So, we want to do some work on our building so that it can be more effective along those lines.
We want our church to be a place for midweek kids and family ministry, and there’s so much need here. It’s one of our biggest areas of growth, so we really want to enhance our kids’ ministry spaces and increase those and modernise them a little bit. We see that as a key part of our future ministry in this community. We’ve seen, as I said, some huge growth in this area, but our spaces are a little bit stretched, and we want to make them a bit safer.
Our church is also a place of worship and prayer, and we want to keep enhancing that. How can this building, this facility, support us as a worshipping community in our life together as we pray and worship Jesus? We also want this to be a place of creativity—and I’ll talk more about that in week four.
As we’ve dreamed about this, we’ve asked some architects to give us some ideas—the same ones who originally designed this building, actually—to reimagine or at least reshape our facility along those lines, for those goals that I just mentioned.
I want to show you a couple of drawings, a couple of images that give us a feel for—no, not yet, don’t go there yet! What happened?
Okay, I’m going to show you all some concept drawings of what might be possible. Now, just a reminder—and I want to be really clear on this—these are just ideas, just blue-sky dreaming at this point. We’re not saying this is what we are doing, but these are some ideas we’re beginning to pray about. We ask all of you to pray about this as well as we journey into this together.
But just before we look at that, I want to remind you that over the last 120 years, this church has gone through many facility changes. Here we are in 1904, and in 1934 at the Albert Street opening, and then again in 1960, when the building over here—the original church—was constructed. There it is in 1962, completed. And then, of course, Boxill Church of Christ, which, as Mark mentioned, merged with Blackburn Churches of Christ to become this church—One Community Church—in this facility we have now.
So, over the years, our buildings and how we use them have constantly changed. I think that’s right—as our ministry needs change and as we follow the lead of the Spirit, we need to make sure that how we use our buildings is flexible.
Let me show you what we’re thinking. Again, these are just concepts, but in terms of the exterior of the building, one of the things that was really clear to me when I first arrived at One Church is that while we have an amazing building, nearly all of our space externally has been taken up with parking. We have no green space, and I think that’s a shame because green space—space for us to hang out together outside—is really important.
One of the things we want to do is look at how we might create some external green space, and also green up our building generally—put in more trees, more shrubs. The concept here is the possibility of turning the area just out here at the front of the building into a kind of rooftop garden. We want to convert that flat space that’s already there into something that can be outdoor space where we can gather for meals, for the youth to use for various gatherings, barbecues, and things like that.
What you can’t see in this drawing is that we do want there to be some cover over that so that we can use it in different weather conditions, but that’s not in this drawing. You can kind of get a feel for that space out there at the front of our building, wrapped around, and you would access it by the internal stairs, getting up onto the roof there. We’d turn that into an outdoor space that we can use—maybe have a little mini basketball court for the youth, or even for others. Maybe Bruiser would like to use that from time to time as well! So, that’s one idea.
If you look closely, you’ll see our new logo there. We’ve also extended the atrium to include the little space out in front of the food pantry, which is currently open. We want to close that in, potentially, and put an airlock on the front doors over here so that every time you come in and out of our building, you don’t get a blast of either cold or hot air. That was something that was actually part of the original design, but it wasn’t put in place. We want to just complete that—it was meant to be that from the very beginning.
In terms of the interior, we want to create more fireplaces around the place. We’re going to change some of the carpets to be more like wood tones—concrete, stone, and natural colours. You can see a bit of orange there in the background. We just want to open it up and brighten the space.
The important thing in this image—if you look through to the back—you’ll see that we’ve redesigned the kids’ play area. We want to increase that, make it a bit larger, and have it flow into the room next to it on the right-hand side, which is one of the current kids’ rooms. We’re going to make that whole back wing of the church pretty much reserved for kids’ ministry only, so there’s no adult access in there at all. We’re going to move the stairwell so that once the kids are in there, in order to go upstairs, you won’t have to go into the kids’ area. You’ll be able to get up onto the mezzanine or the outdoor area without going through the kids’ spaces. This reorientation will make it much safer.
During the week, we’ll have lounge spaces and a really good kids’ playground, which will be covered to protect it from the weather. That way, it can be used all the time, and families can gather with their kids, have a coffee, hang out, and chat while we run different programs—all contained in one area so that it’s safe, and we can ensure our children are well protected.
We also want to green up our interior spaces significantly, putting in lots more plants and vegetation so that when you come in, it feels natural, warm, and inviting. With fireplaces, couches, and greenery, it will really be a place where we can effectively host gatherings, hospitality events, Alpha, playgroups, Mainly Music, and all sorts of programs. We’re really just trying to enhance what God seems to already be doing among us.
The last couple of things—I want to mention that we’ve already redesigned our chapel space to be more of a prayer room. This is already in place, so if you haven’t seen our chapel now, I’d love for you to go over there after the service today and check it out. We’ve got lots of couches and seats in there, a nice rug, plants, and prayer prompts around the room. This space is going to be available for anyone to use at any time. We’ve secured the area so it can be locked off from the rest of the church. If we’re running 24/7 prayer events, we can make that part of the building separate and safe. There’s now a security system in place so that if you’re praying at 2 a.m. and the doorbell rings, you’ll be able to look through a camera to see who’s outside before showing yourself. You can let people in remotely.
We’ve tried to make it a safe area, and it can be accessible at different times when we run 24/7 prayer events. It’s a beautiful, warm space. I encourage you to go in there and spend some time with God—it’s a really special place, and people have already been using it. We’ve got prayer happening before each of our services, and we want to see that grow. Check it out—it’s beautiful.
The last thing I want to say before we get to communion—I know we’ve gone a little long this morning—is this: I feel like God is saying to us as a church that it’s time for us to get ready to plant a new church. This is something the elders, I, and various others have been praying about for some time now. We don’t have a timeline yet, we don’t have a team, and we don’t know exactly where, but we feel the Holy Spirit is saying to us that it’s time to get ready. It’s time to start thinking about planting.
One of the things we’re asking you to give to during this Vision Month is to put aside some money to begin developing a church planting fund. That way, when the time is right, when the Lord says, “Now it’s time to go, and here is where I want you to go,” we’ll have some money set aside to make that happen and to fund it effectively. This is one of the things we’re asking you to give to and pray about throughout this month.
I’m a church planter. I did that in Vancouver. You might say, “Why would we church plant? There are so many other churches around the city.” But the areas we’re being drawn to, which are further out northeast of here, are communities of 150,000 to 200,000 people, and there are thousands and thousands of people who have never heard the gospel, who have no connection to a church community. The statistics show—the research shows—that church planting is one of the most effective ways to reach new people for the gospel.
I know the truth of that because, on the first Sunday when we planted our church in Vancouver in 2005—Pentecost Sunday, our first service—we were worshipping together, and a young couple was walking past, who had no connection to church whatsoever. They heard what was going on inside the building, and they came in. They sat right at the front because that was where the only seats were left—just like now! Nothing about church ever changes, right? The new people had to sit right down the front. But they sat through the service and cried the whole time. They’d never felt anything like what they experienced that Sunday. They gave their hearts to Jesus and became followers of Jesus that day. We baptised them not long after. They’re still following Jesus today, and in fact, one of them is now the principal of a Christian school.
They walked past our building, and they were in a world of pain—they’d just been through some serious trauma together as a couple. At the right time, because we were there worshipping and serving Jesus together in that place, they met the living God and were transformed forever.
I know the value and power of church planting. We could tell many stories like that from over the years.
Friends, I’ve said this before—we can either have control, or we can have growth, but we don’t get to have both. Following Jesus means we relinquish control, and we follow his lead. That’s all we’re trying to do here—build up what God is doing among us, press into the new things he has ahead for us, and part of that, we believe, is going to be church planting in the future.
Again, I don’t know exactly when, but we are praying about it, and it feels like it’s coming very soon—that’s all I can say. It’s coming very soon. If that’s something you’d love to be part of, then I encourage you to talk to me, pray about it, because if you start putting your hand up and saying, “Yeah, I’d love to be part of a church plant,” we can begin to build a team organically. That’s really the best way to do it.
Alright, I’m going to invite the musicians back on stage. We’re going to come to the communion table together, and as we do that, let’s go back to Hebrews 8, where the writer says in verse 10, “We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.”
We have a table here that has been prepared for us by Jesus, which is even more powerful, more potent, and more life-changing than anything that had ever happened in the tabernacle or the temple. Thousands upon thousands of sacrifices don’t even come close to the power of what this table represents—the blood of Christ, which sets us free from sin and death and gives us new life.
As we come to communion, I invite you to stand with me as we pray and prepare our hearts.
Let’s close our eyes and focus on Jesus for a moment as I pray and prepare us for the table.
Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for all that you have given, which is so much greater than anything those who came before—who ministered in the temple and the tabernacle—could ever have possibly imagined. This meal—your body and your blood—changes us completely as we put our faith in you. As we receive you as our Saviour, what these things represent is forgiveness, mercy, grace, and a new beginning, but also an invitation to join into a new family.
This is our family meal. This is the place where we belong. This is the place where we know we are accepted and loved, that we have a Father in heaven who cares about us, that we have a Saviour who gave everything for us, and we have the Holy Spirit who transforms us from glory to glory and helps us in our weakness.
So, Lord, we thank you for this table. We thank you for this meal. As we prepare our hearts to receive it, Lord, we ask that you enable us to examine ourselves carefully. If there’s anything we need to hand over, anything we need to confess, anything we need to lay down, I pray, Lord, that you’d be working in us so we can do that as we prepare to come and receive these elements.
Lord, your mercy is new every morning. Your grace is amazing. Your love changes us. Thank you.
As Paul says, this cup, this table, is a place of thanksgiving, and we give you thanks, Jesus, for all that you’ve done. We say together, amen.
Amen.
So, the ushers are going to direct you. Feel free to sit down again as you prepare and as you’re directed to come.
We’re going to hear one of our new songs now, which Dan is going to sing for us—bless you, Dan. As we have been pressing into the creative things that God is doing among us, this is one of the things that’s happening. We’re seeing more songs written, and I pray this blesses you. Just listen to it and meditate on these words as you prepare to come to the table.
Amen.