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Krosswerdz Update

By community, news
[ut_dropcap style=”one”] S [/ut_dropcap]ince it’s nearly March, I thought it would be good to post another Krosswerdz update. Time flies.

Krosswerdz Brisbane is in our 5th year, praise God. I remember sitting in my Browns Plains office with Warren 5 years ago, the week before our first service. We were scared, confused and wondering if we were worthy or capable of running Krosswerdz. We didn’t know what it would look like, who would come and how things would go. All we knew was that we wanted to share the Gospel and we were surrounded by young people who needed to hear it.

[ut_one_half] 5 years on we can see more then ever how good God has been to us. We ran our first event last Saturday (21/2/15) and it was great to see old and new faces show up. We had people from all different cultures (some believers and some not) all coming together to hear rap and to hear from the Bible. We broke bread and had an incredible time of fellowship and building new relationships throughout the day. We have around 6 services planned out this year as well as UPROCK and we’re also performing at EASTERFEST (although I think we are going to sneak in a Toowoomba ‘Krosswerdz’ service on stage as they’ve given us an hour).

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But for me personally, God has provided me with some incredible opportunities in the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre (BYDC), which I find myself drawn to. Believe me, it’s hard to get in there, yet I have been gifted beautiful opportunities which I hadn’t even been seeking out. Praise God.

Last year I was running music workshops in the centre, which was great but this year I have been handed a program, which is incredible (check out MMAD, they are the amazing organisation who got me in there). We are now running a radio show called ‘Breakfree’. It’s too much to explain here but please hit me up if you want to find out more. It’s beautiful, empowering for the young people and I have seen so many positives come out of it already).

[ut_one_half] Now I’m in the centre two classes a week and I have been praying for more time in there. God has provided that. We are so excited (and nervous, and a touch numb, but good numb) to announce that ‘BYDC’ has accepted a Biblical Ethics program for the young people. This program is called ‘Life Matters’ and it’s aim is for young people to look at some questions (like ‘What is a Father’ and ‘What is the point of life and who decides that for us’) and to hear what the Bible says about these questions. It’s got a mix of Hip-Hop, I am Second testimonies and relevant scripture passages that focus on the question at hand. It runs for 6 weeks and it looks like I have been given 1 to 2 classes per week depending on numbers. This is officially a Krosswerdz/Village partnership in delivering this program to the youth.
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I’ve typed too much. Please keep this in your prayers. This is really exciting and a great opportunity for young people to hear how much God loves them and how important they are in his eyes. Please also pray for me because this is new territory but I’m very comforted by knowing that God will use everything (especially my flaws) to bring Glory to him. If you would like more prayer points then please ask, it is greatly appreciated and I am so thankful for the support that I constantly receive from the Village fam.

Cheers,

Nat

VC Community Team Update – Feb 2015

By community, news
[ut_one_half] [ut_dropcap style=”one”] J [/ut_dropcap]esus calls us to love our neighbours, and to love our neighbours we need to know them!

Our local community in Kelvin Grove is home to a large number of people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, with a mix of those who have moved here for study and those who have migrated permanently from across Brisbane or across the globe. We want to love our local neighbourhood in Kelvin Grove, by forming relationships with them and serving them practically.
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Plans for the Community Team this year:

International Women’s Day – Morning Tea

We’re partnering with The Exchange in the Kelvin Grove Village to host a morning tea for International Women’s Day. Our hope is that Kelvin Grove women from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds can come together, get to know each other and build community as we get to know our neighbours. We would love Village Church women to come and be part of it! Kids are welcome!

Thursday 12 March – 10am
The Exchange, 81 Musk Ave Kelvin Grove.
All women and kids welcome!

Community Garden

We have applied for a community garden plot in the Kelvin Grove Community Garden in Kundu Park. Village Church is currently on the waiting list, but once we get our spot we would love a team of avid gardeners or those with a wannabe green thumb to make our garden grow, and chat to others who are part of the community garden who are doing the same!

English Conversation

One important way we can serve the people of the urban village is to be involved with English conversation buddy program, facilitated through The Exchange. The program builds friendship and mutual understanding between friendly locals (us!) and those new to Australia who are wanting to improve their English and make local friendships. Many people in the Village Community have been involved with this program in the past, and we want to encourage people to get involved again!

Become a regular

But you don’t need to wait to be involved in an organised program to get to know our neighbours! Commit to spending time in our local Kelvin Grove community and forming relationships through becoming a regular at a cafe or restaurant in the area, join the Urban Village choir, kick the ball around in Kulgun Park before church, or any other way that enables forming relationships with those around our neighbourhood.

There is also lots of space to identify potential new serving projects and activities for involvement in our local neighbourhood, so get involved in loving our Kelvin Grove neighbours through the Community Team and bring your ideas! For more information sign up here or talk to Bridget on Sundays.

Some thoughts on Compassion

By community, news

This week I’ve been reminded of the 2 extremes of those coming to our countries from other shores.

On the one hand, I’m so incredibly happy to say that our favourite Canadians – Mitch & Steph – were recently granted their work visa here in Australia after long months of paperwork and angst. Along with the guys doing traineeships at Village, I’m so thankful for having them, and for God’s goodness in bringing people to Village who love Him, have a heart for His people, and long to see others know Him.

The other extreme has been as I’ve been readying for a 2-week holiday where I’m not worried about being persecuted, tortured, running into rebel fighters, or my kids coming into harms way, is the increasingly disturbing stance the Australian government has made towards those seeking asylum and a new life. We have the concern of doctors for children in detention and here, the cutting of finances for those who advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves, and most recently the bill that seeks to change the parameters by which those fleeing hardship are assessed. Read More

Growing Pains (Part 2 of 4)

By community

So in the last post about growing pains we spoke about not feeling like we have to know everyone. We want to be warm, welcoming, open & hospitable to everyone, even while we invest deeply in significantly fewer people than that, often through Growth Groups.

I mentioned there were four things I wanted to look at. Here’s the second one.

Village is bigger, but that’s not bad(der)

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Growing Pains (Part 1 of 4)

By community

You might have noticed that Village Church has seen quite a few new faces in the past 18 months. If you’re one of them, we’re really glad to have you. It’s great to see the way God is working in and through people at Village, and we love the diversity, energy & dimension new people bring.

But one of the challenges facing Village Church at the moment, isn’t something unique to Village, but to any church or organisation that grows. That it “feels” different. Some love this change, some don’t. But as with every aspect of our Christian life, we’re pushed not to think about it merely in terms of us, but in terms of others.

There’s four things I want us to think about as a community as we grapple with change. Here’s the first one.

Don’t feel like you have to know everyone

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