Night Church is on the move with a new venue for 2024 and hopefully it will be a place we can remain and grow for many years to come! This Sunday will be our last night in the Tramping Club before we move to 39 Webb St for our service on Sunday 21st January.
With Night Church on the move I thought it might be helpful to let you in on our decision making process. By taking a look at how decisions are made and why we decided to move, this hopefully will give an insight as to what drives us as a church and what we want to see happen in and through us in Wellington.
During the second half of 2023 we've grappled with the questions, 'After such a positive start to the year, why hasn't Night Church grown as much as we were expecting?'
Now there will never be a simple answer to a question like this!
Everyone's individual circumstances will have an impact, the cultural moment of continuing to move into a post-covid world continues to shape things, and God's sovereignty in drawing people to himself in his timing is something we cannot control or predict.
One thing that we felt was holding Night Church back a little was the location of the Tramping Club. It was further from the Universities and the usual stomping grounds (Cuba St & Courtney Place) of many students and workers in the city. It wasn't in a part of town many people are familiar with and the parking on Sunday night is pretty terrible.
Moving to Webb St doesn't solve all these problems but it does deal with some of them. Even though going to Webb St will still be tricky with parking and not necessarily much more convenient for the Night Church crew, we're convinced that being there will make church much more accessible to those we are trying to reach.
We're not moving for our own convenience but for the sake of being better positioned to reach more and more people will the good news of Jesus.
As the Apostle Paul wrestled with the Corinthians about his rights and freedoms we can see his priorities in his first letter to them in chapters 8 to 10.
Paul writes things like, 'But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.' (1 Cor 9:12b). And 'Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.' (1 Cor 9:19).
It is clear that in Paul's decision making he has as his highest priority what will help the gospel message be, humanly speaking, most effective at reaching more people. And this is also what's driving our decision to move Night Church to Webb St - so we might be more effective at reaching people with the good news of Jesus.
As you reflect on your own life, your decisions and your priorities, where does playing your part in 'people coming to know Jesus' fit in? Does it shape everything? Or is it not even a consideration? Let's follow the example of Paul and have it as our highest priority and let's pray that God will use us to see many saved in our city and beyond.
Grace & peace,
Andrew