So goes the Brighton advertising jingle. Every time I preach somewhere I tell people I live in ‘Brighton…. Its What a Community Should Be…’ and they laugh, because they have heard it and laughed at it too!
BUT…
Maybe it can be that…
Maybe we can be part of creating a totally different community where there is a real sense of connection and ownership and involvement…
Tonight I was feeling particularly hammered after a busy weekend, but it was also the night of a concert in the park. We decided to head down just for a short while. It felt important.
As I was walking there I wondered what it would feel like to be there tonight. I remembered our first ‘community event’ we attended about this time last year felt a bit flat as we didn’t know anyone and it felt almost ‘lonely’. I wondered if we would notice the difference 12 months on?…
Tonight as we spent just an hour or so there it struck me that we have developed some great connections in the last year – that the time spent intentionally putting ourselves in places where people are, has been time well spent.
As we arrived we bumped into S & A, we had met them at birthday party a few weeks back. He knows how to fish and is going to teach me… Yeeha! M & M were there – we have become good friends with these guys over the twelve months. P & J rocked up with C & D. P & E were sitting near us as were F & D. K came over to say g’day…
You get the picture. On the way home G phoned to see if were going to the concert… Sorry!
It was really encouraging to see the difference in our experience this time as compared to last time. Friendships forming – connections broadening – it felt good.
The key?
Are people more friendly this year than last year?
Hardly. The difference is that we have conciously chosen to get amongst people over the last twelve months and gone out of our way to spend time with them when we could have kicked back with the telly or a book. Of course people are friendly when you are friendly to them!
If I were to ever write a book on church planting I reckon the first chapter would be entitled ‘getting off your arse’, because at the end of the day that’s where it starts.
Taking initiative – making contact – putting yourself out.
Its still not rocket science!