Golden Sands Baptist Podcast

Have we lost confidence in the Gospel? This week Colin looks at modern evangelism strategies, suggesting that maybe we have lost confidence in the power of the gospel is because our modern strategies are solely based on our efforts. Instead, evangelism is less about what we do, and more about how we bear witness to what God is already doing in us and others?

Often when churches talk about the Bi-cultural journey, one might ask, "Why are we distracting ourselves from the gospel with these social justice issues?" While this is natural to ask, once we take a closer look at the New Testament, we can see that Racial Reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles was a central theme. And if it mattered that much to Peter, Paul, James and John, then it should matter to us today.

This week we played a video of Jay Ruka explaining some of the history of Te Tiriti and connecting it with the story of the church. This is a great resource if you want to learn a bit more about what God was up to in the writing of this document.

In an increasingly secular country, it's easy to relate to God as more of an idea than a person; more as a set of cultural values than a living being who acts in our lives. In direct contrast to that, John begins his gospel with a startling claim, God is not far off but has actually come down to us. In the grit and grime of daily life, Jesus is tenting with us.

In our second week of our Advent series, Brooke looks at the gritty nature of Jesus' birth. As God comes into the story of a tired pregnant mary and draws in marginalized shepherds, Heaven invites us in, with all of our faults, into the very life of God.

This week is the culmination of our 6 weeks of conversation about the future direction of our church. We take the time to remember some of the biggest moments from the years, as they happened in the different ministry areas. Then we present the focus areas for the next few years, drawn from the 630+ responses we got back from the community. If you consider this church your home, can we encourage you to take the time to hear about what God is doing.

In our continuing vision series, we look at the role of community in making all things new. Our culture prizes individualism almost above all else, but is it only making us more lonely. Instead we come back to the gospel, that sets the lonely in families and rediscover the power of community.

In our third week discussing the future vision and mission of the church we looked at worship. Worship is what happens when we encounter God and live out of that reality. So how do we as a church continue to keep Jesus at the heart of everything we do, encouraging peole to meet with Him every step of the way?

As we look toward the future Colin reflects on the Israelite journey out of slavery in Egypt. Despite the big vision God had given them, when they stood on the edge of the promised land, the sacrifice and cost seemed too great and they turned their backs on God's plan. As a church we find ourselves in a similar position carrying a big vision. The question is whether we will push ahead with who God is calling us to be.

As we close out our series on politics we talk about political visions. Every party has a vision of what our country should look like. While those visions are important for deciding our votes, Colin reminds us that they shouldn't have our ultimate allegiance. Instead we follow the vision of Jesus as He makes all things new.

Arguably one of the biggest challenges facing the church is the culture of polarisation that is influencing all of us. The crisis of information and alternative facts, the algorithms that give us more of what we want, and a media reduced to ever increasing sensationalisation is making it harder than ever to come together. Now it's more important than ever that the church learns how to be a reconciling presence.

This week learn from Daniel's decision to refuse the Babylonian kings food as he is groomed for service. It raises up questions of our relationship to the culture around us. We'll see that while the temptation is there for us to fall into extremes like all out resistance or total assimilation, Daniel shows us a third way of faithful participation.