Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
Jim Mein, moderator of the NSW Synod, Uniting Church, was interviewed on The World Today, on national ABC radio yesterday. Roy Edmund interviewed Jim on the proposal to sell traditional buildings and invest in new congregations. The interview concluded with a few comments from Tim Costello, relating to the way in which Hillsong is able to operate in a non-traditional approach.
JIM MEIN: I think it’s a crisis for the community. Certainly, we’re seeing that spirituality is probably at its highest ever. But Christianity is not necessarily seen as a spiritual option. So we need to look at ways to remove the image that has the church in stained glass buildings to being a church that’s people moving around and through the community.
EDMOND ROY: But isn’t that what the church actually sold: a unique proposition, as it were, that you actually go to church on a particular day at a particular time?
JIM MEIN: Yes, that’s correct for worship, but our concern is that many of our church buildings are only used on Sundays for worship. And that we’re trying to encourage our people to actually see churches as seven days and nights witness, and that that witness means moving around in the community sharing their faith.
EDMOND ROY: Which means, what, going into pubs, theatres, that kind of thing?
JIM MEIN: That sort of thing where people are.
Tags: ABC Radio, alt worship, Hillsong, Spirituality, Uniting Church, Worship
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Friday, August 26th, 2005
Phil at Signposts has started a series on Geoff Bullock’s rewritten songs. Today’s post is “Have Faith In God”, developed originally for Hillsong. Tim of Established and Emerging comments on the dynamic back in 1993 that led Geoff to change the words to suit the faith focus of Hillsong. Anyway, Geoff is a lot freer now to focus on grace.
I’ve used Bullock’s updated lyrics a few times. At first there are a few puzzled looks as people discover that their favourite songs have morphed. But then the words start to have their impact.
Have faith in God
Let your hope rest on
His grace that’s sufficient for all.
Always assured
Forever secure
In His grace that’s sufficient for all
Tags: Geoff Bullock, Hillsong, Music, Signposts, Spirituality, Theology, Worship
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Sunday, May 8th, 2005
After yesterday’s passion and purpose workshop I met my daughter in Brisbane for coffee at Gloria Jean’s Coffee House, on the ground floor of Borders. It was an excellent spinach and pumpkin lasagna and a decent latte. Only two purchases to go before I get my free regular coffee.
When I first came across Gloria Jean’s at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast my first reaction was, What’s another American brand doing here? As it turns out, Gloria Jean’s Coffee is owned in Australia by Nabi Selah and Peter Irvine, Sydney businessmen who are members of Hillsong Church, Australia’s most well known mega church. Does that make it any better? The food’s usually over priced, just like Starbucks. But the coffee’s good.
At the end of last year Gloria Jean’s Australia arranged to buy the international operations wing off their USA parent company. Coffee roasted in Castle Hill, Sydney, will be exported to all Gloria Jean’s coffee shops in other countries. And it looks as though they’re doing fine. Imperialism is OK if it starts here!
Gloria Jean’s made the news last month (see SMH article) by building a cafe in the visitor’s section inside Dillwynia Correctional Centre, in Sydney’s west, where female inmates will sell coffee to visitors and staff. Gloria Jeans tells us they’re not making any money out of it. The prisoners behind the counter get paid something like 85 cents an hour on top of their usual allowance. I wonder if they’ll get paid extra for public holidays? I guess this could become a trend - a trend befitting Australia’s history as a collection of prison colonies.
In the meantime, the real Gloria Jean is doing fine. Gloria Jean Kvetko set up shop in Long Grove, Illinois, in 1979. She sold the gourmet coffee business in 1993. Since then she’s experienced marriage break up, the death of a close friend, and breast cancer. She’s written a book, Journey to Prayer, outlining her experience of God’s love in the tough times.
One of the quotes on her web site caught my eye:
There is even sexual division in coffee, believe it or not. Men want real coffee, masculine coffee. Women love flavored coffee. Hey, maybe we can learn something from that (laughs). When men have a little more flavor, they are more desirable to women!
Tags: Australia, coffee, Dining, Gloria Jean's, Hillsong
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