He didn’t have any worldly possessions apart from his guitar.

So when we heard the guitar had been smashed by an unfriendly local, as a church we wanted to help – so we got him a new guitar.

It might not sound like much. In fact in the whole scheme of life maybe a guitar isn’t something anyone really “needs.”

But then we heard him play and realised this one man and his guitar was searching, was crying out, was seeking, was hoping… His lyrics, his sound, his voice showed us what it meant when he said he loved his music like we love God. It was a privilege to hear him play and for him to play was the only way he knew how to say thanks.

As we learn to love God we can’t help but overflow from that relationship and love other people. We love this guy – and because we do – we’re praying that in his searching he will soon love God like he loves his music.

At our last Sunday Session we had the first baptisms of C3 Church Scarborough! It was a chance for some people to publicly declare they are followers of Jesus. We did this down at Brighton Beach as part of “church outside“.

We are excited about our first baptisms and wanted to share it with you and we are believing for many more lives to be changed as God continues to open heaven in our community.

Be The Church.

Over the last few weeks someone in our community needed some help – they were sick, they couldn’t get access to food and they were hungry. We did what Jesus said – and fed them.

We don’t tell you this to promote our good works – but to develop a culture of caring for others above ourselves. We just want to encourage you to think about ways you can reach out to people around you. Like Jesus said “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

We do all of this through iHelp. iHelp was created so that we don’t just talk about loving each other, but actually love each other in practical ways.

Reach Out.

Be The Church.

We do this through the concept of iHelp – a community of people connected with us that aims to bring together someone who needs help  (i Need Help) with someone who can help (i Can Help) – that’s iHelp.

Last weekend we put that love into action. A family needed some help getting their new house into shape – the gardens, painting and flooring and one of our Lifespaces was there to help. This is part of what it means to Be The Church – check out the pics below:

The great thing is the answer to those questions often is answered when people find Jesus. It says in John 10:10 than He came that we might have life and have it to the full. The funny thing is that often finding new life means actually giving up your life so it is submitted to God and a greater purpose. If this doesn’t make sense let me know – we should talk about it some more.

Anyway – a few weeks ago – a good mate of mine found new life. We have been journeying together for over 20 years. He was at a point in life asking some of those questions and put himself in a position to find the answers. Part of that included going on a mission trip with a bunch of Christians to India. He told me that by being around people who genuinely loved God, that it caused them to love and care for each other, was something he wasn’t used to. When that extended to them giving up time and money to go and help people less fortunate than themselves he really started taking notice. Top that off with his own personal encounter with God and it wasn’t long before he found the answer to those questions: Jesus.

The best part about the story was that a couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of baptising him. What does that mean – well a public declaration of his New Life.

Be The Church

In Jan 2010 a team headed to India to help show the love of God to a poor community.

After lack of fresh water, sanitation is one of the biggest issues facing the world’s poor. The work we did involved implementing a waste management programme and building 20 toilets. Each of the 500 households was given a rubbish bin, we put in six 1100 litre community bins and organised the local council to collect the rubbish, we ran education sessions on dealing with waste and got our hands dirty and spent time working with the community to pick up the existing rubbish.

What an amazing opportunity to serve a group of people and see their community transformed.