Life Together
Life Together
5 ways we grow
For anyone who belongs at St Matt’s we firmly believe that they should be grounded in Christ and growing in God. We want individuals who are doing this in their own lives; and a community that is also doing it together.
There are FIVE simple ways – five means of grace – that will help us do this:
1. Regular weekly attendance at our Sunday worship gatherings.
2. Joining and committing to sharing life through a Gospel Community.
3. Committing to cultivating a rich personal devotional life of Word and prayer.
4. Seeking to bless others as we share our hope.
5. Mobilising our time, our energy, our gifts and our finances in serving God and others.
This is what commitment should look like for anyone who says they belong to St. Matt’s because we believe it is these things that God has given us for our good and our growth. These will be our indices of spiritual and relational vitality, and out of which we can ask God for numerical growth.
1. Sunday gatherings
These are the most obvious, visible and most accessible of what we do at St Matt's. They are also often the first point of real (as opposed to online) connection for the newcomer.
Our purpose during Sunday gatherings is the worship of God that both grows God's people and gathers in the unbelieving and searching.
The gospel that saves, sanctifies and supports is at the centre of our proclamation, our prayers, our praise, the promises of God made visible in the sacraments (the Lord’s Supper), and in the personal offering of our hearts and gifts. We are not centred by ethnicity or age or education or any other identify marker, because whatever might make us diverse finds a profound unity as sinners celebrate grace through Christ.
Head to Sunday gatherings for more information or email info@stmatts.com.au.
2. Gospel Communities
Gospel Communities (GCs) are organised love. They are smaller gatherings of people that meet during the week to praise God, pray, study the Bible, serve each other and the city, and encourage one another to grow in godliness.
Our GCs are based on the Biblical model in Acts: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).
Because of their smaller size, GCs enable us to form deeper relationships than we can at our Sunday gatherings. We get to know each other’s joys, needs, struggles and growth. We are able to celebrate the work that God is doing in our lives and continually encourage each other amidst the busyness and stress of everyday life with the truth of who we are in Christ.
In this way, GCs are not simply Bible study or prayer groups (though this is a part of it), but rather are active places of care and worship.
3. Personal growth
We are committed to helping each other grow in having rich personal relationships with God. We believe reading the bible and prayer help us to enjoy our relationships with God and to turn to him in faith and turn away from idols and sin. As we rely on him, he helps us in the power of his Spirit to bear fruit and live effectively as his people.
4. Sharing hope
We are prayerfully committed to extending our personal gracious witness to anyone and everyone within our relational spheres of influence. This is not an option but an integral part of what we think helps us to be mature followers of Jesus Christ. In fact, we often grow the most when our faith is clearly engaged with the world around us.
5. Serving others
Ministry is service. We are all called to serve our God who has first loved us and served us. We are called to serve both the family of God and the world.
All who have been called to serve God have also been called to ministry. Each one of us has been given resources that are at our disposal to use in service of God, the church and the world – namely our time, our treasure and our talents.
TIME
A mark of commitment to God and his people is sacrificial giving of our time in the midst of life’s busyness.
TREASURE
At St Matt’s we are convinced that generosity is a mark of spiritual growth, and shows that we understand the depth and generosity of God's grace.
Part of belonging at St Matt’s is investing financially in our life together and the activities we believe will help us to grow, so we want to challenge each other to prayerfully and sacrificially give within our means for the growth of God's people at St Matt’s and beyond.
If you have access to Internet Banking you can either choose to pay St Matt’s automatically and regularly via Direct Debit or you can pay as you go (this can be anonymous).
The bank details are as follows:
Account Name: St Matthew's Anglican Church
BSB: 083 427
Account Number: 515 537 181
Partner with Hope Prahran
If you would like to get involved and partner with Hope Prahran, then tax deductible donations are possible through the Melbourne Anglican Benevolent Society. Don’t worry, all donations through this charity will be used directly by Hope Prahran.
Details on how to partner with Hope Prahran through MABS.
TALENTS
We should be seeking to serve primarily in a way that allows us to use the gifts we have been given by the Spirit. However, because gifts are given for the sake of others (i.e. they are about ‘need’ more than self-fulfilment) we should take opportunities to serve others as we are needed.