One day while we were there, word spread that a group of cyclists were coming to town. They had started at Hall's Gap, in the Grampians. They had ridden to Port Fairy and now were moving along the Great Ocean Road back to Melbourne. They would be camping in the showgrounds overnight. The group would consist of 3700 cyclists, plus support. And how big is Port Campbell? It has a permanent polulation of 150!
You can just imagine the stories that began going around. What we first heard was "If you need food, you'd better get it now, 'cause when those cyclists come there'll be nothing left!" and "Toilet facilities are very limited at the showground. Watch out or they'll descend on what we've got here in the camping area!" In this way, many locals and ordinary tourists were bracing themselves for an anticipated plague of locusts that would eat all the food and drink the town dry!
The reality wasn't really as bad as that. The business houses had phoned stopping-places earlier on the route to anticipate the need. Arrival and departure times for the cyclists were scattered so that the demand on local facilities would not cause massive disruption. Yes, there was a measure of inconvenience, but also a spending of some $30,000!
Take a town of 150. Add 3700 cyclists! Take 120 followers of Jesus. Add 3000 new believers!
Can't you imagine the potential for fear and tension? Can we cope? What will happen to our church? We are the ones who remained loyal and faithful to Jesus. Who's going to look after us? Won't they get most of the attention that ought to be ours? And just when we have become comfortable with the realities of our situation! They'll disturb our whole way of doing things! It has the potential to be too unpredictable!
In fact, we don't read of those kinds of tensions at that very early stage. The group of 120 who met for prayer in the upper room were waiting for the promised Holy Spirit and praying to be able to get the message - the good news about Jesus - out to as many people as possible. What happened probably far exceeded their wildest dreams. But if the response was in any sense a shock, it was also a thrill because it was a fulfilment of the very things for which they had hoped and prayed.
And the whole company of believers - the old and the new, the 120 and the 3000 - all "spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers" (Acts 2.42). Not until Acts 6 do we read of tensions arising because one group (the Greek-speaking Jews) believed their widows were being neglected, and then the whole group agreed to resolve the problem in the most generous way possible.
Now take a modest congregation of 100 and add 1000! But that's too many! It's beyond what even our wildest imagination can cope with! Add 100 then if you will, or at least another 50! How would you react? How welcome would they be? It's possible someone might sit in your seat! The whole character of our worship might change - it mightn't seem so comfortable or cosy! There could be more younger families and children! The changed composition of our congregation might lead to revised worship format! Who can tell what might happen? Is it really safe to pray and work towards growth?
For our Buderim congregation, those are real, not imagined questions. The rate of population growth in this area is dramatic. New housing development is going on all over the place. In theory, all these people are welcome here. But what will the realities be when they begin to come in large numbers? We are already aware that the time is rapidly approaching when we will need to make specific plans for increasing the seating capacity of our church building. And what about the planned development of the Sippy Downs area with the projected 2000 houses with another 5000 plus people? If we really pray and work towards growth, who can tell what might happen?
But there are three important facts about the church that we must always keep in mind -
Jesus said, "I will build my church." It is his church, not ours, We are here because of his invitation, his welcome.
For many of us, there are, of course, a collection of other reasons for belonging to this particular congregation - our upbringing, the Sunday School we attended, the place we live, the person we married, the influence of someone else's life, a feeling of being "at home", of belonging… And some can think, too, of all that we've done for this church across the years - it's our church!
Don't get me wrong - it is our church! It's like a family home. The children may say, "That's our home!" And they're quite right! It's where they live and play. It's where they do the washing up and lawnmowing. It's the place they help to tidy up and vacuum. It is their home! But it's their home because it's Mum and Dad's home! They live there, belong there, because they are part of the family.
And that's how it is with the church. Of course it's our church, but only because it's his church and we belong to him, are part of his family. As family members we have a warm welcome for all those whom he invites.
We all live under that same good news. We rejoice in the knowledge of God's love to us, in the coming of Jesus for us and in what the Christian life means to us.
Yet implicit in the message is good news for the whole world!
"God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not die but have eternal life!"
That verse speaks of love and eternal life for us who have believed, but also for whoever else believes in him. For the love described is not simply God's love for those who believe, but his love for the world, his love for the whole human race. If we have known the love of our heavenly Father, we must see that love reaching out through us and beyond us to others.
Remember the three stories about the lost?
One sheep out of a hundred was lost and the shepherd searched until he found it. We're not told what the other sheep thought when the stray was returned to the fold, but the shepherd rejoiced with his neighbours and friends. There is much joy in heaven when a sinner repents, Jesus is saying.
One coin out of ten is lost and the woman searches until she finds it. The other coins, of course, had no feelings about it, but the woman rejoiced with her friends and neighbours. The angels of God rejoice when a sinner repents, Jesus says.
There are two boys in a family and one goes astray, living a wild life in a far off country. When he returns, his father welcomes him and throws a party. But the elder son isn't happy. He finds it hard to accept his young brother back. He's the one who's been faithfully doing all the work. It's his farm, his home this young fellow has no right to be here!
Can you identify with the feelings of the elder brother? I can!
The father commends his son's loyalty, faithfulness and hard work. But here is someone else who belongs and has returned. The elder brother should be rejoicing too!
Is that longing, seeking and welcoming love of the Father in us?
It is his church. His good news reaches out to the whole world, to specific individuals whom you know and meet day by day. God grant us all a greater measure of his longing, seeking and welcoming love. Then we can rejoice with him over each one whom he adds to his church!
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