Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category

Posted on December 11, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

The Incarnation

In the build up to Christmas I thought I’d have a go at two sermons on the doctrine of the incarnation. In the first sermon I explored a little bit of just exactly what the incarnation is and why its so important, in the second sermon I looked at how the incarnation completely changes the way we live and turns our world upside down.

Incarnation: Part I

Incarnation: Part II

Posted on December 9, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

New Partnership Blog

As many of you know we’re starting the whole church planting thing all over again come the beginning of 2010 as we join a team planting VOX City Church in the center of Cape Town. This is both an enormously exciting and enormously scary venture for Robin and I because we’re stepping out of some of our traditional support/denominational structures to plant this church and so we’re really being reminded that the Lord is our provider.

In light of that I’ve set up a support/partnership blog, detailing the work we’ll be doing next year and ways in which people can come alongside us. If this is something you would like to prayerfully consider then please swing by and check out the blog.

Posted on November 20, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

And can it be…

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? – Charles Wesley 1738

I needed the gospel to dwell richly in me this afternoon and as I tried to get my mind and heart focused on the beauty of what God has done in Christ the words of this song floated into my head. I caused his pain and I pursued him to death yet in that very act he died for me. I need this truth desperately. I need it branded upon my heart in such a way that it makes it emotionally impossible for me to pursue other idols and lusts in this world. I need it to be impressed on my heart in such a way that my will is overcome with grief at the thought of disobedience. I need Christ to have such a hold on my heart that it is caged up to the point that it acknowledges only one reality: I am the recipient of amazing love!

Posted on November 12, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

The Gospel Works

This last Sunday morning I taught Colossians 1:1-8 at St Stephen’s Church in Claremont, Cape Town. I used Paul’s well-known triad of ‘faith, love & hope’ to explore a very real existential question that exists for many of us in the Christian faith, and that is: Does the Gospel really work?

You can download the full audio here.

Posted on October 26, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

New York Trip: Part VIII

It’s all over (although my jet-lag isn’t quite yet)! We left the States on the 21st of October at around noon and arrived in Cape Town on the 23rd, around noon (local time). We’ve spent the weekend trying to get our internal clocks back on track.

The final week of the intensive went off well. We were all a little jaded and starting to think about getting home. It was quite sad to say goodbye to the other planters and their wives not knowing when we’ll ever see each other again. We had a send-off lunch with the RCPC staff and then each one went their separate way.

Our way took us to one more stop before the long trip home: St Louis, Missouri. I was in St Louis in February 08 visiting friends and the Journey Church which is one of the more influential churches in the Acts29 Network. On my previous visit I was really impressed with the Journey and the setup they had in St Louis so I really wanted Robin to see it and experience their community a little. So we spent 5 days catching up with friends and attending functions at the Journey. I had the chance to meet Darrin Patrick, the lead pastor, and spend some time getting to know him and talk about church planting both in the States and in South Africa. It was a worthwhile time of building relationships and getting further learning on the subject. We also had the chance to attend the Midwest regional Acts29 quarterly. By this time of our trip I was completely conferenced out and so I was expecting to doze off during most of the quarterly but they had Jeff Vanderstelt out from Soma Communities and he did 2 brilliant sessions that kept me wide awake.

So here’s my thoughts on the whole trip: God seems to be doing something huge through both the ministries of Redeemer Presbyterian and the Acts 29 Network – when you’re around these guys you really get the sense that something big is afoot in the world of church planting. And so in many ways Robin and I are completely humbled by the fact that we get to play a small part in this global movement. We were truly blessed by our time and I can confidently say that we were both affected and changed deeply by it. We come back to Cape Town with new eyes on a number of important issues. We’re also really grateful for the many friends we made along the way and are looking forward to building those relationships in the future.

I’d like to thank everyone, both at home and in the States, who helped make this trip possible. We are enormously thankful to God for all of you.

Posted on October 13, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

New York Trip: Part VII

New York – Knoxville – New York. That’s been our movement over the weekend. On Friday morning at 3am we got up and flew out of Newark Airport to Knoxville, Tennessee. There we spent the weekend with folk from Cedar Springs Presbyterian. Most of the weekend was spent meeting people from the church and speaking at young adults meetings, Sunday morning and evening. On the Saturday we were treated to the experience that makes that city tick: A college football game at the 107 000 seater Neyland Stadium watching the Tennessee Volunteers (the ‘Vols’) take on the Georgia Bulldogs (the ‘Dawgs’). There were 103 000 people in attendance all dressed in orange going crazy over their team – it was something else.

We were hosted by the most wonderful South African family who are now based in Knoxville and we got a great chance to share the vision for a church planting movement in Cape Town with lots of the folk at the church, many of whom were encouraged by the potential opportunities there are in South Africa.

This morning we arrived back in New York – where someone has evidently turned the heat off (its seriously cold here now). We’ve got one more week of the intensive left and then we head out on Friday to visit the Journey Church in St Louis. Will keep you posted…

Posted on October 8, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Blogging Embarrassment

So the blog has revived a bit with this trip to New York – I haven’t really written about much else lately. I do feel a little bit of reluctance in some ways to make this blog, as it stands, a priority. Not because I don’t think blogging is valuable and not because I’ve got too much other important work (and I do) but rather because I’m not sure I’d stand 100% behind everything I’ve ever written here in the past 3 years – I’m maybe even a little embarrassed by the odd post.

There are posts I wrote from which I think I’ve now shifted theologically, there are statements that I think I’ve shifted culturally away from and there are tones I took that I now think are inappropriate. So what do you do? Do I leave it up there as a kind of testimony to my journey as gospel minister? Do I strip down the blog so that I’m never incriminated for something I might not actually adhere to? Do I start over? Is this a significant question for future ministry? I’m not sure I know.

Posted on October 7, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

New York Trip: Part VI

Two Sundays have come and gone since I last updated you (ya – sorry about that – things have been crazy busy). A lot has happened and this post will turn into an essay if I give you all the details so I’ll pick out the highlights of the last 12 days or so.

From the course point of view we’ve had some important discussions on very practical issues pertaining to church planting. We’ve covered fund raising (the politically correct term is: development), the strains church planting places upon marriages, drawing up church documentation, having difficult conversations with colleagues and thinking through contextualization, both for our preaching and for our styles of ministry. We had another Q & A session with Tim Keller – this time dealing with preaching. This session was hugely beneficial in hearing Tim’s approach both theologically and practically to his preaching. So they’ve kept us really busy – given us a ton of reading – but its all been great and really worth it.

Thursday evening last week was a benefit evening for the church planting center (I got all dressed up)- it was a chance for the center to showcase their work to important supporters. It was truly an inspiring evening to get a sense of the movement of church planting that is literally spreading across the major cities of the world through the help and influence of Redeemer. It’s a great privilege to be part of that movement.

We’ve visited three churches (besides Redeemer) in the last two weekends, Emmanuel Presbyterian, Apostles Church and Forefront Church. All three were plants that have been assisted by Redeemer, Emmanuel was a direct plant from Redeemer. Apostle’s Church is an Acts29 affiliated church and it was great to see what they are doing in the city. I got the chance to have lunch with JR Vassar, their pastor, and some of their elders to hear more about their work and for them to hear about what we’re doing in Cape Town.

From a sightseeing point of view we’ve hung out in China Town, been to a gig in the Village, been up the Rockefeller Center, had cupcakes with a South African diplomat to the United Nations, seen Grand Central Station and the library, eaten lots of Reese’s, drunk lots of Starbucks and had the odd double-quarter-pounder from McD’s.

Today is Wednesday, rest and reading day – I’ve also got a sermon to prepare and a few presentations to tweak. We’re off to Knoxville this weekend so we’ll keep you posted.

Posted on September 25, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

New York Trip: Part V

So, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday update…

Tuesday we listened to some of the intensive guys give presentations about their future plants and then we watched Tim Keller’s address at last year’s Dwell Conference, entitled ‘Dwelling in the Gospel‘. After that we had a bit of fun planning a philosophy of ministry for a simulated occasion and place – interesting getting church planters to work together in a team.

Wednesday was an off day to catch up on reading (and we had a lot) and to check out more of the city. So after some reading we headed out to the Central Park Zoo – saw a snow leopard for the first time.

Thursday we spent most of the morning having a Q&A session with Tim Keller on ‘Gospel Ministry’ – we decided beforehand, after our reading, which specific questions we wanted to ask. It was a fantastic experience to be able to just sit with him in a small intimate group and talk gospel ministry with him. As you’d expect his answers to our questions were soaked in biblical faithfulness, cultural sensitivity, pragmatic wisdom and serious humility. We were all very grateful for the privilege of that meeting – and we’re looking forward to having a few more before we leave.

More to follow…

Posted on September 22, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

New York Trip: Part IV

I guess you can only appreciate Times Square (above) when you’re actually there. I think I’ve seen a hundred pictures or clips of the area but it’s quite something to see all the lit up advertising. So, yes, we were in Times Square this weekend, but let me back track a bit first…

On Friday we spent time hearing about some of the ministries at Redeemer, particularly their mercy ministry initiatives through Hope for New York and then also about their faith and work department at the church.

Their approach to mercy ministry was really fascinating. Basically they don’t run any mercy ministries directly out of the church but rather work, in partnership with a handful of other churches, to resource and provide volunteer help to the various affiliated faith-based organisations around the city. Definitely a concept  worth exploring in Cape Town. The faith and work department was something that really resonated with both Robin and I as its probably the area in which we’re weakest in the evangelical church in South Africa – at least as far as we’ve experienced. Redeemer is committed to demonstrating that the gospel makes a difference to work in this life, this side of heaven. And so they invest a lot in helping professionals work out what it means to use their work in a gospel-centered way (and, shock and horror, that means a whole lot more than trying to track-bomb evangelise your colleagues). We desperately need to learn from them in this area.

On Friday evening we headed up to Times Square and had supper at a little Brazillian restaurant to celebrate the birthday of one of our fellow intensive church planters. Saturday morning I watched Arsenal beat the stuffing out of Wigan (streamed on my laptop) and then we headed on the ferry to Staten Island – got to see the Statue of Liberty but not a whole lot else (there isn’t a ton of stuff happening on Staten Island). On the walk back from the ferry launch we walked through the financial district and saw Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange. We also saw the giant hole in the ground where the World Trade Center stood – they’re busy preparing to build a new tower there.

Sunday we attended two Redeemer services in the morning hearing Tim Keller and John Lin preach respectively. We then attended Trinity Grace Church in the evening and heard Jon Tyson (an exiled Aussie) preach.

Today we debriefed those three services and got to talk with Jon Tyson and John Lin about their stories and approaches to ministry and preaching.

Things are seriously pacing along – can’t believe we’ve been here for over two weeks already. But we’re doing great and enjoying it more and more. We miss all you Saffa’s – New York is amazing, but it still hasn’t got a patch on Cape Town!