I’ve been continuing to reflect on the “Sanctuary Picture” which we’ve been using as a way of helping us understand and explain what we sense God has called us to as a church community.? I believe this picture, and the associated focus on being “Kingdom of God people”, are??Spirit-inspired?.? Here are some of the ideas relating to this which came out of my recent two-day retreat for planning and praying, ideas which I’ve been sharing with the church leaders over the last few weeks.??

?In terms of a brief ?catch phrase??to encapsulate what we are on about, (which I think can function as an effective statement of both our vision and our mission), I?d like to go with something like:??????????????????????? Revealing the glory of God?s Kingdom (or reign?)?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? (just as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary is revealing the glory of God?s creation)????This uses some Christian ?jargon words?, but?I?m not sure if this matters too much, as a statement like this is really an ?in house? thing.? I thought of using ?beauty? rather than ?glory?, but glory is a ?stronger? word, and I think conveys more of the breadth of what we want to be and do.??Basically, a statement such as this is saying that just as the?Karori Wildlife?Sanctuary helps people to see and experience and enjoy and marvel at the wonder and beauty of creation, we are aiming to help them see and experience and marvel at what God?s reign, God?s will being done on earth as it is in heaven, is like.???

There are two ways in which the sanctuary?s beauty is experienced, or perhaps two ?levels? of experience.? There are those people who go to visit the sanctuary ? and experience the full ?intensity? of the beauty of the flora and fauna, enjoy the ?atmosphere? that is quite special ? unique in fact.? There are others, probably the vast majority, who never go to the sanctuary, but nevertheless cannot avoid getting some taste of it as they go about their daily lives.? And most of these people really appreciate the sanctuary and what it brings to their lives and their environment (apart form the few who object to being woken early by raucous tuis!)? The wildlife sanctuary is not ?perfect?; it is not yet a pristine New Zealand native flora and fauna environment, which is the ultimate goal ? that is expected to take 500 years!? However, it is being restored and developed towards this end, and is already a place of great beauty ? and as it is being restored, it is still able to have this powerful positive impact on its surrounding community.??????Likewise, the KBC faith community is far from being a perfect manifestation of the Kingdom (reign) of God ? that work of restoration will be ongoing in/amongst us until Jesus returns!? But our goal is to increasingly reveal the glory of God?s reign ? how wonderful and life-giving it is when a group of people seek to live together under His sovereignty.? And there are also two ways or ?levels? of experiencing this for ?non-KBCers?.? There will be some people (hopefully) who are drawn into the life of KBC ? I?m not just talking about people who come to our building or attend our services, but people who in some way become involved in the networks and relationships that are the KBC community.? Those people have the opportunity of experiencing fully what we are experiencing of the glory of the Kingdom of God.? The majority of the people in our local community, however, are unlikely to ?come to us? in that kind of way ? but we want their lives to be enriched by our presence anyway.? We want them, as they are going about their daily lives, to be unavoidably impacted by the ?overflow? of the KBC community ? by their contacts with KBC people in their neighbourhoods and workplaces, and by the positive contribution we are making to our community in all sorts of ways.??

So, to me, our goal and our task is to be building a communal life that will significantly impact those who are drawn in to it in some way (revealing the glory of the Kingdom of God to them ??this will inevitably be attractive); and, in that communal life together, encouraging and equipping one another so that we are also making a positive impact beyond the KBC community, enabling people to see and experience, even if just in ?small? ways, the life and blessing there is in God?s will being done.