Here’s an excerpt from our interview with St Caths, whose leaders Adam and Heather Cetrangolo and their team, build their health and vitality through initiatives such as this.

Read the conversation below.

NCLS: What do you think has contributed to your church to being healthy and vibrant?

AC: I think one of the things that happened when we did the relaunch was, you had a new vision and the vision had four key values that we’ve tried to really embed into everything. And, even in terms of the things that we do, reflect the values. So, values are based on Matthew 10 and there to teach, to pray in power, to give freely and to partner with people with peace.   

And those things have, like, in terms of what we do and how we do it, they all come back to those things.  And, so for example, if you look at something core like teaching, it’s not just that, like, I teach every Sunday, but we’ve gone, okay we want children to learn really well, so we’re going to embed that in the kid’s menu programme. We want young people learning as well, so we’re going to create a niche youth ministry programme that involves teaching. We’re going to run a start-up course for people who want to come into the church.  

And, so, kind of like equipping people with the gospel and with teaching, has been a core value. And we have this philosophy, we say, you know, like, you can become a disciple at any age. You don’t need any experience to become a disciple of Jesus, you know?  

And, so I think one of the reasons the church is so young is because the young people have really taken that on, and they’ve modelled it to the older people. There have been people who have been here for years who didn’t receive that sort of discipleship when they were younger, you know?  And, so there’s been that.   

And, similarly, to pray in power, that’s been of value as well.  So, everything we do around worship, around prayer, around praying for others, around praying expectantly is part of the culture as well. And I think, even to non-Christians coming into the church there’s something attractive about that.  You know, they see us from the church going, you know, we’re just going to pray for this, you know? Or, whatever it is.  

And, I don’t know if the others mentioned it, but we have a segment in our church every Sunday called the Everyday People slot, and people get up.  I mean, I didn’t even had to try any more. I just have to say, does anyone want to share anything and ten people want to get up and share.  

And, sometimes I’ve got to cut it, like, okay it’s time to move on with the service now. But, people will get up and say, you know, I prayed about this. First they might say, something’s coming up, can you pray for me? The next week they get up and say, I had that interview this week and this is what’s happened, this is how God moved.  

And, so if you come in as a visitor or as a new believer, or a non-believer, you immediately say well people don’t just talk about prayer, this is very core, you know, to what they do. And, it’s cool to have that link to what they’re practicing in their own lives, not just what they do here on Sunday. So, I think those things, and then, giving freely is the same.  

Similar Posts