AMEN Australia 2020 Conference: Centres of Influence

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network Australia

Julian Archer

Setting Up a Centre of Influence: So Much to Learn

I can't see you all but I recognize quite a few names there So good to see you friends I've been asked to share on I guess the practical side of setting up a center of influence There's a lot of things that need to be taken into account.

It could be setting up an Australian business number or business names or trademarks or finding a property, getting leases, all of that sort of thing.

But I won't go into some of those details with you because I think they're gonna be practical realities that you will face as you come to those things.

I'm happy to share more with you later on.

I just wanna look at some of the centers of influence that are already happening.

A little bit of a definition of what is a centre of influence, and then some guidance or guidelines on how to measure the impact of a centre of influence.

Is it actually influencing people, And if so, how?

So I'm just going to move through relatively quickly.

I believe there may be a question time at the end.

This is something that many of you know, Australian society is changing fast.

We see that every day, whether it be in the news or just in our own lives, wherever we are, whatever field we're working in.

The interesting news is that it will never change this slowly again.

And that's pretty sobering when we see how fast society is changing and we realize that it's only going to get faster and faster and faster.

How do we relate to that as a church, as a congregation, as a network of congregations across Australia or around the world, how do we try to keep up with these incredibly fast changes?

Well, 1 of the ways that I believe we should be looking to keep up with these changes is centres of influence, actually changing how our churches operate.

This is a definition of what we call a flagship centre of influence within the North New South Wales Conference.

This can be different in different places, but this is what we we work with here in North New South Wales.

A North New South Wales flagship centre of influence is a community centre that combines 1 or more profit-making retail services, for instance a cafe, a juice bar, an op shop, a medical center, child care center, refugee integration center, etc., operating 5 days per week with a disciple-making community meeting on the same site every Sabbath and other seminars and services offered on the site as needed.

So this is a little bit unique in our thinking as David mentioned in his message earlier on, sometimes you know we can come along to church to be inspired to then go back and minister in our communities for the other 5 days while the doors of the church are locked.

The church is open on Sabbath mornings and maybe Saturday night if there's pathfinders, and Wednesday night if there's a prayer meeting.

But other than that, it's pretty well locked, and that's how the church operates.

Well, the center of influence turns that almost upside down and says, well actually, the church is open Monday to Friday, if not Sunday to Friday, and on Sabbath as well.

And the idea is that instead of us having to invite people from the community along to our church on Sabbath morning, we actually offer services from our church during the week from the same building that people come to because they want those services.

They want to buy a juice, they want to eat a meal in a cafe, they need to visit a medical center, they need somewhere for their children to be cared for while they're at work and so they come to the church to do that.

So that's our definition of a center of influence, a flagship center of influence in North New South Wales.

Now we also have many centers of influence in our conference and right across Australia and around the world, where a church might be running, for example, an op shop or a food pantry or a God's closet or something along those lines and David I think David cares for somewhere around 50 of those just in North New South Wales Conference where they are open some of them are open 5 days a week, but often they are not on the same location.

So the op shop is down in town and the church is out in the suburbs.

And so there's lots of centres of influence doing great work, but we're just looking specifically now at flagship centres of influence where the centre is on the same location as where the people meet on Sabbath as well.

I won't go through this in detail, you're all very aware of it, but for Ministry of Healing, page 143, there's a statement that says that it's called Christ's method alone, that's what we call it.

He mingled among people as 1 who desired their good, He showed them sympathy, He ministered to their needs, He won their confidence and he bade them follow me.

And that's really what happens in a center of influence.

And that's also what can happen in your workplace.

As you go into the workplace with an attitude of loving service and witnessing, as David was talking about with his son, who was an engineer.

You can go in and mingle among those other engineers, other doctors, nurses, health practitioners, wherever you work, as 1 who desires their good and then go through those steps over time as you reflect the love of God and the character of Christ to them.

Through the whole paragraph, but this is from Testimonies for the Church, Volume 7, and this is where the term centres of influence has come from in more recent years.

You can see there where it says that we should establish in all our cities small plants which shall be centres of influence." And in this particular paragraph, she was talking about hygienic restaurants that were to be established in the cities.

And we must hold meetings in connection with our restaurants, lectures.

And in these meetings, there should be prayer and singing and talks.

And I was actually just going through this late on Thursday night with a group in China.

And they really struggle with some of these things because it's illegal for them to have the prayer and singing and talks in their centres of influence in parts of China.

But it's timeless wisdom that we can mould to wherever we are in the world or wherever we are in Australia, whatever our situation is, we can open these centres of influence.

I'll just give you a few examples of different centres that are happening here in North New South Wales.

Here's 1 at Raymond Terrace Mission, which is a small town just north of Newcastle, Raymond Terrace.

And it's a juice bar, the New Star Juice Bar.

And they have a group of young volunteers there who have just celebrated their first 12, or their first anniversary, so 12 months since they opened.

And so that's when the public is coming along the main street, walking along the main street of this small town, they see an op shop and a juice bar.

And that's the face of the church to the community.

Behind those 2 retail outlets, there is actually a church.

And so when they're interacting with people in the op shop and the juice bar on Monday to Friday, they can invite them to come along to programs in the church, either on Sabbath or maybe on a weeknight, in the exact same location.

And it's not so scary for people because they're actually they're accustomed to coming along to the op shop or the juice bar.

So that's what 1 happening there in Raymond Terrace.

I will try and play you the video it should work I've played this on zoom before so this is just a short 2 minute video about the opening of it 12 months ago.

I'm Meryl Swanson, I'm the federal member for Paterson and I'm here in Raymond Terrace.

It's all high quality produce, fantastic combinations of juice.

It stands for Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunshine, Temperance, Air, Rest and Trust in God.

First step towards a new start in your life is getting your nutrition right and getting healthy.

We're right here at New Start Juice and we're here for our community so that people can come and take that step towards a healthier lifestyle.

I've really enjoyed connecting with people who otherwise I probably wouldn't.

This is really a way to meet people where they are.

It's a place for young people to come and hang out and catch up.

It's also such a positive, vibrant spot in our main Williams Street, which is amazing.

So thank you to Newstart, thank you to the Adventist Church and the whole gang who are doing such a good job to give back to our community here in Raymond Terrace.

♪♪ So that's just a brief introduction to 1 of the centers of influence.

12 months in and it's going well but it needs to increase sales and we're going to have a look a little bit soon about how you measure the success or otherwise of a center of influence.

And 1 of the things that we've noticed with this particular juice bar, that it does need to increase its financial turnover.

People are coming to the Juice Bar, they're coming on to church, they're getting baptized.

So the ministry goals are being met but the financial side of it needs to increase.

Even though it has very low costs we would like it to be able to contribute more financially back into the church and into the community around it.

So that's Newstart Juice Bar with a great program, great team that is happening there under the guidance of the pastor, Blake Penland.

Here's another 1 up further north in New South Wales, this is in Byron Bay.

It's at the Byron Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church, just on the left of screen, just to the left of those flowers.

You can see a little set of stairs going up.

That actually goes up and straight into the front of the church.

The cafe wraps around the church on 2 sides.

It's working very well financially and also working well from a ministry point of view as well.

In fact, I was just there at Byron Bay Church today and we had a number of people from the community come along there to church and then come along to lunch in the park as well.

A lot of great ministry outcomes occurring there.

You can see on the right hand side, well you can see of course all the flowers that have been put up there over spring and happy spring Byron Bay.

Setting Up a Centre of Influence: So Much to Learn

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