09 March 2010
At 11:30am Saturday 6 March, Fremantle Church's building was empty. The congregation had walked out... Out into the neighbourhood of Palmyra, to collect rubbish in the local parks for Clean Up Australia weekend.
"Instead of sitting in a pew, listening to the preacher talk about serving the community, we got out of our seats and actually did it!" explained Community Service Coordinator, Brad Flynn.
Pastor Terry Lambert, senior minister for the Fremantle Church explains that cleaning up Australia was a practical way to show our love for the world and for God. "Corporately we wanted to model to our attendees that God has given us the responsibility to be good stewards of our earth's resources. Caring for the environment is a spiritual discipline we incorporate into our daily lives helping us to cooperate more with the Holy Sprit," says Pastor Terry. "We are showing our love for God when we serve and love the world like he asks us to."
Brad explained further, "This activity was more than community service. Cleaning our parks is a symbolic act, re-enacting how God sent His Son to a rubbish dump called Earth, to renew and restore all of creation to the way he intended. The 'clean up' is our love-inspired act of worship." "Presented in this way," said Pr Terry, "it's easy to see how this activity was a teachable moment for our attendees, that picking up a piece of rubbish is actually a spiritual act benefiting our spiritual lives and the community."
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Facebook photos for pictures of the event.
Jesus didn't come to condemn the world, but to save it.