There it was. An advert for someone to bring the Christchurch area churches together as they live post-quake. What do they have to offer a broken city? 

Some have broken buildings. Some have broken congregations. Some have experienced terrible disruptions and pain. Where once the churches may have had a corporate vision statement, now even that has had to be put on hold. How can they serve? We have noticed some have been able to, but others struggle. 

Can they work together? Can they serve their community? New situations require new visions – but when one is feeling damaged, one tends to flee from visions and stick to “practical” things. I guess in truth, many have little of this world’s good things to share with others who have need. I recall the record of Peter when he felt he should help – but had nothing.

Acts 3:6, CEV: But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold! But I will give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, get up and start walking.”

Are these the days for ordinary church folks, damaged, deprived and all, coming alongside their next-door neighbours, even their neighbourhoods, praying for individuals, and community situations, so that God’s grace and blessing may pour out? 

Even while we are struggling, God has a purpose that we can choose to live out. We may have nothing, or very little, but we still have Jesus in our hearts (even that may have been rocked with the earthquakes) and we can say, “Would you like me to pray with you, as we address our shared problem to the Jesus who cares for us?”

– "The Wright Stuff" is Trevor Wright's reflections