What is vital for a church's long life?

Welcome to the Royal Wedding.....(whoops!) I mean welcome to the Centenary of St Philips Church Cottesloe this morning!When I think about it, a centenary has parallels to a royal wedding; expectation, preparation, special guests, commemorative symbols and tokens, a worshipful context and a big party afterwards.It has been opined that the success of the British royal wedding has been vital to the future of the monarchy. What is vital to the future of the church?It's extraordinary how fragile supposed ‘pillars’ of British society seem to be. People were keen to watch the wedding but are no longer formed or influenced by the values the whole monarchy encapsulates. By many it's seen as a relic of the past that offers a rich source of tabloid fodder and a chance to peer into places we’d never normally go.Today, old institutions, like monarchy or the church, rise and fall on their merits it seems. St Philips has testified to God’s goodness for 100 years and seems to have a few legs yet. Some who are here today have seen most of that 100 years.As the leader of the community today, I wonder what your advice to me would be to position St Philips for the next 100 years, assuming our existence is dependent on our merits?Someone asked me this week, "What's happened or changed in the church since you've been there?" good question.I have focused on two things. The first is that it’s all and always a God project. We learn, socialize, serve and do welfare things but they are always founded and understood as expressions of what we believe Jesus' good news looks like. Everything we do is viewed through the lens of “where is Jesus in this?”My second focus is to encourage our extraordinary, highly educated, competent people that they are God's missionaries in their slice of the world. Our spiritual lives are also our natural everyday lives and our natural, everyday lives are where the spiritual is alive and growing. As we turn our focus outward to see what God is doing about us and join in we come fully alive. Some of our oldest and illest people get this just brilliantly. Small is beautiful when it’s done under Jesus’ light and power. As a sage of mine once said, “Get your eyes on yourself, stop dead! Get your eyes on what the Lord is doing, go ahead!”. As we worship today it is purposefully ordinary. We want you to participate in what we do most Sundays at St Philips [plus or minus a Bishop or two]. This is authentic. This is US!, like it or lump it. What we are on Sunday is who we are all week.So, will St Philips be here in another 100 years? Do we merit it? Who knows? But the answer probably won’t be found in an institution; it will be found sitting in the seats where you are seated this morning. God’s plan is his life in his people, you and me. There is no other.Thank you for being here today and God bless you in your Adventure.Malcolm