Author: Ben (Page 1 of 44)

Have you heard of Women Together, which meets in the Wilton Church Hall each Monday during the school term, from 12 noon to 2.30pm?

Women Together is an informal, friendly and welcoming group where women can chat, craft, enjoy fellowship and support one another. Some of us are regulars, while others pop in occasionally — everyone is welcome!

We begin with an optional BYO lunch, followed by a short encouragement and prayer, then an activity. We generally pack up around 2pm.

Our favourite crafts are those that support others, such as making dolls for the Christmas Shoeboxes and cards and gifts for the Retirement Ministry team to distribute. We have tried many different crafts and are always happy to learn from others who have a particular skill or creative talent to share!

Last week, we enjoyed a fun Australian-themed lunch — including “sanga sambos”, Vegemite and pavlova — to welcome Beatrice to our congregation from Tanzania. After hearing about Beatrice’s prayerful journey to join us, we enjoyed an interesting “show and tell” from Ann Mac about her ministry in the NT and Queensland, reminding us of God’s faithfulness, even when His timing can take longer than we expect.

Next term, we will be creating diamond-dot Christmas decorations. The cost is $10 per term, or $1 per day, to cover materials.

We reconvene on 19 October — come along and join us, ladies!

In Christ,
Karna

Have you seen ‘The Chosen‘ series? If not, I’m here to highly recommend it! It’s a series that follows the life and ministry of Jesus. Episodes often helpfully ‘flashback’ to Old Testament stories or prophecies to set the scene for what is recorded in the Gospels. 
While there will be times where a careful Bible reader may question some of the interpretations or representation of events – on the whole, the viewer is presented with a rich, helpful and biblical portrayal of Jesus and his time on earth among his followers, his enemies, the crowds and historically detailed settings. 
Where I might normally ‘binge-watch’ a series, I have found myself walking through this one in measured steps. Mainly because it’s so rich, so significant, and so moving. My understanding of Jesus and his love for me, and consequently my love for him, has been so deepened by this series, that I have been stalling watching Season 5. It has become clear (though obviously no plot spoiler here!) that he is nearing his death on the cross – and I find myself not wanting to lose him! Of course, I know all is not lost – but this series helps the viewer enter into what it must have been like for his disciples – and indeed, feeling all the more the fact that Jesus was God come to earth in the flesh, for our salvation.
In case you want to view it and don’t have paid access to ‘Prime’ to stream it, you will be delighted to know that it all 5 Seasons currently released, are now in the Wollondilly Library in the DVD loan section. Season 6 will be released in November this year – and Season 7 (final) in 2027. I suggested them for purchase* – and they went ahead and purchased them.
So, let’s inundate the library with loans and reservations of the series!
Yours in Christ,
Sharon (Picton 9am member)
* Apparently, I am one of the few library members that makes use of this service. Any book or DVD that has been published in the last 2 years can be suggested as a library purchase. They have funds set aside for this – so it’s great to make use of them!

We don’t pass the plate around at Church anymore…  We haven’t since COVID actually.  I don’t know that we’ll ever go back.  But I think we’re missing out on something important.
Hearing some friends come back from Tanzania and talk about people giving chickens and produce to be auctioned off because they didn’t have cash to give, made me think about this a bit.
Our goal as a Church is to help people find Life in Christ.  The gospel is free, no strings attached.  Everyone who turns to trust in Jesus will be saved.  We don’t have to be good enough, well enough behaved, religious enough and we certainly don’t have to give enough dollars in order to be saved. 
We operate on the principle of anonymity.  I don’t know who gives what and that helps me love everyone and treat everyone just the same.  The good thing about hardly ever talking about money is that no-one can accuse us of just wanting their cash.
But when giving is invisible then we miss out on being encouraged by the generosity of others.  We miss out on the shared tangible experience and modelling of giving.  We miss that moment in Church of collecting people’s giving and then praying a prayer of thanksgiving to God for it.  It’s similar to the way never handling cash makes it tricky to manage how much you have and how much is left in your wallet.  
Of course, the Church still has plenty of bills to pay too.  In case you were wondering there is no money from the government*.  There is no magic funding from ‘central office’.  All the expenses of our Church are funded by the generosity of our members.  And we as a Church seek to be generous too: generous to the link missionaries we support; generous to our community by providing services to them like community pantry and events like Carols.
So maybe we should talk about money a bit more often, so that we might all have the opportunity to learn to be generous with all that God has given us.  What do you think?
Yours in Him,
Ben
*The government does provide significant tax breaks for Churches, in recognition of the public good Churches bring to our society.
NB: Our Church is in a healthy financial situation thanks to the generosity of our members, this is not an appeal – just a genuine reflection on the invisibility of generosity in our Church and what we might be missing.
NB2: My chicken (pictured) is not for sale.

The love of Christ motivates us to see ourselves and the world around us differently. 
Jesus has reconciled us to our heavenly Father, dying on the cross so that our sins would not be counted against us anymore.  Therefore, we don’t need to see ourselves or others by worldly categories like riches, strength, popularity, beauty or goodness.  We don’t have to worry about whether we ‘measure up’ before God or before others.  If we are ‘in Christ’ we are a new creation: forgiven, reconciled, loved and adopted children of God and heirs of eternal life!  We are declared righteous before God because of Christ, and we are being made new by the Holy Spirit.
What a relief and freedom this is!  What a joy to be in Christ!  And what a privilege and opportunity we have as God’s people to share with others this good news.  We have been entrusted with this ministry of reconciliation, calling others to put their trust in Christ and be reconciled to God.
(2 Corinthians 5:14-21)
Yours in Him,
Ben

“The music is too loud”, “these songs are so old and boring”, “the sermon went for too long”, “we need something more challenging”, “I can’t believe she lets her kids get away with doing that in Church”, “somebody needs to say something about that behaviour”, 
It’s very easy to see Church from a ‘worldly point of view’ and think only about what we can get out of it.  But Christ’s love compels us to see things differently, to see everything differently.  What matters isn’t the style of music or getting my needs met, but reconciling the world to God in Christ.  Isn’t it incredible to be part of the new creation – as we are born again by faith in Jesus Christ, not having our sins counted against us.  And as we are adopted into his family with all these crazy brothers and sisters in Christ – young, old, quiet, loud, rich, poor, put-together, letting it all hang out, but all sinners saved by grace and seeking to make Christ known!
This Sunday we have a chance to all come together as one big Church family to celebrate this new creation and the ministry of reconciliation that God is working in and through us.  It makes sense for us to gather in our separate congregations most of the time, but we need to always remember that we are part of something bigger and that we are serving someone far greater than ourselves.  God is at work in our world and we have the great joy and privilege to be a part of it.  I’m so encouraged when we don’t get bogged down in our worldly attitudes, but instead get on with serving one another and serving Christ!
Yours in Him,
Ben

Look at this photo from Wilton Youth Camp (WYC) last year in June. Count the beanies and hands in pockets(ignore the boys in crocs). Camping in June was frost-bitingly cold. So, we changed things. We’ve moved the camp to October, and we’ve given it a new name: WAY AWAY. The theory is that if we rebrand it then no-one will remember the cold.

WAY AWAY 2026: For highschoolers, Friday 2 to Monday 5 October, at the Parnell’s farm in Wilton.

Across the weekend our guest speaker Dan Bishop will take us right through 2 Timothy. The memory verse is “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Tim 4:8). It’s a timeless and inspiring message of faithful perseverance.

Youth can also expect a plethora of fun and games and food and memories and if we get 25 registrations they’ll also get a slushie machine. 30 regos and we’ll get a full laser tag kit!

Two things you can do. Pray for our leaders, for the youth coming, and for four days of perfect weather. And if you know a high schooler who should be there, register them and make them go! 

Tickets: pwac.org.au/wayaway

In Christ, Scott Williams (Assistant Minister)

6:30am was a bit early to be departing home on a Saturday morning.  It was cold, but it was worth it.
Last Saturday about a dozen of us went along to Katoomba Men’s Convention (Basecamp).  We had a great day building ‘the courage that carries the cross’ by fellowshipping together, hearing talks from Genesis and about how Family Systems theory and depending on Jesus can enable us to be resolute for Christ and for those around us.
If you grab your ticket today or tomorrow for next year, there is a super-early bird rate of only $95.  We can either go up for the Friday evening session and camp, or just go for the day and have dinner together afterwards like this year.  There are cheaper and closer Men’s Conferences around (and maybe that will work better for some of us next year), but there is something special about gathering in Katoomba with over a thousand blokes to sing God’s praises and hear from his Word.
I just bought my ticket – Let’s go men! – https://brushfire.com/kcc/basecamp27/631422
Yours in Christ,
Ben

The Archbishop has encouraged me to write to you about the religion question in the Census, which takes place next Tuesday (11 Aug).

There is a dedicated campaign to manipulate the census results by persuading people to not to tick one of the denomination / faith group labels on the census unless they are regular practicing members of that denomination or faith. The campaign also seeks to steer religious people away from ticking (in our case) the ‘Anglican’ box and instead writing in a generic label such as ‘Christian’. This matters because the government uses census data to make decisions about policy and resourcing matters, including, for example, Chaplaincy funding.

According to ABS, the religion question is measuring religious affiliation, not religious practice. Religious affiliation is the faith group you associate with, even if that differs from your active practice or participation.

It would be ideal if every person attending a Sydney Anglican Church indicated on the census that they are Anglicans. Theologically, of course, we prioritise our identity as Christians. We rightly consider that ‘denomination’ is a secondary matter. But for the purposes of the census it is most helpful if people attending Anglican churches nominate Anglican, rather than inadvertently dilute this result by a non-specific indicator such as ‘Christian’.

Yours in Christ,

Ben

More info here: https://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/filling-in-census-accurately

Two weeks ago a new Church started in Wilton. The Sanctuary: Wilton Baptist Church launched on 19th July and will be meeting monthly all this year as they build momentum towards weekly services next year. This is not competition, this is partnership, these are brothers and sisters proclaiming Christ, this is God’s Kingdom growing in Wilton! You may have met Pastor Alex Lisk, we introduced him at Wilton Carols and he’s been teaching SRE at both Wilton Public and Picton High Schools.

Join me in praying that many would come to know Jesus and grow in him through the ministry of The Sanctuary and that God would be raising up people to partner with Alex in leading and growing this new Church for Jesus! If you’re interested in checking this new Church out, please reach out to Alex or go along to one of their monthly gatherings. And if you do, make sure you speak to Scott or I about it. Since Church is family, changing Churches is a big deal and something to pray about and work through carefully.

Yours in Christ,

Ben