What is your favourite Christmas Carol?

Are you sick of Maria Carey on repeat in the shops by the time Christmas comes around? Or do you wish you could sing carols right into January and beyond?

I love the carols rejoicing at our Saviours birth and marvelling at God’s love and the joy of Christmas. But I particularly love the Carols that acknowledge the difficulties of Christmas too… Lines like, ‘a weary world rejoices’ resonate with me as Christmas approaches – and ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’ calling for rescue for God’s captive people, Israel.

Christmas is a time for joy – not the shallow joy of presents, or of Christmas lunch, that leaves us feeling bloated afterwards; but the lasting joy of knowing that our God is not far off and ignorant of our troubles, but has come near to dwell among us. A joy that fills us with comfort and hope on the good days and the bad, all year long.

I’m praying that this Christmas – with intermingled good and hard moments, you will be filled with the joy and comfort of knowing that God has come near. In love, he has sent his only Son, Jesus Christ into the world to redeem and rescue you.

Blessings,

Ben

As you read this (if you read it today, Wednesday), National Training Event is wrapping up and University Students are preparing to go on mission for a week to Churches like ours.  The National Training Event (NTE) is an annual conference held in Canberra, bringing thousands of students and graduates together from across Australia and the world to be transformed by the gospel, trained in the gospel, and sent with the gospel.
In fact, 9 of them from the Sunshine Coast University are coming to join us this afternoon for a week of proclaiming life in Christ!
They’ll be sharing in our Bible study groups, helping run our Playtime, Kids Club and Youth Group, partnering with us at Wilton Carols, and sharing in our Church services on Sunday.  Please take the opportunity to meet and get to know them, and to encourage them as they encourage you.
This is just another reminder that we are part of Christ’s Church, which extends far beyond the boundaries of Picton and Wilton.  It’s also a great encouragement that God is raising up the next generation of leaders for his Church and he is powerfully at work in the lives of young people!
Blessings,
Ben

Today (Wednesday) we met with our Youth and Children’s Ministry Advisors from Youthworks (Matt and Tim) to discuss and review how our Church is going regarding Youth and Children’s Ministry.  
It was really encouraging to see that Young people in our Churches are valued by everyone and being encouraged and discipled in their faith and also that we have a great team of godly and effective leaders.  In fact, we were able to celebrate and thank God for a really effective ministry to and by young people in our Churches.
We also identified at least two areas that we need to work on and improve:
1) Equipping and partnering with parents in discipling young people.
2) Developing and clarifying leadership structures so that there are clear role descriptions and expectations as our Church grows and becomes more complex.
Please pray for Scott and Kate in particular as they lead our Youth and Children’s Ministry and as we seek to work on these areas together.  It’s so great to reflect on how God is at work amongst all of us (young and old) helping us to find life in Christ!
Blessings,
Ben

Regular rest is so important – an opportunity to enjoy and give thanks for God’s blessings and to connect with the people we love.
Sometimes I find it hard to rest – even when I’m not working my mind is buzzing with Church things and people.  Part of me thinks that Church needs me more than it needs Jesus, and I can’t take a break or something will go wrong – this is sinful thinking.  
For many of us, our work feels important and worthwhile, which is great.  But its also important to rest in God’s grace and realise that God provides for my needs.  My contribution is important, but perhaps not as important as I think it is.
If you think about it, the goal of our lives is to enter the eternal rest that is ours in Christ (see Hebrews 4) – we work towards that goal by serving Christ, by loving our family and friends and by working hard to lead productive lives.  This is all good, but as humans we also need to cultivate regular habits of rest, giving thanks and recognising that God provides for our needs and we are dependent on him.
Blessings,
Ben

The past few weeks I’ve been leaning a lot about home maintenance.  I’ve learned how to cut to size and hang a new front door and I’ve learned to replace the innards of a toilet cistern.  While I do feel a sense of accomplishment, these weren’t fun or exciting jobs (both had moments where I thought I couldn’t do it).  Home maintenance isn’t fun, but it is necessary if you don’t want your house falling down around you.
Our spiritual lives also require regular effort: spending time practicing love and generosity towards others, even when its hard; establishing patterns of reading the Bible and praying or listening to it in the car on the way to work; creating space to serve God with the gifts he has given me; making decisions that put him first in my life; and praying that God be at work in me by his Holy Spirit to grow me as a Christian.
Of course, all this maintenance is worth it when you have a great house to live in – when you have a great life of hope in Christ that helps you persevere through the difficult days, peace which gives you contentment and joy, and purpose, since we are part of building God’s eternal Kingdom! 
Life in Christ is the best!  But it does require maintenance…
Blessings,
Ben

Over the next two months our Church is running several evangelistic events.  These will be fun opportunities to make pizza, or a gingerbread house, or ink art.  Great times to get together with our Church family.  But that’s not why we run these events – they aren’t for you – they’re for the people you might invite.  The only reason we run these events is so that you can invite your friends and family members to attend with you.  Here are five quick tips to inviting friends to Christian events (from the mts blog*).
1. PRAY: Pray regularly for friends, their salvation and warm opportunities to introduce them to Jesus.
2. ACCEPT: Accept their invitations regularly.  Make invitations and acceptance (and declines) a normal part of the relationship.
3. RELATIONAL: Relationships matter!  Build deepening friendships with people.
4. THANK: Thank your friends for hanging out and for their invitations.
5. INVITE: It can be intimidating to invite a non-Christian to an event at Church, but making invitations is an important step for them to learn about Jesus.  
Blessings,
Ben

*https://mts.com.au/how-to-invite-a-friend-to-a-christian-event/

Our Church weekend away is a chance to deepen relationships with one another. 
The new Testament is full of ‘one another’ commands*.  We are literally God’s gift to one another to strengthen and encourage one another in our life in Christ!  The problem is that a brief moment on Sundays doesn’t easily foster the deep relationships required. 
There are many formal and informal ways to develop stronger relationships at Church, such as having people over for a meal, catching up for a coffee, meeting one-to-one to read the bible and pray, serving together in ministry, being part of a bible study group or even going away on holidays together. 
Our Church weekend away is one great way of getting a head start on this.  A weekend together is like a whole year of Sundays in terms of deepening relationships.  There’s time around Gods word together as we hear some great bible talks, there’s meal times as its all fully catered, and there’s plenty of free time to spend together in structured and unstructured activities.
So let me encourage you to register for our Church weekend away today – its an investment in one another as we live for Christ!
Click here to register now.
Blessings,
Ben

*Check out Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Colossians 3:16, Romans 12:6, 15-5-7, 2 Corinthians 13:11-14, 1 Peter 1:21-23 & Ephesians 4:11-13, just for a start.

This Sunday our Wilton 10am congregation launches!  More than 2 years in the making.  Fuelled by much prayer and planning.  Seeking to share life in Christ with more of our Wilton community so that they might be saved and God might be glorified.
It’s been a great joy over these years to see you all growing in your relationship with Jesus and serving one another in love.  There are so many ways I have seen God at work among you over these past 7 years: many dozens becoming Christians; many more growing in their faith; many children growing into teenagers and young adults full of joy and life in Christ!  We’ve started a Kids Club, a Youth Group, and a playtime, because we recognise the value of children and youth in God’s Kingdom.  We’ve invested in the nursing homes ministry and we’ve wrestled with Gods Word and how it ought to shape our lives. 
There’s not a chance our current Wilton congregation would fit in the old St Luke’s Wilton Church building, it feels funny to imagine us in that space.
And those seven years are only a small part of God’s work in Picton and Wilton over more than 170 years since Thomas Hassall (the galloping parson) rode his horse over Razorback to conduct services in the Antill homestead.  Praise God for his faithfulness and love – as he continues to use frail and fragile people like you and me to achieve his purposes in the world!
What a joy it is to follow Jesus!  What a joy it is to see him answer our prayers in the launching of this new congregation.  Join me in praying that many will come to find life in Christ on Sunday mornings at Wilton, and many more will grow in their faith and love for Christ.  Pray for the Wilton Mornings Team, that they might be protected from Satan’s schemes, and that they will be united in Christ and filled with joy and hope.

Yours in Christ,
Ben