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
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Today, let me introduce you to the next exciting phase of our Church life together!
I call him Jake (well, that’s actually his name).
Jake represents the next exciting phase of our Church life together because he’s undertaking a two year Ministry Training Apprenticeship starting in January. We are a Church that strives to help all people find life in Christ and we do that by equipping our members to serve and love one another with the good news of Jesus. Our greatest asset is our people and we need to be investing in training and developing leaders across all areas of our Church life.
The Ministry Training Apprenticeship is not about what we can get out of Jake, its about giving Jake experience and training across a broad range of Christian ministry to help him consider how he might serve the Lord with his life.
You’ll recall that Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” – Matt 9:37-38. Would you join me in praying that the MTS programme will allow us to raise up and send out workers into Christ harvest field from among us?
It will cost approximately $50,000 to employ Jake as a Ministry trainee next year. Half of this will be paid for from our Church budget, the other half will be fundraised by Jake himself. You can support Jake by signing up to pray for him or by contributing to our MTS Support Fund.
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 week I can’t decide what to write to you about, so you get all three…
1) Join me in praying for HSC students as they start their exams today (pray particularly for Skye, Adeline, Tim, James and Hunter – connected to our Church and youth group – NB: they might not all be participating in the HSC, but all will benefit from prayer).
2) Join me in carefully considering our vote and praying for the Voice Referendum this weekend, perhaps using our Archbishop’s prayer, listed below.
3) The NSW Government has committed to introducing legislation to ban ‘LGBTIQ+ conversion practices’ this November. While this in itself, is a good thing, a whole lot of healthy Christian practices might be caught up in the legislation – such as prayer, preaching and spiritual guidance based on deeply-held biblical beliefs about gender and sexuality. Therefore, we are being urged to speak up about this issue and call upon our parliamentarians to ensure this does not take place. For more information and for easy to follow guides in how to write, call or meet up with your local MP, go to this website: https://contactyourmp.org.au/.
Yours in Christ,
Ben
Here’s a prayer from our Archbishop on the upcoming Referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, along with some resources to Help you think Christianly about the topic (please note these resources represent both YES and NO arguments):
“Gracious Lord, The Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, we pray for our nation. We lament the damage done to the original inhabitants of this land, since European settlement, including the loss of life, land and language. We recognise sins committed and harm done. We praise you that you have built your church among the First Peoples of this land and we rejoice to be brothers and sisters in Christ with them. Hear our prayer as together we consider the referendum on recognition and the Voice to Parliament. Preserve us in love, respect and mutual service. Give us a spirit of wisdom and discernment as we cast our votes. Father, whatever is decided, we beg you for clear and lasting progress in addressing inequality and closing the gap for First Nations peoples. Bless Australia, we pray, as the gospel is proclaimed, that we may be reconciled to you and to each other through him who died for all, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, in whose name we pray, Amen.”
The Voice: A Christian Consideration, by Michael Jensen
No, Not This Way: One Christian Response to the Voice Referendum, by Sandy Grant
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
This weekend nearly 30 of our teenagers head to Katoomba for KYCK Youth Camp. KYCK challenges and equips high schoolers to boldly live the Christian life. This year they’ll be exploring Mark’s gospel in the Bible.
Please join me in praying for safety for them all as they travel up, camp on site and interact with a thousand or so other teenagers also attending. Pray for our Youth Leaders: that they will have energy and enthusiasm for the weekend; that they would be strengthened to live a godly life; and that they would love and lead the teenagers well.
These weekend camps often have a formative place in our lives as we are challenged and encouraged to live for Jesus Christ. Pray that these teenagers be transformed more into the likeness of Christ, not just for a weekend, but for their lifetime and eternity.
Yours in Him,
Ben
Check out these photos from a few past years at KYCK. (see how they’ve grown)
Today* is the third day of the Sydney Anglican Synod – its the AGM meeting of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church. It’s a 5 day meeting of 800 or so people representing around 270 parishes, plus diocesan organisations, schools and boards. It’s a business meeting with motions, bills and complex rules of debate that take quite some getting used to. We hear the Bible taught, pray together and discuss and debate a wide range of matters from financial and governance, to theology and political issues.
Highlights for me of the last few days include hearing from 3 indigenous brothers and sisters about their views on the upcoming referendum**; motions encouraging political engagement to curb the effects of poker machines and online sports betting; and many other important matters.
Michael Duckett, pastor of the Macarthur Indigenous Church, described the referendum for the Voice to Parliament as a bus. He said our tendency is to inspect the bus to see how well its built, find out how many seats its got and to criticise all the details. But he said his indigenous brothers and sisters have been waiting at the bus stop for a long time, and never before has a bus come along. He said from their perspective, there is excitement that any old bus might be coming along to help them. It might not be the best bus, but at least its something.
He also said that the most important reconciliation we can focus on is the reconciliation with God that can only come through Jesus Christ. Whatever your opinion on the voice to parliament, can I encourage you pray as you prepare to vote, and perhaps consider reading the arguments for and against linked to in the word from our Archbishop on this matter that appears at the bottom of this E-News.
Yours in Him,
Ben
*I’m writing this on the morning on Wednesday 13th September.
** Read more about what they said here: https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/indigenous-anglicans-speak-about-true-reconciliation/53594
