Category: newsletter (Page 1 of 12)

At Picton and Wilton Anglican Churches, we are committed to the physical, emotional and spiritual welfare and safety of all people, particularly within our own community. As a church we take the teaching and leadership of children and young people seriously and we do all we can to provide an environment that is safe from any form of harm.

Ministry to children and young people is vibrant and exciting work, and also greatly significant to the life of the church. It is a service to the children and youth, the church family, and to God himself that offers great opportunities, but also carries significant responsibilities for the wellbeing of the children and young people in our care.
there are two aspects of this coming up that I want to draw your attention to:
1. If you are a parent / carer of (a) child(ren) in our programs, please complete our annual comprehensive permission note this year, if you haven’t already – due end of March.
2. We’d also love you to participate in our Safe Ministry Training so that you are equipped to work with children and young people in our Church (this isn’t the only requirement, but it is the most time consuming one).  You could participate in the Face-to-Face Safe Ministry Training in Mittagong on 29th March.  Or we will be helping both adults and junior leaders complete the online Safe Ministry Training on 30th March at Wilton Church. If you wish to participate please email [email protected] to let us know.  
For more info about our approach to Safe Ministry please check out our website here: https://pwac.org.au/safe-ministry/
Yours in Christ,
Ben

We had a great weekend away last weekend. Rick Lewers reminded us of the security and assurance we have in Christ as he spoke to us from Romans 8 about our Adoptive Father, Atoning Son, and Awakening Holy Spirit. It was a great time of fellowship, with meals together, games, activities and the Amazing Race.

This week we are preparing to relaunch our Bible Study Groups and hoping you will sign up to join one. It’s always a tricky process and we’re bound to make mistakes, so don’t get offended, just let us know and we’ll sort things out. We’ve had a go at putting groups together, based on the survey we did and now we hope people can either confirm what we’ve suggested for them, or cross their name out and sign up to a different group on the paper forms at Church on Sunday. If you’re name isn’t on a list, its just because you didn’t complete the survey earlier, you can still sign up to a group.

Our goal is to have as many people as possible benefitting from the bible teaching, fellowship and encouragement that a Bible Study Group can offer. Of course, we realise that not everyone can or will be part of one, and that’s OK.

Most groups will start meeting in the first week of March.

Yours in Christ,

Ben

What do you want for your friends and colleagues?  A fun life full of adventure and achievement?  A big house and a comfortable retirement?  They can achieve all those things and still wind up facing hell and the judgement of God at the end. What do you want for your children or grandchildren?  Success in their careers and in their relationships?  To afford the Australian dream of a house of their own?  They can achieve all this and still wind up facing hell and the judgement of God at the end. Life is long, but eternity is far longer.  Let’s pray and strive to help our friends and family know Jesus, that they might have full life in him now, and eternal life to come. But how can we help our friends and family, our children and grandchildren come to know Jesus?  That’s where our ‘Growing Conversations about Jesus’ course comes in.  Over the next 4 Thursdays we’ll consider how to prepare the soil, plant the gospel seeds, water the soil and grow and nourish the gospel message in the lives of our friends in gentle and loving ways. Be equipped to make an eternal impact on the lives of those around you – and start now in praying that God might be at work in their hearts to put their faith in Jesus.

Blessings, Ben

Join us Thursdays 10am at St Mark’s, Picton, or 7pm at Wilton Church starting tomorrow 6th February.

Compassion Australia is an inter-church, non-demoninational evangelical Christian organisation. Their ministry is holistic child development in partnership with local churches, in over 25 developing countries around the world.

Through sponsorship, Compassion assists children and their families living in poverty, regardless of their beliefs, gender or background. This has been occurring for over 60 years and 2 million children worldwide are benefiting from this ministry.

Picton and Wilton Anglican Church members sponsor 45 children, 37 of which are in the Philippines. A Compassion trip is being planned to the Philippines in 2026. Register an ‘expression of interest’ to Debbie at Church. Money not required yet. Let her know the size of your group and the details of your sponsor child and where they are located.

Follow the link below to see what’s happening in that part of the world…..

https://www.compassion.com.au/where-we-work/philippines

From Debbie,

Our Church Compassion Rep.

Recently I’ve had one song going around and around in my head – but it’s a good one! The chorus goes:

‘On that day, we will see you, shining brighter than the sun.
On that day, we will know you, as we lift our voice as one.
‘Til that day, we will praise you, for your never-ending grace.
And will keep on singing, on that glorious day.’

Many in our church family are facing sickness, death and sorrow, in their own lives or the lives of their loved ones. For all the weariness and feelings of hopelessness that can come upon us, this song declares:

‘What a blessed hope, though now tired and worn
We will spend eternity around our Saviour’s throne
Though we grieve our losses, we grieve not in vain
For we know our crown of glory waits beyond the grave’

Whenever I visit my family up north, I come away with a healthy dose of ‘eschatological awareness’! That is, in the face of their weariness, mental illness and the reality of impending death, they cry (often!!) ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ or ‘Take me home, Lord Jesus!’ It’s not a cry I hear in many other places, or from my own lips. And yet they are on the right track.

In the opening sermon of the 2 Thessalonians series, Scott challenges us to consider our intimacy with God. Do we know him? Are we growing in our knowledge of him? We are called to grow in this intimacy with God together, as his family. The more we know him, the more we will long to be with him!

So, as we sing together this Sunday, let’s sing heartily and whole-heartedly of all God has done for us in Christ, to make us his people, and to give us a future hope, beyond this weary and worn life.

‘Hallelujah, what a day it will be!
For at home with You, my joy is complete
As I run into Your arms open wide, I will see
My Father who is waiting for me’

‘On that Day’ by City Alight https://youtu.be/pF4qFdxD4kM?feature=shared

Yours in Christ,

Sharon (Picton 9am Congregation Member)

This past weekend, Wilton Anglican Youth [WAY] went to up to Katoomba for the KYCK Christian youth convention. 40 of us – and over 1400 others in the shed gathered in Jesus’ name to hear from Genesis 1-3 and to sing praises to our God. In video interviews, here’s what the [WAY] teenagers had to say:

Highlights:

“Camping” – Lara (yr9)

“Lollies” – Ethan (yr7)

“The KYCK sessions” – Caleb (yr12)

“The Tigers winning” – Louis (yr7)

“The music.” – Indi (yr9)

“The music.” – Lara (yr9)

“The music.”- Mischa (yr9)

“KYCK is going good. The bacon’s warm, right off the grill. The bread’s a bit cold but that’s just because of the day today.”

Ethan (yr7)

“I’m freezing. Double jumpered currently. But in all seriousness, I ‘ve learnt that God made us with a purpose.”

Lillian (yr11)

“God made the world with intention and everything is done for a reason.”

Kiah (yr8)

“Our identity should be found in Christ because we were made in God’s image, by God.”

Jye (yr12)

Join us this Sunday to see the KYCK recap video,

– Scott Williams (Asst. Minister)

The meerkat is everyone’s favourite at the zoo.  After busily foraging around for food (haven’t they noticed that the food mysteriously appears every day at 9am) they stand to attention bolt upright and check this way and that to see that there is no danger at hand.  They’re looking out for one another, because they’re a team, because they’re family. 

I want to suggest that might be a good habit for us to be in at Church.  Not in order to notice any danger, but to notice anyone in danger: anyone who is standing by themselves; anyone looking lost or lonely; or anyone who has come to Church for the first time and will leave again promptly if nobody comes to speak with them.  I estimate that it only takes 30-60 seconds of no-one speaking to a new person after Church for them to feel awkward and decide to leave.  Then they possibly never come back.

I completely understand that there is always a friend at Church who you’re itching to catch up with, or to gloat about how you’re team beat their team in the football.  But that conversation can wait.  When the service finishes, just put that conversation on hold for a second and mimic a meerkat.

I also understand that talking to strangers is scary.  Why not be a pair of meerkats?  Try it with a friend, say ‘Hey, have you ever seen that person at Church before?  Why don’t we go and say hello?’ 

Mimic a meerkat, and you just might find an opportunity to welcome somebody to our Church, listen to their story, show them around, describe how our ‘King’s Kids’ Sunday school or youth ministries or bible studies work, or even explain the good news of Jesus!

Being a welcoming Church is not just about who’s on the roster at the door – it’s about setting a culture of welcoming newcomers, seeking to build them up in Christ and incorporate them into our family.  It’s our responsibility – all of us – and so over the next few weeks in this space, I want to explore this issue.

Yours in Christ,
Ben

What was your first impression when you walked into church for the first time? Were you greeted at the front door with a smile or was there some confusion as to where you should sit and where everything was? Did anyone come up to you after the service and have a chat? Were you followed up later on in the week with a message or phone call?

Welcoming new people into our church is a vital ministry not just for those who are the designated welcomers for that day, but for all of us who attend a service. Sarie King, the writer of a research paper into welcoming and integrating newcomers, described welcoming as “…not about greeting people, it’s about churches and congregation members practicing a ministry of hospitality and inclusion to believers and unbelievers alike, it’s about connecting them in relationship with other believers, and engaging them fully in the life, growth and ministry of a congregation.”

Our welcoming is much more than the hour or two we spend with newcomers on a Sunday. It is also the time we spend during the week reaching out to those who have come for the first time. The effectiveness of this follow up can be seen in the following quote:

“The basic finding is summed up in the ’36-hour principle’:

When lay- persons (aka not ministers) visit the home of a first- time worshipper within 36 hours, 85% of them will return to worship next Sunday. When the visit is delayed for 72 hours, only 60% return; when delayed five to seven days, 15% return… if the minister makes the first visit percentages were then cut in half.”

Last year we ran some training events over a few weekends and one of those was focused on Welcoming and Newcomers Integration. Over the following months we will be running follow up training, looking at what we have been doing well, what could be improved and any changes people may have in mind. The first training session is for Wilton 5pm congregation and will be Sunday 15th September 3:30-4:30. If you are interested in attending please let me know ASAP. We will send out more information for those who are interested for Picton 9am and Wilton 10am later.

Yours in Christ,

Jake

God’s incredible plan is to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ! (Ephesians 1:10).
We are part of something so much bigger than just Picton and Wilton (although Picton and Wilton are part of God’s great plan too).  Our partnership with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) is one way we take part in God’s universal plan for his creation – as CMS strives for a ‘world that knows Jesus’.
The Church Missionary Society (CMS) is a fellowship of Christian people and churches committed to global mission. CMS works with churches to set apart godly people as long-term cross-cultural gospel workers.
Our Churches partner with CMS in supporting Craig and Lisse in the Middle-East – you can sign up to their newsletter and/or support them financially here: https://cms.org.au/missionaries/clvn/
On Saturday 7th September I’ll be attending the CMS Southern Highlands Mission Expo at Moss Vale in the afternoon.  I’d love you to join me – you need to register by 4th September to attend and then let me know so I can give you a lift in our van.  At the expo, we’ll hear from CMS Executive Director, John Lovell aswell as from missionaries going to Taiwan and returning from South East Asia. 
Register here: https://www.cms.org.au/event/cms-southern-highlands-mission-expo-2024/.
Then on Sunday 8th September we’ll be hearing from guest speaker Graeme, from CMS in our regular Church services.
Yours in Christ,
Ben