Category: newsletter (Page 1 of 17)

I love singing at church! Even more than that, I love hearing the voices of others singing around me. When I have the privilege of leading singing from the front on Sunday mornings at Picton, I delight to hear the voices of my brothers and sisters in Christ singing right back at me. 

Our singing as the gathered people of God, is worship of God. But it’s also God’s way for us to teach one another. 

We’re up to that part in Colossians with one of my favourite verses in the Bible: “Let the message of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” As we sing to God with thankfulness in our hearts, we also teach and correct one another. Most often, in our songs, that correction will be of our thinking, to reflect God’s glory, rearranging our priorities to have Christ at the centre of our lives, reminding our forgetful hearts of the sin that entangles us and the good that God has for us to do. 

So as we gather today, sing up! Lift up your thankful hearts to the Lord, and in doing so, encourage those around you to do the same.
Yours in Christ,
Sharon

“Brothers and sisters, care for one another.” Those are the words of Dr Phil Greenhalgh, retired Emergency Physician, Royal Flying Doctor Service veteran, faithful member at our 10am service, and keen helper at Kids Club. His message to us this winter: “If you’re contagious, stay home.”
1 Corinthians 12 is clear — the church is a body whose parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. Caring for others isn’t optional. Caring is what church does and among us are people who cannot fight off the sicknesses you just shrug off.
Phil is unimpressed by the famous Codral commercials urging us to “soldier on”, dose yourself up and push through. He’s on record: “The commercial that says to soldier on with whatever rubbish is all about money! It is just profit for the chemist.” The message he prefers is simpler and older: “stay home, stop the spread.”
Phil’s Top 3:

1. If you are sick, stay home for two days and rest. Take Sambucol (for zinc) and a natural antiviral
2. If you have aches and fever, test at home for flu, COVID, and RSV. If it’s flu, see your GP and get a script for Tamiflu ASAP
3. Stay warm, eat well, avoid stress, get your flu vaccine

We’ll see you when you’re well. There’s no guilt in staying home. Your seat will be here, your church family will be here and the coffee will still be hot. The body of Christ loves each other in practical, unglamorous ways, and staying home when you’re sick is one of them. As Phil puts it: “He has watched over me for 75 years. God is good. Praise him!”
Scott Williams (Asst. Minister) & Phil Greenhalgh

It’s amazing how hard Paul works (Col 1:29) for people he hasn’t even met!
His goal is to present everyone fully mature in Christ.  The main way he does that is by proclaiming Christ, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom (Col 1:28).
As a Church our goal is to help everyone find life in Christ.  That means we put energy into teaching God’s word to one another, discipling one another and loving one another as a Church.  But it also means, we put energy into people we haven’t met yet coming to know Christ in our evangelistic efforts, and we are a welcoming and inclusive community.
There are increasingly more people coming to our Churches, and it can be overwhelming to be constantly meeting new people.  Let me encourage you (our regulars) to persevere in welcoming and caring for new people and to have a heart of generosity and a big view of God’s growing Kingdom.  Think about sitting next to and introducing yourself to a new person.  Ask them about who they are and why they came along.  Introduce them to others.  Below is a draft version of our Welcoming Pathway – so you can help them know what to expect and how they can get integrated into our Church family.  If you have any questions or ideas about how we can do this well, please let me know.
Yours in Christ,
Ben

This has been a week full of milestones!

The 2 year anniversary of the Picton Community Pantry – serving our community by providing a place for low-cost groceries and connection. The conclusion of our first ‘Taste and See’ course and many guests making steps towards faith in Jesus. Application to several Federal, State and Local Council grants to support our ministries. And an application to the Urban Renewal Pilot Program. If we are successful in our application, then we will gain support in developing our Wilton Church property to better serve the rapidly growing community around us with the good news of Jesus Christ!

This year we’ve really felt the need for space. Our Wilton morning service Kids Program’s have struggled with many children in smaller than ideal spaces, and both our Wilton congregations have often used every chair in the building on a regular Sunday. We recognise that this is just the beginning of what God has in store for our little Church in a large and growing suburb, and so we need to make plans.

Parish Council are taking a first step by asking for financial contributions to buy 50 more chairs. We are exploring possibilities to increase or make more flexible the Kids ministry spaces, and we are beginning to explore the longer term project of a whole new Wilton Church building for the future.

Yours in Christ,

Ben

It’s Compassion Sunday this week!

We look forward to welcoming Compassion’s Church Partnerships Manager, Spiro yet again (and sponsor of 25 years himself), to talk to us about the work of Compassion’s child sponsorship programs, which occur all around the world.

Our church family sponsors quite a number of children in the Philippines (as well as some in other countries), and for the first time ever this year (just last month), 15 of us had the opportunity to see for ourselves, the work Compassion is doing in the Philippines.

Join us for church at any of the 3 services this Sunday, to hear from those who went to the Philippines last month, as they share their insights from the week-long trip. From visiting projects, to home visits, to Sunday church, to meeting our own sponsor kids, to a dinner hearing from 4 young people who are now alumni, find out how Compassion’s work is impacting those who live in the Philippines.

If you don’t currently sponsor a child but are thinking about it, we will have Child Profiles from projects we visited as well as other places. If you are unsure about sponsorship, pray about it and have a read of the link below, which has very helpful information:

17 Questions Most New Sponsors Ask, Answered (https://www.compassion.com.au/journal/questions-most-new-sponsors-ask-answered/)

Hope to see you Sunday!

Debbie.

Your Compassion Rep.

As of the 7th of May, I’ve been a mum for 6 months! Here’s a collection of reflections from this new mum.

1. I have such little control…

Starting from when I went into labour, to the temperament of our baby, to how much (or little) he sleeps, all the way to what he will do with his life, and how quickly he grows as time disappears.

2. …So dependence on God is a must

Jake and I can strive to be the best parents we can be, and aim to teach M everything we know about the gospel, but at the end of the day his salvation lies in God’s hands alone. Relinquishing control can be daunting, but what a relief that God has it in his far more capable hands.

3. God sees me

At 3am when I’ve barely slept, and it’s just me and our little milk monster awake, it can feel eerily quiet and alone. I have been comforted by Psalm 121- God does not slumber. He is awake with me, watching over me and sustaining me. This also gives me peace to rest (when I can) because I know that God is watching over M even in the moments that I can’t.

4. God sees my child

God knit him together in my womb. He knows M even better and more intimately than I ever can. This leads me to whisper prayers in the small moments.. “Lord, why is he crying, help me to give him what he needs”.

Being a mother is truly a gift.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums, young and old, seasoned and new. It is an honour to be one of you this year.

– Ineke

We could not believe how many people wanted to come to Church at Easter!

We had over 280 people join us across 2 Good Friday services, and around 350 people attend Easter Sunday services to celebrate Christ’s resurrection!

Praise God for such vibrant and encouraging gatherings of God’s people and pray that God continues to work powerfully among his people, transforming lives and building his Kingdom here in Picton and Wilton. Pray especially for our upcoming ‘Taste and See‘ course that many would explore the good news of Jesus and put their trust in him!

This morning (Wednesday) we sent off a team of 15 Church members to the Philippines on a Compassion Mission trip. They will meet their sponsor children and observe the work of Compassion in a few local regions of the Philippines. Pray for safety, encouragement and joyful relationship building between our Church members, the Compassion team, and the local Filipino families.

Yours in Christ,

Ben

In SRE today I asked who could remember the Memory verse we learned last week and hands shot up. One child could say the verse perfectly and a few others had a really good try. I was impressed after only one week of working on it. Sometimes we think memory verses are only for children but why? Here’s some excuses I have tried… I’m too old? I don’t have time? Or perhaps you’ve just never really thought about it. Well let me encourage you, you can be (and should be?) committing God’s Word to memory.

Kids in my SRE class are often motivated by the prize, a bouncy ball or eraser or book mark that says Jesus loves you – the bouncy balls are the most popular! But what if the reward was much greater. Focusing your mind on things above, helping you to get to know God better, reminding you of great truths that sustain you, easing your anxious thoughts, taking up space in your day and life that may otherwise be filled with mindless scrolling.

This term we have been challenged to remember John 14:6, Next term we’re studying the book of Colossians. A few of us have started to memorise Chapter 1 – why not join us 😊.

Yours in Christ,

Kate

*Picture unrelated… AI generated image of when the Picton congregation was attacked by a dinosaur (and Joan was eaten, poor Joan…)