Category: newsletter (Page 1 of 16)

Easter is the best time to invite friends to Church.

Research shows that 40 percent of Australians would say yes if they were invited to church at Easter time. I’m not a betting man, but those are pretty good odds.

So why haven’t you invited someone? Is it because you don’t think its important for your friends to come to know Jesus? Is it because you’re embarrassed about Church and what they might think about it? Is it just because you’ve been busy and haven’t got around to it?

It’s OK if you’re not going to invite someone, but if you’ve been praying for them, if you care about them, if you want them to come to know Jesus, then I say stop what you’re doing right now, and send that invitation!

We’ve arranged four different activities that you can invite people too, I’m very confident that all four are going to be high quality, low cringe, and clear on the gospel: Women’s Paint and Sip, Men’s Meat and Grill, Easter Services and the Taste and See course.

You could send them the details in an sms message, or include the link to the event pages on our website, or grab a paper invite from Church and hand it to them next time you see them. There is no time like the present. And if you sent that invitation, feel free to let me know so that I can pray for your friend and for their response.

Yours in Christ,

Ben

Britt Williams here, this is for all the mums out there.

It’s so easy to spend our time wishing for someone else’s life, isn’t it? It’s so easy to compare ourselves to other mums who we assume just ‘have it together’. It’s so easy to put our hope in some future day when ‘X finally happens and I finally feel complete’. It’s so easy to buy into our culture’s obsession with optimisation – even to the point of optimising our children!

It’s so easy to lack contentment. So easy.

So where does contentment in your family come from? Do we even have contentment in our families? Questions like those often make me question and doubt myself. It recently clicked for me that the cure for discontent – is the contentment that God alone offers us.

Contentment in our families, did you know, is linked to the command not to covet – family contentment is one of the 10 commands so it must be important! We spend so much time coveting instead of being thankful for the gifts God has given us. Our families are ours, given to us by God, wonderful even in the brokenness and limitations being in this sinful world.

I myself have been encouraged and rebuked recently to slow down to find rest and gratitude in what God has given me today. I need to slow down and absorb these short days on earth and use these days with purpose and meaning. Mums, let’s pray that God will use us for his glory and that we will focus on serving him rather than looking for ways to make ourselves feel better or more comfortable or more important. God alone offers the contentment that sin falsely promises.

May God bless you with true contentment,
Britt Williams.

ps. Last week, myself and the other PWAC staff-wives (Kate and Ineke) trekked it into Sydney to hear about “Joy in Contentment” at the annual Mother’s Union Conference. This article was heavily inspired by a talk about “Contentment in our Families”.

As Jesus finishes his meal with his disciples at the end of chapter 16 he says it like it is:

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33.

This week I’ve hardly had one thing I’ve felt sufficiently prepared for – its frustrating not to be able to catch a breath and to go from one thing to another feeling like you’re not doing each thing justice. Some weeks are just like that.

I’ve been greatly comforted by two things in particular this week. One is that the secret to the fruitful Christian life is not my effort or ability, but is simply for me to remain in Jesus (John 15:5). And the second is the knowledge that whatever struggles I might face in this life, whatever troubles I might have in the ‘world’ – Jesus is stronger and he has overcome. Jesus is and will be victorious, and my job is simply to remain in him by trusting and living in obedience to him in this life and for the next.

So if you’re like me, and some weeks overwhelm you – take heart – Jesus has overcome the world!

Yours in Christ,

Ben

Today (Wednesday 18th) is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the seven week season leading up to Easter.

Lent is a season for focusing on Jesus and what he’s done for us in the lead up to our commemoration of his death and resurrection at Good Friday and Easter Day celebrations. Sometimes we might fast or deny ourselves something during Lent in order to help us focus on prayer and thanksgiving to Jesus.

As a Church this is also our biggest season of mission – we hope to hold two Women’s Evangelistic Events (a High Tea at Picton and a Paint and Sip Event at Wilton) on 14th March and a Men’s Evangelistic Event (Men’s Roast Night) on 21st March. Along with these, our Easter services are great opportunities to invite people to come and see what Jesus has done for them.

We aim to follow this up by running Wednesday night evangelistic courses during term 2 (beginning 22nd April). Please join me in praying that Jesus would be glorified by 24 non-Christians attending our Wednesday night ‘Taste and See’ course after coming along to the events surrounding Easter, and that many of them will put their trust in Jesus and be saved!

Yours in Christ,

Ben

How are you going at Praying for two friends every day who don’t know Jesus yet?
To be honest, sometimes my orange bookmark falls out of my Bible and I forget about it for a few days – but then I find it again and get back in the habit.  It’s been helpful for me to pray for these friends, and helpful for me to remember the importance of sharing Jesus with others.  This morning in our Bible study group it stood out to me, not just that Jesus is the ‘way, the truth and the life’, but also that ‘no one comes to the Father except through [him]’ (John 14:6).  That lends a real urgency to my sharing Jesus with people, because he is the only way and without him no-one can come to the Father and be saved!
This month let me encourage you to reach out to those two friends you’ve been praying for.  Invite them out for a cuppa, or over for dinner, or to go for a walk – whatever works.  Make it your aim to connect with them and get to know them.  We’re designing some opportunities surrounding Easter for you to then invite them along to Church or an event to hear more about Jesus.  We’ll let you know about those soon.
Yours in Christ,
Ben

For me this time of year is both overwhelming and exciting. It’s overwhelming because as all our ministries start up for the year there are many details to communicate, people to recruit, train and support in their roles, calendars to fill out. Not to mention that suddenly my week fills up with all these appointments and ministry groups.

But its just incredible to think that every single day God’s Word is being shared, his people are meeting together for encouragement, and we’re serving our community with care and hope! From the Bible Study groups that meet on every day except Friday and Saturday, to the Nursing Home Services starting today (Wednesday), to our weekly Kids and Youth ministries, to the soon to begin schools ministries at schools right across our shire!

If you want some encouragement, inspiration and fuel for your prayers – then make sure you join me this Sunday at our Schools Ministry Commissioning Service. It’s always such a joy to gather together with brothers and sisters from the many partner Churches of the Wollondilly to celebrate, support and pray for ministry in our Schools!

Yours in Him,

Ben

The Picton congregation surprised me last Sunday with some lovely words and notes and a cake to celebrate our 10 year anniversary at Picton and Wilton Anglican Churches (the picture above is the lunch we shared afterwards). Things have changed a lot since Kate and I arrived in the Parish in January 2016, both for us and for the Church.

I am so thankful to God for the way he continues to build his Church; to win people to Life in Christ and to equip people to serve one another in love. It’s beautiful to witness God’s faithfulness over time and his work in the lives of his people!

As this new year (2026!) really gets underway, let me encourage you to prioritise gathering with God’s people. For your sake and others: be regular at Church, join a Bible study group, pray daily and open God’s Word regularly. Investment in your relationship with God will bear fruit in this life and in the life to come!

Yours in Him,

Ben

On Monday evening we lit a candle for each of those who died at Bondi, held a minutes silence to grieve their loss and spent time in reading the scriptures and in prayer.
How do we respond to a world of brokenness and sin?  How do we protect our children and prevent these kinds of incidents happening again?
Jesus say in Luke 6:27: ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.’  And Jesus himself modelled this message as he himself laid down his own life to bear the sins of his enemies (us) and offer us forgiveness, reconciliation with God and hope of eternal life.
At Christmas time we remember that Jesus is the true light coming into the world – the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1).
When we feel unsettled and disturbed by the darkness of our world, we should fix our eyes on the light of Christ.  We condemn hate and respond with love.  I’m praying that you can look to Christ’s example as you relate to your relatives around the Christmas table and as you relate to your neighbours, colleagues and friends.  No matter what religion, race or gender, every Australian deserves to feel safe and to receive the true peace of Christmas – the peace of Life in Christ.
Yours in Christ,
Ben

Have you noticed the way young people in our Churches are stepping up!?!

I’m so proud to see the Youth band every few months at Wilton 5pm, and young musicians in the band at 10am too! Teenagers are running the A/V desk, helping as junior leaders on Sundays at creche and Sunday school and on Thursdays at Kids Club. They bring such energy and joy in the Lord and they help the kids in these programs to imagine what being a teenage follower of Jesus might look like.

We need to keep discipling and investing in training all of our members to be serving and leading with the gifts God has given them. Young people inspire, while older people bring maturity and wisdom. That’s why our Parish Council has a policy of providing a 50% subsidy to all training camps, like Youthworks Leaders in Training, and offering to pay for any training needs such as Safe Ministry Training for all our members.

As we plan next year, we’ve identified the first Friday night of every school term as a training night for Youth and Children’s ministry, and we’re planning training events for everyone throughout the year.

If you just relied on Scott and I to do the ministry, we couldn’t accomplish even 10% of what happens every week in our Churches because of your ministry. Our focus needs to remain squarely on equipping you (the saints) for works of service (Eph 4:12).

Yours in Christ,

Ben

Photo: Some of our team at the Wilton Public School SRE Christmas Assembly this week.

Remember the 2016 flood in Picton, that had the whole community come together to assist with cleanup? St Mark’s was directly impacted and the response was amazing. Same for all the businesses in town when people assisted. The clean up concluded and things were back to normal relatively quickly.

Now imagine if in the space of 2 months a couple more floods came through of the same size, and an earthquake also occurred on top of that, with both disasters flattening buildings? Imagine if in Picton, livelihoods and lives were lost, and the government did not have adequate funds to provide relief? There’s also no electricity for at least a month or more.

This is what the Philippines has been like the past 2 months, and regularly will bare the brunt of natural disasters that don’t even make the news- typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, making it hard to recover from one thing, before something else comes along. Many provinces were impacted, here’s news from one province:

From a Compassion worker this week on the ground:
“The past typhoon was terrible for Masbate, the whole province was without electricity for a month, except for a few near Masbate City. But the rest of the towns, I’m not sure if there’s electricity yet. I’m about to be transferred to another province called Quezon, but I’m still coordinating relief and financial help for those who lost their house completely”.
We’re currently in chaos, in the Philippines literally and figuratively. As you have seen in the news, our president is in turmoil after being allegedly involved in corruption scandals.

At the same time, we were being buffeted by storms and earthquakes. Continue praying for us. It will be good also to have some blessings for the project staff since they’ve been working hard, while they themselves were also affected heavily with the storm”.

Please pray for communities impacted by recent typhoons and earthquakes in the Philippines, for protection of and rapid relief for 105,040 sponsored children and their families and also unsponsored children being cared for by 470 Compassion church partners as well as many other churches bringing restoration to fragile communities. Perhaps consider giving to the churches caring for the children we support. If you are already a Compassion sponsor you can go to My Account and click on FCP gift. 100% of the value of the donation will go directly to the church partner to assist with their most urgent needs. Alternatively you can give directly to Compassion here: https://www.compassion.com.au/donate.

From your Compassion Representatives,
Debbie (W10 Member) and Spiro (Compassion)