Category: newsletter (Page 3 of 17)

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)

One of the most beautiful things about being a Christian is that when we’re saved, we’re adopted into God’s family, and suddenly have a whole lot of brothers and sisters in Christ.
But having a large family isn’t always great – it takes time and effort to maintain good relationships.  Sometimes Church relationships can be superficial, sometimes people treat you poorly, but its worth the effort.  We are literally God’s gift to one another and its beautiful to experience this in prayers offered, listening ears, hospitality shared, encouragement spoken, timely rebuke and gospel reminders spoken (among other things).
One of the ways you can invest in your Church family is by coming along to our Church weekend away.  Imagine a fully catered weekend with great Bible teaching, training, kids program, activities and time with your Church family?  This is what we have planned for 13-15 Feb 2026.  So book in now so you don’t miss out: https://book.venue.life/wedderburn/register/0731-pwac2026.
Yours in Christ,
Ben

Last weekend 20 kids and 5 leaders went along to Square One Camp – a weekend of fun, singing, games, challenges and learning about Jesus. Hundreds of kids in School Years 3-6 from Churches all across Sydney came together.

Check out these kids reflections from Youthworks Square One Primary School Kids Weekend:

“My favourite activity was the water slide because I found a way to go really fast. I got to learn more about Jesus’ parables.” ~Hudson

“the water slide was the best” ~Colbie

“that was where I fell in love with your dad almost 20 years ago” ~Colbie’s mum

“it was a good place to learn about Jesus and I learnt so much at the camp” ~Anonymous

“I loved learning more about God, the water slides, pet rock making and the cool music. I also loved being with my friends and catching jellyfish ” ~Eli

“The things I learned at square one 2025 was to build your life on rock-solid foundation by loving your enemies and praying for them. Trusting in Jesus to make a way for you and not getting angry. Some of my personal favourite things at square one were the water slide, the dancing and singing and cabin time! Everyone in my cabin made great memories. I really enjoyed square one and I believe everyone else did as well. Coming to Square one made me think differently and have a better attitude towards my life. The fun-tricky puzzles made me think a lot. Thank you square one” ~Matilda

It’s November! When did that happen?

I’m always surprised how quickly the year rolls around again. In a world of constant change and busyness, it’s important to remember that God and his promises are powerful and unchanging.

The lead up to Christmas provides us with a particular opportunity to present Christ and his love to our community and I’d like you to set aside time in your busy schedule to be a part of this*.

You could volunteer to help collect Toys n Tucker at Picton mall on 28 or 29th November, to make hampers for local families in need in our community. Or you could volunteer to help with Wilton Carols on 13th December. If you could sign up today, right now, by clicking on these links**, that would really help us with our planning.

Praying that as the year ramps up for you – you can keep Jesus at the centre where he belongs.

Yours in Christ,

Ben

*I’m asking Church members to volunteer – not just the random website reading public, if that’s you – then hi, we love you and thanks for reading!

** Links available in the email version, not on website

I’m writing to share some exciting news and invite you to partner with me in ministry in 2026.

As you may know, I am finishing up as the MTS apprentice for Picton and Wilton Anglican (PWAC) at the end of 2025 and will start studying at Moore College in 2026. I will be staying on as a student minister at PWAC, doing one day a week of ministry. This will be an incredible opportunity to grow in understanding God’s Word, serve His people, and be equipped for a lifetime of gospel ministry.

This season of training is made possible through the generous support of people who believe in raising up the next generation of gospel workers. I’m seeking a team of financial and prayer partners who will stand with me as I continue this work. I need to fundraise $11894, which is my salary for next year.

Would you consider supporting me financially, either through a one-off gift or by becoming a regular monthly partner? Every contribution, big or small, is a great help and I truly appreciate it.

Please let me know by sending me a message or email if you are able to support me next year so I am able to plan accordingly.

Thank you for considering partnering with me in this work and to those who have been supporting me on my MTS journey. I’m so thankful for your encouragement, friendship, and prayers as I continue to serve and grow in the gospel.

In Christ,

Jake

God is powerfully at work among us!
It was so great at our Baptism Celebration service to witness our friends testifying to God’s work of salvation in their lives.  What a powerful reminder of the work God has done and is doing in our own lives and to give thanks and continue to trust in him.  It’s also a huge encouragement to be prayerful and confident about the work God will do in the lives of our friends and family who don’t know Jesus yet.
Our Archbishop, Kanishka, began his Synod address this year with the phrase, ‘I believe in conversion’.  The God who made the universe and placed the stars in space, the God who in love sent his only son into the world, to live and to die on the cross and to conquer death and rise to life.  This God can certainly call people from death to life as they turn from their sin to put their trust in Jesus Christ.
So join me in praying that many more of our friends and family will turn and trust in Jesus and be saved.  Join me in praying that our next baptism service we will not just run out of chairs, but that God’s praises will ring out from among us in ever increasing measure!
In Christ,
Ben

Everyone needs to know Jesus and receive life in his name. And God has a plan for how they will come to know him. Do you know what that plan is?

You.

You, God’s people, are God’s plan and method for sharing the good news of Jesus with the world. That’s why we’re launching our ‘Prayers for 2’ strategy.

Because God is the one who saves people, and because he does it through the efforts of his people in relationship, the best place to start is prayer.

Prayer calls upon God to be at work by his Holy Spirit in the lives of our friends, and a habit of prayer motivates us and mobilises us to depend on God, to be aware of our friends need for Jesus and seek opportunities to share the good news with them.

Our goal as a Church is to have at least 60 of us praying daily for 2 minutes for 2 of our friends who don’t yet know Jesus and have life in Christ.

So grab a ‘prayers for 2’ bookmark at Church (or convert it to a fridge magnet) and begin praying!

In Christ,
Ben

Pic: A really bad selfie from our Term 4 Prayer and Praise Night.

I’m not much of a political person, and I had never heard of Charlie Kirk before the shocking news of his death hit the headlines last week.  I still don’t feel qualified to say much about it, but I was amazed by two statements made at his funeral:
Firstly, Charlie’s wife, Erika said:
““My husband, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life. That young man, that young man.  On the cross, our Savior said: ‘Father, forgive them for they not know what they do.’  That man, that young man, I forgive him.  I forgive him because it was what Christ did and it is what Charlie would do.  The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love and always love, love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”
The second statement that caught my attention was made in response by Donald Trump:
“He did not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them, that’s where I differed from Charlie: I hate my opponents,”
Trump may have been speaking in jest, but these two statements make clear that we have a choice about how to respond to people who disagree with us, or harm us or simply hate us – and as Christians we are guided by the way Jesus Christ has treated us. 
‘While were were still sinners… while we were his enemies… Christ died for us.’ (Rom 5:8-10)
Yours in Christ,
Ben

I thought I might take an opportunity to update you all on my MTS journey, as well as in my personal life.
 
Firstly, I am now into my final four months as your MTS apprentice. I cannot believe how fast the two years have gone, I feel like it has flown by! Some of the ministries I am currently working on is helping manage our bible study groups and support the leaders of those groups, giving a talk at the aged care services in October and researching my Genesis sermon, as well as doing my regular weekly ministries. 
 
Secondly, my plan for next year has been to go to Moore College and last week I received my letter of acceptance so that will be going ahead. I am very excited to deep-dive into the bible and be taught by some very experienced lecturers. I am a little apprehensive about returning to full time study as it has been over 10 years since I last did formal education so your prayers for that would be greatly appreciated. 
 
I am also planning on becoming a student minister at church but will need to fundraise my salary for that. If this is something you would be able to give towards I would greatly appreciate it and could you please let me know so I can plan for this. 
 
Finally, the end of the year will look a tiny bit different as Ineke is expecting to give birth in November! We are very excited to be welcoming a baby boy to our family and look forward to becoming parents for the first time.
 
Thank you for all your prayers for both myself and Ineke, we are truly grateful for the support we have experienced as we have stepped into full time ministry.
 
Yours in Christ,
Jake