Category: newsletter (Page 6 of 12)

Wilton Anglican Church is growing out of one and growing into two.

Some welcome it. Others resist it. Still others haven’t noticed. Let me tell you plain and clear: Our church is growing. In the mere 4 years I’ve been connected with Wilton Anglican Church I’ve seen so much growth.

The church has grown. The suburb has grown. The kids and youth ministry has grown. The petrol price has grown. Wilton Christmas Carols has grown. The traffic has grown. The roster has grown. But best of all, gospel ministry in and among us has grown as God has worked in us to glorify himself and grow his kingdom.

And so, with all this growth comes change. Good change. Soon, our Wilton Anglican Church will grow out of one and grow into two in 2023. It’s still early days but we thought it was a good time to share with you our plans for the launch of a Wilton morning service in 2023.

In some ways, growing from one Wilton congregation into two is the plan – not to cut ourselves in half, nor to be stretched twice as far and neither to be spread half as thin – but to healthily and faithfully grow from one into two. More foundationally than that, we’re aiming for every single one of us (whatever church service you call home) to grow up together in Christ to face the challenges ahead of us, and to faithfully bring the gospel to a world that desperately needs Jesus.

Here’s the nuts-and-bolts plan that we’re moving ahead with for a Wilton morning congregation in 2023:

  • January to February – Gather a Wilton Mornings Team
  • March to June – Meet as a team regularly to pray and plan
  • July to September – Final preparations for launch
  • October – Launch Wilton Mornings

So, what now? Please pray, dear reader. Prayer warriors, bible study groups, congregational pray-ers – please pray that we would healthily and faithfully grow out of one and into two. Pray for the gathering of a launch team. Pray that we might reach our neighbours with the gospel, and love our neighbours like Christ, and for many, many more to find life in Jesus.

Yours in Christ,

Scott

Advent

How do you prepare for Christmas?

For many of us its a mad scramble to finish off projects at work, buy the presents, arrange the food, plan the end of year parties. Sometimes the mad scramble distracts us from what Christmas is all about. We call this season Advent because it is a time of preparing to celebrate Christ’s birth, and also of putting life in perspective and being prepared for Christ’s second coming.

Lets make the most of this advent season by reflecting, reading, praying and giving thanks for our Saviour Christ and preparing our hearts for his return.

Here are a few resources that you might choose to use this advent:

– Youthworks are putting together some advent devotionals (https://youthworks.net/advent).

– Grab an Advent book, such as The One True Story, by Tim Chester (https://www.thegoodbook.com.au/the-one-true-story).

– Instead of Mariah Carey (or maybe as well as) – listen to a Christian Advent Playlist (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1LaIzZ2YCSbX6YlqMK9S0t).

– Pick a Christian Advent Calendar to use with your household (like this ‘Names of Jesus’ one – https://au.lacewingcreative.com/products/names-of-jesus-advent-calendar).

If you have used some other resources that you recommend, I’d love to hear about it.

I look forward to singing with you once again on Christmas Day:

‘Joy to the world, the Lord is come!’

Yours in Christ,

Ben

Everyone a Prophet?

As we open up 1 Corinthians 14 this week at Church you might be surprised to hear Paul in verse 1 encouraging everyone to take up prophecy. Isn’t prophecy just for people with crystal balls and tarot cards? Or crazy guys from the Old Testament who did strange things like Ezekiel lying on his side and cooking his food over cow dung?

No – prophecy is speaking Gods word into a persons life. It’s taking the unchanging truths of God and applying them to the particular circumstances of our lives so that we can live it out. This is one of the greater gifts (1 Cor 12:31), this is something we should all eagerly desire to do (1 Cor 14:1) and it’s something we CAN all do, with practice.

Here’s a tip from me: this week as you read your Bible, find an interesting verse and think about how you could share it with someone else. In particular, think about how that verse helps you or challenges you to live for God in your daily life. If you share that with someone else on Sunday at Church, then you are a prophet.

And if we are sharing God’s Word with each other and encouraging each other to live it out in our daily lives, that’s when Paul says unbelievers will ‘fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’ (1 Cor 14:25).

And won’t that be exciting to be a part of!

Yours in Christ,

Ben

Unsung Heroes

The Bible tells us that the Church is like a body. The body has many parts that work together to achieve a purpose. Right now, my brain is thinking of words to tell my fingers to type into the computer and send to you. Without my brain, I couldn’t come up with the words, without the fingers I couldn’t type them, and without eyes I couldn’t ‘chkec taht I wsa tpying tehm rgiht’.

Each part of our bodies plays a different function and all of them need to work together. In the same way each member of our Church family is different and unique, and we all work together to serve Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the ‘head’ of the body, which is the Church.

Church is not a consumer activity, its a working together with a common purpose activity. Some people in Church serve in up-front ways like preaching a sermon, or leading a service, or leading us in song. Some people serve in behind the scene ways like washing the dishes, or cleaning the toilets, or making sure the bills get paid. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that the gifts and skills we have doesn’t matter nearly as much as how we choose to use the gifts and skills that we happen to have. This weekend we’re celebrating the many different ways that each person in our Church serves and loves each other.

I’m wondering if you could share who you are thankful for in our Church. It could be the person at Church who asks you how you’re going each week and really wants to know the answer. It could be the person who puts particular thought into the way they lead the prayers. It could be the person who takes a real interest in your children and takes the time to play with them. It could be the person who has faithfully taught Scripture and prayed for their Scripture class.

Whoever it is, why not go and tell that person just how thankful you are for them – they’ll be so encouraged.

Yours in Christ,

Ben

Doin’ a shoey?

Are you ‘doin’ a shoey’ this year? And I don’t mean skulling a beer out of a shoe 🙂

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse (https://occ.samaritanspurse.org.au/home/operation-christmas-child/). It is a hands-on way for you to bless children in need across the world by filling shoeboxes with toys, hygiene items, school supplies, and fun gifts. Samaritans Purse collect the boxes and distribute them in the name of Jesus Christ to children living in vulnerable situations.

The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to provide God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Collect a shoebox from Church this Sunday; follow the filling instructions on the brochure or at the website; and be sure to return it to Church by 13th November.

You might also like to invite a friend or neighbour to fill a shoebox too – this will give the opportunity to explain what you’re doing and why – and you can pray for an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with them too.

Yours in Christ,

Ben

Zeal without Burnout

A few years back I read a great little book called ‘Zeal Without Burnout‘ by Christopher Ash. It encouraged me to serve and sacrifice for Christ, since Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him (Luke 9:23-24). But it also encouraged me to recognise that I’m not God, and to reflect on the limitations and needs of my humanity. Key topics were sleep, rest, friends, inward renewal, and more – but essential to getting it right is to realise that God is in control and that the success or otherwise of God’s kingdom and his Church rests not on me, but on him.

As a Church, we have important work to do together – offering new life in Christ to those who don’t know him yet, growing up together in our faith and godly living in him, and showing love to each other and the community around us. There is a lot to do, but the most important thing is not to do – but to be. In order to be Christ’s disciples we need to depend and rely on him and not on our own efforts. We need to cry out to him in prayer, we need to rest and find renewal and encouragement from him.

Christopher Ash concludes his book by encouraging us to make the following resolution. Why don’t you read through it now, and then if you like, say it out loud as a resolution for your life. What areas might you need to work on particularly?

“I am – and will never, this side of the resurrection, be more than – a creature of dust. I will rest content in my creaturely weakness; I will use the means God has given me to keep going in this life while I can; I will allow myself time to sleep; I will trust him enough to take a day off each week; I will invest in friendships and not be a proud loner; I will take with gladness the inward refreshment he offers me. I will serve the Lord Jesus with a glad and restful zeal, with all the energy that he works within me; but not with anxious toil, selfish ambition, the desire for the praise of people, and all the other ugly motivations that will destroy my soul. So help me God.”

Yours in Christ,

Ben

This photo is Issy and I on our family day in Katoomba yesterday (Tuesday).

Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen has finally met her King.
The whole world seems captivated at the passing of this woman of dignity, grace and service.  Perhaps the primary reason is that she did not live for herself and did not prize her own reputation and fame as most of us do.  Amidst the pomp and ceremony of her station we met a woman of humility and deep faith in Jesus Christ.
The Queen herself prepared us for a time like this in her Easter Message during the first wave of COVID19 in 2020. Her Majesty said at that time:
“The discovery of the risen Christ on the first Easter Day gave his followers new hope and fresh purpose, and we can all take heart from this… As dark as death can be – particularly for those suffering with grief – light and life are greater.”
So, in light of her passing, I must ask you the question: are you ready to meet your King?  And I certainly don’t mean King Charles III, I mean the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess – our King Jesus Christ!
Yours in Him,
Ben

Honour your Father and Mother

There is something different and unique about the 5th commandment. While each of the ten commandments offer wisdom for how to live as God’s people – Paul points out in Ephesians 6:2 that the fifth is the first commandment with a promise.

If you ‘honour your father and your mother’, it follows that ‘it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth’.

There is clearly something important and life-preserving about the roles of Father and Mother. And the research bares this out. Check out this extract from ‘The Fathering Project’ website (https://thefatheringproject.org/):

“Research from Australia and overseas demonstrates that children with disengaged fathers experience poorer educational outcomes and higher rates of mental illness, illicit drug use and incarceration. Conversely, children with engaged and effective fathers have improved cognitive and academic outcomes, higher levels of empathy, self control and self esteem and better social and emotional skills.”

So, let’s honour and celebrate Fathers this Father’s Day, and lets be encouraging and challenging Fathers to be engaged and involved in their children’s lives. Let’s encourage them to take responsibility for the spiritual discipleship of their children too! Of course, not everyone has a positive Father-figure in their life, so lets pray for healing and lets give thanks for our heavenly Father, who will never let us down!

Yours in Him,

Ben

Leaders Retreat

This week your Church leaders have taken time out to pray and read and plan together about our Church and its future.  We’re incredibly thankful to Nick and Sharon for allowing us to use their place up on Razorback for our retreat.  Ben, Kate, Scott and Britt spent 3 days together there, and groups of leaders joined us for a day of Picton planning on Monday and of Wilton planning on Tuesday.
It’s so exciting to dream about how God might work among us and to pray for each one of you by name.  We consider it a privilege to serve among you and strive to lead the precious people of God!
There were many great discussions and a few key outcomes that I look forward to sharing with you soon.  One key outcome was to try to shift the culture of our Church to be reflecting more regularly on how we can improve.  Towards that end we hope to ask a few key questions regularly about all of our ministries:

  • How are you going? (general care for every person)
  • How are you growing? (deliberate reflection on spiritual direction)
  • What went well? (give thanks to God and reinforcing the positives)
  • What can we work on? (regularly identifying how we can improve)

Don’t be surprised if you hear me asking you these questions soon.  It’s not because you’ve done something wrong – but because we want to be always deliberately caring for each other and seeking to improve what we do for the glory of Christ!
Yours in Him,
Ben

Personal Responsibility (Repent and Live!)

We live in an age where nobody wants to take responsibility: ‘My devious tendencies are the result of my troubled childhood’; ‘I was under the influence of alcohol’; ‘My friends made me do it’; and; ‘I was simply following orders’. The Israelites had a similar problem from a different perspective – they took God’s acceptance of them for granted on account of their family of origin and Jewish heritage as God’s chosen people.

But in chapter 18 of Ezekiel (part of this Sunday’s focus at Church), God is clear – each person will be held to account for their own sins. On the one hand this is terrible news, because we can’t weasel our way out from what we’ve done – we will be held to account no more how great our family heritage or what other excuses we can come up with. But it’s also wonderful news – because it means we are never trapped by the circumstances in which we’ve found ourselves. Whether those circumstances be of our own making or not. In verse 21 we read beautiful words of hope, that ‘if a wicked person turns away from [their] sins … that person will surely live’.

Although each one of us falls into sin – God is longing for us to turn from our wicked ways and live! We are never too far gone. We can always turn to God in faith and be saved.

How is this so? How can we be saved? – Only by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of our sins.

Listen to the wonderful final paragraph of Ezekiel 18:

“Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit;. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”

Yours in Christ,

Ben

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