Category: newsletter (Page 6 of 12)

Humans of PWAC #1

01/02/2023 / Ben

“I came out from England in 1949 at the age of 9, soon to turn 10. I went to Mowbray Park, serving 9 years as a Doctor Barnado’s Homes boy, after previously spending 3 years in England at a home for boys (my two brothers and I). My sister was sent out and was adopted. Another brother died on the operating table during the Second World War. I was a very accepting child – because I knew nothing else. Everything that happened to me was “normal”. Nothing else, just normal. During wartime we had a lot of bombing around us. Quite a few people lost their lives. Quite often we were taken to air raid shelters, to shelter from the bombing. Churches were the object of the Nazi bombing. So, we never, ever went to church. Never heard about God or Jesus at all. I typically spent my time during my youth looking for food. We would walk the streets, and if any bushes had anything that looked like food we would take that and eat it, no matter what. There was one time when we hadn’t had much to eat and I found a moldy crust in the yard and I picked it up and ate it… and was sick as a dog afterwards!

Growing up, we had to be Anglican, or Church of England, before we were accepted into Doctor Bernando’s homes. We never went to church, so I have no idea what religion we were supposed to be. (Today) Jesus means everything. He’s my rock. Two of my children attend church regularly. The other two don’t.

I’m passionate about mentoring young students in high schools. I mentor in Picton High School and Mount Annan High School, a total of 3 days a week. I’ve been doing that for 16 years. It’s fantastic because those things that I’ve experienced going through the system at the boys’ homes helped me a lot to understand where the students are at nowadays. An awful lot of students nowadays are in dire straits, simply because of abuse, suicide, and students’ mothers and fathers in jail because of drug offences or murder, or whatever. I look after those students and I also get them out of the bubble that they’re in, that it’s all about “me, me me”, and get them to share their life.

What does church mean to me? Church means brotherhood, and sisterhood. I love coming to church to hear the sermons, to sing (I’ve done a lot of singing in my life) and to be with people. And hopefully, to share my points of view.”

— John Bicknell, member of 9:30am @ St Mark’s Anglican Church, Picton.

* This is the first in a series of articles by Rachel Winn (member of St Mark’s, Picton), helping us to get to know other Church members. *

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

24/11/2022 / Ben

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

Unsung Heroes

27/10/2022 / Ben

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

Zeal without Burnout

28/09/2022 / Ben

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

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