We’re a group of Christian students from the University of Sunshine Coast. We travelled down to Canberra last week for National Training Event (NTE), a training conference organised by AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students).
AFES aims to proclaim Jesus Christ at university and assist students to mature in their faith in Jesus. We do this by building Christian student groups at university campuses. AFES encourages and trains students to share the gospel with their peers with the hope they will do this in the workplace or in ministry when they graduate.
NTE aims to transform, train and send students by providing biblical teaching and training in teaching the bible and sharing the gospel. NTE emphasises the desperate need for Christians to go into the world and share the good news of the gospel with those who don’t yet know Jesus. NTE partners with existing mission organisations to show students the local, national, and global scale of missions. And how students can be part of this now and in the future.
Our students went to bible talks and heard about the gospel being an eternal message that is always timely and timeless. They also participated in strand groups. Strands provide bible intensive training. The first-time students learnt about exegesis – how to interpret a bible passage and turn it into a bible talk. Other students in our group learnt about biblical theology – the whole bible is one big story so how does where a passage is in this big story affect how we interpret and teach it? They also attended electives about missions in the pacific, missions to unreached or unengaged people groups, and more.
2,200 Christian students attended NTE from all over Australia. It helped us see that God’s church really is all over Australia and overseas. The worship of 2,200 students altogether certainly gave a glimpse into what worship in heaven will be like. A great multitude too many to number, from every tribe, nation and tongue worshipping God.
The Sunshine Coast students have come to Wilton to serve and have opportunities to apply what they have been learning at NTE. Thank you for hosting and welcoming us!
God Bless,
Hannah (MTS Trainee with AFES Sunshine Coast)
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Yesterday I was given 10 minutes to share with the Sydney Anglican Synod* about how God is powerfully at work among and through his people at Picton and Wilton.
It was a great joy and privilege (but also a nerve-wracking experience). It’s remarkable to see the way he has transformed the lives of dozens of people to bring them to Life in Christ and into the fellowship of his people over the past few years. Its wonderful to be able to share about your financial generosity in helping us to become a sustainable 2 minister Church. Its amazing to be able to share about your warm hearted hospitality, care and love for one another as the family of God. It’s exciting and daunting to share about the incoming population and need for the gospel now and in the years to come.
So I encourage you to join me in praying for the 12,000 people currently living in Picton and Wilton, most of whom don’t know Jesus yet, and the 58,000 more who will move into our area in the next decades who also need to hear about Jesus Christ.
These numbers are all people: neighbours, brothers, sisters, workmates, etc… And most of these people are lost without Christ and destined for hell and judgement. We have the urgent and important task of proclaiming Life in Christ – nothing matters as much as this. It’s my great joy to boast to synod about your love for Christ and one another and its our great responsibility to take up this challenge for the years ahead.
Yours in Christ,
Ben
*Sydney Anglican Synod is the governing body of the Sydney Anglican Diocese, a 5 day meeting of 800 or so Senior Ministers and elected lay representatives (among others) from the Anglican Churches.
What is it that unites us as a Church?
If you came along to St Mark’s at 9am on a Sunday morning you’d hear the traditional sound of the pipe organ, you’d take your seat on a pew and you’d recite with us the wonderful prayers and truths that have sustained God’s people for centuries. If you come along to Wilton at 10am you’d bustle in among the prams and playing children, sing along with the guitar, hear the Word of God preached and share in coffee and conversation afterwards. If you come along to Wilton at 5pm you’d find a seat behind a gaggle of teenagers and struggle to see the words on the screen over their heads. You’d sing along with the band, hear the Bible taught and look forward to our monthly pot luck dinner afterwards.
We are all things to all people but we are deeply united. Not just by a common minister, but by our union with Christ and the wonderful reality of Colossians 1:24-29.
The wonderful truth that was kept hidden for ages and generations, but has now been disclosed to us, the Lords people. The wonderful truth of Christ in you – the hope of glory. This Sunday we’ll gather as one – the Lord’s people in Picton and Wilton to celebrate and declare the wonderful news of Christ in you – the hope of glory. I can’t wait to see you there – 10am at Wollondilly Anglican College – don’t miss it!
Yours in Christ,
Ben
On a rainy day, when your plans are cancelled: a good book, or podcast or movie might be just what you need.
Our current sermon series on ‘Relationships’ might be raising questions for you? That’s fantastic! Let’s be serious about God’s Word and keep encouraging each other to think theologically. Grab a friend, buy a book and dig a little deeper into some of these important topics. This link (https://pwac.org.au/resources/) will take you to a list of recommended books on these important topics, or you might have one you’ve read that you want to recommend to others – let us know by reply email.
If books overwhelm you, maybe you’d enjoy a podcast, here are some good ones:
SALT podcast is a series of wonderful testimonies (https://omny.fm/shows/salt-conversations-with-jenny/playlists/podcast).
The Deep Dish is an American podcast inviting women into deep conversations about the deep truths of God (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/deep-dish/)
Holy Ghost Stories retells Old Testament Stories – really easy to listen to (https://www.holyghoststories.org/).
With All Due Respect is a podcast engaging with big issues from different perspectives (https://undeceptions.com/wadr/).
Or maybe a Christian movie or series might be what you’re after:
The Chosen is a great series depicting Jesus life (https://www.thechosen.tv/en-us).
Unsung Hero is a great encouraging Christian movie about the upbringing of Christian artists For King and Country (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23638614/).
What will you be reading/listening/watching on this rainy day? – reply to send me your recommendations.
Yours in Christ,
Ben
We can’t wait to see our wonderful CMS Link Missionaries this weekend (27th July 2025) at Church. Unfortunately, due to security precautions our weekend Church services will not be livestreamed. If you are able, plan to be there in person: to hear about the work in the Middle East; to get to know them a little better; and to pray for and support them in their work.
What a joy it is to partner in helping people find Life in Christ all around the world!
They will also be visiting most of our Bible Study groups during the week ahead. If you’re not part of a group already, then you might consider joining us on Thursday morning 10am at Picton or Thursday evening, 7:30pm at Wilton to connect further with our friends.
We’re part of something so much bigger and greater than our little Church. We’re part of God’s Kingdom growing as Jesus’ gospel is proclaimed throughout the earth and people from every nation, tribe and tongue gather round his throne to worship!
Yours in Christ,
Ben
**This interview is a part of a series to commemorate 175 years of St. Mark’s Anglican Church.**
When did you start attending church at St. Mark’s, and what are some of your early memories of the church?
I started coming to St. Mark’s in about 1966. My mother and father, who lived in Redbank, in Upper Picton, got a housing commission down on Menangle Street. We moved from the Methodist church in Redbank to start attending St. Mark’s. I don’t have many memories of St. Mark’s at that stage because of being so young, but as time went on I went to Sunday School. There were no actual rooms for Sunday School: in one part of the church you’d have the first class, in another part you’d have the second class, in another part you’d have kindergarten…right up to the sixth class and high school. The members of the congregation in the morning would go outside and sit on stools and they would listen to the Rector give a sermon, while the children would have their Sunday Schools classes in the church building. In the mid-eighties there was a cottage set up (outside the church building). A friend of mine, Barry, and his wife, Denise, became the youth pastors, and they ran and based an outreach in the cottage, with their young family. The cottage is gone now but from that, about 10 or more young people became strong Christians and went off into ministry, as missionaries overseas with YWAM, and some also attended bible college. The best thing was, everybody that came to St. Mark’s was accepted for who they were. There was no groups of friends and such. Everybody was accepted, everybody was loved. What attracts people to church is, I believe, a strong group of Christians who are open to sharing and caring and accepting people.
What are some ways that the church engaged with the congregation and community during this time?
St. Mark’s in that time used to have missionary conventions. These were held in Victoria Park on Menangle Street, in the agricultural hall. It would run for one week, starting on a Saturday and finishing the following Saturday. Basically, every night they would have movies or a speaker from a different mission from around the world who would come and talk about a variety of things. Many people were saved because the Rector (of St. Marks) would give altar calls, where people could come and receive Jesus. The convention went on for about 20 years, from around 1956 to about 1976. There were thousands of people visiting over the twenty years and many peoples’ lives were changed.
In the early seventies, the Rector, JB Schofield, bought a double decker bus, which the church paid for and looked after. That bus was used from about 1972, right up until JB retired in 2000. It was used for many different things: we went on Outback safaris to Coopers Creek and Cameron’s Corner; we went to South Australia and the Flinders Ranges and to Coonabarabran and the Warrenbungles. St. Mark’s was always a place that was exciting – there was always something happening. We were always doing something adventurous. The bus would collect kids from the high school, from year 7 to year 9. They would come down for 2 hours first thing in the morning to have a seminar in the church, where they would black the windows out to make it look like a picture theatre. The children weren’t “churched” at all, so, there was one time, I remember, when the lights came on, and one of the ushers – we had to have ushers to make sure the kids were under control – found a young couple having a pash! The church would be packed. Upstairs, downstairs… the Rector would sometimes show a movie and the kids loved it – it was getting out of school, it was something different, it was an excursion. That was held once a month on a Thursday. The bus and the fellowship and the friendship of people is what made St. Mark’s what it was, along with good bible teaching, prayer and leadership. Church has changed and people change; at the moment it is a different demographic, but who knows what’s going to happen in the next 10 years? It could all change again.
It’s amazing where St. Mark’s is today. Who knows what the next adventure is.
Interviewed by Rachel Winn.
Learn how to make a wood fired pizza from scratch while taste testing three different beers (and eating your pizza)! We will also be hearing about how Jesus has worked in the life of some of the men at Wilton Anglican.
5-8pm on Saturday 12th April at Wilton Anglican Church. $20 per person.
*Dietary options available.
**Boys welcome under the supervision of their dads (but will not be drinking beer).
When I was 6 years old, I asked Jesus into my heart, with the assurance that I would go to heaven to be with Jesus when I died. That was the way my Sunday School teachers explained it to me. As years went on, I wondered if somehow that childhood understanding was inadequate.
As more years have passed, and I’ve also understood myself a little better, I can see that God, who made me a person who experiences the world primarily through my feelings and my future-oriented thoughts, was reaching out to me to draw me to himself, in a way I could grasp – or take to heart.
Recently, I have been listening to an audiobook by Sam Alberry ‘One with My Lord: The Life-Changing Reality of Being in Christ‘ (it’s only 4h 16min). He writes about how he has come to see the many times the Scriptures speak of our union with Christ. That when we become a Christian, we are not only declared righteous through Christ’s death in our place, but we are made one with him!
I’ve had the words of the song ‘Christ is Mine Forevermore‘ going around in my head recently. A song about walking with the Lord, composed with a gentle walking rythym. Is Christ mine? As I listened to this book, and read the Scriptures with the lenses that Sam Alberry says he can’t now help but wear, I see time after time mention of the Lord as ours – ours in a relationship like, but so much richer than earthly marriage. A union that cannot be broken!
Some words from the song that touched my heart:
‘And mine are keys to Zion city
Where beside the King I’ll walk
For there my heart has found its treasure
Christ is mine forevermore’
Yours in Christ,
Sharon
Let me tell you about our focus for the next few months as a Church, and how you can be involved:
—February – Training and Prayer: We’ll be running training for Bible Study leaders on Monday nights during February, and training for everyone in ‘Growing Conversations About Jesus’ on Thursday mornings and evenings. We hope you will join us in praying everyday for 3 friends to come to know Jesus and be saved.
—March – Conversations: During March we’ll keep praying and looking for opportunities to speak about Jesus with our friends. We’ll be re-launching our Bible study groups so we can encourage each other to grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus and our life in him.
—April – Invitations: The following events will be great opportunities to invite the friends we’ve been praying for during February and March to come find out more about Jesus:
- 15 March – Colin Buchanan concerts at Wollondilly Performing Arts Centre
- 28-29 March – ‘Hope for the Illawarra’ – Youth, Kids and Adults Events at WIN Entertainment Centre – https://www.hopefortheillawarra.com.au/
- 5th April – Jesus, Beer and Pizza Men’s Event
- 12th April – Women’s Event
- 18-20th April – Easter Celebration Services
—May – Follow-up: Hope Explored Courses at both Picton and Wilton during May and June to help our friends find out more, make a commitment to Jesus and get connected at our Church.
We’d love you to be involved by coming along to our February training, and by committing to pray daily for your 3 friends.
Blessings,
Ben
I’m not ready for this year to begin. I’m feeling a bit discouraged and a bit inadequate and a bit sick. I’m praying that this inadequacy will drive me to depend on Jesus. I’m asking for his help to persevere. I’m thankful that God loves me just as I am and will use people like you and I despite our weaknesses and failings. One of the wonderful things about our God is that he’s there for us in the good times and the hard.
I’m reminded of Isaiah 40:28-31:
‘Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’
This year we have several events in February to help you and I fix our eyes on Jesus and the task at hand. I hope you can join us for our training opportunities and/or Church weekend away.
Blessings,
Ben
