Category: Uncategorized (Page 3 of 5)

Recently, parish council voted unanimously to offer a full time assistant minister position to Scott Williams for next year! This is a very significant moment in the life of our Churches and I’m so excited about the opportunities for our Church and the gospel that this will bring!

Scott’s main roles will be to continue to develop our youth ministry and to gather a team to plant a new congregation in the mornings at Wilton.

Parish Council are so encouraged by the wonderfully generous financial response to our call to meet budget. We take that response as a pledge of confidence in our mission and plans to employ Scott, continue to grow God’s Church and our capability to proclaim his gospel!

In the midst of celebration, I must offer a word of caution. I have heard that over the past 15 years Sydney Anglican Churches have doubled the amount of staff they employ, but this increase has not necessarily corresponded with growth in those Churches. We are not paying Scott to do ministry for us, we are employing him to equip and inspire us all to minister the Word of God to each other, to serve our community in love and to proclaim the good news of Christ to a community in desperate need of hearing it. God gave pastors and teachers to his church to equip God’s people for works of service and God has gifted every one of us in unique ways as part of his body.

Would you join me in praising God for this great news, and praying that each one of us would steward our gifts and lives in service of our great King Jesus Christ!

Yours in Christ,
Ben

Green shoots from blackened earth.  Easing restrictions from COVID pandemic.  Blue skies after flooding rains.  These are symbols of relief and hope. 

The green is greener after the fire.  The singing is more joyous after the silence.  The skies are clearer after the rain. 

Through suffering grows resilience and gratitude.  From endurance and perseverance springs hope.  Through judgement comes salvation.

“the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Jesus in Luke 24:46-47

It is only through the suffering and death of our Messiah, Jesus, that forgiveness of sins can be won for us.  His resurrection is the glorious moment of victory over death and certain promise of resurrection life to all who trust in him.

You may be spending your Easter long weekend playing video games, renovating the house, or camping down the coast.  But don’t miss the opportunity to reflect on the glorious hope of resurrection that can be yours in Christ Jesus.

At Easter we celebrate that ‘He is Risen’ – and he promises resurrection life to you too, if you will trust and follow him!

Yours in Christ,
Ben

It’s been so wonderful to see so many of you face-to-face recently.  It takes a great deal of self-control not to give you a hug. 
Online Church has been good – and it will continue to serve many of you well as you stay home for a while longer.  But I found it such a joy to be together in person last weekend! (On 14th June 2020 we held our first face-to-face services since the COVID-19 pandemic closed churches in early 2020).
Paul speaks in this way about longing to be face-to-face with our Lord Jesus Christ when he returns or when we are taken home to him in 1 Corinthians:

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:9-13

In this world we experience pain and joy and we strive to know God and understand what life is about.  No matter what joy we experience in this life, no matter how rich our relationships, no matter how wonderful the blessings we receive from God in this life, it’s like reflections and shadows compared to the joy, relationships and blessings that await us in the life beyond!  Then we will be with our Lord Jesus Christ face-to-face!
Yours in Christ,
Ben

It’s so wonderful to see that COVID-19 is largely under control in Australia. We’ve been able to accomplish this, largely because we are wealthy enough to stay home.

In many countries around the world staying home = starving. That’s because they live day-to-day. Imagine if staying home meant not eating and not bringing home anything for your children to eat. What would you do?

Anglican Aid is providing an opportunity for us to give financially to help some of these people survive the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, can I encourage you to give to the appeal to help the Lake Rukwa region of Tanzania, where our link missionaries, Kevin and Karen Flanagan are serving.

If you give to the Anglican Aid appeal for the Diocese of Lake Rukwa in Tanzania you’ll be “providing handwashing supplies and food reserves for the 68 parishes in that diocese already suffering from a very poor harvest and potential famine. As churches remain open during this time of lockdown, they are important community meeting places and sources of assistance for people who are hungry and without income. Each bag of maize costs roughly $30AUD and beans cost roughly $90AUD per bag.”

Click here to find out more and to give: https://anglicanaid.org.au/covid-19-relief-appeal.

Yours in Christ,Ben