Gone fishin'

Happy Easter.
Taking two weeks off writing.

Prayer Meeting

We had a wonderful prayer meeting at St Jude's on Monday night. They are slowly growing in attendance. February had 50 people, March had 63 and this week we had 74. I am delighted with this, and now dare to hope that we might crack the 100 barrier next month.


This month we focused in on the Urban Workers Ministry and we heard from Tim Patrick about some of the things that 5 is up to this year. He spoke of their twin goals to re-energise the Sunday services, and then to grow our outreach to Urban Workers from that base. He spoke of the changes that are being implemented in the Sunday services. He shared with us some stats about the the life of the congregation over time, and the need to not just be satisfied but to grow beyond our current ceiling.

We spent a good chunk of time then asking God to bless this ministry and to grow it as Tim had presented. We then sang a great song written by two of our Unichurch members, and then prayed for other parts of St Jude's ministry life.

It was a really rich night with lots of encouragement. This is the real powerhouse of our ministry and we must see it grow more and more.

Want to be part of breaking the 100 next month? May 4th at 8pm in the church.

Life of Jesus on TV

The John Dickson documentary on the Life of Jesus will be screened in Melbourne at 1am! on Saturday morning on 7. Worth taping I think.

My Sunday

I had a great day yesterday. I arrived at St Jude's at 8.30 and enjoyed talking with people who were all abuzz about the new colours inside the church building. Most of the people I talked to really liked them, and saw the intent of the bold new contemporary design. It was great that in the morning we had testimonies from CF who has been working in North-West Australia as a remote area nurse, and from JL who spoke of the importance of having a big bible world view when her daughter was facing a life threatening illness. By all reports both were terrific testimonies of God's faithfulness.

I missed both, because I went off to St Augustine's in Moreland. They are still searching for a new Vicar since Keil left. The Bishop was there and was trying to encourage the congregation to keep on trusting that God had a plan. I was there to hand over this lovely memento - an embroidered quilt given to the Vicar of St A's in 1895, and recently returned by his gt gt grandson. The Revd William Jordan was vicar there and under him the Sunday school grew to several hundred kids. I reminded the parish that even though times were tough now - the one who began a good work in them is faithful to complete it (Phil 1: 6). We have a few leads for a new Vicar and renewed determination.

Back to St Jude's for some more reactions to colours and meeting a new Dad, (Praise God for Elsie's safe arrival!) and some great chats with other faithful persevering saints.

Home for a little sleep, then 4.30 back at St Jude's for the service at 5. It was a terrific service. Tim preached a powerful message from John 2 about the cleansing blood of Jesus. What spoke to me was the reminder not to carry false shame and guilt, because the perfect sacrifice of Jesus has cleansed me inside and out. There was a great buzz in the service, and lots of prayers in the open prayer time - always a good sign. I met an older couple here, who I could tell were not wild about the new colours, but they were so gracious realising that their personal preference was not the key issue, but appreciated the statement about our life together.

Then 7.30 - packed to the rafters - 261 people crammed into every available seat (missing the first few rows of course). This was because of the baptism of 4 members of Unichurch. What a joy to hear testimonies of God's faithfulness, in calling people to himself, and to clap and cheer as 4 young people made their public commitment to Christ. Rob preached a brilliant sermon from John 11 on the purpose of Jesus' death. It was a cram over supper. I stumbled home after 10.

What a way to start holy week! God is indeed very good. Looking forwrd to praying tonight at the Prayer Meeting.