Richard Condie's Blog

Promises of God

2011-02-03T11:36:00.000+11:00

When Nehemiah prayed for the restoration of Jerusalem, he reminded God of his promises to the people, and held them up to God in prayer. "God you promised this, please act in accordance with your word".

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place at which I have chosen to establish my name.' They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great power and your strong hand. Nehemiah 1:8-10

I was thinking of the promises that we could call on today for God to act in establishing his reign and rule in Melbourne.

Here are a few I have come up with:

Psalm 67:7 God will bless us; And all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

Psalm 86:9 All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.

Psalm 22:27-28 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.

Isaiah 59:19-20 So those in the west shall fear the name of the LORD, and those in the east, his glory; for he will come like a pent-up stream that the wind of the LORD drives on. And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.

Matthew 24:14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.

Matthew 8:11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever."

It would be good to think of some more. Let's pray these promises for Melbourne

Persevering in prayer

2011-02-01T15:56:00.000+11:00

I preached on Nehemiah 1 last week, and was struck with how Nehemiah, when faced with an enormous challenge, wrestled with God in prayer long and hard. The text suggests four months of weeping and fasting and praying before God about the people of God and the mercy they needed.

Then yesterday I got this great email from a member of the congregation, telling me a story about faithful persevering prayer. It went like this:

A godly guy (now 60+) at our church (in the town where I grew up) still prays through the list of kids he had in Sunday School in the 1970s. He's had trouble trying to work out how to make the list more manageable now that we have all married and had kids! The kids were really treasured in that church and encouraged to start volunteer ministry early eg. kids talks @ 14. God's grace in all that is that 8 of those kids are now theologically trained and in full time ministry. Pretty amazing for a town of 4000!

How faithful is our God!

An Exciting Year

2011-01-27T14:27:00.000+11:00

Very excited thinking about St Jude’s this year. We have lots of new things beginning.

Sunday Feb 13^th will be the last service of St Jude’s 5 at our Carlton Site, because on Sunday February 20^th, they will become St Jude’s in Parkville meeting at Ridley Melbourne at 10am and 5pm. The 5pm Congregation at St Jude’s began in 1994, and has been fairly unique in the Melbourne scene, as a place where young professional workers have gathered together to worship and serve. Now it is expanding and multiplying. We are delighted about this, as it is a clear expression of our Vision to multiply congregations in Melbourne’s inner north. Feel free to join us at either place. More information is here.

However in March there will be another new venture. The Unichurch Congregation, which meets at 7.30 is seizing the opportunity for growth as well. From February 20, they will meet at 6.30pm on the Carlton Site, so that on March 20^th, they can multiply out to two congregations meeting at 5pm and 7.30pm, with the potential to reach twice as many tertiary students as before. This is a very exciting venture and we pray that God will be glorified through it.

On top of this are new staff and other new programs. We are calling people to prayer in the next week, so that we bathe all this in the presence of God. Do you want to join us in praying? Drop me a line and we can send you some prayer points.

Gospel Activity

2010-08-26T12:22:00.001+10:00

At our staff prayers this week I was really struck by all the Gospel activity going around St Jude's at the moment.

This week is the Don Carson – Christ Expo at RMIT Story Hall.
Don has been speaking at the 5 Weeks 5 Questions at Melbourne Uni CU.
Several staff mentioned people by name with whom they were sharing the gospel.
Two short term mission trips are being planned one to Pakistan and the other to Thailand (with the youth)
There are several camps (5, youth group, Unichurch) in the pipeline.
Our 5x2 Project trying to find a new venue for St Jude's ministry is well underway.
City Bible Forum events kick off next week.
Two baptisms are planned for this Sunday at 11am and 5pm
Cross Cultures are having dinner in Leader's homes this week.
Kid's ministry planning a film and pizza night
And a Taste of Mission event next week

On Sunday I continue my sermon series on the ten Commandments on Sunday morning 9am and 11am.

What a joy to be involved in all of this.

Nothing New Under the Sun

2010-07-01T21:32:00.001+10:00

It has been so good to see City on a Hill grow so well over the last couple of years. Earlier this month they took up a new home in the Hoyts Cinema in Melbourne Central, and God really seems to be blessing his church right in the City http://www.cityonahill.com.au/.

It seems a bit edgy to have a church in a Cinema, very 2010! Until …

I was cleaning up my library after moving house, and found a book by the Revd Arthur Preston, who was the minister at my parents' church, West End Methodist Mission in Brisbane in the 1940's and 50's. Having re-heard some of his story when planning Dad's funeral, about how he began the Blue Nursing Service in Brisbane and Dad helped him out, I decided to read the book.

In an attempt to reach the ordinary working person in West End in the late 1940's, Arthur Preston, much to the shock and horror of the established church, rented out the local cinema during the week for church meetings. He gave "Plain talks to the people" and basically used the Cinema as a gospel preaching platform! Many hundreds of people came to Christ as he took the message to them in their own space. The book is filled with testimonies of conversion.

May God bless City on a Hill like that again, 60 years later in Melbourne.

Gospel Fruit

2010-06-24T15:33:00.001+10:00

When I was at university, we used to run missions in local country towns during the semester breaks. One of these was in the far NW NSW town of Collarenebri. We never heard much about the ongoing fruit of the Gospel in those places. Today I received this great email from a Uni friend, Ian, who was on the Collarenebri Mission:

Hi Richard,

Thought this would encourage you. Billy Williams is a dynamic indigenous leader and preacher up here in Qld. We had him come and preach at our Church last Sunday. Here is his story:

Last Sunday night I was preaching at North-East Baptist church for the first time. In order to fill the congregation in I commenced by telling them I was originally from a small town in North-West NSW called Collarenebri. After the service concluded the Senior Pastor, Ian Hussey, came over and told me that in the early 1980's, when he was living in Armidale NSW (400km away from Collarenebri), he and some other students had travelled there to conduct a kids holiday program. I asked him, "Did it have a frog in it?" to which he replied, "I think so." We both cautiously agreed that I may have been a participant because there wasn't much to do in Colly during holidays and one of my Aunties was part of the Anglican church at that time and I remember going to a program when I was about 10 before I left for school in Tamworth (356km away from Collarenebri). I remembered that I had kept a memento from the program (why is only apparent now!), a folded A4 sheet of paper with encouraging notes from The Adventures of Ernie the Frog leaders; so when I got home I dug up amongst some old papers and found it. My Mum, who is staying with us, heard me cooee and wondered what was going on. There on the front page was this message, "Dear William, Good luck in the future. Remember that Jesus is always there waiting for you... Ian Hussey." How true those words from 1984 proved to be, truer perhaps than Ian, and certainly I, could have ever imagined as 15 years later I came to faith in a Baptist church in Townsville (1410km away from Collarenebri) and 26 years later I came to preach in Ian's church in Nundah (645km away from Collarenebri).

Now doesn't that send a shiver down the spine!

Kind Regards

Ian

God works in amazing ways, sowing seeds and reaping when he wills.

Honour your Father and Mother

2010-05-07T16:06:00.001+10:00

This seems particularly pertinent this week. Not only is Sunday Mother's Day, it is also just over a week since I attended my father's funeral. So preaching on the 5^th Commandment is especially relevant.

It is easy to think that this commandment is directed at small children. And certainly some of the NT applications of it, like Ephesians 6:1-3, seem to be directed there. But it is most likely that the target audience of the Commandments were adults. Today we live in a very different world to Ancient Israel. Rather than living in the home with my parents as they did, my folks have lived thousands of kilometres away from me, for most of my adult life. What on earth can honouring them mean now?

I was thinking about this last week as I stood beside my father's bed. He was sweating profusely with a fever, as his body struggled to fight the infections in his lungs. I was mopping his brow with a damp face washer. I remembered how he had done the same to me as a little child. How he held me strongly when I was ill. What an amazing privilege to honour my Dad, by tending to his needs as he had done to mine so many years before. The role reversal in honour was quite something.

I am not a child any more. I was an adult serving another adult. But at the same time, I felt like such a little helpless child, as my Dad's life ebbed out of his body. Here was my father, so helpless. And his loss in my life is profound. With him goes his voice, his kind words, his pride in me, his disappointment in some of my choices, the discipline I had as a kid, his laughter. To honour him now seems to be to grieve him well, to speak of him, to tell people what a great guy he was.

And to honour my Mum, who is now widowed of her husband of 53 years? Well I try to call every day. I pray. I will try to relieve her administrative burdens. and so on. But it goes deeper than that. Honour is an attitude of the heart.

I wonder if others want to share what they think this commandment can mean today?

Movements

2010-04-21T21:14:00.003+10:00

Yes I knowthe list of books to the right it looks a little bit ridiculous. But yes I am reading all of these books at different times.

We have just invited Steve Addison who wrote the book on Movements to speak at our staff conference in June. I heard him speak a few years back on what has fuelled missionary movements around the world. His book is study of this. He also blogs about it here.

It is really exciting stuff, about when things just take off and multiply. The sad thing is he claims that movements never ever take off from the centre of an organisation, and that's where I find myself most of the time. But maybe we can create an organisation at St Jude's, or even the Diocese of Melbourne, which is a good seed bed in which movements can grow.

I bought the book ages ago and skimmed it then. But I read 1/3 of it last night. Trouble is, it is so good it keeps me awake.

Idols

2010-04-16T11:51:00.002+10:00

Beginning to think about next Sunday's sermon on "idolatry". Wonder what makes the difference between enjoying something like food, or a new car, or a job, and making it your idol. Well, not what "makes the difference" because that is clearly worship and the place the thing has in your heart. But more the question is: How do we stop good things that we enjoy, becoming idols in our lives? Any ideas?

10 Words

2010-04-14T09:15:00.002+10:00

Preparing to preach on the Ten Commandments beginning this Sunday. I am stunned by how contemporary they are. They address so many issues that are live in our world today: (the links take you to the secular media)

· Atheism and Belief in God (#1 No other gods)
· Materialism, Workaholism, Environmentalism, ???ism (#2 On Idols)
· Swearing Oaths and the ubiquity of the phrase “Oh my God” on the TV (#3 on the Lord’s Name)
· Work-Life balance (#4 Sabbath keeping)
· The breakdown of the family (#5 Parents)
· Wars and Rumours of wars, capital punishment, street violence (#6 Murder)
· Marriage and Sexuality (#7 Adultery)
· Global Poverty and Western wealth (#8 Stealing)
· The main backdrop to every story on A Current Affair (#9 Lying)
· The darkness of the human heart (#10 Coveting)

I have called the series “Words of Life” because I think that, far from being restrictive, negative and outdated, these words give us a vision for the good life. The life as God intended. A life full of hope, security, confidence, work-life balance, strong families, peace, faithful relationships, generous care of the needy, truthfulness and purity of thought. Now THAT is a world I want to live in.

Serious Issues

2010-03-13T17:49:00.003+11:00

Isn't it interesting, that 1500 people have signed up for the Global Atheist Convention this weekend in Melbourne, but that there has been so little in the paper about it?

This morning a report on the opening night of the Rise of Atheism appeared on page 12 in The Age. All the while Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke have been on the front page for days on end.

Doesn't this tell us something about the appetite of Australians to talk about serious matters? Life is more a soap opera than a serious endeavour. Still thank God that there are people who really do want to talk about truth and reality.

Looking forward to hearing Greg Clarke at BMW Edge tonight - on the Difference Jesus makes to Atheism and Belief. The Atheist mantra is that belief is basically irrational. It will be good tonight to hear some reasonable faith!

Atheism in Melbounre

2010-02-18T07:50:00.003+11:00

The Global Atheist Convention hits Melbourne on March 12. That got me thinking about how well prepared I am to engage with the big questions about why I believe in God. Someone recommended A friendly Letter to Sceptics and Atheists, by David Myers. I have just started the book, and am enjoying it a lot. (Don't agree with it all, but general approach is good.) I have another book recommended to me on order as well.

I simply won't do, for Christians to contend for their faith by answering the question why we believe, with "I just do". That is intellectually sloppy.

One of the things I love about St Judeans is that they want an intellectually robust faith, that stands up to reason and scrutiny. Sometimes this means we are a bit heady and forget where our hearts are. But the upside is that debates about the existence of God, are well and truly within the scope of normal.

We have decided to respond to the Rise of Atheism conference with a series of events called The Resurrection of Theism. These range from equipping Christians to engage with Atheist thought, through to events designed to promote further conversation. Have a look here for some more information.

CofE recognises ACNA

2010-02-11T17:11:00.005+11:00

Last year at the Melbourne Synod, I moved a modest motion to recognise the newly formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as authentic Anglicans, and to extend the hand of fellowship to them, expressing our desire for them to become part of the Communion once again.

(ACNA is the new grouping of Anglicans formed, who hold the historic Anglican faith, rather than the novel new faith espoused by the leaders of The Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church of Canada)

Sadly the Melbourne Synod declined (by the narrowest of margins) to take this step. It was argued by more than one person on the Synod floor, that this was "premature" given that ACNA is so new. I am amazed by this, because the motion simply asked the Synod to recognise other faithful Anglican believers, and extend the hand of fellowship to them. How could Christian fellowship be "premature"? Still this was the mind of those gathered.

How encouraging to read today that the Church of England showed itself big hearted enough to to do exactly this. You can read more about this here. Maybe the Melbourne Synod will one day have the same generosity of heart!

Australia Day

2010-01-26T11:02:00.005+11:00

I have a love / hate relationship with Australia Day.

I love living in Australia. I love the people who live here. I love the lifestyle. I love the opportunities and freedom. I love it that there are people from every nation on my local tram, who either do or aspire to call themselves Australians. I love lamb! And I love having a day off to celebrate it all. "Break out the thongs and light the barbie", I say. I am very thankful to God for allowing me to be here.

But Jan 26 seems a sad day to be celebrating this. A friend always wishes me a "Happy Invasion Day" on this day each year.

Fundamentally I struggle with a celebration that recalls the day when the British Empire decided that this was terra nullius - land "belonging to nobody". I hate that disregard for the inhabitants of the land. I hate the fact that Australia was taken from the Indigenous people of this place, and that we stole what was theirs. I hate the fact that there are still deep inequalities between indigenous and other Australians. (See here for an interesting view from Peter Adam - my good friend and Principal at Ridley)

Psalm 145 is the reading in the lectionary for Australia Day this year. Here are verses 8-9 - a true promise for our country:

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.

May he continue to show his steadfast love and faithfulness to us and exercise his compassion and mercy on us. May we become a just nation, and not forget the God who made us.

Summer Under the Son

2010-01-23T15:32:00.002+11:00

We got back from "Summer Under the Son" conference on Wednesday. What a great 5 days it was too.

Bible expositions from Acts 9-11 by Kanishka Raffel. I found these very challenging. A couple of highlights -

In Acts 9 thinking about Paul's Conversion on the Damascus Road. How easy it is to give up praying that God will move in some people's lives, yet here is a story of how he turned an arch enemy of Jesus around in a moment. We so often want to see people take little steps towards Jesus, little signs that God is at work - but of course in Paul's case there were none. I have a renewed desire to pray that even the most resistant of my friends can be converted to Christ.
In Acts 12 considering the secret sovereign hand of God at work behind the scenes: rescuing Peter from prison, but letting James die. We so often can't fathom what he is up to, but assured that his purposes are good. There were lots of damp eyes as KR reminded us to hang in, trusting in God even when we can't see his purpose.

Then there were terrific missionary talks. So inspiring to hear ordinary people talking about the work they do for God around the world. There is so much need - in so many places. I often found myself wondering if we should pack up and go overseas. But for the time being think that staying at St Jude's and raising up more missionaries from the congregation is probably the right strategy.

It was great to see so many St Judeans involved: from the tech team to music, to leading among youth, to leading sessions in the auditorium, serving on branch council etc. Praise be that we have a mission minded church. However it would be good to see more St Jude's folk at SUTS each year. Watch out for 2011!

A long silence

2010-01-11T09:02:00.005+11:00

I have been away from my blog for ages.

Last year got caught up finishing my D Min thesis on Church Culture. I submitted it on Nov 30 and now await the examiners reports. They give no indication of turnaround time. So a good exercise in trusting patience.

Since then I have been on holidays enjoying God's creation in northern NSW (Byron Bay) and south east Qld (Gold Coast and Brisbane) and have just returned from two weeks on a Theos Beach Mission in Mallacoota.

My wife and I were team parents for a team of young adults running programs to reach 15-25 year olds on holiday or living in Mallacoota (in far eastern Victoria) with the good news about Jesus. It was such a privilege to spend time with energetic committed Christian young people, who give up their own time to reach out like this. It was a great boost for our faith too.

I got to teach through the whole of the Book of Judges. Such an amazing story of the stupidity of God's people. Yet so close to our own stupidity. How often we find ourselves doing "what is right in our own eyes" and ignoring what God wants of us. How slow we are to learn.

Now we are about to spend 5 days at the Summer Under the Son conference at Philip Island run by CMS Victoria.It promises to be a great week of good teaching and hearing from CMS Missionaries around the world. The kids are off to the youth program.

One piece of good news

2009-07-29T15:15:00.003+10:00

Amidst all the mess in the Episcopal Church, I read one piece of great news this week. The Diocese of Northern Michigan had elected a new bishop who holds both Buddhist and Christian Ordination. He denies many of the basic doctrines of the Christian Church, but had still been elected as their next Bishop.

The good news is, that it appears that when the nomination was brought to the General Assembly he was unable to achieve the votes he needed, and so the election is now declared null and void and they have to start again. Praise God for this protection of His church. Read more here.

For a really interesting comment on the International Anglican scene, and especially on the recent communique from the Archbishop of Canterbury, try this article by Charles Raven.

Passion 09

2009-07-20T09:12:00.004+10:00

We are very excited about the St Jude's Passion 09 Weekend in Inner Northern Melbourne. This a great event for our church to make good connections with the local community. We are running a series of connection activities over the weekend of August 7-9 that hopefully will be attractive to the local community. The program is here. It is our hope that through these connections we might see spiritual renewal taking place.

Anglican Disintegration?

2009-07-17T10:31:00.004+10:00

The move this week of the General Convention of the TEC to repudiate the moratorium on the consecration of openly homosexual Bishops is another nail in the coffin of Anglican Unity. Whatever you think about the issue, to openly and clearly reject, not only the direction of the Lambeth Conference, but also the personal pleas of the Archbishop of Canterbury is a sign that the game is now up. The TEC continue to walk apart from the rest of us. Read here for more information.

Yes you might say, that the GAFCON inspired new province for North America is also a sign a that the game is up, and you'd be right! This is a serious attempt to preserve a place for traditional mainstream Anglicanism in North America, and an acknowledgement that the Communion as we knew it is disintegrating before our eyes. The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is a serious voice for those who wish to keep walking the path of our forebears.

Great article

2009-07-14T13:56:00.002+10:00

Richard Shumack from our Estates minsitry team has a great article published on the ABC online this week. Have a read about what he is thinking.

Considering Minsitry

2009-06-10T07:55:00.004+10:00

Long time no post! Been a little bit busy!

A few weeks ago we had a terrific evening when we invited a whole bunch of people from Church to a "Consider Ministry" night. 35 people turned up to think about Vocational Christian Ministry. It was so great to be a room with so much talent and energy.

I spoke from Matthew 9:35-38 about the need for the laborers in the harvest. It struck me that when Jesus saw the crowds in the world, he was moved because they had no "shepherd" which is the same word as in Eph 4 for "pastor". What the world needs is shepherds and pastors.

We had two testimonies from current Ridley Melbourne students who are on placement at St Jude's. We talked about how you might make a decision for ministry, and pathways for preparation.

It was a great night for people thinking about Mission, Ordination and a variety of vocational lay ministries. It is such a privilege to work in a church where you can get this many people coming to a night like this. Now we need to "ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest".

29 Years

2009-05-18T08:14:00.004+10:00

I was really stoked last night to discover that the year I became a Christian was the year that "B&B H" (St Jude's Mission Partners) left for South America. That's 29 years ago! How faithful is God to them, in sustaining them all this time? How faithful are they in sticking with this assignment? I was really humbled.

After Unichurch, where 98% of the congregation had not even been born when they first left, I was chatting to B. He had come to St Jude's as a Student (like the Unichurchers he had just spoken to) in 1974, and had been a member of the church when he felt his call to South America.

Next week, we will be running a "Consider Ministry" evening to encourage St Judeans to consider Vocational Christian Ministry (there will be a number of Unichurchers among them). We are hoping to encourage some towards ordination, and some towards Global Mission opportunities. I'm praying that someone next week gets stirred to think about mission, and can come back to St Jude's in 29 years time, and tell of God's faithfulness to them.

Reflections on 7 years

2009-05-11T18:30:00.003+10:00

Sunday was the 7th anniversary of my induction as Vicar of St Jude's. It is good to reflect on what has happened, especially in the light of preaching yesterday on 2 Corinthians 10 - "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord".

I remember being quite scared in taking on the role at St Jude's wondering if I would be the bloke at the helm while St Jude's emptied. It is great to see that God in his mercy has not allowed that to happen. I can honestly say that this is a miracle of his grace. I am so deeply aware of my inadequacies and short comings, and for those to not cause St Jude's to stumble is very humbling indeed.

I was praying with a friend this afternoon, and he prayed about God building his church. And I recalled one of my colleagues reminding me in the midst of a very challenging time in the last few years, that St Jude's was "Jesus' Church", and to stop sweating on it like it was mine. How great to be reminded of these things - that this is God's work, and in his mercy and kindness I get to be a part of it.

Praise God for the privilege.

Anglican World

2009-05-06T10:07:00.003+10:00

It is a big week for Anglicans, not that we'd really know it way down here at the ends of the earth. But this week the Anglican Consultative Council meets in Jamaica to consider the Anglican Covenant Document. The ACC is one of the "instruments of communion" that hold our loose association of churches together. They are the ones who set the "rules of engagement".

The proposed Covenant is the method by which the Archbishop of Canterbury hopes to save the communion. It sets out what we as Anglicans commit to, to hold us together.

The challenge will be to get a covenant that really holds us to biblical orthodoxy and that has the ability to exclude from the fellowship those who have chosen to tread a different path away from historic creedal Anglican Christianity. The fear is that it will be so weak that it will drive out the orthodox among us.

Of course, this is a matter very close to the heart of those of us who have joined the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans around the world. The question of whether the communion is heading towards or away from orthodoxy is key. There is good coverage of the events at the ACC meeting here if you are interested.

Holidays Study Leave and all that

2009-05-02T20:40:00.004+10:00

Well it's been a busy week getting back into the swing of things after two weeks away.

Had a brilliant week with my two kids paddling down the Glenelg River in Western Victoria. We paddled and camped our way down the River over 4 days. It rained every day - a bit of a record after 10 years of drought, but the adversity made it all the more of an event. We weathered a storm in the night and freezing cold and wet, but it was fantastic. You can't buy the value of having that kind of an experience with your children. Now thinking what to with them next.

Then had a great week of Study Leave working on my Thesis for my D Min. Read some fascinating studies of church culture and wrote them up. About to start work on analysing all the interview transcripts I have about the culture of St Jude's over the last 35 years. It is a great topic. I am more and more convinced we should teach clergy how to "read" the culture(s) of their church. Certainly would make for healthier ministries.

Now I am back at work and immersed in preaching. A series in Paul's wonderful letter to the Galatians - Free for All-True Freedom in Christ at Unichurch. What a great grounding in the gospel it is for students.

AND 2 Corinthians - True Power in the morning services and at 5pm. Finishing off the Corinthians series I began last year. All makes for a busy Sunday!

Just pondering from 2 Cor 9, how the same trust in God that saves us, is the trust in God that is needed for our material well being. ALL things come from his hand.

Gone fishin'

2009-04-12T16:56:00.002+10:00

Happy Easter.
Taking two weeks off writing.

Prayer Meeting

2009-04-09T14:01:00.006+10:00

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

2009-04-07T10:20:00.001+10:00

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

2009-04-06T07:49:00.002+10:00

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.

2009-03-31T15:58:00.002+11:00

Just had a look at this trailer for a new video coming out of the Centre for Public Christianity which we hope will be shown on the TV over the Easter period. It is a film about the life of Jesus, giving a reasoned defence for believing the story.

It would be a good thing to mention to friends to watch. It is down for April 10 (Good Friday) at 1pm in Sydney. Let's hope they screen it in Melbourne too.

White water

2009-03-30T11:54:00.005+11:00

This weekend I took my son to a school Kayaking camp. We had a great time, learning to kayak in the white water up on the Goulburn River near Eildon. It was a great opportunity not only to bond with Matt, but also to hang out with some people outside of church. (I am trying to do this more and more this year).

It was a great experience. I am very sore today, having found muscles I didn't know that I had. I ended my kayaking adventure capsizing in the main rapid in front of 50 cheering kids. The last thing I heard before I entered the white water washing machine was "go Dad"! I survived with only dinted pride and a waterlogged head.

It was so great too, to meet some more parents from the school and work on building relationships. It was a beautiful spot enjoying God's creation.

Diversity

2009-03-26T14:51:00.004+11:00

Part of the St Jude's Vision is to work with other churches in the Inner North of Melbourne to seek Spiritual Renewal together. We want to do this because we realise that we won't see "spiritual renewal" simply by doing our own thing, but it will need to be a movement of God among the people of God in this part of the city.

So today I met with a group of church leaders from churches across the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne. We had a few denominations represented and it was a really good occasion. We heard of lots of different things happening in lots of different places. The theme was diversity as people spoke of what they were trying to do. It was very encouraging indeed.

One of the things that everyone seemed to agree on, was that the old Christendom models of ministry are a thing of the past. The future will be to think in new ways, pioneering, missional ways of reaching out to the world, and not simply expecting people to come to us.

We agreed to meet again to talk and pray and hopefully to cooperate together in what God is up to in the inner north.

Anglican Communion

2009-03-19T09:52:00.003+11:00

I am heading interstate this week to speak at an EFAC meeting in Brisbane, among other things. I am speaking at EFAC on the state of the Anglican Communion, especially in the light of GAFCON. So this week I have been immersed once again in the international Anglican scene.

Sad developments in North America continue to astound me. The election of a bishop in Northern Michigan is who holds Buddhist ordination and follows both Buddhism and Christianity, being the most recent in a long line of abandonment of the Bible's authority.

It is quite clear to me now that there are distinctly two strands in the Anglican Communion. One which is orthodox, biblical and adheres to the historical bases of our denomination - the bible, creeds, book of common prayer, 39 articles, ordinal. And the other which is syncretistic, post-modern, and wracked by the heresies of the first centuries. We are just going to walk further and further apart.

There seem to also be two ways to deal with this situation. The path of the official denominational leaders is to continue to listen and talk and find our common ground. The other is to state our common ground in doctrine and find out whether we are are one or two.

And all of this raises the interesting question of unity, and where it is found. Are we unified because we are Anglican, or are we unified because of what we believe. I am proud to stand in a tradition of the Anglican church which confesses a particular faith, and to find unity with others who profess that faith as well. Historically in this time, it is well encapsulated in the Jerusalem Declaration to which I gladly give my assent. We live in interesting times.

Vision Leaders

2009-03-16T15:24:00.002+11:00

I had a great weekend. Apart from really good services on Sunday, I spent Friday night and Saturday with the St Jude's Vestry on our annual overnight gathering.

We spent Friday evening talking about the things that we thought we could contribute to the Vestry, the things we needed to be confident about our decisions and our different preferences for working as a team. This was great, as there are a few new faces on the Vestry this year. Getting to know what each other brings and how we like to work is really important.

Saturday morning we spent a chunk of time looking at Philippians 2:12-18 and praying for the ministries of St Jude's. We spent an hour on our effectiveness in meetings. We considered some ideas about the role of Vestry from the governance review which is underway. In the afternoon we talked about our Buildings and the growth of the ministry and the need for resources, and made a few decisions about where we should go from here.

It was a quality time, not just because we did good business together, but because we shared our lives with each other. It was so exciting to be with people who love the Lord and our church, and want to see it grow and achieve its mission, and who work so hard to see this happen. We need to keep praying for this group, that they will walk closely with God and seek to serve him faithfully.

If you're at St Jude's and see a member of Vestry, why not try and encourage them?

Video generation

2009-03-11T15:16:00.004+11:00

Sydney Diocese has launched a great new service - video news for churches. Have a look here. What a great idea!

Spiritual Searching

2009-03-10T16:47:00.002+11:00

I met a guy at a BBQ at the weekend. He was interested in what I really did with my time. Did I spend time listening to people with problems, and running church services? And how come I was at a BBQ on a Sunday anyway?

We began to talk about church a bit, what it was for and why I thought it was important.

He then said - "I guess there is a sense that there is something spiritual in all of us - although most of us (like me) are in denial". At that point the chops caught fire, and there was not much chance to go the next step.

But he illustrated the truth of Romans 1: 19-20 which I had just read the day before.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse;

I wish I'd had the brains to have remembered this at the time. Still, I'm sure God was in the conversation, and the opportunity is not lost forever.

Promoting the Gospel

2009-03-05T09:27:00.005+11:00

A few years ago I bought this book by John Dickson. It is a great read about the whole range of ways people in churches can promote the Gospel. We are not all evangelists, but we can all be promoters of the Gospel, through - our answers to questions, our good living, our giving financially and our prayers - among others.

On Tuesday night, I head John speak on this topic. It was a fantastic address, full of encouragement and hope for ordinary Christians in the way they can be involved in promoting the Gospel every day. Speaking from what he described as the 2 most paradigmatic texts on Gospel promotion - Colossians 4:2-6 and 1 Petr 3:14-16.

He made 4 points:

1. Prayer is the most basic gospel promoting activity. All of us can be involved in winning the world for Christ through prayer.

2. All believers are to speak up for the Lord, when asked. This is our duty to have an "answer for the hope within us". (1Peter 3:15)

3. Allegiance to Christ is the greatest motivation to speak of him. That is - the antidote to our coyness about speaking about Christ, is knowing Him, and being sold out for him.

4. We need to live lives that are worth questioning. Do we so live that people ask us about our hope.

I think this is very liberating and helps us think carefully about how we are going to see Spiritual Renewal in our city.

Renew Prayer

2009-03-02T07:24:00.002+11:00

Our Church is seeking Spiritual Renewal - lives changed and transformed by Christ. We can work as hard as we like, but this is truly God's work. Whatever we do must be His, and whatever is His we must do.

So I am guessing that the most important church activity we can engage in is prayer. Where we seek God's blessing on us, so that the his saving power might be known. That is why I am convinced at the most important event in the church calendar after Sunday worship is the Prayer meeting.

This is not just rhetoric. I really believe what we read in Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I'm praying for a great bunch of expectant, asking, imagining, pray-ers at the Prayer meeting tonight. I'm praying they will be astounded when God does more than we ask or imagine.

Leaders

2009-03-01T17:18:00.003+11:00

Yesterday was the St Jude's Leaders' Summit. Each year we gather the leaders of our small groups, Sunday ministry leaders and those in oversight ministries together for the day. As usual it was a really encouraging day.

This year we were focusing on the Renew Vision. Rob Miller gave a great Bible Study on Psalm 67:1-2

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, 2 that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.

He made the really simple point that asking God to bless us, (verse 1) will naturally take us in the direction of God's saving work in the world (v2), for us to see the nations saved.
We reconnected with the Vision, and spent the afternoon sessions thinking about strategies we could employ both in our leadership and in our ministry areas, to make sure the Vision kept on track, and moving forward.

The thing that stunned me once again, was what a great bunch of people the St Jude's leaders are. Young, energetic, excited about the Gospel, and keen to see our church grow. Thanks be to God.

Hoping to see LOTS of people at the Prayer meeting tomorrow night!

Lent

2009-02-23T13:41:00.005+11:00

The church season of Lent is upon us. Pancake Tuesday today, Ash Wednesday tomorrow and then the 40 days leading up to Easter. I have been thinking about this season a bit. Partly prompted by the Estates congregation who try to observe this as a specially focused time of prayer for their mission.

I have to confess to not being into this much in the past. I think part of that is the silly reason of thinking it is a "bit too catholic" for my liking. But then I thought that, this is not really a sufficient reason to reject something that has been part of the church's life and practice for centuries.

So what is it about? Well it is really a time of preparing ourselves to remember once again the great sacrifice of Jesus and his resurrection at Easter. The mode of "preparation" for celebrating this, is one of repentance and searching our hearts, and making special times for prayer. You might argue that repentance, self examination and prayer should be the stuff of the normal Christian life, and you would be right. But surely there is nothing against having a special focus on this for a particular period.

Many have fasted during lent, or abstained from some particular thing - alcohol, chocolate, movies, etc etc. The idea here is that denying ourselves something will help us to remember to repent, examine and pray. Not a bad idea I guess.

The only dangers I can see in this is thinking a. that the abstaining is a good work in itself, b. that good works might earn us favour with God, and c. that we only need to repent for these 40 days in the year. But provided we remember we are saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus, we won't be in any great danger of this.

Perhaps the Book of Common Prayer collect (special prayer) for Ash Wednesday will help us:

Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let me know what you think?

2009-02-23T07:38:00.004+11:00

On Friday Helen and I spent the morning with Stephen Holmes at Whittlesea and Kinglake. It was a surreal experience. The whole landscape looks like a war zone.

Standing outside the smouldering ruins of the Kinglake church, it is hard to imagine it was once a building, let alone a place of worship. The magnitude of the task of rebuilding this community is quite paralyzing. Where do you begin?

Stephen is keen for someone with a chainsaw to make him a communion table out of a blackened log, so he can hold service near the site.

We talked about how St Jude's could help. There are some practical things to do, but these seem very small in the scheme of things. We will keep talking and find a way.

Bushfires and Ministry

2009-02-19T17:53:00.002+11:00

Going to visit the Anglican Minister in Whittlesea tomorrow and thinking about how we can support him.

The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is doing some good things - Project Officers and extra Chaplains on the ground, for maybe even 6 months or more. You can donate to this at the Archbishop's Appeal.

But what can we do here in the city to help him show Christ's love to his hurting community? We need to give. We need to pray. It would be good to send some teams of people to help clean up. We can offer admin support. Other ideas?

Renewing us day by day

2009-02-18T09:47:00.000+11:00

I have been thinking about the nature of our Spiritual renewal in preparation for the the things I will say at the St Jude's Leaders Summit next weekend.

The idea comes from 2 Corinthians 3:18: And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

That is - as followers of Christ we are in a process of transformation into the likeness of Christ and this is the work of the Spirit of God in us. It is a spiritual work of renewal.

I came across this lovely quote that expresses the depth of what is happening:

“the long and intricate, daily business of formation in Christ – that is, the practice of the dispositions and habits of the heart that changes our word spirituality from a wish or a desire or a fantasy or a diversion, into an actual life lived to the glory of God.”

Growing in Christ is not automatic. It is brought on by discipline and determination and repentance, and surrendering to the work of the Spirit in us. Keeping in step with the Spirit. (See Gal 5:25).

Where is God?

2009-02-15T08:44:00.001+11:00

After the worst bushfire tragedy in Victoria's history many are asking this question - Where is God? or How do we answer our friends, when they ask us - How could a loving powerful God allow this to happen?

Here are some suggestions. (please note that one answer will not do - it is a complex problem and this could be the start of a long discussion):

1. "I don't really know or understand" is a good and biblical way to answer the question. That is because, none of us know the mind of God. Consider this from Isaiah 40:12-14

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has instructed him? Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

Or this from Romans 11:33-36 quoting Isaiah 40 ...

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

The point is of course, that we would be very silly indeed to speak the mind of God beyond what he has actually told us. His ways are so far above our ways, that we should answer with great care.

Also as an aside here - these verses remind us that, those of us with faith need to beware the temptation to take on "defending God" or as a friend of mine said this week, to "get God off the hook" for this tragedy. To do so would be a dangerous route for us to take away from his sovereign rule over the world.

2. "He enters into the suffering of human beings" would be another part of the conversation. God is presented right through the scriptures as a God of great compassion, and love. And He became one of us in the person of Jesus, sharing the griefs and trials of the human condition. Weeping with us in our pain, and rejoicing in our joys. The Lord Jesus, was often "moved with compassion" on those in need. He advocated for the poor and the marginalised. He showed the highest expression of love - to lay down his life for his friends, that they might be saved. He knows what we are going through and shares our griefs.

3. "The world is damaged because of sin". It is a sign that the whole creation is in bondage to decay, when we see things like this happen. (As it is whenever we see death, be it a 23 year old man, or an 89 year old saint - death is an enemy, and part of the fallen world.) Paul reminds us in Romans 8:19-23 that the creation is groaning under the load of its own brokenness.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

And God, in Jesus, is the only way out of that groaning. We have been joining the creation in groaning this week. We have heard its groans as clear as a bell, as it waits for the time it will be set free from bondage to decay, and will obtain that glorious freedom.

4. "That God has promised a day when he will restore the creation". The subjection of this world to its futility will one day come to end, when Jesus returns, and renews the whole creation. This is Christian hope for the bush fire victims, AND the wars in Sudan, and Congo, and Iraq and and.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." 5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new."

5. "God rules his world". We must not, in all of this make the mistake of saying that God was not present when the fires raged through. God was and is actively ruling over his creation. He is the one who makes fire and wind and they work at his command.

Psalm 148:7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, 8 fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Psalm 135:5 For I know that the LORD is great; our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the LORD pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. 7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Why he chose to bring these winds out of his storehouses on that day, and use fire to fulfil his command, I don't know. But to deny this, and somehow say God was not there and impotent against nature would be to deny his very character.

Why not post a reply with how you are answering these questions?

In the meantime have a look at what Tim Anderson wrote in the Hearld Sun, and what Jono Smith has written about God's sovereignty to get you thinking.

A fine example

2009-02-09T08:31:00.001+11:00

Yesterday I conducted a memorial service for an old saint from St Augustine's Moreland - Dorothy Duver. I remember meeting this tiny old lady about 6 years ago when St Jude's was in partnership with Moreland. She was a faithful attender, quite hard of hearing, unobtrusive, and at first glance not particularly outstanding. How wrong appearances can be.

It was wonderful yesterday to hear story after story of Dorothy's influence in people's lives. She was born up near Ararat and came to Melbourne in 1950's to become a Deaconess. We don't know if she ever did the study, but she soon started work for the Bush Church Aid society ending up cooking for the hospital in Ceduna. She as a great cook (never cooking the same dessert twice in a year!). Later she cooked and kept house for CMS at St Andrew's Hall.

But what is most remarkable was her diligence in ministering to people's spiritual needs. A faithful pray-er, she never missed her quiet time. She would counsel people on the telephone and was a tireless visitor. We know that she pounded the pavements throughout Coburg, telling people about her church - just knocking on door after door, greeting, praying and inviting people to church.

I met one lady at the service who counts Dorothy as the one who led her to Christ, by visiting her when she moved into the area, and continuing to do so, showing care when her mother had died, and praying for her to come to faith. She did. Today she loves the Lord because of Dorothy's unassuming faithfulness.

Once she was visiting relatives on her annual visit to the country. After the visit she left behind her shoes and her Bible. When she realised she rang the family and said - "please post my Bible to me, I'll get the shoes next year". And she did.

I came away, so encouraged and uplifted having learned more about this great saint. How just like God to use a quirky, forthright, tiny slip of an old lady, to bless his people and grow his kingdom. Thanks be to God for Dorothy Duver.

Tim Patrick's Commissioning

2009-02-04T16:33:00.001+11:00

Tim Patrick was commissioned as Senior Associate Minister at St Jude's 5pm Congregation last Sunday. Tim took the Anglican Oaths and Declarations as part of his commissioning. We did this in public, to underline how important it is that we have confidence our ministers believe the biblical faith and commit to live their lives according to his word.

Here is part of what Tim said:

“I..................... firmly and sincerely believe the Catholic Faith and I give my assent to the
doctrine of The Anglican Church of Australia as expressed in the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons and the Articles of Religion, as acknowledged in section 4 of the Constitution, and I believe that doctrine to be agreeable to the word of God.

I declare my assent to the Fundamental Declarations of The Anglican Church of Australia as set out in sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution."

The Fundamental Declarations are as follows:

FUNDAMENTAL DECLARATIONS

1. The Anglican Church of Australia, being a part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, holds the Christian Faith as professed by the Church of Christ from primitive times and in particular as set forth in the creeds known as the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed.

2. This Church receives all the canonical scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as being the ultimate rule and standard of faith given by inspiration of God and containing all things necessary for salvation.

3. This Church will ever obey the commands of Christ, teach His doctrine, administer His sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, follow and uphold His discipline and preserve the three orders of bishops, priests and deacons in the sacred ministry

Tim has committed himself to some pretty serious stuff. We ought to uphold him in prayer.

Renew Vision Update Feb 09

2009-02-04T15:03:00.001+11:00

Last year St Jude's launched our Renew Vision - To Seek the spiritual renewal of inner northern Melbourne, our City and the World. Read more here.

I thought it was time to update some of our progress in Vision implementation.

Here are some of the things that are underway:

We have made prayer a priority for the Vision and have re-launched our monthly prayer meetings as "Renew Prayer" where we focus in on aspects of the Vision each month. Last Monday there were 50 people at the meeting. We want to encourage each one to bring a friend next month. All of our leaders are expected to be part of these gatherings.
We wanted to put some staff resources into raising up leaders, training and global mission, and so we appointed John Sugars as Assistant Vicar on Jan 1st to work 3 days a week in this area.
We appointed Tim Patrick to the 5pm Congregation to help that part of our ministry re-focus on reaching the many young urban professionals in the inner north of Melbourne. He was commissioned on Sunday Feb 1st.
We are currently reviewing the "governance structures" of St Jude's so that we have better accountability and reporting structures and a clearer idea what everyone in oversight ministries is supposed to be doing. The team is meeting this week and a report will come to the Vestry in a few months time.
We are holding a lunch meeting for other church leaders in the Inner North of Melbourne to share some of our hopes and hopefully launch a prayer movement.
We are working hard to launch a new St Jude's Website for better communication.

There are lots of other plans in place for 2009 and each team is working hard on their Vision goals.

Please pray for Spiritual Renewal - first for our church, and then for our World.