Welcome

Welcome

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A taste of Taiwan

As part of our
Global Gospel Focus
we invite you to
A TASTE of Taiwan
Saturday 9th August, 2008
7:30pm
Featuring
Phil & Irene Nicholson
Join us for food fun and information
on the Nicholson's work in Taiwan
RSVP Office 9381 2640

Lambeth updates

Here are three sources of info on The Lambeth Conference, Click Below:

Perth Diocese Website

The Anglican Church League

Lambeth Website

GP

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Perth Women's Convention 16th August 2008




Perth Men's Convention 13th September 2008


GP

"The Smoggiest Games Ever"


At 8 minutes past 8 o'clock on the 8th day of the 8th month the Olympics Games will start in Beijing, China. 8 is a very auspicious number in Chinese culture and the date and time have been set very deliberately.

What China is also very deliberate about is that it wants it to be a very harmonious time. For this reason they are redoubling their efforts to make certain that nothing is allowed to happen to threaten that. This is having a marked effect on the way that Christian ministry can be carried out. Many Christian workers from overseas are being given one-month visas or else are having their visas cancelled altogether. But as these restrictions are being implemented many overseas Christian agencies are planning a strong Christian witness. And this is the focus of today's minute for mission.

In previous Olympics - in Athens and in Sydney - the open Christian witness inside the Olympic Village and at the various venues around the cities brought a lot of enrichment to individuals and to the Church itself. Many found Christ and lives were profoundly changed. But this overt Christian witness is inappropriate in China where severe restrictions still apply as to how Christian belief can be celebrated. The Government is still strongly Communist and atheistic.

The Church in China sees its role as providing loving Christian service to overseas visitors. They are planning home-stay accommodation, community festivals with street artists and entertainers. They are financing outside screens for viewing the events and putting on musical entertainment. They are not aimed to be evangelistic but want to be seen to be a gift from the Church to the community. They are aiming to be discreet and are looking for the long-term benefits of bringing the fragrance of life to different elements of Chinese society. They are walking a delicate tightrope between honouring God and obeying Chinese lat.

On the other hand some overseas Christian agencies are coming with big dreams and visions hoping to bring thousands into the Kingdom by short bursts of evangelistic preaching on street corners . No relationships can be formed or followed up by such methods and are likely to cause unnecessary offence. Let us pray that all who love Jesus Christ in Beijing during the Olympics will be sensitive to the different political climate of China and respectful of the laws of the country they are visiting. Let us pray that the love of Christ will be winsomely and attractively presented.
BT

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Total Church Workshop

Just a reminder that Total Church Workshop is happening this Saturday Afternoon 26th July at Church from 2:00pm-4:30pm as part of our equipping program. This is an equipping opportunity for serving at our Sunday meetings.

The program will be something like this:

2:00pm Welcome Bible Study - What's Church for? Kanishka
2:40 Workshop 1
3:20 Afternoon tea
3:50 Workshop 2
4:30pm Close

There are four workshop choices

1. Reading the bible in Public: Jenny D's
2. How to lead public prayer: Gavin
3. How to Welcome well: Khim
4. How to lead a service: Kanishka

I encourage you to join us for equipping and encouragement even if you are an old hand and especially if you are new on a roster!

See You there
Gavin

Snap Shots from the Groote Eylandt Trip


Balanda "Old Man" meets Anindilyakwa "Old Man"


Click Here for more Groote trip Photos

We are going to present on the trip and ministry opportunities arrising from the trip in the next few weeks as part of Global Gospel Focus. Stay Tuned

GP

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Groote Trip Snaps







Global Gospel Focus

Global Gospel Focus is a time dedicated to informing, challenging and encouraging members of all St Matt's congregations to share in the work of God's Kingdom throughout our world. There are several ways in which we hope to achieve this:

* On each of the four Sundays during our Global Gospel Focus, the sermons will focus on parts of Scripture that will help us to better understand God's mission in our world, and the parts He calls us to play in it.
* On each of those Sundays, there will also be a time of input from different mission organisations that St Matt's and its members support (TEAR, Interserve, OMF and CMS), helping us to be informed about how those organisations are working to spread the Gospel of Christ and opportunities that exist for us to partner with them.
* On Friday 8th August, "Totally Taiwan" - a youth get-together with a missions focus - will be hosted at St Matt's, with invitations to other affiliated youth groups, and input from Phil and Irene Nicholson.
* On Saturday 9th August there will be a special event hosted by Phil and Irene Nicholson, called "A Taste of Taiwan", where we will have a unique opportunity to find out about life and missions in Taiwan, and will even have a taste of its cuisine. Phil and Irene are missionaries with OMF, pioneering new ways of doing church with Taiwan's largely unreached working class.
Our hope is that the various events and talks throughout our Global Gospel Focus will not merely make us more knowledgeable about missions throughout the world, but will
- genuinely inform and motivate us to pray regularly and fervently to "the Lord of the harvest... to send out workers into his harvest field" (Matt 9)
- encourage and equip us to love, serve and pray for our brothers and sisters who are already out in that harvest field, and
- challenge us to to invest some of the abundance with which God has lavished us to further the work of His Kingdom throughout the world.

How can we do this?
It is our hope and prayer that everyone at St Matt's, whether as individuals, families or small groups, will "adopt a missionary". There are many forms this might take, depending on your passions, gifts and resources, but essentially it means personally partnering with a missionary, or missionaries, in the work they are doing in "the harvest field", and as a bare minimum should involve regular prayer support and communication.
The St Matt's Missions Working Group can and will support you in this important commitment through regular prayer updates from St Matt's link missionaries, and if you are stuck for ideas in how to care for and support your adopted missionary then we would happily meet with you or your small group to help you find some achievable and sustainable ways in which you can do that effectively.
Please pray with us that the Global Gospel Focus will be the beginning of a deeper, richer, more effective partnership between the people of St Matt's and our link missionaries, and that God would hear our prayers and reap a great harvest from every tribe and tongue and nation.

KH

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Off to Groote Eytlandt

Tomorrow we fly to Darwin enroute to Groote Eytlandt with CMS. The crew includes Steve Pivetta from CMSWA, Wendy Morris (Subi-Church of Christ) Ian Malcolm, Margaret Raven, and myself from St. Matt's. We are spending a day in Darwin where we are visiting Nungalinya College, the indigenous Bible College (Click here for more info)
From Darwin we fly east over Arnhem Land to Groote Eytlandt and stay there for a week hosted by Rob & Leanna Haynes of CMS. The aim of the week is to visit the indigenous churches at the two indigenous communities on Groote, Angurugu & Umbakumba. We are the students to sit and listen and learn. Pray for us that we would have safe travel and wisdom to communicate in ways that encourage those we meet. Pray that we might encourage the CMS workers. I am not sure if I will be in communication contact or not so pray for us! See you when we get back...
GP

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Itunes saved me from temptation

As we were thinking about the 8th Commandment: You shall not steal. We thought about the temptation of breaking copyright with dvds, music, and software. We were challenged to destroy and delete illegal copies of movies, music, and software. I confessed to the temptation to download a particular Lost episode.
I am excited to hear the latest itunes announcement to put TV shows in their downloads (lo res but that is better than nothing!) When we checked it out there were four seasons of legal lost episodes to download. Yes! Itunes has saved me from temptation. So what did Sam do? He downloaded the episode we missed legally for $3 bucks. Now we own it and can watch it with a clear conscience ! YES !

Have you got any flee temptation success stories?


Lead us not into temptation... GP