Defending Marriage

Here is an Australian Christian Lobby Report on Marriage:

It's been an historic week for marriage in Australia. Under pressure from the office of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the ACT's Stanhope Government was forced last Sunday to back down from its intention to introduce a form of homosexual marriage called civil partnerships. The climb-down was completed last night with the ACT Legislative Assembly dropping marriage-mimicking ceremonies and celebrants from its law recognising relationships between same sex couples.

According to reports today, the ACT law is similar to the Tasmanian and Victorian relationship register laws, which do not mimic marriage. Before the last election, Mr Rudd promised the Christian constituency he would not allow the federal marriage law to be tampered with, but would seek to address issues of discrimination against same sex couples through nationally consistent State-based relationship registers, based on the Tasmanian model. This model allows interdependent relationships, be they sexual or otherwise, to be recognised in State law for purposes of finance and property sharing.

As reported earlier this week, ACL is grateful to Mr Rudd and his Attorney General Robert Mclelland for honouring this commitment under enormous political pressure from homosexual activists and elements of the media. It's not too late to thank them. Mr Rudd can be contacted by clicking here and Mr McLelland's e-mail address is R.McClelland.MP@aph.gov.au

ACL is also grateful to the Federal Coalition and Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson who was also vocal in backing traditional marriage. There has been significant debate in the media about the value of marriage in our society, with one of the best contributions coming from the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen. His article here is well worth reading.

GP

Pray for church

If you can't make the Thursday Prayer meeting.

we have made the booklet available online

Click Here

Cheers

GP

Postcard from South Africa

Dear Friends

South Africa is beautiful this time of year. At sunset tonight I was on the hospital airstrip finishing a round of impromptu golf and the scenery was incredible. The view from the airstrip, on the top of the Lebombo mountains, about is 100km in every direction. From this viewpoint it’s easy to imagine the way things have been in the village for hundreds of years. In some ways things haven’t changed that much in Ingwavuma for centuries. Most people still have a subsistence way of life. About ninety five percent of people don’t have running water and electricity. Even fewer people have cars and it seems even fewer speak English.
AIDS is one thing that has changed in this community over the last few years. Now about 46% of people are infected and the rate doesn’t seem to have changed despite the introduction of anti-HIV medication in 2004. It has been the struggle against AIDS that has dominated my medical life here. It’s hard to see hope for the future here as HIV continues on it’s relentlessly.
It’s a very humbling experience working in the midst of the HIV pandemic. It’s hard to imagine that one extra doctor is going to make any difference. I try to tell myself that I’m making a difference for the individual people I treat. I’m looking forward to a holiday next week which will help to give me a fresh perspective on my work. It seems many health care workers here are feeling a bit battle weary and holidays are a scarce commodity.
Today I started work on the paediatric ward which is something I’ve been looking forward. It’s nice to be out of the isolation ward where I had to wear a TB mask the whole time. Paeds ward is noisy, hot, smelly and crowded. Many of the kids have been admitted with gastroenteritis and are on IV hydration therapy. Other admissions are for TB, HIV, pneumonia, sexual abuse and malnutrition.
This month it feels like I’ve been on call constantly. About every 3rd night I’m up most of the night. I’m in the middle of working for three weeks without a day off and I think I’ve lost the ability to sleep properly. I’m often getting calls in the middle of the night from labour ward and I need to rush down and do an emergency caesarean. Other times I’m called to emergencies like car crash victims bleeding to death. I keep dreaming about accidentally sticking myself with needles which is something that I'm trying my best to avoid.
I’m finding the lack of routine challenging on my prayer and bible reading times. It’s been hard to get to church although I think I’ve managed most weeks. I’m really enjoying bible study on a Wednesday night with about 6 other health care workers. We have been studying Ecclesiastes and have been challenged to think about what really matters in our lives. I’m still struggling to understand the book and am looking forward to getting more out of it.
In my personal reading I’m taking a lot of comfort from the book of Revelation which promises a day when God will wipe every tear from the eyes of his people. God’s new creation is all the more appealing when you see first-hand how badly sin has messed up his first one.
Every day I’ve been running after work which has helped to keep my body and mind healthy. I find it’s a great stress reliever and I think I'm fitter than I’ve ever been. I’ve entered into the Comrades Marathon next month which is about 90km uphill from Durban to Pietermaritzberg. I’m optimistic about having a good run and just need to stay injury free for another five weeks.


Prayer points:
Praise:
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise God who is the alpha and the omega, the one who was, is, and will be forever.

Thanks:
For God’s amazing creation. For the blessing of sport and recreation.
For the local Zulu people I’m starting to become friends with.

Pray:
For a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Zimbabwe. That the people of that nation will be blessed with a leader who is eager to do what is good.
For the people who suffer from HIV that they will not lose the will to live but will put their hope in God.
For the staff at Mosvold that despite the difficult situation they are faced with they will be at peace with one another and will serve patients cheerfully. That they will have strength to work hard during long shifts. That they will be kept safe despite working with contagious patients.
For more healthcare workers at Mosvold particularly for a doctor who will fill my position permanently.

Dan Claughton

Join us for the all congregations prayer meeting

This is an invitation to join with us in prayer this

Thursday 8th May. 7:45 pm to 9:00 pmish at the

All Congregations Prayer Meeting

at Church

This term meeting we will pray in particular for the life of our church leading up to the AMP in June, and the various ministry initiatives to be undertaken as well as prayer for our ongoing ministries across the congregations.

Don't feel you have to pray out loud but come and add your 'amens' to the prayers of others.

It is always the best thing in the week.

See you there! GP

TenAM ministry Proposal, 4th May 2008

On Sunday 4th May, we distributed the TenAM Ministry Proposal document to all regulars from the 10am congregation to carefully and prayerfully read and consider the proposal and its implications. You may not have been able to be present so we are making it available online. On 1st June weekend we will have a ballot to decide as a congregation whether we will implement the proposal or not, or take other action.

Page 15 of the proposal outlines some ways you can engage with this document, while Page 16 oulines the timeline for various discussion and prayer meetings at which questions, concerns, and queries can be addressed and discussed prior to us deciding whether to implement this proposal or not. We encourage you to participate in these meetings as you are able to.

The PDF version for download by available by clicking below.

Click Here for PDF Version

A hard copy version is available from the church office. Various other reports are mentioned in the proposal, these are available at the office or by email request to the office of St Matthew's 9381 2640 email: office@stmattsshentonpark.org.au

If you have any queries, comments, or concerns, we would love to talk with you about them. Thank you for your prayerful engagement with this proposal.

Kanishka Raffel
Gavin Parsons
Khim Harris
5th May 2008

M4M: Supporting Langham Partnership

Langham Partnership seeks to raise the level of Biblical preaching throughout the world. It does this by holding preaching schools in strategic locations, by making available quality Biblical literature to aid national pastors in the Majority World, and by providing scholarships for people to gain higher degrees so that Biblical expositional preaching will help the church worldwide to grow in effectiveness.

One major project has been the production of the Africa Bible Commentary, the first ever one-volume commentary written by Africans, for Africans. It has taken seven years to produce with more than $1million raise to make the project a reality. Now plans are afoot to translate this into other languages. The Kiswahili translation project is already under way, and others will follow. This will all make a huge contribution to the maturing of the African Church.

Koorong is teaming up with Langham Partnership Australia to help in the distribution costs of this commentary. During the month of May, customers are being encouraged to add as little as one dollar to any purchase, and Koorong will match it dollar for dollar to a total of $40,000. Just $30 will provide one ABC to needy pastors in Africa. John Stott has commended this project to the Christian public and it certainly deserves our support.

http://www.langhampartnership.org.au/

BT

How to write a letter to the editor

HOW TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Twelve Principles for Christians

My Mum taught me to protest through letter writing. I grew up in the Bennelong electorate with John Howard. My Mum wrote to him on various occasions protesting various issues. Some of my letters have taken a bit of stick. Some of my friends are still 'letters to the editor' kind of guys.

This article caught my eye on how to write a Christian "letter to the editor" by Douglas Groothuis.

Click Here

Let me know if it helps

Keep engaging, Keep writing, Keep protesting
GP