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Is Your Church a Lifeboat?

Recently in Jervis Bay, a boat was capsized by one of many whales stopping off in the bay on their way back south with their calves. Ideally a lifeboat would have been handy to scoop them up and take them to shore. But there wasn’t one around. However, the fishermen were able to swim to shore and safety. Back in June this year Andrew Heard, pastor at Central Coast Evangelical Church visited the church I was part of at the time. This is the question he asked our congregation, ‘Is your church a life-boat that saves those who are drowning?’ … Continue reading →

Be a Blessing

Do you ever stop to think about blessings? Too often we don’t stop and thank God for the blessings we receive each day from His hand. There are some that struck me on this Easter Monday morning. 1. The blessing of Easter, when Jesus died in God’s rescue plan so we can be friends with God and not be separated from Him by our sin. 2.The blessing of being able to freely go to church and worship Him with like minded people. 3.The blessing of family and friends who love and care for us. 4. The blessing of the beauty … Continue reading →

Are You an Onlooker?

I’ve been reading ‘Prochownik’s Dream’ by Alex Miller. One of the characters, Marina, an artist, talked about how after she and her husband moved, she felt she was not in the right place and would ‘be cast as an onlooker for the rest of my days.’ As a result they moved back for a time to Melbourne, the city they’d originally came from. Her friend, Toni, also an artist, remarks ’I would have thought being cast as an onlooker is something you allow to happen to you, isn’t it?’ It’s a fair comment. It made me think, how easy it … Continue reading →

10 Tips For Giving Advice

After Job’s friends have had their say and Job has replied, Elihu decides get into the advice business. He can keep quiet no longer, it seems. His anger is bubbling up with in him and it needs an outlet. He is angry with Job because he still maintains his innocence and he is angry with Job’s three friends because ‘they had come up with no answers, and yet had condemned job,’ Job 32:3. Elihu’s speech was born out of anger, which is never a good starting point for giving advice. The other problem is that even though younger than Job … Continue reading →

Holy Huddles or Reaching Outwards

Are we in danger of creating holy huddles? It appears we are. In Australia it was revealed in our latest monthly church newsletter that 60% of those who do not attend church have, ‘no close friends involved in a church.’ That is a staggering statistic and one that needs to be changed. In an effort to change this situation and try and connect with these people currently outside the church, the Anglican Synod has started an evangelistic plan called Connect 09. It’s great there is a plan set up to get the Word of God out to more people, and … Continue reading →

How Important is Children’s Ministry?

Children are our future. They are also the future of the church. Children are important to Jesus as we see from Matthew 18:1-6 and Matthew 19:13-14. And yet, some churches seem to devalue children’s ministry by having poorly trained and inexperienced leaders working in children’s programs, by not taking an active role in training teachers or instituting programs that children do not want to be a part of. Information provided in Southern Cross magazine by Bible League Australia claims that Operation World says ‘every new generation needs to be evangelised afresh or the church soon becomes nominal.’ So to ensure … Continue reading →