Harvest, March 2010

Edition 25

Connecting Christadelphian Young People

The Vine is published quarterly by the Sydney Christadelphian Young People (SCYP).

Coordinators Katie Thurlby Tim Mogg Editorial Team Katie Thurlby, Tim Mogg, Chrissy Lawrie, Samee Lapham, Eliza Davis and Rosie French LAYOUT/DESIGNER Samee Lapham MASTHEAD DESIGN Alisa Thompson Contributors WRITERS (in order of appearance) - Katie Thurlby, Stephen Cook, James McCann, Jacqui Shaw, Jeff Watson, Cara McClure, Barnaby Nicholls, Tim Mogg, Andrew and Carolyn Quixley, Emily Collins, Esther Pryde, John Thatcher, Nick Cox, Belinda Burns, Ben and Rozanne Topham, Sam Collins, Nick Morgan, Carmel Mansfield PHOTOGRAPHY - Shelly and Sam O’Toole (p19), Michael Lawrie (p19), Bonnie Gilmore (p34), Shell Bonner (p18), Mikki Pogson (p18),Samee Lapham (p21) ILLUSTRATION - Dani Pogson (p13), Samee Lapham(p10, 22) COVER ARTWORK - Katie Thurlby The Vine is published to the Glory of our Heavenly Father, through whom all things are made possible.

Opinions expressed in The Vine are the authors’ and are not neccessarily held by the Editorial Team or the SCYP. All Bible quotations are from the New International Version (1978) unless otherwise stated. e: thevine@scyp.net web: www.scyp.net/thevine.php

In case you haven’t already heard, we have decided to change things a little this year and produce The Vine quarterly, according to the seasons – Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. But don’t worry; each edition will be bigger and better than ever before, jam packed with a variety of writing and artwork, hopefully from all over the globe!

This edition we also welcome Tim Mogg into the role of Editor alongside me and say a big congratulations to him and his beautiful new wife Chrissy!

Samee and I were so privileged to witness their wedding vows last Saturday 13th March and what a beautiful day it was – God was definitely at work! We wish them well as they now walk hand-in-hand towards the Kingdom of God. This edition of The Vine is called ‘Harvest.’ We take a closer look at the greater plan of God’s harvest, ‘even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together,’ John 4:36. As well as the personal harvest He is developing within each of us, ‘He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,’ Philippians 1:6, ‘Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness,’ 2 Corinthians 9:10.

Both types of harvest are ultimately centred on the maturity of nine spiritual attributes; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and temperance. I like to think of it like this; when every living being, bears every one of these Spirit-fruits to full abundance, the glory of the Lord will have filled the earth to its entirety, and the Kingdom of God will be here. This will not be entirely completed until Jesus returns; however, each day of our personal walk towards God’s Kingdom should be part of a gradual unfurling of leaves, tendrils, buds, flowers and eventually fruit– just like this month’s cover artwork. The opposite of these Spiritual attributes are earthly attributes. These can only lead to death and decay rather than the beauty and wonder of growth and maturation.

So, what can we do to grow in the spirit? Philippians 4:8-9 gives us a pretty good start, ‘I do my best to fill my mind and meditate on things that are true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious, the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. I put into practise what I’ve learned, what I’ve heard and seen and realised. As I do that, God, who makes everything work together, will work me into his most excellent harmonies,’ The Message.

Blessed reading, Love Katie

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‘I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances,’ Philippians 4:11 Do ever you wonder why it’s taking so long to get where your going? Do you ever think to yourself, ‘doesn’t God know the time is now’? I’m sure I’m not the only person in this world who thinks, ‘I want it all right now.’ My family have always said to me, ‘don’t wish your life away, it will come in time.’ But I still can’t get the hang of simply being content with where I am in life. Sure, we can blame the fast-paced, Veruca Salt – ‘I want it now’ – world around us but have we ever just stopped to think that maybe we are the problem?

Discontent is part of the human condition – the flesh is never happy, or at least not for very long. Whether you want to be older, younger, cooler, smarter, nicer, slimmer or prettier with a better job, bigger house, cooler friends or Mr. or Ms. Right by your side; you’re just never going to be content with any of it if you’re living with a fleshly attitude.

I wonder whether our idea of what contentment actually is, is misguided. Do we think of contentment as being satisfied enough that we don’t want or need anything to change?

Are we just looking for an excuse to stop, sit back and say, ‘I don’t need to change anything, I’m just so satisfied.’ Are we waiting for that perfect moment in life where we actually hope the wind changes and it stays like that forever? There may be fleeting moments in life where we’ll feel this way; maybe at our baptism, when we realise we’ve met our soul mate, during our wedding vows or at the birth of our children. But when Paul talks about contentment in Philippians, he doesn’t mean he’s satisfied enough to just stop moving, changing or living. He’s saying he’s satisfied to the point of not being disturbed, worried or anxious. He is content in the knowledge that God is in control.

‘He has made everything beautiful in its time,’ Ecclesiastes 3:11 God knows the right timing for everything. Its time is His time. We don’t always understand or appreciate God’s timing but we need to trust that He knows what’s best. God uses time to test us, broaden our faith and help us change, grow or heal. In Exodus 13:17-18 we learn that God took

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the Israelites the long way round the wilderness because he knew they simply weren’t ready for what they may have faced the other way. In order to show God we trust Him we need to wait the right way – patiently. Patience brings about satisfaction and satisfaction peace, joy and happiness. What God leads us to, doesn’t always seem to make sense. But God knows when we are ready and if he thinks we are ready, we are. Sometimes He leads us to situations and circumstances sooner than we expect.

Either way we need to trust in Him and prove that trust by refusing to be troubled by the timing.

‘As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease,’ Genesis 8:22 We can be certain that as long as this earth exists, we will not only have to go through the waiting period of seedtime but we will also enjoy the harvest. But, our seasons are not always in-sync with everyone else’s. Just as different crops mature and are harvested in different seasons, human beings mature and bear fruit in their own season, ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under

heaven,’ Ecclesiastes 3:1. We should never be envious of someone else’s harvest. Be energised and strengthened by seeing fruit coming to bear in their life and realise that God is doing His best for you in your own season, ‘Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,’ Philippians 1:6.

‘But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body… it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body,’ 1 Corinthians 15:38 & 44 God has sown his word in you, ‘Humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you,’ James 1:21. Whenever we choose to follow God’s will and trust in His timing, we are drinking up His living water and are closer to germination, growth, budding, blossoming, fruit-bearing and yes, harvest! It is natural that at times ‘the sons of the evil one’ will sprout up as weeds to try to choke out your sprouting ‘good seed’, Matthew 13:38. This is the weakness of human nature which gives rise to sin and steals the joy of contentment which that patient waiting has given you.

The answer? Keep drinking up the living water of God’s word and basking in the brightness of His Son and, ‘Instead, speak[ing] the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ,’ Ephesians 4:15.

Every time you start feeling that rumbling feeling of discontent or a niggling worry about the future coming your way, just read the following quote and be inspired and uplifted by the surety we have in our loving Father and his extraordinary plan. ”As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:9-13.

Katie Thurlby

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My mother told me a million times not to exaggerate!

I got the impression that exaggerating was bad, but then I discovered that Jesus exaggerated a lot. It was a common characteristic of first century Jewish humour and is very noticeable in Jesus’ teachings, together with hyperbole (gross exaggeration).

I can imagine Jesus’ listeners laughing loudly over some of his exaggeration. For example: “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel”, Matthew 23:24. He might even have gone through the motions of imitating someone who would carefully strain their water through a fine cloth so they didn’t inadvertently swallow a tiny insect which would be an “unclean” food under the Jewish law. He might then have opened his mouth wide and pretended to swallow something huge, perhaps coughing or gagging on it as he did. His point would have been obvious, and his audience would have understood the joke immediately.

Some people were making a huge fuss about little things, but completely missing the really important things. There would be no better way of illustrating this than with an example which used a gross exaggeration and would have made them laugh at the same time. The point was obvious, and many people would have realised their own silliness while laughing at themselves.

While we’re talking about camels, you’ll probably remember Jesus words 'it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God' (Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25). This is such a gross exaggeration that many commentators have questioned whether Jesus really said this. Some have suggested that 6

the word for “camel” and the word for “rope” are similar in the language spoken by Jesus, and He might have actually said “it’s easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle...”

Others have suggested that 'the eye of the needle' was a small door in one of the gates of Jerusalem, and for a camel to get through its driver had to remove all its packs and the camel had to crawl through on its knees. These are interesting ideas, but they miss the point that Jesus is using a gross exaggeration to make the point that for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God is really, really, really, really difficult! In fact, Jesus goes on to say it’s impossible! “Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible'(verse 26). We should make sure we read those last words: 'BUT with God ALL THINGS are possible'.

The point of the “unreal” exaggeration is that God can do the impossible! He can even save rich people!

But some occurrences of exaggeration are less noticeable in Jesus’ stories. In the story of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9 // Luke 8:1-8) the farmer seems almost careless in the way he throws his precious seeds in places where it cannot grow.

Exaggeration again? Then the story goes on to say that some seed fell on good soil where it produced a hundred times what was sown (verse 8). I think Jesus is using exaggeration again to make his point.

It’s possible Jesus had in mind an incident in Isaac’s life when he planted crops in Philistine territory and in the same year 'he reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him', Genesis 26:12. This incident tells us that to reap “a hundredfold” was not the norm – it was a sign of God’s blessing.

Interesting connection, but what’s his point, and what does it mean for us?

In the parable of the sower I think the exaggeration would have been picked up easily by Jesus’ audience. Seed was valuable and in farming conditions where there was dry and rocky ground bordering the fertile soil a sower would have spread his seed carefully to avoid waste. Many farmers would have been poor and every seed was sown carefully.

He would have made sure he avoided the dry, hard or rocky ground. But the sower in Jesus’ story does the opposite: he’s almost careless and throws his seeds around with great abandon, not caring where it lands. And, like the Isaac incident, God blesses the sower with a plentiful harvest, out of all proportion to the seed that was sown.

Jesus interprets his own parable. He tells us that the seed is the 'the message about the kingdom', Matthew 13:18. The person who preaches (sows) the message should not “target” their audience and speak only to the people they expect to respond. Too much of our preaching is directed to “the right people” – the kind of people we think might make good Christians or might be interested in our peculiar version of the message. But if we imitated the example of the sower in this story we would be less selective. He would spread the message far and wide, to all and sundry, even to people we think might not be interested.

Jesus’ second exaggeration in this story – the one about the crop being a hundred times what was sowed – tells us that we should expect some surprises. We might talk about the Gospel to someone we think is unlikely to listen, but they might actually go on to pass the message on to a hundred others!

It seems that the two exaggerations in this story are balanced in such a way that they suggest a cause and effect. The sower was blessed with an unnatural abundance because he was ridiculously carefree in the way he spread the seed. In Jesus’ day the religious leaders were very selective about the company they kept. The disabled and diseased, Roman collaborators, ‘sinners’, Gentiles and Samaritans, and people who failed to observe their scrupulousness about behavior and doctrine were all avoided at all costs – they certainly would never invite any of them to their meal table. Yet Jesus kept company with them all and taught that we should invite and welcome the outcasts and rejected to our meals. In our day those groups may be the people we’ve always tended to avoid: the down-and-out, the homeless, drug users and alcoholics, gays and lesbians, prostitutes, criminals, refugees and lawyers! (Just kidding about lawyers).

The main point of this story may very well be that in order to enjoy an abundance we have to go against expected standards and traditional methods and get the word out as widely as we can, without targeting the groups or individuals we expect will be most likely to respond. Forget about trying to identify the ideal target audience for the message – just spread the word like the Sower and like Jesus! You might be surprised what happens when you do.

Stephen Cook

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James McCann reminds us that we are the fruits of God's labour. What perfect motivation for a bit of inspired hard work and fruit production of our own.

“Oh great, an article on WORK! What could possibly interest me in reading about something that I use every waking moment trying to AVOID?” It is true that not everyone loves work (except for Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs) however I would like to share with you what I find so inspiring about work that may give you a fresh perspective on whatever work you’re involved in.

God’s Example – the Fruits of His Labour Why did God create us in the first place? Have you ever considered that you are God’s workmanship? (Ephesians 2:10) The Bible begins and ends with the purpose of God’s labour in bringing forth life.

In six days He made the earth and everything in it. On the 6th day He made man and woman, in His image and likeness. Finally, on the 7th day God rested from all His labour. This simple pattern tells us that everything He made was for mankind, but mankind was made for God. Mankind was the fruit for which God laboured.

God’s physical creation was the blueprint of His spiritual creation, as James 1:18 (NKJV) says, ‘Of His own will He made us His children through the Word of truth, so that we might, in a sense, be the firstfruits of the things which He has created.’

God’s work and labour is to create in us fruits of righteousness that give him glory and praise (Philippians 1:11). We don’t need much convincing of how much effort God must invest in us, because we all know only too well from experience how prone we are to selfishness! And yet Paul tells us that we have to be ‘confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,’ Philippians 1:6 (KJV) God is working hard every moment to produce His fruit in us (John 5:17). Yet God will rest again, in the Kingdom. This is what the 7th day of God’s creation represents. Only then will sin and death be destroyed, and His fruit, us, perfected.

(Revelation 22:2) This is God’s motivation for working. He knows the Fruits of His Labour (you) are worth all the effort! God values you so highly that He gave His only son to 8

cultivate this fruit. (John 3:16) Our Labour – Our Fruit What an amazing example God is!

God’s work in our life can only touch our heart and show us how we can be inspired to work each day. His Love working in our life now becomes a new motive force that can inspire our work attitude and effort.

In the past, we went to work so that we could get paid. We still do for obvious reasons, but this motivation is based on earning — I do so I get. This method is impossible with God (Luke 17:10). God’s reward for us, eternal life in His kingdom, is a gift as Paul says in Ephesians 2:8 (NKJV), ’For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is God’s gift.’

Faith is to be totally convinced that God’s love is victorious. Abraham was the father of the faithful because he believed God had the power to complete His work in salvation, ‘being fully assured that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform,” Romans 4:21 (ASV)

it will empower us to show what we believe by living and working according to its principles (James 2:26).

If we don’t live God, we don’t know God! If we can’t work hard for masters we can see, how can we demonstrate working for a master we can’t see?

If we are at school working in Maths (shameless plug), or at work digging trenches, or at uni in a lecture we should see all these as opportunities to work as if unto Christ (Eph 6:5) and to do, ‘all to the glory of God,’ 1 Corinthians 10:31. This is the fruit that we produce for God ‘through every good work,’ Colossians 1:10.

within you the desire to do [energy] His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.’

So, may we always be inspired to work actively in whatever we put our hand to! Be encouraged by God’s work in your life and the new motive force that He provides us through faith, because the fruits of God’s labour is the same as ours! ‘But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life,’ Romans 6:22 (ESV) James McCann

At times when work is tough or our faith is struggling, we need to remember one more amazing idea about the fruits of our labour. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:13 (WNT), ’For it is God Himself whose power [energy] creates

Faith, however, is not just a passive set of beliefs. If faith is real and genuine, 9

When I was fifteen I got on a plane to Perth, by myself, to attend my very first youth conference. I was told by the committee that I would stay at the Pilbeam’s house and that they would meet me at the airport. Neither my parents nor I knew this family, or in fact any-one from Perth but happily off I went. What was it that meant my very responsible, loving parents would allow me to fly hundreds of kilometres away, solo, to stay in a house of people we had never met? The answer is simply, ‘we knew they were Christadelphians’, and that meant a lot to us.

What does it mean to be Christadelphian? As I am sure many of you know the title loosely translates “Brothers (and Sisters) of Christ.” This is a great literal translation which has significant meaning but there is a deeper level to this name that I would like to explore. I believe being a Christadelphian means that you want to put Jesus at the centre of your life. I believe you want to learn about God and that you eagerly wait for Jesus to come back and set up that perfect Kingdom on earth. I also believe it means you have a responsibility to others holding this name to help, support and love them in their faith.

There are three Biblical images that support the idea that community is important for our personal spirituality. God emphasises over and over again that we need each other, we need to help each other, and we need Jesus as the connecting theme.

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The Bible describes our community through a number of different images. The image of the body, 'If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? … But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be,' 1 Corinthians 12:17-18. We all have different roles to play in this body but all vital. The heartwarming image of us as a big happy family, 'You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,' Galations 3:26. God; as our ever-understanding loving Father, and Jesus; as the brother on whom we can always rely. We are related to each other.

The image of the vine, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches.

Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers.’ John 15:5-6.

Without Jesus there is no hope, without supporting each other there is no growth.

Cameron and I really miss seeing lots of the ‘younger crew’ that we made friendships with over the years at SCYP. But we know that whilst life circumstances change, our bond, community spirit, love for Christ and the energy we put into His service does not change. What does it mean to put our energy into His service? These five little ideas are some practical ways that we can show our love for Christ...

Everyone is busy. It’s really important to make sure you stop and think about your friends. Use your diary and plan ahead of time to meet-up before an SCYP class or a Saturday morning at the beach. Take time out to email a little note to a friend, call to just chat on a week night. Even though it’s old fashioned – do little things like actually send a snail-mail birthday card through the snail-mail to your friends.

Get out of your comfort zone and make new friends. Each SCYP class make it a goal to meet three new people. Wouldn’t it be great if we were all close friends? Talk to people outside your age bracket at ecclesial activities.

Find practical ways to include God in all your relationships. Choose one morning each week to write a txt to a friend with a Bible quote that you recently read and enjoyed. Talk to your friends about the studies and talks you’ve heard. Read the Bible together. Pray together.

Too often I hear people make comments about how ecclesias do this or that and they haven’t even been there to visit and find out for themselves. Visit other meetings, meet the brothers and sisters there. See for yourself that we truly have a wonderful bond when it is based on Christ’s sacrifice. I believe having friends from all different cultures within Christadelphia is really important. Peel back the silly layers and see that deep down we are all connected to Christ and each other. Always try to listen to other opinions and then test those with your own Biblical study.

Do not grumble. It’s so much easier to see things that went wrong or that you didn’t like. Try looking for something positive you can get out of a study or an event you attend. It may even be as simple as sitting next to a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Christadelphia isn’t perfect, but no-where this side of the Kingdom will be. Get involved, be positive, be Biblical and build lasting friendships. This will always be the key to building unity and keeping our branches healthy. Let’s celebrate being Chrsitadelphians and the unique bond that this demands we have with each other.

Thirteen years ago I went to that amazing first youth conference in Perth. I still have many wonderful friendships from that conference and I still remember many lessons from the speakers. But I remember most the love the Pilbeams showed and I know now as a Mum that in twelve years when my little son Noah wants to go to youth conferences I will not hesitate to put him on a plane to enjoy the wonderful fellowship we have being Christadelphians.

Jacqui Shaw

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I was born into a Christadelphian family and have been brought up attending Sunday school and other youth activities. I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up in a strong spiritual and loving environment with my parents, grandparents, family and friends in the Truth.

Being brought up in this way has made God a part of my life from a very young age.

Over the past few years that lead to my baptism my love for God grew, along with my understanding of Him and His plan with the earth. I had been thinking about baptism for quite a while, more so after travelling to Cambodia at the end of 2008. I was amazed to see the immense joy and love gleaming from the faces of the Brothers and Sisters over there and it made me feel like I really wanted to be a part of God’s wonderful family too. Looking at his awesome creation whether it is the stars up in the sky at night, huge mountains or just the sheer complexity of the way in which we and the animals are formed, made me admire and really acknowledge His immense power and glory. Knowing that I will receive God’s gift of a place in His Kingdom also made me really excited about being baptised. I can’t wait till we can all be in His Kingdom, together with those faithful from the past. Where the whole earth will give the everlasting praise and glory that is due to our all powerful creator.

My desire to be baptised also came out of necessity. I am a sinner. I came to an understanding that the only way in which I can be saved is by repenting for my sins and being baptised into the sin covering name of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the reasons that initially hindered my response to the call of the Gospel message was the thought that I was not yet good enough to be baptised.

After talking to others and searching the scriptures for myself I arrived at the obvious conclusion that of course I wasn’t! And that that was the whole point of baptism.

We will never be good enough until we repent and are baptised into Christ putting away our old life of sin, promising to live faithful to God. I can’t wait to be with you all when Jesus returns to this earth to set up God’s wonderful Kingdom forever!

Your new Brother in Christ, Jeff Watson

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In agriculture, the harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest. The harvest marks the end of the growing season, or the growing cycle for a particular crop, and this is the focus of seasonal celebrations for many people. The timing of harvesting is critical. Weather conditions such as frost, rain, and warm or cold periods can affect the amount yielded and the quality.

Our lives can be likened to the process of harvesting. The moment we are born, we are shaped and nurtured by those who love us and by the great farmer himself! We are changing physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally; constantly in preparation for the ‘Great Harvest’, the time when those who are faithful will be taken from the worlds grasp and given the chance to live for eternity.

Life is not all smooth sailing as most of us would know. We have our own share of bad weather and unpredictable occurrences along the way that affects the growing process. We are constantly left feeling deflated in faith and confidence and as a result, we do not use the talents we have for him. We ask ourselves the question “What do I possibly have to offer?” but we forget, that we are no longer our own.

‘I planted the seed, Apollo’s watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.’ 1 Corinthians 3:6-9.

We are his field. A Personal harvest needs to happen in our lives but our Father is the farmer. He is in control of this harvest and knows the precise time for every part of the process. The more we surrender our land over to him, the more fruit we are going to bear. We need to shift our focus from “me first” to “him first”. It’s about God, and how the fruit we bear is going to affect someone else. Understand that you were born in the season that God appointed you and that he envisioned so much for you! Be prepared to take on his purpose for your life and tell yourself, “I Have the potential”.

It is important to realise that we each have talents or gifts that we can use.

Crops are placed and planted at specific times and are not fully grown and mature until a later stage. Talents are the same. Some require time, practice and nurturing as Moses soon realised.

‘Moses said to the LORD, ‘O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.’

The LORD said to him, ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or

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mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say,’' Exodus 4:10.

We make the mistake of thinking that a talent is something everyone can see. However, God has given us characteristics, talents, gifts that we can use to honour him. Some people don’t find it because they are afraid or they don’t ask God to guide them.

The servants in the parable of the talents were each given talents from their master. The ones who cultivated their talents were repaid at one hundred percent. However, one servant was afraid. He did nothing with his talent and kept it hidden. He received nothing from his master. We need to put our fear aside and have faith that God has put us here on earth not ‘just to fill a place or just to be a number. He has chosen us for a purpose’ –Mother Teresa

‘We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully,’ Romans 6:10-11.

Every person is different. Every person has different talents. A talent can be seen or unseen, heard or unheard but never unnoticed by God. God wants us to combine righteousness and a character like his with the talents we have been given in order to bear fruit.

‘The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him”,’ Psalm 92:12-15.

‘I will look on you with favour and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new,’ Leviticus 26:9-10.

When we cultivate or develop our faith; we multiply our produce or bear more fruit. When we use our talents for the glory of God and not just for ourselves, we are setting a Godly example for all those we meet. The door of our hearts remains open so that others can see the light, love, and amazing blessings that come in abundance from knowing God, his word, and the joy of letting him begin a personal harvest within.

‘All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.

And (I) pray this... that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light,’ Colossians 1:6-12.

Cara Jane McClure

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Leeland have always typified what is best about Contemporary Christian Music – their catchy pop hooks, intricate guitar work and driving beats all tied to a Christian message. Exploding onto the scene with 2006’s sound of melodies (surely one of CCM’s greatest debut efforts – released when lead singer-songwriter Leeland Mooring was only 17 years-old), Leeland only cemented their positive critical reputation with 2008’s sophomore opposite way – an album filled with potential hit songs. Most of all, Leeland were fresh – they never referred to their “career”, rather using the term “ministry”. Also, Leeland Mooring couldn’t possibly have sounded fresher, with a youthful yet earnest voice that was intense enough to overcome a lack of maturity.

However, listening to Leeland’s latest album (2009’s love Is on the move), it’s not just a new vocal maturity that becomes apparent. An alarming question is raised – have Leeland lost that freshness that made them great? It’s fair to say they hurried its release – the album arrived barely a year after opposite way – and it sounds almost as if more time was spent polishing every song, than was spent on writing actually decent songs. So the production is excellent throughout the album – many of the songs are given a glossy sheen that their clichéd fundamentals don’t really deserve.

The title track was apparently written after members of the band talked with a homeless man on their way to the studio – a shame then that such a good story of active ministry doesn’t translate into a truly decent song, instead featuring clichéd melodies and stirring strings.

There’re plenty of those to go around – sprinkled liberally throughout the album can be found string arrangements that sound awfully familiar, having been done to death in mainstream pop music in the last few decades.

Let’s not be too harsh – there are several great songs here.

‘Pure Bride’ begins as a haunting, dreamily atmospheric song that seems to lack drive, until it explodes in a wildly cathartic moment of majesty, yearning for Jesus’ second coming. ‘Learn to Love’ is classic Leeland, in spirit – an

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inventive, outrageously catchy song that provides a major uplift. ‘Lift Your Eyes up’ is a bit slower, but is driven by a pulsating beat that takes the song up a notch on a decent stereo.

Less glowingly, ‘Weak Man’ and ‘Carry Me On Your Back’ could be b-sides – uninventive songs that seem to follow a how-to-write-a-Leeland-song textbook until both take surprising left-turns two minutes in that raise their game a little. Even the awkwardly titled ‘Via Dolarosa’ is catchy enough, despite the aforementioned strings. The gospeltinged ‘Holy Spirit Have Your Way’ is relatively unoriginal, but is emotive enough to get away with it.

This isn’t a bad album – indeed, it’s still much better than much of the dross that can sadly be found staining the reputation of CCM – it’s just not as good as we expect from Leeland, thanks to their brilliant first two albums. There are some great songs on love Is on the move, but you can’t help but get the impression that several of the songs only sound alright because of their good production. If Leeland had perhaps waited another year before releasing this one, they could have removed some of the dross and replaced it with some fundamentally better songs. Still, this album is worth buying for its few great songs alone.

This has all sounded fairly negative – but don’t worry, if you’re a Leeland fan (the Christian music world is divided into Leeland fans, and those who have yet to hear them!) you’ll still find plenty to enjoy in love Is on the move. The hooks are still catchy (although not outright infectious) and it’s a spiritually uplifting listen – essentially, it’s classic Leeland (although a little more atmospheric), and only sometimes does that become a hindrance more than a help.

The message is great and the music is generally good, so put it on, pump up the volume, and let love move you.

Barnaby nicholls

packaged parables While deciding what to write about ‘The Parable of the Sower,’ I came across this very fancy quote. ‘Despite numerous exegetical-hermeneutical probings of the Parable of the Sower, the scholarly community is far from reaching consensus on what message Jesus intended to convey through the Parable.’

The Bible is amazing in that the more we look, the more we find. But I think this quote underestimates Jesus’ ability to use simple everyday objects and events to teach simple but profound messages.

The story goes like this. A farmer began sowing his seed.

He sowed wherever there was any hope that it might grow.

He sowed on ground which people had begun to make into a path, on rocky ground, and on ground that was full of thorn-bushes. He sowed also, of course, on the best ground.

He sowed everywhere because, like all farmers, he would plough his land after sowing it. He would plough the whole land; the part that had been trodden down, the thorny part, the poor soil as well as the rich soil. But on this occasion the birds took away some of the seed he had sowed on the path before he could do the ploughing; the sun burnt up the new shoots on the rocky ground; and the thorn-bushes had already begun to spoil more of the crop.

Imagine what the disciples would be thinking as they heard this story. They would be struggling with the fact that Jesus, to whom they had responded with enthusiasm, was rejected by the Pharisees and other leaders. The disciples must have thought about the possible outcomes of Jesus’ preaching. The same applies to us.

In my Bible Matthew 13 is titled, ‘The Parable of the Sower’, but it should really be called ‘The Parable of the Sower, His Soils and Other Deviations From Trouble-free Farming.’

We need to decide what part of the story we represent.

Are you the sower? The birds? The good soil? The down trodden soil? The thorns? Or are you the seed trying to grow amid difficulty? It is possible, and probable that you are a mixture of many of these types. It is our job to identify what part our lives represent, and then to ask for God’s help to grow something worth harvesting.

To get something positive out of Jesus' message in this parable is not complex or difficult. You do not have to do any exegetical-hermeneutical probing. The first step Jesus asks you to do is place seed in the ground, and know that God is looking after you and the growth of your seed. Like a seed, you may think that you and your message is small or unimpressive, but think of the potential that exists. Just as a small, seemingly insignificant wheat seed has the power to bear hundreds of bushels of wheat, so Jesus’ message has the power to change lives.

Tim Mogg Weeden, T. J., Sr. (1979). Recovering the Parabolic Intent in the Parable of the Sower. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 47(1), 97-120.

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We have had highs and lows in our first year together, three baptisms with one of those being Nathan Murton, who at 19 was convinced that Gods way was the only way.

Sadly just 5 weeks later he passed away from a brain tumour, a condition that he was unaware of when he was baptised.

In the Spring of 2008 a group of brothers and sisters who attended the Adelaide Ecclesia decided that they would like to form a new meeting that would be aimed at taking believers into the 21st Century.

After careful, prayerful thought processes the Glandore Family Church opened its doors in February of 2009.

The aim was to provide an environment for our young people that was uplifting and relevant to the days we live in and where those of us a little older could feel that we were able to worship our Maker in a relevant way in this century.

We also wanted to reach out to our local community and to our fellow Christadelphian brothers and sisters in other ecclesia’s who were struggling in their ecclesial environment.

We formulated the idea that we should all have some talent to bring to the worship of our Maker and his Son, and consequently decided that each Sunday the service would be run by a different family.

In doing this each member of Glandore could find a place to worship, help and encourage in a loving and prayerful environment.

We focus on being a family orientated church and have a kids club that now has 20 children, as well as a large vibrant number of young people who get involved in helping, serving and building each other up in the service of our Lord.

We also provide a crèche for small toddlers during the service so the parents of very small children can focus on the memorial without distraction.

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Nathan had a very strong faith for a man of his age and told all the young people not to grieve but that he would see them in Gods Kingdom.

He told all of us to “be strong”.

We want to use our creativity in our worship, be tolerant and we have a desire to make a difference in peoples lives.

Glandore wanted to provide a haven for the young, for those who struggle in our community and to care and love all as we await our Masters return.

We seek to be vibrant in our worship, thankful of God’s love and to this end we encourage a wide variety of musical worship, thoughtful and relevant prayer, to make a difference in the lives of our members and visitors.

We all are mindful of the great love our Father has shown to us as we try to emulate Jesus our master and to pass on that love.

Our membership has grown steadily over the last year and we have a hall full of our members as well as many visitors each Sunday as well as our study class on a Wednesday.

If you ever visit Adelaide we will make you most welcome.

We like you love our God and we love Jesus who died for us and we wait in patience for that day when our Master returns and all tears will be wiped away.

He is our Master and Lord, none else.

For you, the young people of Sydney, we wish you peace and contentment and pray that you too will decide to make God the very centre of your lives and that you will strive to love Him more each day for all he has done for you.

With love in the one we serve.

Andrew & Carolyn Quixley

People come home from mission work overseas saying, 'It changes your life forever!' But it's not until you actually experience it for yourself that you can truly relate to what they are saying. It is absolutely a life changing experience.

From December 2009 to January 2010, 17 Australians, 3 Americans, 6 Poms, 1 Kiwi, and 1 Canadian ventured to the South East Asian country of Cambodia for what was to be an unforgettable few weeks together. The Khmer (native Cambodian) people greeted us with such love and joy, we could not help but feel completely welcome and at home.

Initially, the purpose of our journey was to involve ourselves in the P2P activities, preaching the Word and teaching English in some of the provincial villages outside of the main city, and attending the South East Asian Bible School where we would share a week of fellowship with Brothers and Sisters from every corner of the world. But it soon became much, much, more. We all threw ourselves into teaching the Bible at the Christadelphian-run Bethezer

Dormitories, as well as at the Bible Education Centre/Mission Flat, where countless Khmer come through everyday to learn about God's Word.

We travelled to visit the incredible Ankor Wat Temples, we bartered our way through local markets (some better than others!), we ate the local food and tried our best to speak the local language (again, some MUCH better than others!) We even had the opportunity to attend a traditional Khmer engagement party (congratulations to Jonno Nutter and his beautiful fiancee Ren!) But the most rewarding and uplifting part of all was the friendships we formed with the beautiful Khmer people; their love, hospitality and humility is heartwarming. We all live such incredibly different lives, yet we have a love of God that brings us together, forming bonds that will never be broken.

So, we achieved our purpose. We preached in straw hut villages, slept on bamboo mats on the ground, went to the toilet in a concrete hole over a river, and attended the amazing Bible School. The fullness of what we

experienced was a blessing beyond imagination from our awesome Heavenly Father. We were given so many opportunities to show God's love and spread the Good News of the amazing future we have with Christ.

We were blessed with the opportunity to fall in love with a country and people so different from our own. We were blessed with an irreplaceable experience; we left Cambodia bolder, stronger, and at the same time, more humbled followers of God. Cambodia is more than an experience.

It is humbling, eye opening and filled with some of the most dedicated and hard working people you will ever meet. It's impossible to go there and not be inspired to try and learn to be more like the diligent Khmer.

Their thirst to learn and to know more about God’s Word is phenomenal. We thank God for the time we spent in Cambodia and our continued prayers go out to the amazing work being carried out in this corner of God's creation.

Emily Collins and Esther Pryde

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I preach the gospel in everyday life by trying to live honestly and be friendly and consistent with people I know and meet. When I meet people I like to really find out about their life and aspirations and I like to talk about how my aspirations align with needing faith in God. One example is how I am hoping to do my working holiday overseas this year. Many things are unknown but I am willing to throw all my effort in and go on that adventure and see what God has in store for me. Following God is an adventure not a dreary journey of “thou shalt nots“ filled with excitement and danger.

This is the gospel that I try to spread, through my everyday discussions with a random on a train to someone at uni that I am having a DNM for the first time etc. I am also always trying to search for Godly satisfaction, as this is what will emanate from me and people will want a piece of that Godly satisfaction if you have found it.

I guess it is just being open-minded, listening, informing and showing through your actions the guiding principles in your life and how they really benefit you.

Able Crawford

spel' and how 'preaching the Go ds or w e ally th ar he think, “Wow, I re When I first , I straight away at to th t ys ou da ab e es do I th or what It's hard enough of that. ever s do e' to on try no e en us ev don't hool beca sc at ly al ci are pe s es , nd el weeke preach the gosp say. Because my to ve ha , my u gs yo t in th ha and other interested in w group activities h ut I'm yo hy y w an d m going an filled with so asking where I’m s th ay ou w “y al a e ar to g ds I’m goin school frien rally just tell them ne ry /t ge I t do t Bu n' . sy do always bu d I certainly definitely hard an about group thing“. It's and tell people el sp each the go pr at's just to th s gh es ou gu I en t hard ly one, bu on e th t no I’m Jesus and I know Emma Collins ve to work on. something I’ll ha

we ask you...

ith our gs to do w in th c si a I came to nd b n though out God a e b v a e rk re o a w c ally , I try my at my or didn’t re truth! To be honest few guys g a ple in to st g re in f the peo it inte in the I tried talk the rest o didn’t find roof why I believe m are y o e y fr h t th n t “W u ns like m differe io a I st religion, b day with abit of p e ld u q to t d hat’s in I ge aske next at’s when is place“! “W eek. I get w th th d ry them the in n e a v le e p st at eo t like Chri m mostly nd most p my beliefs! best to ac a place I a d to me a is re nd a a h p d ic o h m o G w c to rk erent ople of iff e d p example in my wo ll so te e I ’r be a good s when e?“ “You t’ up to to a ic o h y n g T tr so ?“ to d e u n yo in min ness a be able t d o to in n , e k s h t’ g w a u o o to sh re so hug g en your life th hy they a y my best !! I wish I was stron w tr , d d e n n c a a fa h s c y ile on m ask why ow I prea d and Jesu I keep a sm y can see and then them all about Go t!! So being me is h the ng ye and tell others so ot that stro se it is God's will. orkplace n w y im m th in u rgan the tr becau everyone k e Mo to tell you with that la t g B u n b , ro fe w li ing in my ere is noth I believe th

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One of the ways I found myself preaching recently was in a job interview. When asked what day I could work, I told them I preferred not to work on a Sunday as I wanted to go to Church. She asked me what a Christadelphian was so I was able to explain what we believed. She had also noticed that I had attended Heritage College Sydney. She was very interested as she had never heard this long word before and was so intrigued with it. The girls I worked with asked me questions. I was happy to have had the chance to preach the gospel even in this very small way.

Caitlyn Joseph

What I find hard is 'Bible' preaching - as in telling people about God and the Bible and stuff. I find the way I 'preach' is by trying to show that I’m an alright sort of person - for instance, I was walking to uni last week and there was a chick who was obviously lost…I asked her if she knew where she was going and helped her to her class and had a great chat along the way.

Even tho I didn’t talk about God/JC/Bible, by my actions I interpreted the Bible to her. And you never know what that action of love will end up doing for her (or anyone else you meet).

Ben Pogson

life’. Sure, if someone I can’t say I’m an overly preachy person in my ‘everyday is not a daily routine. again that but it ss discu asks me about what I believe I’ll diverting the subject I like them to bring up the topic rather than personally bring a subject like religion along those paths. I suppose it’s a question of how to le try to force a certain belief up without seeming pushy. I can’t stand it when peop get me wrong, I’m most or opinion on me, so how can I do it to others? Don’t it. But for me personally I mend recom highly I certainly not saying don’t preach. h and preach and preach find that actions speak louder than words. You can preac those silly mouth words are your guts out but if someone isn’t interested then all life showing love, happiness, simply a waste of breath. But to set an example, to live hing. The other day I was kindness and forgiveness is a roundabout way of preac if it had anything to do with asked why I was so frustratingly happy all the time, and he said I was too good and being religious. When I asked what made him think that, le actually worry about stuff, freakishly happy to be ‘normal’ and that regular peop knowing myself for longer so there had to be a reason behind the way I act. Now nor perpetually happy but than a few days I can tell you that I am neither ‘good’ bit of ) goodness with faith. for some reason this person linked happiness and (a le what life with God is It made me realise that in a way simply showing peop I'll keep trying to do. like is in itself a form of preaching. So I think that’s what be like when you Preaching by giving them a little taste of what life can live it with God. Hadassah Devis 23

We've all heard recently about the devestating earthquake that occured in Haiti but do you know much about our bretheren there?

John Thatcher gives us some more info about the Haitian ecclesia, Nick Cox recounts the experiences of his recent visit there and we find out more about how we can lend a helping hand.

When a Haitian lay pastor Esmath began studying Bible Basics in 2007, he was delighted to see that the trinity was rejected, something he’d already suspected.

Subsequently, Charlie Klennert of the Tacoma Ecclesia (Washington, USA) had a lot of phone contact with Esmath. When Esmath began teaching against the Trinity he was chased out of his church and instead, collected a small group of friends who studied Bible Basics together. In November 2009, Duncan Heaster flew to Haiti and was delighted with their conviction of all things true, and baptized the group of ten. There had only been one Christdelphian in Haiti, now there was an ecclesia. But we have only now realized how providential this was.

On January 12th 2010, just before 5pm, the earthquake happened! Our brothers escaped with their lives – but lost all their possessions. They lost houses, clothes, cars, food, clean water and were sleeping on old planks and doors. The devastation was horrific. Charlie ceaselessly phoned Esmath but all communication was out. Slowly txt messaging began. Then phone calls. They were blessed in this tragedy with life, but they desperately needed shelter, clothes, and a toilet! Money began to come in from Australian believers and others but how to get help to Haiti?

Duncan was able to access used Russian army marquees and tents in Latvia which were sent to Haiti, via the Dominican republic, at huge cost. Then, two weeks after the earthquake, Nick Cox from the UK (and of Caribbean descent himself ), flew to the Dominican Republic and then drove ten long hours to Haiti.

He was overwhelmed with the strength of the brothers. Before the earthquake the Haitian ecclesia had only ten members but is now getting 70-120 attandes at church in a backyard. How cool is that? Esmath is now trying to support earthquake orphans – who are in desperate need of help. So please, help with whatever donations you can!

John Thatcher 24

It was two weeks since the earthquake, ‘the event’ as Brother Esmath and Brother Absolu referred to it. But as I set off I still didn’t know exactly what the purpose of my trip to Haiti was. I wanted to provide spiritual support to the brothers there and I hoped to show by my visit that the worldwide Christadelphian community loved them and cared for them. It was still unclear whether money transfers to Haiti were working yet so that my visit would provide an opportunity to pass on some of the donated funds to be used by the brothers to help in their difficult situation. But despite this what practical help was I going to be? Well, it was in God’s hands, and thankfully my wife Rachel not only supported me but also reminded me how Abraham had to rely on faith when God told him to up sticks and go into the unknown.

There were no commercial flights to Haiti so my plan was to fly to the Dominican Republic which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. I would then hire a car, pick up funds via a money transfer and then drive to the border crossing at Jimani where Bro Esmath would be waiting. Twenty four hours later and the plan had worked.

God must have been helping because it was a ten hour drive on the worst roads and dirt tracks I’ve driven on.

With few or none existent road signs I quite literally had to drive by faith. I arrived safely at the border, parked the car, walked through the gates, past the armed guards and just there on the other side was Esmath and Nixon

(whose baptism had been put on hold because of ‘the event’). After hugging and greetings I asked what the plan was now. Esmath had it all planned.

As far as he was concerned the purpose of my visit was to show to the brethren and the many visitors to their church just how much our community cares. The best way for them to see this would be by my presence at night prayers which they hold every Wednesday (it just happened to be Wednesday) and also to be there at the service on Sunday morning which would give me a chance to meet some of the brothers who had left the Port Au Prince after the earthquake.

My worries about leaving the hire car behind soon vanished as our first taxi was riding pillion on motorcycles with no helmets. The driving was extreme on roads that were worse than in the Dominican Republic. I had thought that maybe I’d be able use the hire car to ferry much needed provisions from Dominican Republic to Haiti but as we approached the capital it became clear from the street markets and shops that food and drink was available (although there was a stream of refuse running through this market). Even where we were heading to in the Carrefour district, which was quite badly affected by the quake, the markets were open and busy. Even so there was no clean water and no electricity so Esmath had used some of the money that had been sent to purchase a generator which came in very useful at night prayers and the evening bible classes that the church hold.

What became very apparent as we drove through Port Au Prince to the Carrefour district was that one of the main issues facing thousands (including our brethren) is the need for somewhere to live and sleep.

Above: brother nick and the haitian ecclesia

Many houses that weren’t destroyed by ‘the event’ are not safe to live in, so people are living and sleeping outside under makeshift tents in the road or wherever they can find a space. The sheer number of tents I saw made me think of what the Exodus would have looked like. Esmath is one of the more fortunate ones in that he’s living and sleeping in his cousins yard. The same yard where the church services are held is now doubling as an open air home.There’s a kitchen area, a sleeping area a shower area (bucket of water for washing) and a hole has been dug for a toilet.

Despite these circumstances a hearty meal was awaiting when I arrived. night prayers began at 9pm. It would have been sooner but the generator was too noisy so it was used to charge up some batteries and then these were used to provide quiet electricity for the lighting. The 30 plus brothers and visitors and a few children carried on in prayer, worship, exhortation and preaching until after 1am and then found whatever they could to sleep on (doors, board or chairs). I hope the person whose bed it was that I slept on didn’t mind too much.

The following day I let Brother Charlie Klennert know that tents would be a useful aid in the short term and that 25

a proper toilet in the yard is essential as I fear disease could become a major issue. Because of the conditions in the yard, Esmath didn’t want me staying there and to be honest with 30 mosquito bites swelling up I was relieved when the third hotel we went to was open and had vacancies, although maybe God was trying to tell me something when I got food poisoning after my first and only meal there.

Saturday morning was children’s time at the church, some of whom are orphaned. They enjoyed games, singing, quizzes and rice and peas (with a bit of goat thrown in). It’s hard to know what lies ahead for these children (it would have been hard enough for them before ‘the event’) but at least they are getting a little earthly and spiritual food thanks to the brothers. Sunday morning was

the church service and the spiritual choir of young men and women (including Bro Williere) sang beautifully and movingly, even though I couldn’t understand French, Absolu told me the gist of what they were singing.

Esmath had asked me to give a talk as it would mean so much to them and I just hope that it did help in some small way the 50 plus people that were there.

It feels like I ended up doing so little to help and that I have been the one that has received so much by this visit rather than me being the one doing the giving. Absolu, Esmath and nixon dropped me back at the border in Esmath’s cousins car and we said our good byes. I’d like to thank God and Jesus who has preserved our brothers lives and blessed me with the chance to witness their strength in faith and

If you're geared up and are looking for an instant way to show your love and support for those in the nation of Haiit, HERE IS YOuR CHAnCE! Heart 2 Hand Ministries and Baringa Church have combined forces and are putting on an evening for you and your friends to 'Buoy Up 4 Haiti!'

Look out for one of these flyers, and make sure to keep Friday 26th march free! The night will take place where the Baringa ecclesia meets at Padstow Park Primary School.

The night aims to raise awareness and enough donations to fund the building of 1 toilet and some wash basins in one of the many communities.

Please contact Belinda Burns for more info p 0433-207-442 e belinda@h2h.org.au Don't forget it's 'BYO cushion' - we'll see you there!

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their zeal and love for the one God of the Bible. I’d also like to thank the brothers in Haiti for making my stay so memorable. May we all as one body share their pain but as members in Christ let us find a means of sharing in their joy and helping them to rebuild until Christ comes. nick Cox (uK)

if you would like to contribute to helping the ecclesia and earthquake orphans in Haiti, Carelinks Christadelphian Ministries are taking donations in the form of cheques made out to 'Carelinks' and given to John Thatcher or mailed to him at: PO Box 152 Menai nSW 2234.

12 in all), the house of young boys (about 10 in all), the house of really young kids aged 0-5yrs (about 21 in all) and all the houses that care for the young mums with babies and small children (about 100 in all!)

Next time you’re perusing You Tube, look up ‘The Voice’ by Regina Sprektor! It starts off like this: “It started out as a feeling which then grew into a hope, which then turned into a quiet thought which turned into a quiet word. Then that word grew louder and louder, until it was a battle cry!” Not always, but so often, an idea, or a thought, starts quietly. This is a short story leads to a little Romanian Orchard.

It started out as a feeling... My feeling started as I watched a documentary about Romanian orphans. It was day time TV. It was a Thursday. And I wasn’t starting work till the afternoon. It was about kids who were living in bunkers underneath the street.

About disabled kids who were tied up because no one knew what to do with them. And about babies in cots without any hugs. My attention was caught. I’m not sure what was so different about this; I’d seen reports on suffering before. Have you ever been stirred by something you saw on the news? Something you heard about? Something you saw on a documentary?

Which then grew into a hope… A few months later I saw an ad on the internet for a volunteering opportunity in Romania.

Which then turned into a quiet thought…That got me thinking.

Which turned into a quiet word… to my parents one night after work, as I said, “Mum, Dad, I’m not going back to uni next year, I’m going to go to Romania.»

Then that word grew louder and louder… as I said book it! (To the travel agent) Until it was a battle cry... Ok, maybe a tad dramatic, but I was excited. It was official, I was going to Romania.

I didn’t know anything about Romania. I didn’t know the colours of the flag, I didn’t know the currency; I didn’t know that while Romanian is the official language, German and Hungarian are also spoken. I didn’t know that Romania has the highest population of bears in Europe and I certainly didn’t know that Romania is a republic. However, there was one thing I did know…that Romania was the home of Dracula!!

I spent two months in a village called Valea Screzii, in an orphanage called Pro Vita (meaning for life). Pro Vita cares for orphaned children, abandoned children, abandoned older people and run away mums with babies and small children. I was very uncomfortable at times and very out of my ‘zone’. I met amazing people who taught me a lot about serving. They weren’t even Christians, but their servant heart put mine to shame.

I want to briefly tell you about the people who are in care here.

This place is a privately funded organisation. The government do not in any way provide funds for what goes on there. Their food, clothing, materials for building, and funding for education is entirely based on donations. There is a house of about eight old men, who are dementing, who have been left in their care by relatives who don’t want them, or who aren’t equipped to care for them. Same goes for the house of young women in their late 20’s early 30’s who have grown up in state institutions, who present obvious behavioural problems, limited independence and fragile spirits (about six in all), the house for young school age girls (about

I tell you this, because in this little corner of the world, and in my limited vision, I had a very real sense of the overwhelming and very daunting realisation that I in reality, could do very little to help these people. You may feel like this when you see earthquakes hit Haiti and Chile, or when you hear about children starving in Africa or dying of HIV, or when you see the news and hear about young people on the streets of Sydney and other problems that are facing our own communities. This very feeling confined me to my room on several occasions, not wanting to face it. You may think I’m being hard on myself, but the truth is I’ve had that feeling here to! Haven’t you?? It’s scary to think about trying to make a difference. I learnt an important lesson one afternoon (when in one of my ‘confined’ moods) a young boy came up to my room and asked if I had any time to help him with his English homework. I didn’t go looking for a need; it came to me and simply asked if I had time for it. It got me out of my room….

Anyway, I don’t want this to be too deep and scary! Before I left, we had raised some money through Heart 2 Hand for ‘something’ to give to this orphanage I was going to. I thought perhaps we could buy musical instruments, or start up bank accounts, or build a bench! I spent a lot of time trying to think of something we could invest in…instruments just take up room and if there’s no room or no one to take care of them, they will be wasted. Someone gently whispered to me one evening…why not an orchard?? So with the money H2H raised, and the money that another friend, also visiting Romania at the time, had raised, we are, as I type, purchasing land for an orchard!!! With that land, they will plant.

With this opportunity, the mums will have the opportunity to learn new skills, the kids will have an opportunity in being apart of something that invests in the place that invests in them! I can not express to you the potential this may have!!

I’m getting carried away, so I’m going to bring it back a bit and leave you with a thought. Sometimes you may find yourselves in an environment or situation that doesn’t have the normal comforts or normal surroundings you would normally have, whether you are out of the country or in your own city! I learned in Romania that you can pray in Jesus name and call yourself a Christian all you want, but if you don’t bring joy, love and compassion to the situations that are put in your view, then whoever you say you’re in doesn’t mean a thing! Forget about preaching for a second and what you think it is. Spreading good news to people, whether in Romania or Blacktown, or Strathfield means loving people where they are!

You may know nothing and you may not know what the plan is, but the next time you have a feeling about something that you care about, a project that you know about or a cause you are passionate about! - Let it grow into a hope, a thought, and then maybe a quiet word. Let it grow louder and louder until it becomes a battle cry! Seriously, you never know what could turn into a harvest!

I can’t wait to see what happens to this little Romanian orchard….

Belinda Burns

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Africa 2010

An insightful update into from Ben and Roxy Topham after two months mission work in South Africa…

We arrived on the fourth of January and the first two weeks was intensive preaching and working. We worked non-stop on projects as part of P2P in and around Durban. Our P2P team was fantastic and we grew extremely close to each other and shared some truly remarkable and intimate ‘God Moments’ together. A good overview of the two weeks can be found on our presentation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA-kesnOuew.

Following on from P2P we have balanced our time between ‘trail blazing’ new developments and consolidating some of the existing activities. We drive in cars with ‘Good News of the Kingdom of God’ stickers on them – such a great advertising mechanism also providing a further safety aspect in the townships.

Most people know we are the ‘Kingdom of God’ guys and that we care about their community. When we stop at fuel stations people come up to us and ask, ‘What is the Kingdom of God’ or even ‘I want to be in the Kingdom of God. How do I get there?’ It happens ALL the time! Sometimes we stop at traffic lights and people want our number so they can call us about God's message - and they DO!

New Developments: Tin Town A muffin-seller named Sine came into the Bible Education Centre and you could see the joy of Jesus in his face. He told us how much God loves him, that Jesus is his Saviour and even though he is poor, that God will provide and that God looks over him always. We told him we would come to his township, Tin Town, and visit his family.

When we got there, his mother cried.

She couldn't believe that we took the time out to visit them, let alone that she had white people in her house!

We showed her Isaiah 66:1 - 2 where God says he's more interested in our hearts than the universe he created and Malachi 3:16 - 17 where it says, when we talk about God He is there and listens and that we shall be His. It 28

was awesome. These guys nearly fell off their chairs they were so excited!

Sine and his fiancée, Brenda, said they have been looking for something for a while now but haven't been able to find it at any other churches. After we spoke to them about the Kingdom of God, they said «This is the best day of my life. This is the first day of the rest of our lives.» We’re now meeting regularly with Sine and Brenda for Bible classes and they have spent some social time with the volunteers.

We also met Sine’s brother, Sibonga, a professional drama teacher and actor, and his three nieces. They also want to attend Bible lessons. There is definitely an opportunity to establish a new Good News Centre in Tin Town if this is what God wants.

Claremont (Crèche and BEC)

Maphumulo Youth Foundation (MYF)

Teaching and Literature Development

Claremont is the closest black township to the Westville Good News Centre. The hand of God is definitely at work here:

Contact with Lungelo, the president of the MYF, was established through the Durban BEC. The MYF proclaims to be “…a bible-inspired, non-political, non-denominational, not-for-profit organisation that was founded in Maphumulo in September 2009. It is the youth initiative built and centred upon God’s Word as the only guide, pillar and foundation of real strength, true hope and genuine success; with God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as the only, real and honest and perfect Measure of all human inequities and imperfections.”

We have commenced a more structured learning approach to teaching and literature, including having classes on Saturday morning and potentially Thursday night at the Durban Ecclesial Hall. The classes are titled “Good News Classes” and are based on the eight week course around “God’s Master Plan.” The key objectives are to increase teaching capability and scriptural knowledge of those recently baptised and provide a platform for enthusiastic contacts to attend Bible teaching classes to prepare them for baptism. A beneficial output will be that the classes will most likely be large (say 30 people) that will assist in building relationships and a sense of community. Also, a new course in development that will focus on all key aspects of the gospel and practical living examples focussed on Jesus Christ and his teachings. It will be a hands-on course that will be designed with sections that can be used individually so the course will not need to be sequential.

• We renovated some rooms in Claremont that are owned by Sister Antonio from Westville. The buildings are located on quite a busy street and directly opposite the rooms is a local food store.

• T here are a large number of children were in the local vicinity.

• W hile we were singing (in Zulu) many women heard and sang with us and the next door neighbour has now invited us to her house on Tuesday nights for worship singing.

• 200m away from Antonio’s rooms there is a private football stadium that is being redeveloped for the German National Team to use as for training during the world cup. When the World Cup is completed the stadium will be able to be hired for R150 a day – that is about US$10. We are considering establishing a Bible Education Centre and Crèche in two of these rooms. When established and based on need there is room at the front of the property to build a small Good News Centre – may lightstands continue to shine!

We supported the 4th MYF gathering on the 6th March in Maphumulo, two hours north of Durban. The previous one-day events have attracted 200, 300 and 500 year 12 students.

Unfortunately, the 4th gathering attracted only 200 students due to funding restrictions that did not able them to send text messages to invite the students – it was almost all word of mouth.

We provided a short talk on Jesus, a motivational talk, a short talk about the BEC and the courses offered as well as music and singing. Sibonga from Tin Town presented his drama titled “The Leader” which is about God being first in your life which will assist you overcome alcohol abuse and sexual immorality. We will be meeting Lungelo next week to discuss future developments. There is a wonderful opportunity to establish a BEC in Maphumulo and provide bible courses into the schools for Year 11 and 12 students.

Margate On our trips to Margate we have developed around 15 key contacts.

The first was a Zimbabwean guy, Gideon. We have seen him and friends from the Oribi Hotel who are extremely keen to learn more and praise God. Since they work 21 days straight then have four days off, they are unable to come to classes so we have discussed having regular classes and praise nights at Oribi. When Ben provided a short talk about Jesus and Zaccheaus, Gideon’s first question was “How do I open my heart to let Jesus in?” – Who asks such questions? The next time we saw him the first thing he said was “my heart is getting wider.”

God is certainly working in this part of the world.

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Africa 2010 Existing Activities: Mariannhill Youth & Good News Centre

Margate, Candu and Port Elizabeth

We regularly visit a man called Marcus who has bone cancer - to do the readings, break bread and take him food. Every time we see him he is in much pain but still excited to see us.

He loves it when we ask him to read to us from his Zulu Bible - he gets excited like a little kid. It is such a humbling experience for us. Once we asked him to read one of his favourite passages to us. We thought he'd pick something to do with pain and suffering, but he read James 1:19 - 27 instead. The last time we visited him for the breaking of the bread, he wanted to read Psalm 119. Oh my! We thought he was joking! But we read through the whole Psalm in one session straight - the first time I think any of us has done that!

Last visit he was rushed to hospital but if doing much better now. He is such a beautiful man, please pray for him.

Five volunteers (Tim, Ben, Roxy, Katie and Ellie) went on a week-long road trip to visit our brothers and sisters in the Eastern Cape. It was an awesome experience. Aiming for Candu, we got a little bit lost in the rural wilderness and without knowing a word of Xhosa we decided it was high-time that we prayed.

Thankfully and amazingly God led us to a shepherd (of all people) to guide us to our destination.

We've been to a few Bible classes in the townships as well – you should hear the singing! It’s like 'Sister Act' on steroids. Such uplifting, genuine worship; they sing and dance and slap their Bibles like drums to make a beat.

Talk about the Bible coming to life!

These people have the most amazing voices and rhythm.

BEC Concerts We have regular concerts on Fridays 11:30am-1:30pm at the Durban BEC. People are usually a little happier on Friday’s (end of the work week) and they love that we sing the Zulu music.

We may get 20 to 30 people sign up for courses each week. Last Friday, 30 people signed for courses just in those two hours. One lady ran out from the hair dressing salon and rushed up to us and asked where we were from as she just wanted to know more.

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Local brother and sister, Templeton and Dorothy, gave us a warm welcome and showed us what needed doing on site. The general maintenance list included: painting walls, fixing up the toilets, the showers and the electrics and giving the jungle gym a new lease of life. There were some simple fixes (namely: flipping a switch or changing a light bulb) which made us appear like superheroes in Templeton’s eyes. We couldn’t take all the glory so we came clean: no we didn’t rewire the whole electrics; we simply changed a light bulb etc. Nevertheless we were happy to help where we could.

Some of the highlights of our time in Candu included witnessing an epic rain and hail storm. Apparently Candu hasn’t seen rain like it in twenty years.

Templeton was rejoicing as his prayers for water had been answered. The lightning continued throughout the distant valleys for hours following and we stood awestruck by God’s mighty power. Another magic moment in Candu was when Ben and Tim spoke to Siyanda (Templeton’s youngest son) until 1am about his wish to be baptized and follow Jesus. Praise God! We were so excited to hear this news that we wanted to plunge him in the rainwater there and then, but we had to hold-back as Siyanda wishes to wait to share his baptism with all of his friends at the Easter gathering soon God willing.

Finally, another memorable moment in Candu was being welcomed into the home of a family who were grieving the recent death of their young son. It was a very moving experience to share God’s hope with those that need it the most: the broken hearted. Templeton identified this as a great preaching opportunity, especially seeing as its Xhosa custom to provide comfort in the homes of the grieved. In an area which is rooted in the folklore of their ancestors, we pray that Templeton’s efforts to share the gospel of peace will touch hearts.

Next stop was Port Elizabeth (PE). Brother Mike and Vanessa made us feel right at home and after some much needed post-Candu showering, we led a Bible class discussion on “thankfulness”. The conclusion: even in times of trial we can be thankful for life itself- Every breath is a gift from God! We also enjoyed having some quality time with Luzoko, the only young brother in PE who is largely responsible for the BEC. It was clear to see that PE could really benefit from the power of prayer and the energies of more people (P2P volunteers and ecclesial members) to get things moving. The BEC is in an ideal location, bordering on a number of townships. The potential for outreach is huge.

After PE, we road tripped back to KwaZulu-Natal to meet with some more volunteers (Jude, Julie, Phil and Nay) plus those from Margate ecclesia. A good handful of people joined us on the edge of the Oribi Gorge, including our five Wild 5 friends, to sing praises and learn more about God. What breathtaking surroundings! Last up, we had a great praise and worship session the following morning with lots of people from the local settlement and our newfound friends from the Mugg and Bean restaurant. God is working so let’s continue to put things to prayer!

Happy’s Disabled School We are now in the process of renovating the bathrooms and showers at the school, warmly called “Happy’s”. Happy's is a school for disabled children in a very poor area near the Durban airport. Initially we were just meant to do a quick paint job which would have taken two days, but when we went to inspect the premises we couldn't believe our eyes - the filth these kids have to live in can almost be described as inhumane. We decided that we were going to scrape off all the mould and rotten plaster, bomb the place with disinfectant and tile and paint the whole joint. It is going to take at least two months to complete the job in both the girls and boys dorms.

We took 50 of the kids to the Aquarium a month ago and they were so thrilled!

We wanted to teach them about God's creation, provide some fun and make them feel valuable. Some of them had never seen sea life, let alone a dolphin and penguin show. They are still talking about it! Roxy has also started taking animals to Happy’s – like pet therapy you could say. It also is another small project where we can at least get members from Westville engaged by lending us their dogs.

At the moment we have a dog and guinea pig volunteer!

Um, what else? I'm sure there's heaps more to babble about but these are the highlights so far. It has been amazing in South Africa and a wonderful opportunity to learn more about our great God. God is so good; we can't wait to see how he is going to use us over the next six months.

Ben and Rozanne Topham

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2010

On March the 6th 2010 in Burwood Park, we held one of SCYP’s biggest events of the year – 'Praise in the Park’! And here’s how the day went...

8am – The day kicked off at the local coffee shop. They took ages to cook my bacon and egg roll, but it was worth the wait – a good breakfast means a good day. All week there had been a solid forecast for heavy clouds all day and a late afternoon thunderstorm. This morning though, there is a small amount of cloud with mostly blue sky. Our prayers for a beautiful sunny day and clear night sky have been going since we started planning the event, yet these prayers still continue over breakfast. This event cannot happen if it’s raining! The final overview and plan for the day is gone over during brekkie – Months of preparation… THIS IS IT! 9am – Alex ‘The stage man’ arrives at the park in his truck.

In the back he has the stage and a stack of other gear we have hired. He is very efficient and always on time. Phil Pooley shakes hands as he welcomes him (no doubt asking for a further discount at the same time). The un-packing starts with many hands on deck. There are 4 chord-less drills going at as we all set up doing our best to keep on schedule. As the stage gets set up more people are arriving to help out. Balloons are being blown up with the helium gas bottles, business cards are being handed out to passers by, vibes are good. The weather is still clear and showing no signs of rain, prayers for fine weather still continue.

11:30am – It is time for audio set-up. All the sound gear has arrived and the stage is set up. Audio set up is by far the hardest job and always takes the longest. However, we are all on schedule and things are going smoothly. The sound guys have their heads down and are focused; they know we want to get our sound check done with the full band at 1:30pm. Outreach work is going well. Local people are

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hanging out with us and chatting, kids are playing with the balloons we have been handing out. We have stacks of people here now helping out and there is no shortage of things to do. Vibes are still good, weather is still clear! I take a short break up to Westfield to grab some lunch – Pasta and a ‘lemon crush’ boost juice, the perfect combination.

3pm – The kid’s afternoon activities have begun with dancing, a jumping castle, snow cones, face painting, nail painting, coffee and drinks. All the bright colours and smiley faces are pulling people in to see what’s happening. I hear the sound of Jan Erringtons whistle blowing every 2 mins as she takes control of the Jumping castle, and Nick Morgan’s energetic voice on the megaphone. Everything else I hear involves laughter from the kids. Sound check still hasn’t happened as the audio set-up is taking longer then we had planned, but this is usually the way. No one is stressing out so it’s all good! John ‘the light man’ arrives with his truck and Phil Pooley greets him (asking for another discount??).

Lighting set-up begins. There are some signs of heavy cloud in the distance. I take a few more quiet minuites out to ask for no rain.

4:30pm – Finally we get around to our sound check! It goes fairly well. One thing I’ve learnt is that sound checks never go as smoothly as you plan, especially when there is a 20 piece band and choir! There are a few hick-ups but our sound guru’s manage to work it all out. Now we are ready.

At 7pm we can confidently walk on stage and play to our hearts content. The awesome Baringa crew have arrived with BBQ’s and dinner. The cooking is underway and on schedule for a 6:30pm serve.

6:50pm – Everyone involved in the concert meet at the front of the park for a final gathering and big group prayer. We go around the big circle as we all thank God

individually – ‘Thankyou for this opportunity’, ‘Thankyou for these friends’, ‘Please inspire everyone here tonight’, ‘Please give us confidence’, ‘Thankyou for the awesome weather!’ – Everyone is seriously pumped!!! We have a big group photo and high five each other. When I see this photo the next day, I am amazed at the pure joy on everyone’s faces!

As we walk up to the stage we are all clapping, attracting the attention of all the people there. We get up on stage and start the first set of songs. All I can think of is what an amazing team of people to be involved with, what an amazing night, what amazing support from the community, what an amazing God! As it gets darker throughout the night I look up into the sky and I can see the stars. God answered all our prayers and was with us the whole night.

The final song is played at around 9:30pm and I wished we could have kept playing. Now the pack-up begins!

Praise in the Park was a huge success. It's one of the best things we have done in the community, as it creates awareness of who we are and what we believe. It’s also created more opportunities for people to get involved in various activities and music.

If you want to be involved in Praise in the Park next time, or any activities this year, please feel free to ask. There are stacks of ways you can be involved and it's one of the best things you can do!

Sam Collins (SCYP Secretary)

Preaching, a priority!

Hold onto your hats, folks. SCYP Preaching is taking off!

Consider this vision. In 2010, you (SCYP) become a body passionate about sharing your faith with others — not merely preaching to strangers and friends alike when the opportunity arises, but looking for and creating opportunities where you can witness the holy Name of the Father who has changed and continues to change your life! Can you imagine it?

The stepping stones that lead to the achievement of this wonderful spiritual goal are simple, and they all hinge on the fact that preaching can be MADE EASY. See, preaching needn’t be fraught with fear, worry, back-footedness or intrusive awkwardness. Preaching can be as simple as handing a balloon to a child, smiling at a passer-by, giving to a homeless man, or making a friend out of a stranger. These are things we can all do a lot more often.

Preaching made easy!

Instead of the occasional large preaching event that has previously occupied a small corner of the SCYP calendar, SCYP Preaching 2010 hopes to facilitate a multitude of small, easy-to-attend, easy-to-organise, ACTIVITIES where you guys can both better the community and advertise SCYP youth group to other young people. These include: Free Snowcones, Coffee in the Park, Music in the Streets, Sandwiches in the City. These activities are soon to take form! The key is to create activities which employ the diverse skills of the SCYP young people.

These activities have two main goals; first to show God’s love to those in need or who don’t expect it — 'Acts of Random Kindness' are wonderfully powerful! Secondly, to promote SCYP to young people by giving them info on the classes and activities, taking down their contact details if they’re interested in being made aware of upcoming SCYP events — making contacts.

These simple yet effective activities will operate simultaneously through networked Preaching Teams, each group directed by a Leader. The beauty of these Teams is that they allow you to hang out with your friends as you preach! And as we work together as friends towards the awesome endeavour of proclaiming our faith, I’ve no doubt that we will become closer friends and stronger in our faith.

There's one more thing. We want you guys to INVITE YOUR FRIENDS. This is by far the easiest and most effective way of preaching, because ‘Relationship’ is the name of the game when it comes to preaching. If someone already knows you and likes you (yes, you are loved!), and they are shown how much Jesus means to you, they are far more likely to be interested and influenced by what you have to say to them!

This is our calling, a calling inspired not out of spiritual obligation but from the wellspring of eternal life in us that naturally overflows to those we come in contact with. Jesus gave his life for the people we meet everyday. Why would we reduce the power of his loving sacrifice by not telling them and showing them his astounding love?

What can you give?

Nick Morgan (SCYP Outreach Coordinator)

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Liverpool Bible Education Centre is OPEN for business!

Around three weeks ago our community was blessed by God. We got the final O.K. from the health and building inspector and suddenly the Bible Education Centre was officially open for business after over two years of planning.

Praise be to God! Since then, the Bible Education Centre has been open, with a minimum of two volunteers at a time. We have been making coffee’s (training provided!), selling cakes, holding Bible reading sessions at 11am and providing assistance or a listening ear when required. Each Wednesday night since the centre opened the members of Moorebank ecclesia have been responsible for putting on ‘Learn to Read the Bible’ Seminars. 30 people came the first night!!! There is talk of conversational English classes, daytime seminars, evening Bible seminars in Spanish, kid’s holiday activities and playgroups. The list goes on but the potential is unlimited.

On Saturday 6th of March we held an Open Day at the centre. 100 people passed through the doors, from the Christadelphian community and beyond. It was a blessing to see so much support for the centre. We can only pray that God will increase our faith, bless our efforts and work through us now and forever more.

Jesus didn’t say too many complicated things before he went to heaven to be with his Father. He said things like, ‘Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you,’ ‘Follow me,’ ‘You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea… and to the end of the earth,’ ‘Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem,’ ‘Go into the entire world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved,’ ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ It’s simple, yet powerful stuff; many a call to action.

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These are the aims of the Bible Education Centre in Liverpool: to be a light, to proclaim the gospel, to make disciples, to observe all that Jesus commanded us, to follow him and share the Peace that Jesus Christ has left on earth.

So far the organisation and events at the BEC has been fairly committee organised and run but now that it is open WE WANT YOU! to get involved and to make it your own.

WE WANT YOU! to come up with activities to run from this light, to make and action suggestions and to get your youth group and friends excited about being apart of it.

God willing on the 3rd or 4th weekend in May – do stay tuned – we plan to hold a preaching, outreaching weekend; a weekend of unity, of faith and works and of showing Christ’s love to others. Taking place in the Liverpool area, activities such as a youth night, singing and games in nursing homes, a market stall, random acts of kindness, workshops in the BEC and feeding the homeless will all be planned. All while spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the wonderful hope that we have that God wants us and others to share in. So keep these weekends free and watch this space!

Liverpool Bible Education Centre 10am-5pm Monday - Saturday 1/76 Bathurst Street, Liverpool Drop by sometime to check it out!

Want to know more? Speak to: Carmel Mansfield carmel.mansfield@gmail.com 0425 254 901 Or Bonnie Gilmore, Sara Rose Pogson, James Dennes, John Dennes & Phil Gilmore Or Join the Facebook group!

BAPTISMS Jeff Watson (QLD) Hui Zheng (QLD) Stacey Leadbeatter (Blackburn, VIC) Ryan McClean (Mt Waverley, VIC) Peter Houben (Whangarei, NZ) ENGAGEMENTS Stacey Leadbeatter & Darryl Farren (VIC) MARRIAGES Laura Caudery & Scott Terrell (VIC) Chrissy Lawrie and Tim Mogg Chloe Crompton and Ben Kilgus Rosie Whitehead and Darren Palmer Belinda Dennes and Anthony Stone

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