July - August 2015 Intrasyd

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intrasyd

People, Places & Events in Greater Sydney

Building Character for Eternity

JULY - AUGUST 2015

I find myself writing this column immediately after visiting our church in Norfolk Island, feeling incredibly uplifted and encouraged. Our church in Norfolk is doing very well. Last Sabbath, I preached to a church that was full of members and visitors. The church’s friendship ministry is star ting to bear fruit, with a number of visitors now being regular attendees of church. I also had the oppor tunity of visiting the new “TV Station” that Greater Sydney Conference purchased on behalf of the local church for the modest sum of $40,000. It amazed me that in this digital age we live in, it doesn’t take much in terms of technology to broadcast to a community. However what it does take is the commitment of dedicated church members to suppor t this ministry, through TV programming for the two stations, managing finances, promoting adver tising oppor tunities to local businesses, seeking broadcasting rights from program developers and providing technical and telecommunications suppor t. The population of Norfolk Island is approximately

eva ing, chief financial officer

We don’t often hear much about it, but Aged Care ministry is a vital and significant part of our Conference.

With 172 residential beds and 155 units and apartments across three facilities (Wahroonga, Hornsby and Kings Langley), Adventist Aged Care provides a safe, caring environment for members and non-members alike. The board is currently involved in a thorough strategic planning process with a vision to expand and strengthen this ministry into the future. Expressions of interest are invited for two current vacancies on the board. The specific skills being sought are for one person with a medical background and the other with strategic and/or financial skills. If interested, please contact Adrian Raethel on 02 9868 6522 or adrianraethel@ adventist.org.au.

Highlights from the Church Ltd Board • Four mobile dental vans valued at over $100,000 each, have been donated by the Queensland Government for the Solomon Islands (our Partners in Mission project). Donations are currently being sought towards the cost of transporting 2 of the units to Honiara.

adrian raethel, general secretary

SUNSET TIMES

Friday 14 August Sabbath 15 August Friday 21 August Sabbath 22 August Friday 28 August Sabbath 29 August Friday 4 September

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5:24 pm 5:25 pm 5:29 pm 5:30 pm 5:34 pm 5:34 pm 5:39 pm

Sabbath 5 September Friday 11 September Sabbath 12 September Friday 18 September Sabbath 19 September Friday 25 September Sabbath 26 September

July - August 2015 \ www.sydney.adventist.org.au

1,900 permanent dwellers, swelling up to 3,500 during peak tourist season. Since commencing broadcasting two months ago, the feedback from the local community has been overwhelmingly positive, providing many conversation openers for Pastor Dion and his wife Colleen Fourie.

I also took the oppor tunity to visit our local church treasurer of Norfolk Island, Mrs Shirley Summerscales, who herself is one of the treasures of the church. I asked Shirley how long she’d been treasurer of the church, and she thought probably since 1972. Shirley is a legend. She faithfully submits her repor ts on time and with a high degree of accuracy and has done so for 43 years! However sadly, the time has come to pass on the reins, and she will probably retire from her position at the end of the year.

God bless you, Shirley and thank you for your faithful service to your church and Conference.

I’m now back in Sydney in my office, looking out onto a wet, cold wintry day, and while my Norfolk Island ‘glow’ is fast fading, my thoughts are still warmed by our island churches and their wonderful members.

•

Please contact Pr Alex Currie at alex.currie@sah.org.au for further information.

Highlights from the Executive Committee • The Sydney Tongan Church continues to experience miracles at its new building at Leppington. Generous donations in time and machinery have been made towards the cost of the car park. The interim occupancy certificate is expected in the near future.

• The Dundas Croatian Church has selected a builder for their major renovation project.

• The first of the new signs (as part of the AUC signage project) has been installed at Church entities in Wahroonga.

• The Southern Illawarra Church (SNSW Conference) is in the process of purchasing a 2-acre parcel of Greater Sydney Conference owned land at Dapto for their new Church site.

• The loan application for stage 3A of Hills Adventist College, Kellyville campus has been approved. Stage 3A is a 2-storey building consisting of an ICT lab, drama classrooms, general learning areas, offices for teachers and student amenities.

5:39 pm 5:43 pm 5:44 pm 5:48 pm 5:49 pm 5:53 pm 5:54 pm

OFFERING SCHEDULE

Sabbath 15 August Sabbath 22 August Sabbath 29 August Sabbath 5 September Sabbath 12 September Sabbath 19 September Sabbath 26 September

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I am confident that as a church we will be the people of John 13:34-35, that we WILL CONTINUE to be known as His disciples, because of our love for one another.

The General Conference session has been and gone.

There has been much debate over one issue, and that is whether or not individual Divisions of the World Church have the right to ordain women to Pastoral Ministry in their par t of the world.

As you are no doubt aware, the decision was made not to permit Divisions to make such a determination.

Following this, there has been an outpouring of suppor t and affirmation for women in ministry, and I affirm the women we have in our ministry team in Greater Sydney.

They do an incredible work and are a valuable par t of our team.

I was encouraged by the spirit of the discussion.

There is no doubt that there was much passion on both sides of the question. I praise God that as a church we were able to have the conversation in a Christ-like manner and whilst it is clear that the church has divided opinions on this matter, I leave these meetings confident that this is God’s church and that we will remain united as a world church despite our differences.

Aside from this, it was such a blessing to come together with fellow believers from 180 Countries and worship together as one body. What a wonderful foretaste of heaven. At the meetings, 35 new Unions were accepted into the world church, the majority being in Africa, Inter America and South America. These are the par ts of the world where the church is growing strongly.

Editorial revisions were made to a number of the 28 fundamental beliefs. These were not substantive

in nature, rather they were to ensure that our teachings are more clearly understood and communicated so that the meaning is not lost or confused when translated into hundreds of languages around the world. Apar t from this, where appropriate, more gender inclusive language was used. The most substantive change was the clarity provided around the biblical position of a literal six-day creation.

There will be a new Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopaedia developed over the next five years which will be launched at the next General Conference Session.

This will be available online and will be a hybrid between a Wikipedia style website and a traditional website. What this means is that there will be sections that allow members to edit, update, revise and to maintain currency. There will be other sections that will be published and moderated by the depar tment of Archives, Statistics and Research at the General Conference.

The Expo Halls were constantly abuzz with people from the world over, having the oppor tunity to see and experience a whole range of ministries from Evangelism, Youth & Children’s Ministries, Bible Studies to various displays from various world divisions and institutions of the church.

Our Australian Union Conference had a stand for their upcoming launch of the “Tell the World” movie of early Adventist History. The quality of the production is outstanding and the content is engaging. When launched at the AUC Session in September, this will be a blessing to our world church.

As we look at world events, there is no doubt that it is a rapidly changing landscape. The news headlines have been constant, and they cer tainly point to the fact that Jesus is coming. A central theme to our General Conference Session was a call for a renewed sense of mission and evangelism, and I would encourage each member and each church to prayerfully consider how you are contributing to mission and evangelism through your daily life and through the programs of the church as we long for Jesus to come.

[

Sydney Adventist Schools

michael worker, president

redible things happening inc ve ha ols ho Sc ist nt ve Ad ey Our Sydn d we want you to know more an y, da y er ev s se pu m ca eir th on at sydney.adventist.or g. e ac sp r ou on e ey an ep Ke ! about them tes on our schools’ stories. da up r fo n/ tio ca du /e ies str ini /m au Next Intrasyd Deadline 08 SEPTEMBER

Communication Director: Michael Worker Editor: Rachel Lemons Aitken Design: Rachel Lemons Aitken Editorial Consultant: Adrian Raethel

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ON THE COVER: Sydney Adventist School student performs experiment in science lab Photo Credit: Anjuli Cruz Greater Sydney Conference Communication Department

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generous

Little Reflections of Jesus Children are like sponges, or so they used to tell me when I was growing up. Having children of my own, though, has cer tainly demonstrated that this is incredibly true. Our children copy what my wife and I do, which is either rather gratifying or quite daunting, depending on what they are copying. They also copy what they see their cousins and friends doing; what they see at a Disney show and what other people with whom we interact as a family are doing.

Not only do children copy us, they also quickly absorb habits that become regular patterns in the way they behave. Sometimes those habits are charmingly cute, while other times they are not, but it does make you stop and think. What do we want our children to absorb? What hear t habits do we want to disciple our children to develop that will shape their future in this world and throughout eternity?

For me personally, I keep coming back to Jesus and the way He lived and walked and laughed and related. The one characteristic that I keep seeing in Jesus is compassion.

For example, Matthew commented that “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick” Matthew 14:14 (NLT). Being compassionate for people in need is one quality that I would really like my children to have. However, true compassion does not remain just a hear t feeling. True compassion is followed by a powerful action—being generous—and that is what we see Jesus doing. His compassion led Him to be generous with His time, with His understanding of the kingdom of God and His power. In fact, Jesus was generous with the giving of His whole life for us.

As we all would well know, there are many people who are in need in the world. Some people have an incredible need for fresh water or physical security. Other people have a need for adequate education or freedom.

There are also millions of people who are dying for a lack of being able to hear and respond to the eternal good news of Jesus and His love.

The Children’s Ministries and Stewardship Depar tments are committed to providing resources and training for you to empower your children to be compassionate and generous like Jesus. By modelling generosity in your own life and discipling your children to be generous with their tithes, offerings and community service, we can team up together to light up this world with the love of Jesus.

Contributed by Sven Östring, Director of Discipleship Movements at Greater Sydney Conference.

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God Holds My Hand Celebrating Ida Johnson’s Life

Sister Ida Johnson turned 100 on the 11th of June 2015.

Ida enjoyed the celebration held for her at the church on Sabbath the 6th of June. Her family also organised a celebration for her on her bir thday. Ida passed away on the 17th of June after a brief illness. Ida was a faithful and valued member of both the Corrimal and Wollongong Churches. A memorial service was held for her on Friday the 3rd of July at the Wollongong Church.

Ida was born in 1915 in Moss Vale as Ida Dorothy Jordan. Ida married her husband Fred Johnson on the 18th of February1933 in Buxton. They had four children: John, William, Winifred and Graham. With 13 grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren and greatgreat-grandchildren, Ida represented 5 generations of the Johnson family.

Ida and her family had previously been Methodists. She and her husband Fred came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church through their friendship with Pastor Pettit many years ago. Ida and Fred were baptized on the 3rd of July in 1972.

One of Ida’s talents was her ability to cook. In fact she regularly entered her baked goods in the local Bulli show. Every year she received a number of first, second and other prizes. Over the years, different people in the church, when they needed a bit of help, received one of Ida’s wonderful packages of home-cooked food.

Ida also worked with health and welfare outreach in the church doing vegetarian cooking, working with Dorcas and welfare and helping with the Van Ministry in the Illawarra well into her senior years.

Ida touched the lives of many people in her local community. Neighbours, bus drivers and even the owners of the local fruit shop, who had immigrated and knew very few people when they first came to Australia, were the beneficiaries of her kindness and cooking ability.

Ida was a for thright woman who was independent and mentally and spiritually sharp up to the end. Ida believed in using her talents to benefit those around her. When asked about her long life Ida said that in her life “God holds my hand and He guides me.”

Contributed by Pam Grootemaat, Communications Secretar y, Wollongong Church

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THRIVE

a t S l o o h c S t s i Advent

p o l e v e D & t c Conne Anjuli Cruz Contributed b

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THRIVE = Spiritual Retreat for Sydney Adventist Teachers CAPE = Curriculum for Adventist Primary Education CASE = Curriculum for Adventist Secondary Education

Over school holidays, the Sydney and South New South Wales Adventist schools’ faculty and school staff gathered together for the 2015 spiritual retreat and CAPE/CASE.

The spiritual retreat, themed Thrive, was held at the Hornsby RSL on 13 July. Staff members led out in praise and worship this year ; an addition that La-Dean Malifa, Depar tmental Assistant for Sydney Adventist Schools and one of the organisers of the event recognised as having a positive overall outcome on the worship.

“To hear all of them singing, coming together to sing about how awesome our God is, and connecting through that regardless of their different journeys was so affirming.”

Discussions held at the table ranged from learning what to value about relationships and self, to what you need to “water” for growth.

One other change in program this year was beginning with the spiritual retreat and then holding CAPE/CASE. “This was the first year that we’ve held the spiritual retreat before CAPE/CASE,” La-Dean notes. “I feel this allowed our focus through all the professional development to be on what our mission is and the impor tance to keep God first.”

CAPE/CASE was held at the Mountain View Adventist College campus this year and focused on “Belonging” in areas of relationships, safety and identity. These sessions allowed staff to continue to develop and improve in their teaching and equipped them to provide the best for their students and fulfil their mission at work.

“The networking and sense of community that grows out of this event is invaluable,” Browyn Goodwin, deputy principal and teacher for Wahroonga Adventist School, shared. “It reminds us that we are all serving the same Jesus and making a difference together, for eternity.”

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Sven Östring and Nimrod Maua presented sessions for the retreat, giving insight into how God provides more than humans are capable of imagining and how the teaching staff can take better care of not only physical and mental health, but also spiritual health.

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Two students from Macar thur Adventist College were able to attend a rugby camp and compete in a Combined Independent Schools (CIS) Rugby League game versus a Parramatta under 17s team. The school sponsored the camp that the students got to attend. “This is a really big deal for them, and we wanted to suppor t them.”

The performance capabilities of the human body are incredible.

Athletes today push through boundaries we once thought humanly impossible. This past term saw our Sydney Adventist Schools hold numerous oppor tunities to push themselves in athletic events, competitions, and challenges and see what they were capable of.

Primary students also tested their athletic skills in a cross-school comp on Thursday 4 June. Year 5 and 6 students from five of the Sydney Adventist Schools par ticipated in a basketball gala day at Macar thur Adventist College. Macar thur Adventist College’s girls team won the final game against Mountain View Adventist College girls. While in the boys’ competition the boys from Mountain View Adventist College took the win.

“Some of our kids are talented enough to have a chance to play in some of the highest levels of their spor t,” says Jessica Lee, Head of Primary at Macar thur. One of the Year 12 students from Mountain View Adventist College also competed in the competition. CIS Rugby League is par t of the Christian Schools Spor ts Association.

Hills Adventist College students Jonathan Reid and Niamh Cassar qualified and competed at the NSW Combined Independent Schools Cross Country event at Eastern Creek on Thursday 11 June. They both showed excellent spor tsmanship and athleticism at the event.

Our students continue to strive and push through their physical limits, but Chaplain Landry Patti is quick to point out it is about more than just physical capabilities. “It’s about meeting our kids where they are in their cognitive development… about teamwork. At this stage, as an individual, these kids know about winning and have the desire to win, which in return builds their self-esteem and confidence in their ability and their skills.”

Athletics y e n d y S t a e c n & Performa s l o o h c S t s i t n Adve

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[Photography for Ministry] Can photography be used for ministry?

Alvin Ing and Andy Ly of Epping Church believe so, and now, so do their students. From 25 May - 23 June, 16 students par ticipated in Alvin and Andy’s photography course. Because this is the second year the course is running, many of the students were reviewing the basics and honing more advanced skills. To complement classroom instruction, students visited locations like Sydney Vivid Festival, Wall's Lookout in the Blue Mountains, Bouddi National Park and Somersby Falls. Andy and Alvin see these outings as a feature of the course.

“The highlights were undoubtedly the 3 field trips to Vivid Sydney, Blue Mountains and The Central Coast. We are proud that all the par ticipants not only improved their technical skills and craft, but also developed their ar t, with a very impressive display of creativity and vision.”

Brothers-in-law Alvin and Andy have more than family ties

that connect them; they also have a love for photography. This interest star ted when Alvin’s daughter was in high school. During her enrolment, a photography teacher at her school sent out an e-mail inviting parents and community members to par ticipate in a semester of photography to learn the basics. Alvin and Andy decided to join; this decision changed their lives and their interests. While both Andy and Alvin have professions outside of photography - Alvin as an Associate Professor of Medicine, a Senior Thoracic Physician, as well as the Chair of Thoracic Medicine at the Sydney Adventist Hospital and Andy as an IT Professional - their interest in photography has expanded and now many years later, they have formed the company Light and Motion Photography.

What’s unique about the course is that all proceeds go towards the Epping Mission Project, which is suppor ting International Children's

Care in Cambodia. Funds raised are suppor ting a Library Project at the Light of Hope Children's Village, a Medical Clinics Program in the province of Kompong Thom, and a Microfinance project in Phnom Penh, which helps women in developing their own business enterprise to suppor t their families. Par ticipants donated a minimum of $200 each to enrol.

As Andy and Alvin explained, “Our focus was on composition, the use of light, and how lessons from the ar t world might help us develop their application in photography. We also spent a session on understanding how to convey emotion in our images, and techniques to communicate with a visual medium.” For the students, it was a great time to learn, to donate to a wor thy cause, to meet church members from around the Conference and to welcome people from outside of the church into a community focused around shared interests. What unique gift does your church have that can be used for ministry?

Do you love photography? Do you have a camera you want to learn how to use? Are you interested in developing your photography skills? Alvin Ing is teaching a photography session at this year’s INSPIRE program, 2 - 5 October. For more information about the class, e-mail Rachel at rachelaitken@adventist.org.au. To learn more about Light & Motion Photography, visit www.lightandmotionphotography.com.

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Photo Alvin Ing2015 JulyCredit: - August

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[Hurstville Fun Day] Parents, students and community members who attended Hurstville Adventist School’s recent Fun Day learned that school isn’t all about the teachers and the books. Sometimes it’s also about fun and community outreach.

In 2014, the Greater Sydney Conference launched its Church and School Evangelism Program, which provides money to schools in the Sydney Adventist Educational system to reach out to their students’ families and community members. The Evangelism Program is a collaboration between Children, Youth, Family and Personal Ministries, along with the Education Depar tment. Each school has the freedom to frame programs that fit its local school context and minister to the needs of its community.

Hurstville’s Fun Day featured an inflatable obstacle course, petting zoo with a goat, guinea pigs and lambs, as well as a few Carnival games. Hurstville Church Pathfinders really connected in by preparing food that was sold as a fundraiser during the event.

Families who attended received a show bag that included a Beyond The Search DVD, marketing materials from the school, as well as a book that answered the PhotoLike Credit: Cheonneth Strickland www.facebook.com/sydneyadventists

question, “What is Adventism?”

By far the highlight of the day was the Nutty Professor, which featured Raul Moran dressed as a professor who presented fun, hands-on science experiments. Another feature was the workshops presented by Sven Östring and Cheonneth Strickland on the topics of “What is Adventism?” and “Parenting for Success”.

A few of the tips shared during the parenting seminar included, •

Make time for yourself and look after yourself.

Remember, sometimes you need to put yourself first so you are in a good place to take care of your children.

• Make sure to foster your relationship between yourself and your spouse. If you don’t have a healthy marriage it can put a strain on your relationship with your children.

Children see how their parents interact and this forms the basis of their values in life.

• Turn off all screens at least one hour before bed to ensure your children maintain their circadian rhythm.

Proper rest is essential to adolescent brain development.

There is great power in collaboration, and the Sydney Adventist School system presents a tremendous oppor tunity to share the gospel message. www.sydney.adventist.org.au / July - August 2015 9

CelebRATE g n i k a e r b d n u o Gr Ceremony

Past and present students, teachers and school community from Wahroonga Adventist School came together on Sabbath the 13th of June in a special celebration that many had been waiting to mark for over 50 years: a celebration of the star t of a longawaited high school.

The celebration included a service in the Wahroonga Adventist Church and a groundbreaking ceremony at the school. Current students marched in and led in worship. Three students from the 1930s were among those who attended the event.

“Today’s groundbreaking ceremony marks a very notable occasion in the life of this school,” Pastor Michael Worker said.

“Today is the day that vision becomes reality.

As we turn the sod, this is a time to give praise and

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Contributed b

y Anjuli Cruz

glory to God. It is not an end in itself, rather it is a beginning.”

The worship service and ceremony highlighted an approach of Christ as the Cornerstone for the school.

The 110-year-old school recently received the green light from the Depar tment of Planning and Environment to expand to a high school.

With construction set to begin later this year, expectation fills the air. While the school is accepting applications for the Year 7 foundation class next year, spaces are nearly full for 2017 and 2018.

Information and updates on the school can be found on their school site, or at sydney.adventist.org.au/ ministries/education/

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BAND

CAMP Camp

The journey down to Band Camp is an adventure in itself as the buses snake through Galston Gorge, winding down a trail through the bush up to the gates of the Crosslands Convention Centre. 119 students and teachers from Sydney and Canberra Adventist Schools traversed down to hold the annual Band Camp over the 1st to the 3rd of June this past term.

The two days of practice enabled students to develop and learn to play as par t of a band and improve their sight-reading and instrumental skills leading up to the final concer t. It was not all work and no play however, as the young performers got to wander around the surrounding camp grounds and enjoy the nature surrounding them and the company of other students from Adventist schools.

The concer t was performed on the Wednesday night at the Galston Church Hall and featured a string ensemble, guitar ensemble, advanced band and combined band. Band Camp continues to be a wonderful program that allows students from our different Adventist schools to be able to come together and experience the thrill of creating music with other students.

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LIVING Generous generous Recently, I stumbled across Nabeel Qureshi’s story on Youtube. While I didn’t know it at the time, Nabeel’s story would become central to a sermon I was preparing on generosity.

Initially, while contemplating the sermon topic, I drew a blank. I doodled a few ideas on my paper and played with a couple of phrases, but I didn’t feel any inspiration. As the minutes ticked away, and I struggled to pull something together, I bowed my head in a simple prayer. “God,” I star ted, “Please help me. You know I have to preach soon on the topic of generosity, but I don’t know what to say. What do you want me to say?

What do you want your people to hear?”

Nabeel Qureshi’s Story Nabeel Qureshi grew up as the son of Pakistani immigrants to the United States. He came from a very devout Ahmadi Muslim family. In fact, two generations of his family on his mother’s side were Ahmadi Muslim missionaries - one to Uganda and the other to Indonesia. Their faith was very impor tant to them. In keeping with their missionary background, his mother raised him to not only refute Christians who tried to proselytise him but to use it as an oppor tunity to cover t them to Islam. Nabeel made it his practice. By the time he left for college, he had honed the skill.

As he star ted university, Nabeel joined the debate team. One evening, during an out-of-town trip for a debate meet, Nabeel noticed a teammate reading a Bible and saw an oppor tunity to prove him wrong.

Normally, Christians shirked in fear and fumbled for answers when confronted

by Nabeel, but his teammate, David Wood confidently responded to his probing questions about Christianity.

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This meeting of the minds formed a friendship, which lasted for many years.

The friendship was fueled by debates that involved vigorous study and investigation of Christianity, but most impor tantly, the friendship was based on mutual respect and care.

After extensive study, three dreams and a vision from God, Nabeel concluded that Christianity was truly from God, however, this realisation brought Nabeel pain instead of joy.

Because Ahmadi Islam was such an integral par t of his family, Nabeel knew that accepting Christianity meant losing his family. Facing this reality, he began to pray for comfor t and to search the Qu’ran. He had used the religious book many times to say his prayers and perform religious rituals, but never had he gone to it to find comfor t. As much as he searched, he couldn’t find words to comfor t him. He then opened the Bible. He had only ever used this book to debate. He began in the New Testament, finally flipping to Matthew 5:4 and read, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comfor ted.”

My One Word Sermon After my simple prayer, asking God for direction during my sermon prep, one word was impressed on my mind: lavish. What was I supposed to do with that? I began a quest to find the word lavish in the Bible. I John 3:1 attracted me. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

As I searched my hear t, I realised my hesitation to preach on generosity - my lack of inspiration stemmed from my hesitation to believe that God is generous. How can I be generous to God and to others if I don’t believe God is truly generous to

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me? Confronting this notion, I realised, I had always seen God as powerful, good, loving, creative, all-knowing, omnipresent, wise, kind and comfor ting; however, I wouldn’t have described Him as generous. This led me to go on a journey to discovery God’s generosity.

In that moment it became very clear to me why God had led me to the word, “lavish”.

Understanding God’s Generosity My journey took me throughout the Bible from God’s promise to Abraham to give him descendants as numerous as the sand on the seashore to His care for the birds and lillies and children. I pondered the words of the creation story as the God of the Universe bent over His creation and breathed a breath of life into man, when He had simply spoken everything else into existence. As I searched the Bible and reviewed stories, I realised God’s generosity is sprinkled all throughout the pages of the Bible. Without realising it, I had been viewing God as sometimes slow to respond and at other times giving very little in answer to what I requested. I confronted my hidden beliefs that I had to beg and plead to get a response from God. In discovering God’s generosity, I was able to discover the level of generosity He wanted from me. It was at this point that I remembered Nabeel’s story. It was in Nabeel that I saw a picture of the generosity God desires - the generosity of our hear ts.

Nabeel’s Decision After discovering the truth about Christianity and Jesus as the Son of God, Nabeel began to feel a growing conviction that he would have to give up everything for his new found faith.

Everything. His family, culture and comfor t. Everything. He began to cry and pray for direction. He asked God

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sly to reveal Himself in a dream.

That night, he dreamt that he was at a banquet. There were so many people inside but he couldn’t go in. He saw his friend David just beyond the door. He called out to David to let him in. Why couldn’t he come in? David responded, “Nabeel, you didn’t accept the invitation. You haven’t responded to the invitation.” Nabeel woke up in a frightened state and called David.

David told him to read Luke 13:24.

He hadn’t accepted Jesus’ invitation.

The dream was clear. So Nabeel decided. After making his decision for Jesus, Nabeel feel incredibly lonely. He lost everything. In a moment of despair, he questioned God and asked why. He asked God “Why didn’t you just let me die, after making that decision for you”? In one quiet moment God reponded to him, “Because it’s not about you.”

I Give Myself Away Just as Nabeel’s journey led him to that point, my biblical journey led me to the church in 2 Corinthians 8:1-6 “Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the ver y limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.

This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreser vedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives.”

The topic of generosity is impor tant because it speaks about God’s character and it gives a window into our relationship with God. When we think about giving, we often focus on money, but from Matthew 6:21 that says, “Where you treasure is, there your hear t will be also,” we see that what God really wants is our hear ts.

As I was pondering the topic of generosity I remembered Nabeel’s story. I never anticipated it being the answer that I needed in my quest to understand God’s generosity. Just like the church in Macedonia in 2 Corinthians 8:16, Nabeel was faced with fierce trouble. That situation only brought out the best in him. Because of the lavish love he experienced from God, he in turn gave of himself, first unreservedly to God and then to others. He gave up the comfor ts of his relationship with his family, his culture and his friends in response to the love that God showed to him.

As I finished writing the sermon, I wrote with a new found insight into God’s character. Just as true as it is that God is love, He is also generous. His generosity is an exemplification of His love.

As I put the finishing touches on the sermon, I wrote out the last few lines as a thoughtprovoking challenge. In writing it, I realised the challenge was more for me than for the congregation, “What is God asking me to give?

Will I willingly obey? Will I give generously?”

Contributed by Rachel Lemons Aitken, Communications Coordinator of the Greater Sydney Conference. Rachel blogs at Fishfoodbook.com.

Like www.facebook.com/sydneyadventists

Meet Abigail Figueroa Pastor at Light Hope Church

Where are you from? Where do you call home?

Despite living in Sydney for years now and a stint in Michigan, USA (whilst studying at Andrews University), Melbourne (where I was born and raised), is still home… though my absolutely wonderful and loving Light Hope SDA church family quickly became my home away from home.

What are you looking forward to in your new role?

We are passionate about bringing Light and Hope to all in Jesus Christ! We plan to do this through running various community programs (Depression Recovery, Marriage Enrichment, Small Groups etc). I’m especially excited about our Hope Culture Evening coming up on Saturday 22 August where we will celebrate our unity in diversity- the way Christ intended.

Tell us a little bit about your testimony.

I love Jesus and even though I only know a small, SMALL percentage of all there is to know of His awesomeness, I must share what I know of Him, because He is AMAZING!!!

What hobbies/activities do you enjoy?

Paintball, beach, go-kar ting, painting, exploring national parks… anything with my friends.

Do you have family here?

Whilst my family are all in Melbourne, I thank God for my beautiful, caring church family at Light Hope who constantly lavish their Christ-like love onto me!!!

www.sydney.adventist.org.au / July - August 2015 13

Baptism of Julia & Selina

CAMP HOPE Adventist Women Community Project

​ his year at BREATHE Women's Conference T in August, one of the community projects that will be launched is Camp Hope.

Camp Hope is a retreat – in the truest sense of the word - for disenfranchised women from the community. Adventist Women of Greater Sydney Conference will bless these women through sponsoring them and their children to a 2-night/3-day retreat at Crosslands Convention Centre. Camp Hope is scheduled for April 2016.

The program will include lifestyle seminars on Finance Management, Parenting, Nutrition and Relationships. There will also be a pamper session, special treats and a kid’s program.

The retreat will be staffed by professionals, volunteering their services to invest in women who would otherwise not be able to access their services. Attendees will come recommended by Community Agencies, such as ADRA Blacktown Counselling Centre, Wesley Mission and FACS. ​

We are so excited about Camp Hope. This is an amazing oppor tunity to do something tangible in the life of someone who would probably never have the oppor tunity to step away from their circumstances and be loved upon.

If you would like to be a par t of the project, please contact Adventist Women’s Director Beryl Landers at beryllanders@ adventist.org.au.

Contributed by Ber yl Landers, Adventist Women Director

life

in Balance

Parramatta Church recently held a preaching and small group series caled ‘Life in Balance’. Organised by pastoral team Jean-Pierre Mar tinez and David McKibben, the ‘Mind in Balance’ seminar series was presented for the first time in

14

The 2nd of May was a joyous and blessed Sabbath for the Hurstville Church family who witnessed the baptism of Julia Zou and Selina Zhao-Yu Wang by Pr Jimmy Cha. Both are from China and had the gospel truth sown in their hear ts before coming to Hurstville.

Julia first learned about the Bible from a class organised by the Bible Study Fellowship International (with headquar ters at San Antonio, Texas, USA). She attended multiple Sunday churches in the past seven years but did not make a decision. In 2013, while bringing her daughter Helen to our basketball coaching class on Sundays, she made friends with Sisters Laura Lao and Helena Yu. She was touched by their friendliness and star ted attending Hurstville Church. From there she had fur ther Bible studies with Bible worker Helena Yu and Brother Choon Yap.

Selina, on the other hand, was brought up as a Christian by her father and attended a Sunday Christian church in Nor thern China.

Her father first taught her about Christianity when she was nine. In 2013, a chance meeting with an Adventist at the Yarraville train station brought her to the Melbourne Gateway Church at Carlton where she did her Bible study. Two months later, she moved to Sydney and star ted attending Hurstville Church where she received fur ther baptismal Bible studies from Helena Yu. While in Hurstville, she was touched by the Christ-like love demonstrated by the church family and decided to dedicate her life to Jesus through baptism.

The experiences of both candidates point to the impor tance of Christian love demonstrated in people in the community, as well as within the church family. In Julia’s case, we also witnessed the impor tance of the local church engaging the community using children’s activities. In Selina’s case, we witnessed the impor tance of sister churches in different Conferences working together in the body of Christ. Just as Paul said in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

Contributed by David Fung, Hurstville Church May 2015 as a church and community outreach.

Mrs Claire Marsh (Psychologist and Manager of Adventist Counselling Services) and Mr Paul Bogacs (Counsellor and Lecturer at Avondale College) shared interactive workshopstyle seminars on how to understand the effect of depression and anxiety and practical ways to help ourselves and others. The seminar aimed to

July - August 2015 \ www.sydney.adventist.org.au

equip par ticipants with skills and resources. About 70 attended from both the church and local community.

If you are interested in having the ‘Mind in Balance’ series presented in your church or community, please contact Mrs Claire Marsh via email clairemarsh@adventist.org.au or call the Adventist Counselling Services on (02) 8876 5238.

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CU LT UR E SH OC K Contributed b

y Majilly Freit

Have you ever felt like you wanted to share Jesus but you didn't know how? Coming to Australia from Brazil, I naturally experienced culture shock. Because English is my second language, I didn’t feel comfor table sharing Jesus with people when I moved here. However, God had a plan!

One day as I was on the Brazilian Community Facebook Page, I felt God impress upon my hear t, “Majilly, if you like to be on Facebook, this can be your ministry!

Facebook!” The Brazilian Community Facebook Page is an online group of more than 24,000 people. It is set-up for Brazilians in Australia to feel community with one another.

Having been very active in my own community in Brazil, I felt I needed to do something to continue working for Jesus. So I posted, “Are you tired of life? Do you feel like you don’t have hope? If you need hope, I can share the hope I have through Jesus!!! Contact me if you want to study the Bible or pray or come to church.”

Many of the Brazilians in Australia come to study English so I used language as an incentive for people. We study the Bible in English to show Jesus and His love. So then it was on; I waited to see if anyone would reply. For tunately, I did not have to wait very long. Almost immediately, people inboxed me messages asking me to pray for them. Several wanted to come to church and others wanted Bible studies.

By God’s grace, they are all growing closer to Christ by His Holy Spirit’s working.

Since then, I have brought at least 10 Brazilians to meet my Light Hope Church family, and they keep coming back. We love to fellowship and worship Jesus together. Since that first post, I have posted the invitation several times.

Sometimes I mention political situations, strife around the world or make general appeals to those who are tired of this world and its grief, sorrow and sufferings. Because of the lack of affection many in the group feel-because they

ADRA's

$40 Challenge How much is $40 a year? ($40 divided by 365 = $0.10958904). That’s right!

It’s less than 11 cents a day; less than 80 cents a week. It’s actually less than the cost of five small Big Mac Meals. Is

as

live far away from their families- they seek people they can relate to and treat like family. Whenever I post, I usually say something like, “If you're interested in learning more about Jesus Christ, come to church!” Praise God! Every time I post something, I have around 25 people immediately inbox me asking for prayer and wanting to know how they can know more about Jesus or come to church. One girl, with whom I had Bible studies for quite a while, came to church faithfully but never made a decision for baptism while she was here in Australia. She ended up moving to Japan; I wondered what would happen in her relationship with God. I later learned she ended up not only committing to a church in Japan but has also taken her mother, father, sister and brother-in-law with her.

This ministry brings such joy to my husband Samuel and me, but we would be lying if we said it was always easy.

Samuel and I always work to make those we meet feel at home, and it’s not easy, especially when we use our free time to serve. My husband, who has a great hear t to serve the Lord, has helped so much - going to pick them up (no matter how far away they are), talking to them and helping with the Bible studies. We do all the cooking so it is full on as we both have our jobs and are very involved in several roles at church also, but I am so glad God gave us this way to reach out.

After star ting off feeling reluctant to share Jesus because of my cultural difference, I have realized that Jesus wants us to use our cultures to share Him. For this reason we are having a Hope Culture Night at Light Hope Church in Campbelltown on the 22nd of August, to celebrate the various cultures we all come from and most impor tantly, the one Lord we serve. I'd like to encourage you to come and share your culture with us. Email pastorabigail@outlook.com for more details and may God bless you as you share Him in whichever way He instructs you- regardless of your own worries or shor tcomings.

this too much to sacrifice for the less for tunate in a year? $40! That’s our goal for ADRA’s Knocktober Appeal this year! Let’s get our church families behind our church charity and see if we can make it! What would happen if we all took up the challenge and raised $40 for the less for tunate this year?

our vision your future

SYDNEY.ADVENTIST.ORG.AU/REDEVELOPMENT

SPECIAL CONSTITUENCY MEETING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A SPECIAL CONSTITUENCY MEETING OF THE GREATER SYDNEY CONFERENCE OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH WILL BE HELD IN THE AUDITORIUM OF MOUNTAIN VIEW ADVENTIST COLLEGE, 41 DOONSIDE ROAD, DOONSIDE ON

SUNDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 2015 THE PROGRAM WILL COMMENCE WITH REGISTRATION AT 8:00 AM. THE SEATING OF DELEGATES AND THE CONSTITUENCY MEETING AGENDA, WHICH CONSISTS OF ONE ITEM, THAT IS, THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONFERENCE OFFICE SITE (2-4 CAMBRIDGE STREET, EPPING) FROM 9:00 AM - 12:00PM