If you’ve seen our church this week then you’ll know that we’re under construction!

We’ve made the lawn at the front of our hall into a level area, and we’ve also built some built some new gardens and have improved the driveways and car parking.

We’re praying that the new lawn at the front of the hall will be even better for our weekly Saturday night dinners and Sunday morning teas, as well as our kids and youth programs and other events in the life of our church.

We’re also praying that the new trees, shrubs and flowers will help make our grounds look even nicer and inviting.

But the ultimate reason we’re doing this is because we want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable visiting our church.

Our church is a church for everyone in the village and valley of Jamberoo and beyond, and we want the whole community to feel at home with us.

We want this to be a place where everyone can gather with us to listen to God speak through the Bible, to speak to him in prayers, and to encourage each other as we sing, share and support each other in the loving community of Christ Jesus.

The building works around our church are very visible and exciting, but the greatest building works are happening as people hear the word of Jesus and accept his invitation to follow his loving leadership as their Lord.

That’s the kind of church building that matters the most, for the Bible tells us that God’s people “are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.” (1 Peter chapter 2 verse 5).

So, when you see the awesome new landscaping around our church, remember that it’s a personal invitation for you to come along and be a part of the biggest building project in the universe!

JODIE McNEILL

Over the past week my Facebook feed has been filled with Christians stating that the abortion bill should be defeated so that all citizens in NSW should be subject to the ethics of the Bible.

But what right do Christians have to influence laws that affect people who don’t share our religious belief?

At one level it is simple: Christians are citizens like anyone else, and we have a right and responsibility to voice our opinions and influence the decisions of the politicians who represent us.

However, some argue that the Biblical worldview does not apply to those who are not followers of Jesus, and therefore Christians should focus on the behaviour of believers, not the wider population.

Yet, the reason we get involved in social ethics is ultimately out of love for others, and in particular, love for those who are unable to protect or defend themselves.

The Bible makes it clear that unborn children are as valued to God as those who have successfully made it out of the womb, and that this applies to all people, not just Christians.

And therefore if some people believe that it is acceptable to kill another person who is unable to defend him or herself, then the loving response of Christians is to try and stop that unloving and immoral behaviour.

This is why we are passionate in pursuing ways to try and protect unborn children from being killed by immoral decisions made by politicians.

What’s more, this is why Christians have been so vocal and active in trying to prevent any changes to law to make it easier to kill an unborn child… and why we weep at the decision this week that will make it easier than ever to abort healthy babies in the moments before they were due to be naturally born.

JODIE McNEILL

This week several NSW politicians introduced a bill to try and change our abortion laws.

The bill proposes that when two medical practitioners agree, a termination can occur right up to full-term after they have considered “all relevant medical circumstances, and … the person’s current and future physical, psychological and social circumstances…”

In other words, a doctor can cause the death of an unborn child if he or she believes that the mother’s psychological or social circumstances might be affected now or in the future if the child is naturally born.

There is no question that raising a child can be hard when everything is ‘normal’, let alone when there are difficult psychological or social circumstances for the parents.

But this debate would never happen if we were discussing the plight of a child who was already born.

Imagine if politicians were proposing that a three-month old infant could be euthanised if they were causing psychological and social difficulties for her mother?

Yet, a child who was four months younger and still in the womb could be killed by two doctors if this bill is passed.

The only reason we’re having this debate is that some people think an unborn baby is not human, and therefore can be removed and disposed of from the mother’s body.

What is it that makes a politician or doctor so sure that a foetus is not worthy of medical care and protection, simply because it hasn’t been able to have the opportunity to be safely delivered?

The reality is that God, who created us all, says that an unborn child is to be valued as much as a child who has been safely born.

The Bible is clear on this, but some of our politicians confidently believe that what God says about this matter is to be ignored.

Please pray that our politicians will listen to God and their consciences and vote to defeat this bill before more babies are killed by the very medical practitioners who made a vow to protect human life.

JODIE McNEILL