Isn’t it time you came back to church?

At 5pm this Saturday 21st May we’re hosting a FREE chops, chips and chocolate night at the church. Join us for a free BBQ meal, with salads, hot chips, and a chocolate fountain with marshmallows and fruit, followed by free espresso coffee. It’s a great contemporary church service for people of all ages, and includes a special kids’ program.

If you’d prefer a more traditional service then come along at 8am on Sunday morning for a prayer book service with great hymns and time for reflection.

This weekend at both services we’re welcoming a group of young trainee ministers who will share with us the heart of the Christian faith.

This is the perfect weekend to come back to church. We’d love you to join us!

“Why don’t you come back to church this week?”

This is the question that we’re planning to ask hundreds of people this week as we connect with our village and valley in a big push to welcome people back into church.

Some people will respond by saying, “I’ve never been to church before… so why should I come this weekend?” This will create the perfect opportunity for us to share that people should come to church to come alive with Christ.

For others, they’ll say that they don’t feel the need to come to church. This should naturally lead to a great chat about how God created every person and longs for us all to know him and come alive with Christ.

Some might also respond to this challenge by saying that they don’t feel they’d fit in to church. This should lead us to talk about the many different kinds of people who are part of our church, from all ages and walks of life.

Finally, they might feel that it wouldn’t be right for them to come to church because of the bad things they’ve done. This will create a wonderful opportunity to talk about the rich message of grace that comes through the death of Jesus on their behalf.

It’s my prayer that over this week we’ll have lots of different opportunities to share the good news that ‘Jesus is Lord’ so that many people will hear his call to repent and believe, and then be saved.

That’s a great reason to come back to church! What about you?

For many years our church youth group has been known by the name ‘CHAOS’, which stands for ‘Christ Honoured and Others Served’.

As a tagline or mission statement, it’s a terrific summary of what we want to happen in our youth group.

The problem is that the idea of ‘chaos’ in the Bible is generally a bad thing.

After all, God’s work in the world generally brings order where there used to be chaos, especially in the lives of those who have been filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now it’s true that youth often find a grungy, anti-establishment kind of identity to be one that is strangely attractive as they navigate the challenging journey from childhood to adulthood.

But, the problem with the name ‘CHAOS’ is that it doesn’t really communicate that we long for our youth group to attract people by the delight that comes from knowing Jesus and being transformed by his Holy Spirit.

So that’s why we’ve switched our name to ‘Refuge’, which seeks to sum up the security that comes from knowing God, and the safety we can experience as we gather together for youth group in the name of Jesus.

For as we know from the Bible, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46 verse 1).

Jodie.

PS: Refuge is for high-school aged people and it meets at Oak Flats Anglican each Friday from 7pm to 9.30pm during school terms.

The parliament of our church voted unanimously this week to merge Anglicare and Anglican Retirement Villages (ARV) to better meet the need for their services in the future.

Archbishop Glenn Davies told a special synod called to consider a merger that the landscape of aged care in Australia has dramatically changed.

“The future will see constraints placed on government funding of aged care services and development of the practice of consumer directed care. Users of aged care services will be required to pay more and will be given greater say in the way their services are delivered.” Dr Davies said.

“This is a dramatic shift in social policy by the Commonwealth Government, which has significant ramifications for both organisations. New players are entering the field of aged care services. These are large, international, for-profit organisations who are growing at a rapid rate. Scale will be vital for growth: scale is the new criterion for survival.”

Dr Davies said he was thankful for the strength of both Anglicare and ARV. “Strong financially, strong in reputation and strong in the foundation of their work on the love of Jesus Christ. I am thankful that we are able to look with confidence to the future and are able to plan that future from a position of strength.”

The Archbishop paid tribute to the 4,000 staff who work at Anglicare and ARV and the thousands of volunteers who he said ‘contribute greatly to our mission’. “I am excited about the prospect of one formidable agency working alongside our parishes to share the gospel by word and deed.” the Archbishop said.

Report from sydneyanglicans.net