In her book, ‘The gospel comes with a house key,’ Rosaria Butterfield shares how she became a Christian through the hospitality of an older Christian couple who opened their home, shared their lives, and showed her Jesus. 

She was unchurched and hostile to Christians, but God used that hospitality to lead her to Christ.

Hospitality is so powerful for evangelism, and that’s because God showed us hospitality, first!

He welcomed outsiders when he invited us to belong to his family and become part of his people… all while we were his enemies.

His divine hospitality was seen most clearly through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to reconcile us to the Father. 

In her book, Rosaria said that hospitality seeks to make, “strangers neighbours and neighbours family of God.”

That kind of hospitality is deliberate, intentional and relational…. and a little daunting.

But her wise advice was to just, “start somewhere, start today,” and I thought, “I can do that!”

All I need to do is to keep getting to know people… starting small, but starting now.

And I was reminded that evangelism so often happens in the context of personal relationships.

It made me think of my role as a school teacher, and how I invite students to bring questions and doubts, as they learn and inquire.

You’ll have similar opportunities with your work colleagues, family, community contacts, and other connections in life.

It is such a wonderful privilege and an amazing opportunity for us to speak the gospel, and live it out in the lives we share with others.

As we head into Easter, let’s pray that God will help us share the love of Christ with everyone we connect with, and that he will bring many people to know and love Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

MANDY McNEILL

It’s 25 years since I became a father, and it’s 25 years since Colin released his ‘Remember The Lord’ album.

These two events intersected in so many ways, for this album became the soundtrack to the early years of my Christian parenting.

We loved Colin’s energy and fun, but we especially valued the way he could help every member of the family learn Bible memory verses, as well as remember the wonderful and important truths about God, Jesus and the Bible.

For his lyrics reminded us that, “nothing takes God by surprise,” and that we should “remember the Lord, remember that he’s in control, he’s watching his children, he cares!”

Colin knows that the sovereignty of God is a wonderful thing, and a doctrine of great comfort… and his songs have helped us sing about this for decades.

That’s why I’m so excited that Colin will be joining us at Jamberoo Anglican on 31st March at 6pm for a special, open-air concert on the lawn.

The advertising says it’s a ‘kids’ tour’ but I reckon the biggest fans will be those, like me, who bought the CD for our little ones to listen to in the car… although those kids who are now in their 20’s might be the ones rockin’ in the ‘mosh pit!’

I’m praying that this event will be a great night of celebrating the amazing love of God, and that for some people, it might even be a musical event that rekindles a faith in Jesus that may have grown dim over the years.

Above all, I’m praying that all who come to the concert will have a fresh experience of the wonder of Jesus, upon whom, “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all… SING Baa, Baa, Doo, Baa, Baa… Isaiah 53:6… UGH!”

Purchase tickets at this link… but get in quick!

JODIE McNEILL

Two years ago we asked Mothers Union Sydney for a special grant for an all-new position of ‘Mother’s Minister’, and they graciously supplied us with the funds to employ Gemma Bartlett for the part-time role.

At the time, I described the role in this way:

We wish to employ a mature and experienced Christian mother to help strengthen and support new and younger mothers in our church to be godly wives who serve their husbands as they bring up their children in the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. 

They will teach how to develop Christian homes as a place for nurturing children, which will then be a natural environment to invite unbelievers in their networks to witness the outworking of the Word of God in the lives of their families and homes.

This will involve one-to-one discipleship of mothers in our church; the opportunity to train, resource and empower other experienced Christian mothers and grandmothers to share this ministry; and to prayerfully gather all members of our parish to seek to make disciples of all nations, one mother and family at a time. 

We also long to be a parish that learns and then shares from its ministry experience, in order to equip other, similar churches in rural and regional churches with this important, specialised ministry. 

I’m delighted to share that Gemma and all the Bartletts will remain with us as members of our church into the future, and will keep helping mothers and everyone grow in our ministry.

We recognise with great thanks the special contribution Gemma has made to the life of our church whilst serving in this 24-month role, and we thank God for the vision and resources of Mothers Union Sydney in providing us with the grant.

We’re also thankful for how our intergenerational focus has been fanned into flame under her leadership, and for the ongoing impact this has on everyone in our church.

JODIE McNEILL

(image credit: Kurt Stocker via Flickr)

As I gathered with thousands of believers at the recent Church Missionary Society (CMS) Summer School in Katoomba, I experience afresh the joy of looking beyond ourselves with a global, gospel focus.

Missionaries from all over the world were sharing about the triumphs and the tragedies of bringing the message of Jesus to peoples from significantly different cultures and languages.

And even as they paid the personal price of proclaiming Christ in faraway lands, we heard the wonderful news of how the message of Jesus continues to bring genuine hope to a world that is in darkness.

Yet, our mission focus is not only to the nations beyond our shores: for we also partner with and support churches doing ministry in Australia.

Some of the missionaries with CMS are based in Northern and North-West Australia working in ministry with and to Aboriginal Christians from Broome across to Groote Eylandt.

But in Australia we also have a long-standing partnership with Bush Church Aid (BCA), which seeks to bring the gospel of Christ to the outermost parts of Australia.

Their vision is to develop a new generation of culturally-diverse Christian leaders, both young and old, and to support ministry by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as they, “are committed to working with our first peoples so they can serve Christ in ways that are Biblically faithful and culturally appropriate.”

Plus, they seek to plant and renew sustainable churches, like their support of Roger and Amanda Kyngdon in Newman, Western Australia, with whom our church partners.

As we consider ministry near and far, it is a joy to hear of how the gospel of Jesus is bringing real change to the lives of people who live far away from the main population areas of our land, and who have the same need to know Jesus as every Australian.

JODIE McNEILL

One of the wonderful outcomes of the Protestant Reformation was a renewed enthusiasm for all Christians to be involved in the ministry of the church.

Whilst Jesus has given some word ministers as special gifts to his church, their role is to equip all Christians to be engaged in ministry, as we read in Ephesians 4:

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)

As our staff drafted our new mission statement, we recognised the need to give a fresh priority to this in our church, so our second phrase is, “equip people for ministry.”

We want each of you in our church to feel like you’re growing in wisdom, knowledge, and skills as we all work together to see each person in our village, valley and region know how to follow Jesus and why it matters.

To help us do this together, we’ve started to explore options to offer personalised, online training to each member of our church, which can help you grow at your own pace, in your own time.

We’re hoping this will cover all sorts of skills and knowledge training, from theology and small group teaching, through to prayer and safe ministry.

We’re also reviewing a so-called ‘leadership pipeline’ framework that will help each of you to consider your next step in serving in our church.

You are very valuab le to us, and each of you plays a vital role in our church as Jesus uses each of us to build his church, both in size and strength.

As we start 2023 together, how can we equip you to grow in your Christian knowledge, skill and character?

JODIE McNEILL

(Photo credit: Tara Angkor Hotel via Flickr.com)