This week our Anglican Synod voted to return us to full status after 46 years as a Provisional Parish.

As we reflect on this remarkable revival, there are three things that we can observe.

Firstly, we’ve been part of a special family.

Within our diocese, and around the world, we share a common Anglican bond with orthodox brothers and sisters.

Our passion to see Christ proclaimed faithfully drives us to work together, no matter how big or small we might be.

We saw that when the small-ish parish of Oak Flats shared ministry resources with the much-smaller parish of Jamberoo… even though we didn’t share a common boundary.

And through that partnership, an un-viable parish has returned to full health.

We give great thanks to God for Oak Flats Anglican!

Secondly, we’ve loved our village.

We’re the only church in the village with a resident minister, and we’ve worked hard to serve our community.

Together we’re involved in ministry to Jamberoo Public School, and I’m privileged to serve in our RFS brigade.

And there are two special weekends when the village joins us on our lawn.

On Christmas Eve we invite the whole village to join us for carols, and on Easter Day we welcome the village to hear about the resurrection of Jesus and to witness the baptism of people who follow him.

Thirdly, we’ve been intergenerational.

Every week we include people of all ages in our services, and our meals after church are a great way to get to know older and younger people, alike… and to compete in handball!

Yet above all, the reason that our church has come back to life is because the Lord graciously brought people to us so that with them we might serve him, together.

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!

JODIE McNEILL

At the last census, the number of Australians who said they associated with Christianity was over 11 million people… that’s 44% of Aussies.

Now the big news was that it was a million less than five years before, with the largest decrease in your age bracket… the 18 to 25 year olds.

But even though there are many religious people around, we’re still pretty shy about revealing our faith.

Just before Covid hit, there was a survey of 54,000 people by the ABC.

They surveyed all sorts of different things, but one of them was their attitude to religion.

Journalist Annabel Crabb analysed the results and said that 60 per cent of Australians would prefer that people keep their religious views to themselves.

What’s more, almost half of all religious people, “agreed that religion should be a hush-hush affair.”

But not only was religion something that people wanted to keep quiet.

It also didn’t seem to have any real impact on peoples’ lives.

That same journalist went on to say that, “when given a list of eight attributes and asked which was most central to the respondent’s sense of self and identity, Australians placed religion stone-cold, motherless last.”

And what’s more, Crabb said that, “only 15 percent of respondents thought the country would be better off if more people were religious”.

And to top it off, she observed that, “one of the survey’s most striking findings is the poor esteem in which religious leaders are held.”

Even though four out of ten people identified with a Christian religion, most Aussies don’t think that religion matters.

And that’s not really surprising, is it?

But that’s our challenge, because we are amongst the 15 percent who think that our country would be better off if more people knew Jesus.

And that’s why we’re praying that each person in our village, valley, and region would know how to follow Jesus and why it matters.

Will you join me in that prayer?

JODIE McNEILL

(Photo credit: Gafcon)

Thank you for your prayers for this week’s Gafcon Australasia Conference in Canberra, where I had the joy of leading the team of organisers as we gathered over 360 people from around Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to be encouraged to stand firm in the gospel, and to preach Christ faithfully to the nations.

At the conference, the all-new Diocese of the Southern Cross was announced, and our former Archbishop Glenn Davies was installed as the interim bishop.

It would be so much better if every one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia was led by a bishop who delighted in and defended the teaching of the word of God, including the Bible’s doctrine of marriage and human sexuality.

But some of these dioceses are led by bishops who not only welcome same-sex marriage for Christians, but also actively frustrate their own ministers who don’t join them in embracing that sin.

However our own Diocese of Sydney has no intention of leaving the Anglican Church of Australia, which means that this development has no effect on any of our parishes, schools or organisations.

Indeed, as our Archbishop Kanishka Raffel confirmed, “we are committed to the reform of the Anglican Church of Australia from within our existing ecclesial structures, including the General Synod.”

Further, he stated that the all-new Diocese of the Southern Cross has been set up for churches and ministers, “who have left their diocese because they cannot in good conscience accept the authority of those who have departed from the teaching of Christ.

“It is a sadness that this new Diocese has become necessary,” reflects Archbishop Raffel, “but I extend the hand of fellowship to the Diocese of the Southern Cross and may God bless Bishop Davies and his work.”

JODIE McNEILL

(Photo Credit: Roger Fitzhardinge via Facebook)

These two big words are rarely used in common speak, but they both mean a lot to us as we ‘do’ church here at Jamberoo Anglican.

The first word, ‘intergenerational,’ describes our passion to fully include people of all ages and stages, as much as helpfully possible.

That means that we want our church to work for children, youth, seniors—people of all generations—as we gather each Saturday night and Sunday morning.

The natural response to this challenge would be to try to err on the side of making it feel like a special ‘all-age’ service, with lots of kids’ songs, puppets and memory verses.

Or, we could keep church just like it’s been for decades, and train the children to endure the adult-ness of the service, as we assume they will eventually learn the big words and get used to the formality.

But, in our church we’ve tried to cater for all of the people, most of the time, so that every person will participate and benefit, even if some of it is a little out of our comfort zone.

Ironically, a way we have achieved this is by using what the second, big word describes, namely, ‘liturgy’.

This word is commonly used to describe the words we say together during our church service, like set prayers, creeds, and the public reading of psalms.

Conventional wisdom would say that liturgy was the last thing that younger people would want, and yet it’s a surprisingly good and powerful way to achieve our desire for intergenerational church.

For, by saying words together that have been prepared in advance, it actually helps people of all ages to have the confidence to participate in church, and the joy of being fully involved, no matter how old they are.

In fact, accessible and intelligible liturgy doesn’t need to feel ‘formal’ but can actually be a really-helpful ‘scaffold’ for younger people seeking to fully engage with the ‘grown ups’ with whom they share church, week in and out.

JODIE McNEILL