Category: Jesus

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Youth Ministry on the Front Foot

Youthworks have recently launched a brand new youth leadership book, Youth Ministry on the Front Foot. I have a chapter in there… but don’t let that stop you getting a copy!! I haven’t read it in its final form, but am looking forward to gleaning wisdom from the experienced youth pastors who contributed. Intro blurbs etc below.

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Youth are our future, right?

No! The future of our youth lies in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The truth is, the youth of any generation need to hear and accept this gospel! Youth Ministry on the Front Foot tackles the unique opportunities and challenges of ministry to this age group through the wisdom of experienced youth ministers with a passion for seeing teenagers come to Christ. The biblical principles and practical advice in these pages on key issues such as social media, discipling and leader accountability are ideal for youth ministers, church leaders and anyone interested in youth ministry. Application guides in each chapter also contain helpful questions, checklists and diagrams for your youth ministry context.

Contributors: Mike Everett, Eugene Hor, Cameron Hyslop, Ron Irving, Sarah Macken, Jodie McNeill, Dave Miers, Ken D Noakes, Murray Norman, Scott Petty, Graham Stanton, Zac Veron (series editor) & Kylie Williams

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$3000 in 3 Days! Spread the Gospel in India

Praise God that the church in India is growing at an amazing rate. But with this the church faces unique challenges. One challenge is having pastors who are trained well in the bible. This is made more complicated with the poverty that many pastors experience in India, they cannot afford to go to bible college for a year and they are certainly not funded by the Government to do so. (Praise God for how Australians are supported by our Government).

India Gospel League has recognised the need for pastors to be trained and has partnered with Moore College to see pastors be trained in correspondence courses by teams of Aussies who will travel to India. One such group is leaving in 3 days.

The team is lead by my sister and her husband. They would love your support – in prayer and in your generous gifts. To find out more visit newcastlechristianstudents.org where you will find out more about the team and more about how you can support them.

They leave in a few days, have already raised over $10K, and have only $3000 to go… what do you reckon?

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January Preaching Series

At St Faith’s we begun a new 6-part summer preaching series on Christmas Eve/Day. 6 REASONS JESUS CAME DOWN TO EARTH will continue throughout January. Our hope is that it will be a good series to bring non-church going friends and family to hear.

I thought that Christmas was a good time to launch a series rather than inviting people to a new series starting the following week. Hopefully visitors will have heard the series kick-off over Christmas and their interest will have been piqued to continue finding out more reasons why Jesus came down to earth.

It’s been good to leverage the same artwork and signage from Christmas. It means our public banners (one of which was stolen!!) are relevant for 6 weeks instead of just 1 event. However, I think that the artwork is probably a little bit too Christmassy. So if we were to do it again in a year’s time, the advertising could be a bit more generic.

What’s your church preaching on throughout January?
Don’t go to a church? Consider checking one out so you can consider Jesus.
(Contact me if you need help finding one in your area.)

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To our weakness is no stranger

Perhaps you think or feel that God is distant and doesn’t understand our world and our struggles? Yet in Jesus, we have a God who has walked in human flesh and dwelt among people. The first Christmas reminds us that God has come. As we meet Jesus, we meet God.

Check out this line from my favourite Christmas Carol – O Holy Night – “He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger”. Sometimes Christmas isn’t a joyful time for people as they reflect on the brokenness of our world. But Jesus gets it. He has been there. Check out Hebrews 4:14-16

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Christmas morning is an opportunity to hope again in our God who came into our world 2000 years ago. Keep trusting in Jesus. Or find out more. Have a read of this. Find a church.

If you’re on the Northern Beaches come along to one of St Faith’s Christmas services.