The first day of mission kicked off nice and early with the 7:30am service, the first of three weekly services at St. Stephen’s Anglican Penrith. After 3rd year student Alan Au preached at first light, 4th year Mike Leite was up at the 10:00am service, and 4th year David Messieh at 6:30pm. Each sermon included a call to repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus – a great way to kick of a week of mission in partnership with the saints here in Penrith. Pray that many would heed that call this week, to the glory of God.
We met our billets over morning tea, people who have generously opened their homes and lives to us this week. Pray for deep fellowship to grow between our team and billets as we encourage one another in the gospel – that we’d be good house guests!
After the two morning services we were straight into the action with some door knocking to invite Penrith residents to the church’s Open Week, which our team will help out with over the week. There’ll be jumping castles, free coffees, women’s and men’s events, a senior’s event and more – you’ll hear about them here as the week goes on.
While there were some positive interactions with those door knocked, there were also many houses with glaring ‘Do Not Knock!’ signs on the doors. Pray that God might bring Christian influences into the lives of those we weren’t able to speak with. Nevertheless, there were lots of positive interactions. One man had been looking for a church to attend; another who wasn’t a Christian – but knew his bible well – is keen to come to church at Easter. Many families were surprised and excited to hear that St. Stephen’s has regular children’s activities. Pray for all these people that they might be moved to come along during the week.
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