It is a privilege this week to partner in the ministry of one1seven church at its two campuses in Redfern and Green Square. The church serves a large, diverse, and rapidly evolving area of Sydney. Trendy terraces, towering social housing blocks, and new-build high density unit complexes sit side by side around the parish. Ministers Matt, Andrew and Caitlin have made significant strides in connecting with their neighbours from wide-ranging backgrounds, circumstances and walks of life. This week, they want to reach out to the community with a special invitation to ‘know Jesus, know hope, know life’. We’re excited to support them in this mission, and from tomorrow will be wearing custom-made t-shirts to prove it!
10am church at Redfern saw Steve Walker preach a bold message of repentance and faith based on Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: the one who approached God in self-assurance and presumption, the other in humility and dependence. Meanwhile, the ever-resourceful Fi Henderson led an enthusiastic Sunday School group in thinking through what it means to ‘walk in Christ’, with a selection of Tim Rowe’s generously sized footwear providing effective visual aids:
We replicated the preaching and kids’ program at the 4pm gathering at Green Square, where the usual 20-odd strong congregation received a large boost from a number of families attending for a baptism. Several of the visiting children joined us for Sunday School and participated keenly: please pray for a little girl who said she had never heard of ‘the Bible’, and give thanks for the small seeds of truth we could sow in her heart today.
In between services, we paired up with a few church members to doorknock local houses with information about the upcoming Anglicare Winter Appeal. An early highlight of this exercise was discovering that charity/church flyers are legally classed as ‘community notices’ rather than junk mail, which relieved our consciences when it came to making letterbox drops at unanswered doors – well, most of them.
Tomorrow: prayer walks, input time on ‘ministry experiences’, missional living event.
Please pray that our hearts and words and lives this week will proclaim and testify to the gospel of grace.
Luke 18:13–14. ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.’
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