As the cold and gusty Autumnal weather settled into Hobart, the men braved the elements to head to church to enjoy manly chats over bacon, eggs and beans. Using the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and Pearl (Matt 13:44-46), Tom Pountain explained that we can either stumble upon the kingdom of God or search and find it, but the only right resp
onse to the message is to snatch it up. It was great to see 50-odd men at the event, many of them not being regular church-goers, but whose wives were.
We all met up in Hobart city for lunch, the ladies having had a wander around Salamanca Markets. Sadly, Tom Murray was in absentia due to his unfortunate bump in the night (see yesterday’s entry for more).
Walk-up in the local area around the church was the order of the afternoon, and whilst it was quieter than expected, the team managed to spread out and have some great moments with friendly passers-by. Like with doorknocking, whilst we were all feeling anxious, God answered prayers and enabled us to talk to people about Jesus and to continue to raise the profile of the church in the community.
It was back to the church hall for the women in the evening, with an evangelistic dessert supper. Kate spoke about the meaning of true friendship from John 15:13, that Jesus is the perfect friend we all need in our lives and to use as a model for friendship with others. The event was beautifully organised, and with about one-third of the 80-plus attending women being non-church members, created a wonderful opportunity for us and the women from church to speak about our personal friendships with Jesus.
Prayer Points
- Thank God for strong attendance at both the men’s breakfast and women’s dessert supper. May the conversations started at those events continue to challenge those who need to respond rightly to Jesus and bring them into relationship with God.
- Thank God for the people we chatted with during walk-up in the afternoon. Even though we are weak and imperfect, God uses us to reveal the treasure of the kingdom to those who are perishing. Thank God for the encouragement it was for us, and pray that the chats we had make an impact.
- Pray for our last day at St Mark’s tomorrow! We have the three services: traditional 8.30am (Nick speaking), contemporary 10am (puppet show!) and young adults 6pm (Ross speaking). Please pray in particular for the puppet show, which is a new thing for the church, that it will be well-received and helpful for teaching. May we finish well!