Whose Job Is It To Welcome New People?

For someone new to walk into a church takes an immense amount of courage – it really does.  Not everyone is a massive extrovert who assumes people want to talk to them!  For most people it takes a lot of strength to just walk in the door of a new church.
 
Now, suppose you are new and you make it in the front door  – what do you see?

 Heaps of people looking at you, probably!   Which can be a little unnerving.
 
Then you sit down – and church might be pretty good.  Decent sermon, decent music - you feel like you might want to come back.  But that’s all going to depend on the next 5-10 minutes.

 The people who are already part of the church – this is where YOU come in.

Your job – ALL OF YOU – though not all at once (that would be too much) – all of you need to be on the look-out for new people.

Walk over – this is your turf – so you’re safe.  Walk over and say g’day.  Ask how they’re going.  What they thought of church?  Where they’re from?  Are they working, studying, or doing an arts degree (come on, that was funny).

 Then ask them to join your group of friends for dinner or wherever you’re going.
 
Now, they might say ‘No’ this week.  But they’ll say yes the week after – because they want to know if you were fair dinkum.
 
All churches have cliques – when I was a young bloke we had them (well, we just had one – it was a small church).  But cliques are a good thing – if we harness their power…
 
Have an open clique – and invite new people into it.  Think like a Christian on mission – how can you serve the people who come into you church – be over the top welcoming!

You might just be the link in the chain that keeps a brother or sister in a solid church so they are able to reach their full potential for their Lord.

 Blessings folks,

 Steve Wakeford, Associate Minister

Engage in Peoples Lives through Growth Groups

 












I had a great night at my growth group this week. 

It’s a group of men who are looking at the Bible together and who are engaged in each others lives in a way that men don’t normally get a chance to do. 

It’s been really heart-warming and encouraging to be a part of it – as one of the men said this week, “it’s a privilege to be part of it.” It’s a little glimpse of heaven.  There’s lots of talk and toing and froing, some great supper, some laughter, some deep discussion and a serious determination to not just skate over the surface of life. 

There has been the chance to input into each other’s lives and an expectation that God is going to do some real work among us. Already we’ve seen some answer to our prayers and we’re looking forward to meeting next week to see what God has done.  We’re becoming a band of brothers.

If you’re not in a group like this then you are missing out.

Ours is a new group and that might have something to do with it.  I think that sometimes groups can be together too long and they can get into an unhelpful rut where they just go through the motions. 

That’s not always the case with long term groups but it might be a good thing to ask the question of your group “Are we helping each other become disciple making disciples? Are we growing in love and obedience to Christ? Is there progress?”

Thanks to the men in my group for your involvement.


Bruce Dingwall
Senior Minister
 

40 Hours A Year

40 hours a year...

This is all the time that our Kids Space Team (10am Children’s Ministry) get to spend with the children in their groups over one year.

So imagine what can be accomplished if we were able to have an extra 48 hours with our Kids Spacers in the one year; we would be doubly blessed! Double the fun, double the relating, double the faith building, double the eating… you get the drift.

So rather than extending the hours of Kids Space, the Kids Space team have decided to have a weekend away for children in years 3-6 at school who come to Kids Space and Saturday Night Church.

It is important for this to be at the start of the year to ‘launch’ our year and establish relationships. Having the children come away with the Kids Space Leaders for a weekend will literally double our time spent together. The implications are huge: our Kids Space Leaders will get to know the children in their small groups, our children would get to know each other better, our Leaders will get be able to work alongside other Leaders, and we can all have a bit of a holiday together by the beach (of course we will need to find cooks as I am devoid of all giftedness in this area).

One of our core values in Children’s Ministry at Menai Anglican is to be a ‘community of friends’ and this is difficult when the children attend different schools, live in different suburbs and have only one hour a week together. A weekend away will make a huge difference in how we all relate to each other with shared experiences, funny stories and with a substantial amount of time in God’s word away from Facebook, computers and other screens.

The team of leaders are excited and all we need now are the children to join us February 28^th-March 2^nd at Austinmer Anglican Church. Mums can make the most of this quiet weekend as this is also the weekend away for the men at the Katoomba Men’s convention!

We are really looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us and your children over this weekend away.  

Mary Pickford - Children's Minister,  Yvette Maloney and the Kids Space team

A Church of Action - Not Just Words

 

Every year Anglicare's Emergency Relief programme provides financial and food assistance to an estimated 20,000 socially excluded families and individuals who struggle to get by on low income.

Now in its 10th year, Anglicare's Toys ‘n’ Tucker programme is a way in which communities can actively provide gifts of toys and food to be distributed to the families who come to the service for support. 

Nigel Beckman attends Menai Anglican Church.  He and his Growth Group became involved in the Scheme 5 years ago because they wanted to help those less fortunate at Christmas time. 

Nigel and his team have also discovered many other benefits from being involved in the scheme.  Nigel says, “It has been a wonderful out-reach opportunity and shown the local community that Menai Anglican is a church of action not just words”. The collection area covers Barden Ridge, Menai Road and over to the Woodlands Estate – so our church makes contact with approximately 2,200 homes.

In addition, it provides a great opportunity for absolutely anyone in the church community to get involved and serve God no matter their age, ability or which service they attend.

The scheme also provides Menai Anglican Church with a way to identify and help those in the local area who are themselves struggling.

This year, there were almost 180 people involved in the collection.  Between them, they collected over 300 boxes plus miscellaneous toys.  The best collection year so far for the church.

 

There is a lot of work involved in organizing the food drive.  Initially fliers are prepared and these are delivered by the congregation.  The actual collection takes place from Monday 4^th to Monday 11^th November. Because of the fliers many people are prepared with food by their door. It is heart warming when people have been shopping specifically for Anglicare and have a box or bag all ready. It also offers a great opportunity to hand over information brochures about Playtime groups at church and the Christmas service times.

One little girl donated her own tricycle because she wanted someone less fortunate than her to have a bike for Christmas.

All the donated items are boxed up at church and then Anglicare collect them and take the boxes to the Anglicare Mt. Druitt warehouse.  The items are then made into Christmas hampers and toy parcels for families in Sydney and Wollongong who would otherwise go without.

The Menai Anglican Church / Anglicare Food Drive is a wonderful example of how a small idea from a Growth Group can make a huge difference to the local community and beyond.  Thank you to everyone involved in this year’s scheme.  Please pray for Nigel and his group – may they be a guiding light to the rest of the church community.  Please also pray for the Anglicare teams – may they bring a little joy and support to those in need this Christmastime.

 

How Much Did Your T Shirt Cost?

 















Aussies wear T-shirts.  We wear them at the beach, or around the house, or under a shirt when we go out. We like to have something funny written on the front, or an arty design. Or just plain white.

So we buy lots of them. And we like to pick up a bargain. 

So how much did your last T-shirt cost?

To save money, most of our clothes are made overseas, where labour is much cheaper than in Australia. That helps make them cheap.

But did you know that, over the past 8 years, more than 1,800 garment workers in Bangladesh have died in building collapses, in factory fires, or other "preventable circumstances"?

It turns out that shoddy practices and unsafe working conditions are another reason why our T-shirts are so cheap. We get cheap clothes and garment workers pay with their lives.

But there is an alternative.

There is now an international accord, "a multinational stakeholder agreement where companies commit to extensive and systematic assessment of worker safety and conditions within the Bangladesh garment industry".

Rather than boycott clothing made in Bangladesh, which will only increase poverty, this accord means companies will work together to support positive change.

Katies, Target and Cotton On have all signed the accord. K-Mart is offering compensation for families affected by the most recent fire.

Woolworths, which owns Big W, had deferred action to sign the accord, but in latest news, has finally signed up.

Change won't be instant, but if you think unsafe and unfair working conditions are too high a price to pay for cheap clothing, then keep your eyes open for more news on which clothing companies are supporting positive change.

The Justice and Mercy Team at our church will be doing more research to give you the best information we can. And if you would like to help with some internet research on this matter, please let us know.

Eric & Carolyn Hatfield from the Justice and Mercy Team at Menai Anglican Church

Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly. Micah 6:8

Information from Canberra Times (http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/where-life-is-cheap-what-cost-a- tshirt-20131014-2vikj.html) and Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/national/woolworths-signs-up-to-bangladesh-safety- accord-20131017-2vq3l.html). Photo: MorgueFile (http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/661931).

How Are We Tracking? - Survey Results

Somebody once wisely said, “If you aim at nothing that’s exactly what you’ll hit.”

A year or so ago now our staff and parish council put together a number of goals for us to work towards over the next few years to keep us focussed on the main game.

We knew that we had 2 major priorities in line with our vision to “Introduce Jesus and Change Lives”- that of helping our members to grow in their faith and to reach out with the good news that Jesus is our rescuer. 

To that end we came up with some goals based around the results of the National Church Life Survey (NCLS) that we took part in back in 2011.

The good news is that we’ve been making some progress and we ought to give thanks to God for it.

One of the most encouraging areas is in the growth of the percentage of people who say that they have “experienced much growth through our church in the past 12 months.”  There has been a significant 9% increase over the NCLS back in 2011.  Furthermore 98% of all those surveyed said that they had grown spiritually in the past 12 months. Praise God!

We’ve also seen growth in the number of our members who are inviting people to church [4% increase] and growth in the numbers of those involved with some sort of ministry leadership [7-8% increase]. 

We have maintained our level of growth group membership and this is the only area of the survey where we haven’t moved forward. 

Another pleasing aspect is that of those who have joined us in the past 2 years 28% weren’t attending another church before they joined. Although we are happy to welcome people who are transferring from another church - maybe out of our area - the real kingdom growth is with those who are coming to church for the first time or after a long gap. There is much rejoicing in heaven over that!

In the past two and half years we have grown by 25% and now average 677 people in church each week. As to our finances we have now had a couple of months of reaching our budget and although we still have a shortfall to make up things are looking much better.

All in all this is all great cause for thanksgiving to God for answering our prayers and honouring our commitment to Him. We are getting on with our mission together.

Bruce Dingwall

Senior Minister

Living Out Your Faith

One of the great things about being on staff here at Menai Anglican Church is that you get to hear some great stories about people living out their faith by introducing Jesus and changing lives.

I received an email during the week from Peter Jarvis who comes to our 10am service and got permission to share it with you for your encouragement.

“Morning Bruce, Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed yesterday’s message from James.

It was really ‘on the money’ and contained loads of practical examples that both Gail and I discussed on our way to a family function yesterday.

I can’t wait to discuss it with the guys from Bible Study tonight.

I am currently talking to two younger women about my faith and what they their views are about God, eternity and faith etc.

One lady (about 44 years old) is a high ranking Union leader who has hard-line socialistic views. The other has worked in DOC's and is now in the education system. Her views are more humanistic.

Both are cynical about what they refer to as ‘the church’ and have a very worldly perception of Christianity.  

The Union lady came to me recently and complained about a business owner (who claimed to be a Christian), who treated his workers pretty badly. I gave her some practical extracts from the bible to discuss with this Boss that would hopefully make him think about his actions toward his staff. I mentioned that I’d be happy to have a chat with him if she thought it might help. 

She has also helped me find work for a young Brother who was out of work so I know she has a kind spirit and a warm heart.

I think your sermon from James would be a great ‘eye opener’ for both these women and provide another way for me to start up the conversation with them again.

I recently sent them the article (from Southern Cross) that outlined a Christian perspective to the asylum seekers topic. Both ladies were impressed and found it interesting.

I’m hoping to do the same with your sermon from Sunday by downloading it and giving it to them both. The lady who heads up the Union will definitely relate to James’s forthright instruction on how we are to treat ‘everyone’ equally."

It’s great to hear of the members of Menai Anglican Church sharing their faith in a gentle, confident and forthright way. I love the idea of passing on articles that might challenge and enlighten people. Thanks Peter for the encouragement and the challenge!

Bruce Dingwall

Senior Minister