Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Mission

Mission Matters Newsletter - November 2004

Mission Matters Newsletter - November 2004

Sunday 14 November, 2004 · Posted by Neil Atwood

This occassional newsletter will focus on one aspect of our church's mission.
It will seek to explain some of the thinking behind why we are doing or not doing certain ministries or activities., and seek to provide a source of up to date prayer points for evangelistic work happening in our area.

This Issue...

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Pendle Hill High School — Why all the fuss?

Breakfast club in action

You’ve been hearing a good deal about Pendle Hill High School this year, and much effort has been poured into the school by way of prayer, human resources (in the form of Tim Adams, Lauren Job and numerous other) and now the plan to hold our Carols event with the school in December.

But what is the thinking behind all this? Why does PHHS feature so prominently in our church’s mission plans?

At the core of our church mission at T.A.C. is a renewed desire to see the gospel impact on members of the local community. That is, for people who live in our area to have the chance to hear the Good News of forgiveness and new life in Jesus.

Of course, we have been doing that already! In recent years, Lifeworks and our Christmas Carols event are two good examples of local people coming under the sound of the gospel.

But even those two ministries involve non-churched people coming onto our turf, on our terms. Some are happy to do that, but there are many who are not. For all sorts of reasons, many unchurched people just will not take the step of coming to a church-run event on our property.

Witness the frequent discomfort of visitors at our baptism Sundays. So if we are serious about Jesus’ call for us to ‘disciple all nations’, we have to be prepared in a fresh way, to go to where the people are.

One existing means to help facilitate that is the public school scripture program. It’s an extraordinary privilege to take gospel ministry to the kids of our local schools, and one that we must not take for granted. And we are very blessed to have a dedicated team of teachers who go into schools in our area week after week with the gospel.

SRE is also a great way to contact children and their families from all over our community.

Of course, in any school, actually teaching scripture classes (SRE) is just one aspect to this opportunity. Our classes give us access to just a portion (mainly Anglo-Celtic background) of the school community.

But in the case of Pendle Hill High, by running a lunchtime Christian group, and activities like the Breakfast Club we get to mix and make friends with kids and staff from all kinds of backgrounds — contacts that may well pave the way for gospel activity or conversations with them. These activities also help built good working relationships with the broader school community.

And that is what has led to our invitation to the school to co-host Carols this year.
This will help build closer relationships with the school, will bring hopefully many more people to the event by virtue of it being held on ’neutral’ ground. We are also hopeful that Carols will pave the way for future ministries to be established through this relationship with the school.

There are certainly risks with this kind of ministry. Risks in the sense that it might fail. Or it might take far longer to establish the trusting relationships that could lead to greater things. But these are considered risks we must take.

Having said that, Pendle Hill High is not the only school focus of our Mission efforts. There are numerous untaught SRE classes in schools in our area, and at least one nearby school where SRE has stopped altogether! So the bigger challenge is to seize the opportunity we are handed on plate to enter our schools and take the gospel to the children and perhaps the staff and families.

It will continue to be a struggle and a challenge. But all serious gospelling will mean us Christians moving out of our comfort zones to some degree in order to reach non-Christians with the Good News. But we can be encouraged by remembering: All gospel work is God’s work, it doesn’t depend on us to succeed. Our job is to be faithful, prayerful and committed to godly goals in such endeavors.

Prayer for SRE and Pendle Hill High School

  • Give thanks to God for our faithful team of SRE teachers.
  • Pray for energy and passion as they share the Good News of Jesus
  • Pray for expanded contact with the school community in each school
  • Pray in particular for the developing relationship with Pendle Hill High
  • Pray for more teachers and for SRE helpers for existing and as yet untaught classes
  • Pray for Carols at Pendle Hill High—that it would be effective in reaching many more people with the gospel this Christmas
  • Pray for Diana Hinchliffe as she supports, encourages and equips SRE teachers.

Who decides what with our Mission?

So who is deciding what ministries and activities constitute our Mission?

As Senior Minister, Philip Bassett has the final say about what happens and what doesn’t.

Philip is part of the Ministry Strategy Group which is charged with the task of researching and developing our mission strategy and recommending courses of action to our Parish Council.

The MSG consists of a team of people appointed by Philip. Currently members of the group are: Philip Bassett, Neil Atwood, Gary Bennett, Simon Job, David Corless and Cathy Forsyth.

One of the ways the MSG functions is to spawn offshoot groups to fulfill specific tasks. Such a group is the Church Plant Task Group. Current members of this group are: Neil Atwood (Convener), Gary Bennett, Simon Job, Bronwyn Gawthorne, Rebecca Abdoo, Cathy Forsyth. The Task Group is charged with researching the options for a church plant and bring detailed recommendations back to the MSG and Parish Council.

Parish Council itself has an important role to play in the implementation of our mission strategy. Current member of the Council are: Jacqui Doran, John Hough, Colin Jackson, Judith Johnson, Jonathan Whiting, Derek Corless, Martin Letherbarrow.

If you have any questions or concerns about the way the MSG or the Church Plant Task Group functions, then please speak to a member of the group or Philip or Neil.

Mission Prayer

Our Gracious God, we pray that you will help us to proclaim our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that everyone around us will hear his call to repent, trust and serve Christ in love, and be established in the fellowship of his disciples while we await his return. May we continue to pray, to depend on your Holy Spirit, and to glorify you.
Amen.