so-called 'spawn of Satan' returns to church

On College Mission I met a lady who, unbelievably, as a 10 year old in Sunday School, was told "you are the spawn of Satan".

We were horrified.  But we also prayed.  We prayed for God to bring healing to her heart.  We prayed for her to give church another go.  We prayed for her to come back to God.

On that second Sunday of Mission, which we'd been building up to all week, I looked and looked, but she wasn't there.  I was disappointed.

We went home from Mission.  But the regulars at St Marks were still on mission, and God was still on mission.

The senior minister put a birthday card, some chocolates and an Easter flyer in her letterbox.

God did the rest.

Shaking, she entered the church on Easter Sunday.  What a great act of courage!

This time she wasn't berated, but was welcomed.

And she even was brave enough to ask a question!

Praise God!

"Chocolate is central to what we do"

"Chocolate is central to a lot of what we do here at St Marks." - Craig Schaffer, Senior Minister

Craig's comment was made in best, but there's a bit of truth to it.  Chocolate has certainly featured highly in our mission this week.

As we greeted people on the way to the train station they generally didn't want to take the flyer.  But then a miraculous thing happened.  Their eyes registered the chocolate stapled to it, then they smiled and took the flyer.

Does it really work though?  Absolutely.  3 years ago a guy was given a flyer and a Freddo.  He decided to take his girlfriend and go to church.  A couple of months later they were both converted.  Today we joined them handing out flyers and Freddos.

Today Craig also shared some of the other things he's learnt about ministry over the years.

One of his key strategies is prayer.  He prays on his own.  He prays with the staff.  He prays with the congregation.  He is a great model of prayer.  And God has been answering his prayers.  It was a good lesson for us:  "Devote yourselves to prayer" (Col 4:2)

the day a tiger joined our mission team

Yesterday a tiger joined our mission team.  Or rather, one of our mission team became a tiger.

On Sunday St Marks Pennant Hills is 'open for inspection'.  Everyone's invited to come and connect or reconnect with church.

In addition to explaining stuff that goes on at church there's a whole bunch of activities going on before/after, including a jumping castle, aBBQ and face painting.

Most of us on the team said, "I don't know how to do face painting."  But Mark said, "My daughter is a professional face painter."  So he organised for her to give us some face painting training.  Fun times.

Step 1 (for Jimbo): Draw where hairline would be.

Step 2: Find your inner tiger.

Step 3: Unleash the tiger within.

Perhaps Jimbo needs to work on his fearsome look!

innovative evangelism

Sometimes we wonder, ‘how can I start sharing the gospel with people I know?’

Well, that’s a good place to start…having the heart to share the gospel in the first place!

The other 2 ingredients are prayer and people.

Some of the ladies at Pennant Hills have been gathering people.  They’ve started ‘shuffling’.  A group of women get together to walk/power walk/run each week.

It started as a group of friends from church.  Now they’ve been inviting non-church friends along too, and have been praying for them.

Jesus said, “They will know you’re my disciples by the love you have for one another.”

Now the non-Christians have a first hand opportunity to hang out with Christians and see the care they have for one another; they can have fun together; they can build friendships with one another.

It all started with being intentional.  How can you connect non-Christians in your life with other Christians?

hump day

Did you feel like it was a struggle to get over hump day today?

We sure did.

We were feeling tired after a big week so far.  People.  People.  People.  For introverts like me it's been a taxing week.  And even for the extroverts it been a draining time too.

Today was a big day with the team doing train station leafletting, primary Scripture lessons, a high school lunchtime Christian group session, Wednesday church, door knocking, jogging group and a women's event.  I wasn't sure we were going to make it, or at least I wasn't sure I was going to make it though the afternoon, but our dear heavenly Father sustained us.

All praise be to Him.

"you are the spawn of Satan"

This morning I met a lady at the train station.  She had not stepped foot inside a church for 46 years.  Each time she passed the church she shuddered.

She is a curious person, who loves asking questions.  But when she was 10 a stern Sunday School, her Sunday School teacher chastised her for this, and said, "You are the spawn of Satan."

Yikes!  How awful!!!!!  I find it incomprehensible that someone would say that to anyone, least of all a child.

But amazingly, when she got a flyer at the station this morning she came back and talked to us.  She's received a number of flyers from the church in her letterbox, and she's been thinking, "Maybe I could give it another go.  Maybe it's different."  Today she got to meet the senior minister, and found that he's not a draconian warlord, and that they even have question and answer time at the end of sermons! :-)  So she said, this Sunday's my birthday, maybe I'll make it a time for a new start, and come back to church.  Please pray that she does come.  More than that, please pray that she comes back to Jesus too.

the most important thing we'll do all week

This morning in our team devotions we read:

⁵ What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. ⁶ I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ Now the one planting and the one watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. ⁹ For we are God’s coworkers.^[e] You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3)

God give spiritual growth.  That is why the most important thing we'll do all week is what we did tonight - pray.

It was great to be able to pray together with brothers and sisters from Pennant Hills church.

Her name means 'white snow'

Today we had the pleasure of visiting the English for Life program at the church.

People come to learn English, which helps them for this life, and they also learn the Bible, which helps them for the next life.

The advanced English class put on a play today, based on the story of Jesus healing and forgiving a paralysed man (Mark 2:1-12).

They did a fantastic job!  Afterwords, Phil shared how Jesus can not only heal us on the outside, but on the inside too.

This fit really well with a conversation I had with one of the ladies.  She said, "My daughter's name means 'white snow'."  I said, "That's what Jesus' cleansing is like.  He makes us like white snow.

"it's like the United Nations here" - mission day 1

What do we need for mission?  People and food!  (am I forgetting something...?)

We certainly were blessed with good food and good company today on our first day at St Marks Pennant Hills.

I was particularly encouraged to meet brothers and sisters from various parts of the world.  One guy said, "It's like the United Nations here."

I was able to hear the testimonies of brothers and sisters who have come from the falsehood of Hinduism and Buddhism to the true and living faith in Jesus.

We are praying that God will grow His family in Pennant Hills as we go out with these brothers and sisters to tell people in the area about Jesus.  Will you join us in prayer?

not just numbers, but people

As I mentioned earlier, last week was mission awareness week at College.  At chapel on Friday the guy leading the service was sharing about the vast numbers of people who have not heard of Jesus and people who don't have the Bible in their own language.  As he was sharing this, he began to cry.

It was very powerful.  I was reminded that these are not just numbers, but are real people.  Real people who need peace with God.

May God give both me and you hearts like that - hearts that weep for the lost.

May we be like Jesus, who said,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ” (Matt 23:37-39)

Mission awareness week

This week is mission awareness week at College.

It has been really fantastic (as it was last year as well)!

We have mission agency reps come, we have talks from missionaries and overseas workers and we have food from all around the world.

I think it's really fabulous.  It lifts my eyes again from my little patch of the world.  It reminds me of the many great ministries happening overseas.  It also reminds me of the huge needs they have, and the huge wealth of resources we have (eg. great Bible knowledge + finances + a stable country).

But that's me.  I'm already excited about mission.  I'm already planning to go.

What about the rest of people at College?  Many aren't planning to do mission.  Many are undecided, but the default option for them is probably church ministry of some sort.

Not many people come along to ministry and mission hour each week.  Not many came to the seminars this week.  Why is that?

I know that people are busy, but I think this is something that should be a priority - hearing about other people's ministries.  I find it really sad that this is one aspect of what our community is like. 

Now making attendance at these sorts of things compulsory isn't the answer - a change of heart needs to happen.  I pray that God will keep changing me and our whole community

missionary life isn't always rosy

I went to a Wycliffe coffee and dessert night on Friday.  It was really great to meet other people who are interested in being bible translators themselves or supporting that work in another way.

But what struck me most was the candid sharing from a couple who are serving the Lord in Cameroon on a Bible translation project.  They are here on furlough after having been over there for 3 years.  It's been a tough slog for them.  They are still in the language learning phase, which is proving frustratingly difficult.  The guy was finding it a particular challenge to his pride.  For most of his life he has been well-educated and well thought of, but now he's at the bottom of the pile so to speak, and can't communicate very deeply with people.  As I think about myself, I think I would struggle with that too.  Another thing which I hadn't thought of stemming from that communication problem is loneliness.  Thankfully as a married couple they have each other, but there is a single girl working about 5 hours away who must get incredibly lonely if she can't communicate well with people there or have another person speaking her native language.

The lady shared how she's been struggling with contentment.  She fully believes in living like the people they're ministering to, but is struggling to live that out.  For her, the biggest struggle is the food.  They have a lady who cooks food for them (it seems like they've been kind of adopted into a family area there, and the head woman is responsible for cooking for everyone in that area).  But C doesn't like the food.  And she hates the monotony of the same food all the time.

I think sometimes I romanticise the idea of mission work overseas, so it was refreshing and sobering to hear them speak about their real life experiences. Through it all God has been sustaining them; teaching them persevere and grow in contentment.