Bring the Good News - August 2023

Hi Church,

Welcome to Missions Month!

Throughout August we’re focusing on world missions; and our Church’s involvement; past, present and future. We’re refreshing our awareness of what God is doing around the world and how we can all be involved.

It’s very easy to get caught up in your own day to day concerns and have no interest or engagement in God’s work beyond your own backyard. But Jesus has given His Church a calling – one that stirs us all to consider people around the globe who need Him, and to do what we can to bring the good news about Jesus to them. This calling is known as The Great Commission – and we ‘go into all the world’ through our prayers, through our giving, and through our going!

Ruth and I followed that call onto the mission field back in the day – to Russia in the turbulent times of the early 1990’s. What an amazing time we had – of course the lifestyle was challenging to say the least, but we witnessed a revival and were blessed to be have been part of what God was doing in a country and culture way beyond our normal neck of the woods.

Then we followed God’s call back to Australia, to the sunny Central Coast – but our heart for missions was just as strong as ever - we knew that part of our calling here was not just to build a healthy local Church but to stir Aussie Christians to be world-minded believers, supporting God’s work in as many countries as He would lead us to. For nearly 30 years we’ve been involved in all kinds of initiatives in all kinds of places (reflected by many of the flags hanging in the courtyard of 101 this month) – and, as they say, the journey continues….

So let us all continue to pray, give and go - for the Church of Jesus to save, heal and bless people all over the world.

Yours greatly committed to the Great Commission,

Chris