Southern Cross Presbyterian Church

Personal opportunities: It’s a really great thing to be praying for ministries that reach out to our community with the gospel. But perhaps the first thing we should be praying about regarding our local mission is the opportunities for gospel witness in our own lives and situations. Who can you be reaching out to with the gospel in your own life, and how? Pray for these opportunities.

Local

Christmas preparations and outreach

• Pray that people may be challenged about the real meaning behind Christmas and why the creator of the world would come to Earth.
• Pray that Christians in our community would be bold in proclaiming not only the birth of Jesus but also the death and resurrection.
• Pray that the preparations for Christmas may not distract Christians from the real purpose— to celebrate and proclaim the Good news.
• Pray for opportunities to reach out to those in need around the community and to boldly explain why— Jesus.

Global

Thailand

For the second half of his trip to Thailand, James Ritchie will be mostly travelling alone, meeting missionaries and Thai Christians to talk to them and consider overseas mission long term. Please pray:

• That he is humble and godly and that I would be able to learn from the people I have the opportunity to talk to.
• That he would trust in God and find strength in him whatever circumstances he finds himself in.
• That he would really understand what the needs are in Thailand and how they can be met, and whether that means me going to Thailand for life or whether he will focus on serving god in Australia.

Do you want to have FUN this Christmas season?

Do you want to share in the Christmas spirit with your COMMUNITY?

Then come along to Southern Cross’s Carols at Lismore High! Amidst all the hectic preparations and running around of this time of year, the carols night is a great opportunity to pause, relax, and belt out your favourite Christmas tunes with your community and remember the true message of Christmas.

There’ll be fun for all the family, with a FREE sausage sizzle from 6pm, and free balloon animals and glowsticks as well. It’s a great event to invite your friends, family and neighbours along to, and a real opportunity to build on friendships with others in our community.

The event kicks off from 6pm with the sausage sizzle, and carols will commence from 7.00-8.30pm at Lismore High School, on Sunday the 21st of December.

Hope to see you there!

Next time you’re buying a coffee think about the service. How served do you feel? Most cafes do a pretty good job don’t they? And we appreciate being served well. We might even build a connection and come back. Of course if you don’t drink coffee… I’m sorry. I really am. It’s more than the service you’re missing out on!

Interesting that word ‘service’. It’s the one we still use to refer to our ‘corporate’ time together as a church each week. ‘Gathering’ is a good word, but it’s a bit of a mouthful.’Meeting’ doesn’t sound that inviting. So for now, it’s still a ‘service’. But is it?

When someone joins with us at SCPC for the first time, I wonder how served they feel? Our welcoming teams do a terrific job. And to be honest, I’m pretty confident we are – on the whole – a friendly church. I had an encouraging conversation just the other day with a couple who’ve only been with us a few months but feel incredibly welcomed and already very much at ‘home’. That’s great.

It’s always worthwhile reflecting, however, how we can make sure in every possible way we are welcoming to outsiders. This is especially the case as we build towards connect09 and wanting to welcome many new people among us. Because what’s on offer through the body of Christ is much more than a nice cuppa. This isn’t connecting for another cup of coffee. This is connecting to Jesus the only hope.

So, speaking of coffee, here’s a link to play a video where one Christian group asked the question ‘What if Starbucks marketed like the church?’. I’ve always been a fan of the power of negative modelling – and the video does a good job of showing how to get things wrong at just about every point. The challenge isn’t  t just that we become slick at marketing. It’s about being genuine and sincere. It’s about being aware of how we really come across to new people. It’s about being aware of what it’s like for them to step into church for the first time. Warning, the cringe factor is very high. Let’s make sure we’re not this unaware how we’re really coming across. Click here.