It’s Celebration Sunday time! A time for us to reflect on what makes our own hearts sing as you think about life at SCPC. What makes your heart sing as we seek to grow followers of Jesus at SCPC?
Even if you missed your chance to fill in some hearts as we prepared for Sunday, why don’t you prepare your heart sometime this week to stop to think about what makes your heart sing. You might like to use one of the questions from our term series to fire your heart and emotions. If you are still struggling, reflect on the wonder of your salvation – that should get your heart singing!
Listen to this beautiful truth from Phillip Ryken: Be assured we will not be declared innocent on the basis of your record. The only safety for all eternity is faith in Jesus Christ. He is the only person who is perfectly innocent, and his death in our place is the only hope of salvation there is. [1]
This Sunday we get to enjoy one extra question in our series – What is the Church?
Let me finish with these verses from 1 Peter 2:4-5… As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
A little secret for Sunday… What is the church? We are! Living stones!
Come on church, let’s celebrate!
SP
Here are a few things to remember:
Please bring hearts ready to sing and hands ready to serve!
Please also bring a small plate of morning tea to share, a picnic rug or camping chairs, and a salad to share at lunch (with serving utensils).
We will provide sausages, bread, plates etc. If you are a vegetarian you can enjoy a selection of salads available on Sunday. There will also be cold drinks provided and, as usual, some ice blocks for dessert.
_________________________________________________ [1] Philip Ryken, Jesus on Trial, p 117.
As some of you will know, I am flying to Zimbabwe on September 24 to participate with a small team of Australians who will be serving the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. The focal point of the training is providing an intensive on biblical preaching at the Presbyterian Theological College in Harare. Planning was also in place to do a three-day elders preaching conference, which has now been removed from the program due to constraints from some members of the Australian team.
The intensive program has been run in the theological college for over a decade by Australian Presbyterians who have had a heart to see biblical doctrine transform a country that has been broken- hearted by false teaching. Over the last decade, with the establishment of local leaders and this external training, biblical truths have been strengthened to the point that the 2024 trip looks set to be the final intensive provided by Australians before handing the program over to national leaders. It is a privilege to be part of this final training program. My role at the college will be to work with smaller numbers of students in tutorial form in between the formal lectures. I still need to do preparatory work for this intensive, so prayer would be appreciated.
I hope to do some preparation in a stop-over in Dubai on the way to Zimbabwe. Through one of our GMPs at SCPC, I was able to make contact with a local leader who is part of Redeemer Dubai, a church planted in 2010 with a heartbeat similar to Redeemer Presbyterian church in New York City. In my stay in Dubai I have been invited to attend Gulf Theological Seminary and I have also aspired to make contact with some members of their pastoral team whose books [1] I have read and benefitted from.
This visit has been 12 months in the making, with family and friends sponsoring me to participate, yet now the moment is fast approaching. It has therefore been a harried month to ensure all is prepared abroad and back home with SCPC. Thus, I will be part of our great party at Celebration Sunday and then fly to Sydney on the Sunday night, ready for a briefing from the team leader on Monday in Sydney.
Here are some prayer points for my time:
Give thanks for the team at Redeemer Dubai who have warmly agreed to host me for my time there.
Pray for lessons learned at Gulf Theological Seminary, about how the gospel can intersect in our Global cities.
Pray that I might have the opportunity to have a meal with members of the pastoral team at Redeemer. (I have also sent a message to Australian Pastor Ray Galea, now serving at Dubai Fellowship, about the prospect of meeting.)
Pray that I would be adequately prepared for the intensive at Presbyterian Theological College in Harare.
Pray that the truths of God’s word would ward off false teaching and find a home in the hearts of African Pastors, that their hearts might sing in extravagant worship of Christ.
SP
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Psalm 34:8-10
[1] Dave Furman is one of the pastors at Redeemer Dubai, he and his wife, Gloria, have both published books with Crossway books: https://www.crossway.org/books/being-there-tpb/ https://www.crossway.org/books/treasuring-christ-when-your-hands-are-full-tpb-2/
As you may have heard from our AGM earlier this year, or through some editions of the Pastors’ Pen, we have been on the lookout for a Next Generation Pastor for the start of 2025 (once Cam, Jess and Eliza finish up their roles). It hasn’t been an easy task! [1] Since advertising the role in February with theological colleges and the denomination, by the middle of the year we had not received any enquiries. I was disheartened.
Then, before the start of the NSW General Assembly in Sydney, I was invited to attend the opening chapel service at SMBC as their new semester began (and where the role was included the student notices). No sooner had I left the lecture theatre than a beaming smile greeted me! “Hello, my name is Merhawi [2] and I’m in my final year of studies at SMBC, I was interested in talking with you about the role…”
Following a couple of meetings in person and on zoom with Ritchie and I, our NG25 team of Ritchie, Louise, Peita and I created an online form for Merhawi to complete. We also extended an opportunity for him (and his wife, Ami) to travel to Lismore for an interview and to meet members of our staff team, CoM exec., VCs and elders.
Let’s just say the visit didn’t really go to plan! No sooner had I greeted Merhawi and Ami, that I found myself hopping into an ambulance and off to the Lismore Base Hospital with my son who injured himself playing sport. I then found myself completely removed from the whole weekend plan. I was meant to host Ami and Merhawi, but staff pivoted and extended a kind welcome to host them. I was unable to be part of the interview, but it still went ahead. Breakfasts, dinners and lunches all went ahead without me. I expected to be their local tour guide, but they were excellently guided and cared for by our elders and staff team. Thank you team!
The denomination role Merhawi was applying for was previously called a ‘private appointment’, [3] the position is now called a ‘pastoral assistant’ and requires endorsement by a local session (Leadership Team) and pending the applicant’s level of theological training, they must also be endorsed by the local Presbytery. If they have completed a theological degree, they will not report to the local church (Southern Cross), but rather they will need to report to the local Presbytery. So, because Merhawi has completed a Bachelor of Theology, he will need to be endorsed by Leadership Team and the Northern Rivers Presbytery.
Last Wednesday, LT endorsed Merhawi for the position. As I write this, his name has been put forward to the Northern Rivers Presbytery as an electronic motion (the Presbytery doesn’t meet again in person until October). We now await their vote to see if they endorse him for the role at Southern Cross.
The final requirement by the denomination for the role is financial endorsement by the local church. Thus, CoM will look to move a recommendation on the 11th of September at its next meeting. However, we will wait until we move into budget season early next term before officially calling a congregational meeting. The draft budget will be presented at our CoM meeting on the 6th of November and from there a decision will be made regarding a date for the congregational meeting.
Obviously, Merhawi and Ami are now keen to meet more members of SCPC and we are excited for you to meet them too. They now move into a heavy period of tuition, essays and exams, but are looking to return to visit the Northern Rivers again (with their two young boys) in November [4].
As LT, CoM and staff would know, the first half of the year was a difficult one, as we sought someone for this role with no real leads to move upon. But what has now become a bit of an ‘anthem’ for our staff team this year is this line from a Christian song: “In some way or another, the Lord will provide”. This song meditates upon the Lord’s provision to Abraham with the ram caught in a thicket in the most unexpected circumstances (from Genesis 22 below).
I don’t know about you, but it seems so often that God loves to meet our needs in seasons of despair, when we are desperate and disheartened. At times like these, we are taught to rest in his sovereign, gracious and providential care.
SP
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Genesis 22:13-14
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[1] You can contact office@scpc.org.au if you are interested in a background paper written for LT and CoM. [2] Merhawi immigrated to Brisbane in 1998 from Eritrea in Eastern Africa. [3] As Merhawi is not an ordained Presbyterian minister, he does not have to go through the formal ‘call’ process of the denomination. [4] A ‘Meet Merhawi’ document will be available for you to read near the start of Term 4.
This week our family’s life has been dominated by health and education. It sounds rather political, yet my reflection is, in fact, pastoral!
Over the weekend, and early into this week, I spent the bulk of my time in the paediatrics ward at the Base Hospital following an injury to one of my sons, that they experienced playing social sport. The staff in the ward were caring, lovingly invested and personable. I had a number of positive dealings with the nurses and even answered some questions one of them had about which translation of the Bible would be good to use. I also give thanks that even as some of the surgery times were being delayed, one of the nurses felt they too should pray that my family would be looked upon with favour. Remarkable. Upon our departure, we bought a bunch of Australian natives and I put together an acrostic PAEDIATRIC poem!
Secondly, while half our family found ourselves in the Health sector at the Base Hospital, the other half of my family was involved in Education; with my daughter completing Work Experience at a School in far western NSW. This area of NSW struggles to attract and retain teachers, yet a couple from SCPC are serving in the public school and preschool in the small town. It is a fascinating intersection between their work life and their personal lives, with a few members of the town coming around to their house each week for Bible book club. This week the book club was looking at Mark chapter 8 and considering the earth-shattering claims of Christ, read them below! My wife was struck by how engaged and invested the members of the book club were. Praise God.
So, now you might better appreciate why health and education was on my mind this week. It also brought to mind one of the late Tim Keller’s reflections that as believers loving engage their workplaces with care, love and a personable approach, great advances are made for the gospel. He even suggested proactive and pastoral touches in the workplace by Christian brothers and sisters,[1] could well achieve greater gains for the gospel than all our Global Mission Organisations put together. Thus, I give thanks for the many members of SCPC involved in health and education and pray that you might be salt and light in your workplace.
Let me finish with the striking call of Christ to live a full and satisfying life from Mark 8.
SP
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38
[1] Aussie Evangelist, Sam Chan, in his book How to Share Jesus, Without Being That Guy by Zondervan books, suggests that we ought to aspire to be our neighbours’, our work places’ and our sporting clubs’ unofficial Chaplain!!
