meditations from march
Hope you've had another good month! For me, March has been a lot of listening, meditating, reading, and writing. Again, here's some highlights from this month, and I've dropped some reflections and prayer points at the bottom.
Hello from the Bible study leaders at our latest TGC leader's meeting, which was also the last leader's meeting for our coleader Hannah :(
Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
I've become familiar with this passage as I prepare to preach from John on Jesus' trial before Pilate. It has reminded me that indeed Jesus is our King, yet despite being the king of the universe and despite his innocence he still willingly went to the cross - taking on our punishment for sin, even though we were the ones to reject him. My prayer is that we would all grow in living with Jesus as our king, and please pray for me that I would be faithful in preaching from this passage clearly! You're invited to come to church to hear this message, I'll be preaching at 11am on the 6th of April.
church weekend away
March kicked off with an awesome weekend away with our church, looking at Colossians 3 and what it means to put on Christ in all of life. I was super encouraged to see the two services of our church come together under God's word and the many intentional conversations which happened. Thank you for praying for me in preparing for my Holiday workshop as well! Praise God it went well and that I was able to have further conversations with people about what it looks like to travel well as a Christian. Let me know if you'd like to know more, I can send through notes and I'm considering writing up an article on it too.
it rained pretty much all weekend, including when this photo was taken!
gospel communities
Our Bible study (aka the gospel community at Captivate) is well underway for the year! I've been encouraged as many of our group have continued to meet together under God's word even with changing life circumstances and have been diligent in praying for one another. We're sad but also joyful as we farewell two of our members as they get married and move on to different churches. Pray for us that we'd keep up the momentum through this change as we finish up the book of John in this next month!
We all dressed like Wing for her last week
nexus conference
I had the opportunity to go to nexus with the staff team, a conference which focuses on evangelical ministry in Sydney. This year's topic was called "God is not done with Sydney", discussing how our churches can continue to proclaim and speak God's word into a context which has increasingly become less Christian. I was reminded and emboldened to continue to proclaim Christ crucified as the priority above strategies or meeting people at their social contexts.
Rad and I definitely not doing work on the side as we sit at the back of the crowd
reflections
- - Preaching requires a lot of time and care! I knew this already but preparing to preach for the first time has been a very time consuming task, yet it has been very edifying in being able to spend so much time deeply in a passage.
- - Working hard on proclaiming the Bible clearly in all ministries is very high value. As I reflect on how I became a Christian I'm thankful for the Christians who were clear with what the Bible says about who Jesus is. As I grow in ministry and learn more leadership skills I've been reminded to not lose sight of the core task at hand, to preach Jesus to the world!
- - Ask specific people for feedback early: I openly invited everyone at the church camp workshop to provide feedback, but I think because it was too broad of an invite no one felt explicitly responsible or moved to give feedback. Moving forward I need to ask specific people in advance to give me feedback on my ministry so that I can continue to grow well in teaching and leading others.
- - It's hard to work on things that I have to take initiative in leading. It's much easier to just do as I'm told in ministries, but as we close off the first quarter of the year I'm reminded that there's things that I'm solely responsible for leading that I've only moved slowly on
prayer points
- - Preaching: I'm preaching for the first time this next Sunday! Pray for people to hear the word, for my preparation, and for me to speak clearly in a way which glorifies God.
- - Time: another month where I'm feeling stretched in my capacity. Pray that I'd get things done but also spend time well at home. And pray that I'd constantly be agitated and reminded of what I'm doing the ministry for and not just doing it as another task
- - TGC: Pray for our Bible study as we finish up John and for us to continue to care well for one another through different changes. Pray for our members who are leaving, that we'd send them well and continue to partner with them as they go out to different churches and serve in different capacities.
- - One to ones: Pray that I'd be intentional in ministering to people well as I meet with them. Meeting up to read the Bible one to one is easier for me than most other ministries, but I want to be intentional in challenging and helping people grow in going to Jesus for all of life.
- - Youth: we're hosting a pizza party for the end of the term and we'll be sharing about what the cross means as we look toward easter! Pray for our youth that they would be bold in inviting their friends and for everyone who comes to hear the gospel clearly and for them to respond to it.
🙏 Thank you again for your partnership in the gospel! Shoot through a message when you've prayed (even if it's just a "hey!") and let me know how I can be praying for you also!
Bonus photo of hand pulled noodles. Went to this particular store (My aunt's handmade noodles) 3 times in March. Would recommend for the free noodle refills.