service and God’s strength in september
As always, I thank and praise God for your partnership in the gospel. Praise God for another fruitful month of ministry, where I’ve continued to grow in many different spheres of ministry. I started the month feeling a little daunted with a number of larger things booked in my calendar ahead of preaching in under two weeks, but praise God that I’ve seen how he is powerfully at work through his church in pulling all these things together! I’ve posted some highlights of things that have happened in September, as well as some reflections and prayer points below
Hello from kid's church teaching from Zechariah! I made a mess of my breakfast, and in doing so sinned against God and my family. But praise be to God who makes us clean in Jesus!
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
I’ve read this passage numerous time in my preparation for our teach the word course, and not only it is an apt passage to be discussed in a course about teaching the Bible, but it’s also a challenging passage for all Christians. Every time I read it I’m challenged again. What does it mean for me to be a living sacrifice? What does this spiritual worship look like in my life now? What is the will of God for this current season of life? What is good and acceptable and perfect? The simple answer for all these questions of course, if to live like Jesus, seeking God’s glory first in every situation. My prayer is that you and I, we would all continue to be challenged and shaped by God’s word, to be more like Jesus in every aspect of our lives.
training hub
Our month kicked off with one of our Pressie ministry apprentices training hub. Praise God with training on family systems and how I can better respond to conflict and grow as a pastor in ministering through conflict. We also heard about global mission from one of the students who spent time in Vanuatu. I’m always impressed and encouraged by the work that God is doing at work overseas, and thankful for the level of theological training we get here in Sydney as lay people. As I continue to consider ministry full time, pray that I’d continue to grow in discernment in knowing myself well to be able to be more like Christ in loving and ministering well, and to consider what great gospel sacrifices look like in my life.
We hosted at Captivate Ryde, here's a look at where our usual staff and ministry meetings are held
teach the word
Praise God for the 7 people who signed up and came to our training course in teaching the Bible! If you’re familiar with NTE strand groups, it’s equivalent to strand one but run as a one day intensive. Setting a date to make it happen helpfully pushed this ahead for me, but it was also little daunting as the date came up. For the first time in a while, it was something both new to me, and something I was solely responsible for. My trainer ended up being sick on the day so I ran it solo also! Even though the content was already there and largely the same as when the course was last run ~5 years ago, it was hard to translate into something until I was actually there with real people. The feedback was good too! A range of people, for some people it was their first time learning about exegetical skills and they were able to apply it to their own Bible reading, and for others it was somewhat familiar, but going through the course was a good refresher to be working in the word and feeling confident and energised in labouring in the Bible. Pray for our church to continue to be faithful in raising people to teach!
Some word analysis that was done on our passage, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the board that had immaculate handwriting
focus meetings
To review how we’ve been going in 2026 and start planning for 2027, our leaders met in September in their respective congregations and prayed for our church. We thought about people in our congregations, how we want to grow as leaders, and how we want to grow our church intentionally in making more mature disciples. Each time we plan strategic meetings as a staff team, I’m struck by the thoughtfulness, intentionality, and creativity of our team in loving and leading our people. I continue to be encouraged that although sometimes slower, equipping lay people to take on responsibilities rather than just tasks is a fruitful exercise which equips the church for many years to come. It never feels like ministry is stalling when any staff is on leave, and this is a testament to God’s work in our church in growing leaders to serve sacrificially and faithfully with a gospel vision.
When asked to make a "sacred cow" statue of our service, every table mentioned people being late to service, each time people sculpted a later time!
KYCK
On the last Friday of the term, we took 10 youth on a wet afternoon on a drive up to Katoomba for Katoomba youth conference! It was a first time for me going to KYCK so I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect, but we had a good time of fellowship around God’s word. The book of the weekend was Jonah, and I was reminded of God’s sovereignty and great mercy for his people. Even when life feels chaotic God is still at work in purposing his good plans, and God is the one who saves his people, even those who run away from him, and those who do not know their left from their right. Our youth had good and bad moments, but overall it was a fruitful time of fellowship where we got to hang out with the youth and sit under God’s word together.
One of our youth reading Jonah 1 for over 1000 people!
reflections
- - Ministry is as simple (and complicated) as reading and learning from the Bible together! Amidst the business of a lot of programs happening, I’ve continued to see the fruit of God’s word at work in me and people I’m teaching or meeting up with. Simple, but also hard to persevere in at times when there’s a lot of good things to do.
- - Despite having a degree in software engineering, it continues to be evident to me that I’m not as rational and logical as I think. Every interaction and thought that I have, the way I minister to people, is coloured and biased by my own experiences and how I’ve grown as a Christian. Praise God that he gives us unique identities and loves us all individually, but also calls each one of us to be more like Christ!
- - It’s hard to deal with a lot of different responsibilities that are ever-changing and at different stages. I thought that having worked a job where multiple projects were no uncommon, I’d be able to handle it relatively easily, but the scope of ministry is just so broad and all-encompassing that I need to continue to grow in how I minister to different peoples in different contexts, and how I use my time well for God’s kingdom.
prayer points
- - I am somehow unwell again with another cold of some kind, pray that I’ll recover well and stay healthy!
- - I am preaching in a week and a half, pray for God to sustain me and for me to speak faithfully from Zechariah
- - Pray for our membership class over the next two Sundays, for the people coming to think hard about what church means and what it means to be a member!
- - For energy in this next month as we already have all our weekends booked out with different kinds of events, pray for rest and good energy to be good friends even when it’s tiring.
🙏 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!
Hello from our family at echo point lookout while up in the blue mountains!