June
June was a slow month with the days becoming shorter and darker. I, Helen was also sick with cold/flu for about two weeks with a very slow recovery time. So unfortunately that means there’s no video for June! The end of June has marked the close of term 2, and the halfway point of our (hopefully) final year of MTS.
Engage
Serving at Engage continues to be a joy for Helen and I, as we see Engage grow spiritually and in number. In Term 2, we studied 1 Peter at Engage and our youth wrestled with their identity as elect exiles in a hostile world. A special treat has been seeing our seniors invite their friends to youth!
In discipleship groups, one of our newcomers is a girl who attends a Christian school. As we talked about suffering mockery for our faith, she shared:
I used to be one of those people who mocked Christians, but my Christian studies teacher was just so nice, and my brother became a Christian, so it made me rethink it.
Praise God for the faithful witness of Christians teachers in our schools. We are so thankful that Engage is a place where our youth are confident that their friends will have fun and hear the gospel.
Please be praying for our term 3 series Jesus And. It will be an evangelistic and topical series to help our youth and their friends see how Jesus is Lord over everything in our world. Please be appealing to our gracious heavenly Father for wisdom and boldness to us, and saving mercy for those who do not know him yet.
Holiday Kids Church
One of the great joys and achievements of June was on-boarding 5 of our senior youth to serve in the Kids Church Holiday program. It took hours of work between myself, Nathan and Carmen, writing and collecting parental permission forms, co-ordinating their online safe ministry training and following up with the youth. However, we are so thankful. Four out of the 5 youth are in year 12 and have their HSC trials in just under 2 months but were still so keen to serve Jesus and kids in this way – even completing their Safe Ministry Training within a few days (which is faster than most adult leaders). Pray that our Year 12s will hold fast to Jesus and continue proclaiming him even in the stress o HSC.
SRE
Another form of ministry to youth that I (Nate) have been involved in is in teaching high school SRE with three others. While Erick and I share a very small class of 3, it has nevertheless been very fruitful. One of the students is not yet a Christian and not linked to a church, but Erick and I Have been working hard to try and invite him to St John’s. Please be praying for him that he might have a saving knowledge of Jesus and the gospel.
Evangelism
In my (Helen) mid-year review with Carmen, we identified that evangelism is an area that I need to keep growing in. I don’t consider myself a gifted evangelist and I am certainly not bold. We started praying for more opportunities and God answered prayer! The following Sunday, I got to explain the gospel to a visitor at church. Her family attend church but she does not.
She said “I don’t think I can call myself Christian. I don’t think I’m good enough. When you are a Christian, you have to pray and read the Bible and go to church.”
I was saddened that her understanding of Christian faith was about doing religious works. But I pointed her to Romans 3:23 (which is one of my SRE class’ Bible verses from last term). No one is righteous. But Jesus is! He is the only one who is good enough and that’s the good news of Christianity. Please pray that God will help her to see Jesus and his perfect righteousness!
Personal Reflections – Nate
Dear partners, thank you for your ongoing prayers for me, especially in light of the challenges and struggles in the previous month. In God’s wisdom, he has humbled me more, as I’ve come to accept how much in need I am of God’s grace and sanctification. More and more do I see my limits and weaknesses, and more and more do I see God’s strength and sufficiency. May Christ increase, and I decrease! Reading through Philippians has been a balm to my soul, as Paul’s joy in gospel partnership has helped me take my eyes off myself, and watch God at work in the people around me. Grounding my identity in Christ, and rejoicing in his work in others have been two ways God has safeguarded my soul. Please be praying I could grow in these things in ever increasing measure.
Personal Reflection – Helen
Jonah. Jeremiah. Job. At Cornhill, we finished the subject Old Testament Overview and gosh, I’ve learned so much! In the book of Jonah, I was struck by God’s heart for the lost and his gentle rebuke to Jonah who cares more about his shady plant than a city of lost souls. Sadly, I am more like Jonah than I am like God – but what a compassionate God we have! In the character of Jeremiah, we considered the personal cost and opposition that we can expect in proclaiming God’s word and I was challenged to count the cost. In Job, we learned that as much as the book is about the problem of suffering it is also about God’s unfathomable wisdom. It is so humbling to recognise that we humans do not in fact have all the answers and that God in his wisdom may cause events to occur that we do not understand.
Thank God for:
- Term 2 where we’ve seen Engage grow in maturity and in number
- Evangelistic conversations and opportunities where we can share Christ with others
- How God is growing us in our awareness of our sin and our need for repentance
Pray:
- That the gospel will be proclaimed, heard and received with lasting joy during our Engage Term 3 evangelistic series
- For our SRE student to have a saving knowledge of Jesus and the gospel
- that Nate will keep finding his identity in Christ, and his joy in God’s work in others.
- that Helen will be transformed by God’s word as she prepares to teach it
The Marsden Fund 