Highlights
July and August have been busy months, as I continue to juggle ministries through the remaining months of the year. But there have been some key highlights:
Our music teams gathered together for training last Saturday, led by Jason who band-leads at our morning congregations. He prepared material on aural skills training and led us through melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic components of music. Being better equipped with this toolkit of concepts and terms, he encouraged us to consider how we can grow communication between team members as we play by engaging active listening. Myself, Alex, and Adrian as the other St John’s bandleaders assisted through playing, or sharing a devotion (thanks Adrian!). It was a great encouragement to see many of our musicians gathered together to grow our music skills as we serve our congregations in heartfelt singing to God, and particularly to see Jason step up and lead this task delegated to him. Pray to thank God for our faithful and competent musicians, and for Jason who ran the training. Ask that we would continue to seek ways of implementing our skills to serve God and one another.
Members of our music team gathering for aural skills training, led by Jason
At the end of July, it was also a joy to gather for lunch with other Growth Group leaders from the 11am service and share encouragements from our groups. It was a last-minute arrangement as student minister Josh and wife Maddy, who were planning to host us, just celebrated the birth of their baby daughter! My Tuesday night GG has been a highlight of the year to date, as we get to gather together and spur one another on as we learn together from God’s word. Each week we have been taking turns to share testimonies, and we have nearly heard from the whole group – this has been greatly encouraging! This term we welcomed a new group member who joined St John’s this year, and have begun a series on Leviticus/Numbers which has been challenging yet rewarding for all of us in the group. Pray that we would continue to meet together and spur one another on towards love and good deeds as we wait for Jesus’ return, and that we would welcome our new group member well. Pray also for the other groups and leaders as we each meet through the remainder of the year.
This last Friday/Saturday I also got to attend Basecamp with a group of men from across our services at St John’s: a men’s conference run at Katoomba Christian Convention. This year we spent time engaging with the topic of “Unravelling Emotions” led by speakers Alasdair Groves and Peter Sondergeld. We were encouraged to engage our emotions prayerfully and dependent on God – discerning what causes them, and evaluating how we should respond to them. During a deep dive into challenging emotions of “Shame and Anger” we were shown how shame is a fear response that causes us to isolate ourselves from God and others, and anger is a way to redirect attention from our shame. However Peter reminded us that in Genesis 3, God draws near and engages Adam and Eve after their sin rather than accusing them and getting angry. The Psalms remind us that God is our refuge in trouble, and we ought to let him draw near to us in our shame rather than riding it alone, whilst also opening up to our brothers. Basecamp was a short yet great time of fellowship together with the guys. Pray to thank God for the time spent away at Basecamp and for the congregation members who coordinated it. Ask that God would continue to help those who attended to process and respond to our emotions in a God-honouring way as we grow together as men of God.
Learnings
Last week I got to give my second talk at Cornhill, on the passage 1 Peter 3:8-22. This was a great learning experience as I found it much more difficult than the last talk. I wrestled with how to understand and package the text in a way that was understandable, yet also grappled with challenging points of the passage. I also found it hard to understand the way themes linked through sections of the passage. The Cornhill class experience was a great incubator for receiving feedback: I was encouraged by positives in my talk, particularly drawing out application from v.8 and handling of tricky exegesis. However, my biggest takeaway was to consider how I put the elements of the passage together more clearly for an audience. Pray that as I continue to prepare and give Bible talks, I would be challenged by the passages and seek to apply them first to myself. Pray also that, as I give future talks, I would clearly identify and concisely communicate gospel truths to my audience.
I have occasionally been filling-in teaching an SRE scripture class at Parramatta Public School (which contains only one Year 5 boy!), alongside my regular class. Last week I prepared the lesson (being asked to cover the class the night previously) and walked down to the school, but the student did not arrive as he was absent. In that free half-hour I had the chance to reflect on how God uses his people to serve him. And I got to consider the obvious question of “If I don’t get to teach anyone, is my ministry pointless?” But God wants for us to glorify him in every situation, and my preparation for the class by sitting down and opening his word allowed me to grow and be strengthened in my faith – which in turn will strengthen my future teaching of others.
Reflections from an empty SRE classroom
I heard this pithy reflection from a speaker during the week (different context, but applicable): “God allows us to serve him in the manner that you would let a 2-year-old assist with cooking.” God uses us for his ministry, but ultimately he is the main character and the one at work. Pray that I would continue to faithfully serve God by reading and preparing to teach the scriptures, being mindful that it is his work and that he will continue to make things happen regardless of my direct input.
The Marsden Fund 