In the Trinity Mount Barker office we try to be careful with grammar and punctuation! It seems good to us that the material we distribute reflects the care and effort taken to prepare it. Unsurprisingly, one of the points of discussion at different times is the apostrophe; when should it be used? Where in the word does it belong? I’m sure that some of you find yourselves having these discussion in your workplaces and as parents, many of you will be trying to teach your children about this.
About this time every year, I find myself in discussions about where the apostrophe belongs in Mother’s Day, or should that be Mothers’ Day?!
While the European tradition of “Mothering Sunday,” a day for domestic servants to visit their “mother church” with their own families, stretches back to the 16th Century, what we celebrate as the modern Mother’s Day began in the 19th Century. A lady named Ann Jarvis and her daughter, Anna Marie Jarvis, inaugurated a small commemoration at the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. It should come as no surprise to us that Mother’s Day started in a Christian church. God commands us to honour our mothers. It’s in Exodus 20:12. There among the other 10 Commandments, like, “I am the LORD your God … you shall have no other gods before me,” God says, “honour your father and your mother." In an ancient patriarchal culture, the inclusion of “your mother” is unexpected, even surprising, yet this is God’s command to his covenant people Israel, and it’s repeated by Jesus and the Apostle Paul. There’s no getting around it! Of course how we honour our mothers will look different for different ones of us, varying for example according to whether we’re a child still living at home, whether we live near our mothers or not, etc. But no matter what our age or stage, Mother’s Day is a good occasion to spend some time reflecting on how we can honour our mothers and how we might do it better.
No matter who you are, there is an opportunity to be challenged and encouraged at a conference in May!
Adelaide Men’s Convention will be held next Saturday, May 12, at Concordia College, Highgate. David Williams will be speaking from the Psalms on the theme of “Soul Man.” David is Director of Development, Training and Strategy with the Church Missionary Society and is was formerly a pastor in the UK and a missionary in Kenya.
Recent Adelaide Men’s Conventions have been times of stimulating and challenging Bible teaching as well as opportunities to meet with men of all ages from all across Adelaide and even further afield. This year’s conference promises to be no exception.
I remember the first conversations I had about the possibility of growing to two Sunday morning gatherings. It was back in June last year. Even as time progressed and the Littlehampton Primary School gymnasium got more and more full on Sunday mornings, April 29 2012 seemed such a long way off!
And yet this Sunday will be our last Sunday as one congregation at 10 AM! The following week we launch our 9 AM and 11 AM gatherings as we seek to create space for more people to join us. I’m confident that in the coming weeks and months God will continue to grow our church as he draws in more and more people.
The Bible Study Guides for our next teaching series are now available in the Resources Library. 4 Myths Smart People Believe starts on April 29th, our first Sunday of 9 AM and 11 AM Church.
If you were to peer through the windows of the Trinity Mount Barker office on a Friday night, what you find might not fit with what you expect to see in a church office! GiG (Growing in God) our youth group for school years 7 – 11 meets in the office every Friday during school term for Bible study surrounded with food, games, sport and plenty of time for relationship-building. When we started our church we ran a combined youth and young adults group, then last year we started this separate youth group. From around 6 members just over a year ago, the group has grown to over 30 kids and leaders on a Friday evening. It’s a bit hard to imagine that many people in the meeting room of the office!
We thrilled to have so many young people both within our church family and also connecting with us from outside. The topic for this term has been the Apostle Paul’s letter to Romans, so our young people aren’t just sitting back and taking it easy! Studying Romans has been a real stretch for many and has challenged these young ones to think carefully about their faith the Scriptures.
During the 40 days or so leading up to Easter, Lots of Christians around the world observe Lent. Lent finishes this Saturday, sometimes called Easter Eve. Traditionally the purpose of Lent was to prepare oneself for Easter. Today, most of those who observe Lent, at least in the West, give up some types of food or other luxuries
Someone once described Lent as “A roller-coaster ride - A slow, steady, difficult climb to Palm Sunday, followed by the jubilation of the crowds, then plummeting to the depths of Good Friday, before finally returning home at Easter, elated and changed by the ride”!
While I’m not sure how apt a description that is of Lent, it certainly captures something of the tumultuous events of the week leading up to the very first Easter. On the Sunday before Passover, the day we celebrate today as Palm Sunday, Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem as a king. He entered the city riding a donkey, just as God had promised Israel that her king would come. The crowds welcome him as the Messiah, God’s chosen king, shouting “Hosanna! … Blessed is the king of Israel!”
When you come in to the gymnasium this Sunday you'll find a Prayer Focus postcard waiting for you. I think it is fairly self-explanatory! Our hope is that these cards will help all of us make the most of the gospel opportunities that our growing to two Sunday morning gatherings will provide. A new beginning for our church gives new opportunities for new beginnings for the people we care about to become part of our church community and hear about Jesus. Naturally, simply coming along to church doesn’t make somebody a Christian, which is why we want to be praying and asking God to be changing people’s hearts and making himself known to them.
On the front of the card is space to write the names of up to five friends, family, neighbours or colleagues who you can pray for in the lead up to our growing to two on April 29th. These may be people you are already praying for, or you may like to spend some time thinking about whose names you can write there. It doesn’t matter if you can’t come up with five names, you can always start with just one!
Hi TMBers, to help you as you pray for your friends, family and colleagues who don't know Jesus in the lead up to our growing to two services, we've got new Prayer Focus Cards for you, hot off the printing presses!
You'll be able to pick one up on Sunday and write the names of five friends you're praying for. On the reverse are some suggested things to pray for them as we prepare to grow to 9 AM and 11 AM on Sunday April 29.
One of the great advantages of being part of a network of churches is that we can benefit from the gifts and skills of people not only in our own congregation but also those who serve in other churches across Adelaide. The equip training program is a great example of this broader benefit.
Equip runs on Friday evening March 23rd and all day Saturday March 24th and is a training resource that seeks to grow and develop Christian people from all walks of life so they are better equipped to serve and be a witness of the gospel. Equip offers a range of subjects, most of which involve eight 50 minute sessions. There are three pathways which cover the broad areas of Essentials, Ministry and Christian Thought and over the four Equip events in a 2 year cycle, over 30 different subjects are offered.
God has brought many people into our church in the nearly two years that we have been together. This growing community of young and old and in between has been one of the great blessings we’ve received from God’s hand. I’m constantly hearing of people’s excitement at being part of a growing family where God is at work making himself known and drawing people to himself. A growing family also presents challenges! This year our children’s and youth ministry has grown to six separate groups at three different addresses and on Sunday mornings, the kids in our Children’s Ministry have taken over yet another room in the Molly Miels building. And as was especially evident over the holidays when the children stayed in the service, we’re heading steadily towards capacity in the gymnasium.
Since July 2011 the Leadership Team have been considering ways for us to continue to accommodate the growing number of people that God is drawing into our community, and as you will be aware, our plan is to grow to two Sunday morning gatherings, at 9 AM and 11 AM from the 29th of April.
I know I’ve asked before, but I think it’s so important that I’ll keep asking; Are you getting by on little more than one Weet-Bix a week? I trust that you find the Bible teaching here at Trinity encouraging, stimulating and challenging, and there’s no question that the reading and explaining of the Scriptures is a key part of what we do when we gather. But is Sunday morning the only time you spend seriously reading and studying the Bible? If it is, I think you’re getting by on one Weet-Bix a week! Weet-Bix are good for you, nutritious, tasty and all of that, but if you tried to live on only one each week, you wouldn’t be very healthy and you certainly wouldn’t grow. So let’s make sure we’re not trying to live like that when it comes to our spiritual health.
Of course, reading the Bible isn’t limited to what happens in an “official” Bible Study Group. I’d encourage everyone in our community to spend time individually reading God’s Word and praying regularly, even daily, hence the Daily Reading Notes we’ve made available for the Building A Kingdom teaching series. But for almost all of us, I’m sure, reading the Bible with others, meeting regularly for that purpose and talking about what we’re learning is a great way to help us get the most out of our Bible reading, to practice good habits and to develop accountability as we live out lives as people of the Word.
James, the Lord’s brother, urged Christians in the first Century to “not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says” (James 1:22). There are all sorts of traps that can keep us as “merely hearers” as some of the English translations put it; busyness, doubts, selfishness, sin, lack of accountability and so on.
To help us as a community of God’s people work hard at being “doers” of God’s Word and not merely hearers, can I encourage you to join with me in something new?
This coming Sunday, on the Welcome Table, you’ll find copies of a booklet of daily readings to accompany our upcoming Building a Kingdom teaching series from 1 Samuel – 1 Kings. I’d love you to collect a copy of the booklet this morning and, for five days each week, set aside a few minutes to read the passage allocated for the day and reflect on one or two of the accompanying questions. In this teaching series we’ll examine some of the significant moments in the relationship between God and his people Israel around the time of the nation’s first kings and we’ll seek to learn how, even one thousand years before Jesus, God was preparing his people for the king whose kingdom would reign forever. There are some great questions raised in these events about where we place our trust, who we turn to in times of trouble and how we view our relationship to God. And since on Sundays we’re only able to pick up some of the most significant events, reading some of the related passages beforehand will help you make the most of what we learn when we’re together.
On August 8th 2005 The Jesus, All About Life marketing campaign was launched in Adelaide. The message that Jesus really is “all about life” was splashed across roadside billboards, and beamed into homes on TV and radio. It was described as the largest promotional campaign ever undertaken by Christians in Australia and has since been repeated in many Australian cities. The theme of the campaign was based on Jesus’ words in the second half of John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The campaign was considered a great success. People from all walks of life across our city were engaging in conversations about Jesus and Christians were encouraged to share the hope that they have in Christ. It was great to be able to publicly identify with the ads and with the picture of Jesus that was being presented to Adelaide. It was a privilege to stand with Christians from churches all across the city and say, “Yes, I believe that Jesus is all about life.”
I wonder though, if our lives agree? Does the way we live suggest we really do believe that Jesus is all about life?
It’s a Christmas of “firsts” at Trinity Mount Barker!
Last night we had a wonderful time at our first ever Carols by Glowstick. It was a great opportunity to sing all our favourite Christmas carols and to share the good news of Christmas with hundreds of people from our community.
There are many, many people to thank for their part in making Carols happen – too many to name! To everyone who helped with the Free Family Fun, the setup and packup, serving on stage and off stage, please let me say a very heart-felt thankyou. Most of all, we should remind each other to give thanks to God to broke into our world in the person of Jesus Christ that very first Christmas, when the light truly did dawn and push back the darkness.
Adelaide Men’s Convention
I remember the first conversations I had about the possibility of growing to two Sunday morning gatherings. It was back in June last year. Even as time progressed and the Littlehampton Primary School gymnasium got more and more full on Sunday mornings, April 29 2012 seemed such a long way off!
The Bible Study Guides for our next teaching series are now available in the 
When you come in to the gymnasium this Sunday you'll find a Prayer Focus postcard waiting for you. I think it is fairly self-explanatory! Our hope is that these cards will help all of us make the most of the gospel opportunities that our growing to two Sunday morning gatherings will provide. A new beginning for our church gives new opportunities for new beginnings for the people we care about to become part of our church community and hear about Jesus. Naturally, simply coming along to church doesn’t make somebody a Christian, which is why we want to be praying and asking God to be changing people’s hearts and making himself known to them.
Don't forget our Hour of Prayer on Monday 13th February as we pray for our church as we grow to two morning gatherings in April this year.
One of the great advantages of being part of a network of churches is that we can benefit from the gifts and skills of people not only in our own congregation but also those who serve in other churches across Adelaide. The equip training program is a great example of this broader benefit. 
This growing community of young and old and in between has been one of the great blessings we’ve received from God’s hand. I’m constantly hearing of people’s excitement at being part of a growing family where God is at work making himself known and drawing people to himself. A growing family also presents challenges! This year our children’s and youth ministry has grown to six separate groups at three different addresses and on Sunday mornings, the kids in our Children’s Ministry have taken over yet another room in the Molly Miels building. And as was especially evident over the holidays when the children stayed in the service, we’re heading steadily towards capacity in the gymnasium.
But is Sunday morning the only time you spend seriously reading and studying the Bible? If it is, I think you’re getting by on one Weet-Bix a week! Weet-Bix are good for you, nutritious, tasty and all of that, but if you tried to live on only one each week, you wouldn’t be very healthy and you certainly wouldn’t grow. So let’s make sure we’re not trying to live like that when it comes to our spiritual health.
There are many, many people to thank for their part in making Carols happen – too many to name! To everyone who helped with the Free Family Fun, the setup and packup, serving on stage and off stage, please let me say a very heart-felt thankyou. Most of all, we should remind each other to give thanks to God to broke into our world in the person of Jesus Christ that very first Christmas, when the light truly did dawn and push back the darkness.
