Posted by: Clayton Fopp
on 11 April, 2012
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.
Posted by: Clayton Fopp
on 23 September, 2011
On behalf of the Fopp Family let me say a huge thank you to all our family at Trinity Mount Barker for the concern, care and love you’ve shown us since the arrival of Abigail last week. In what we hope is a sign of a child who will never run late for anything, Abby arrived three weeks early on September 14. Despite catching her parents a little by surprise with her sense of timing, Abby is doing really well, as is Kathy, and the rest of the family are enjoying having a baby in the house! We’re so thankful to God for the safe arrival of this little member of our family.
In the last week and a bit, we have been touched by numerous expressions of concern, cards, flowers, meals and more. It has been a real blessing to be members of this community of God’s people. People have been kind and gracious in allowing me the flexibility to cancel and reschedule appointments and meetings which has been a great help to our family.
Posted by: Clayton Fopp
on 16 September, 2011
School Chaplains have been in the news a bit recently because of the ongoing High Court challenge to the Commonwealth’s National School Chaplaincy Program. Around 2000 chaplains (called Christian Pastoral Support Workers in SA) are employed in state schools across the country, with many funded, at least in part, through the Federal scheme. In 2009 a survey conducted across the nation found that 98 per cent of school principals who had a chaplain in their school wanted government funding for school chaplaincy to continue.
While the outcome of the High Court challenge to the constitutionality of the Commonwealth program is still unknown, it seems to me that it would be a great pity for the work of our chaplains, particularly those in our local schools, to be overshadowed by the legal wrangling.
