One of the great blessings we enjoy in our church community is that there are always new people around. If you’re with us for the first time today, welcome and thanks for being with us. If you’ve been around for a few weeks, thank you for investing in this community, and we hope that you’ve been welcomed, encouraged and challenged in your time with us.If you’re new, there are a few things we’d like to let you know to help you find out more about, or find your place in, our church. And if you’ve been around for a while, you may have missed these previously, so here’s your chance to be part of them!
On Sunday 2nd of June we’ll be holding our next Welcome Lunch. If you’ve decided in the last little while that Trinity Mount Barker seems like a good place for you to grow and serve, Kathy and I would love you to join us for lunch at our home in Littlehampton. The lunch will give you a chance to meet some other “new-ish” people and to find out a little about Trinity. Lunch will start around 12:30. Please let us know via a Green Communication Card that you’d like to come (including any dietary requirements) or to ask for more information.
God, Church & Me is our new members Bible study and discussion group, running next on the 4 Wednesday nights in August, 7:30 – 9:30 PM in the church offices. GCM is an opportunity for us as a church to make sure we’re all working towards the same goals, to find out how things work at TMB, and it’s a chance for each of us to find our place in the church community. In God, Church & Me, we examine our life together in the light of the Scriptures and see how the grace of God revealed to us in the Bible shapes our church life and our own individual part within the community. More info about GCM will be available in the coming weeks.
Our network of Bible Study Groups meet on various nights of the week across the region. These groups are a place to study the Bible, get to know and care for others, and to share life together. If you haven’t yet managed to join a group, the next couple of weeks are a great time to do so as our groups study the Bible in parallel with the Sundayteaching, meaning the new Philippians studies will be starting soon. Of course, you would be welcomed into a group at any time, but the beginning of a series is an easy time to slot in. Again, please use the Green Communication Card to find out more.
Clayton FoppOne of the great blessings we enjoy in our church community is that there are always new people around. If you’re with us for the first time today, welcome and thanks for being with us. If you’ve been around for a few weeks, thank you for investing in this community, and we hope that you’ve been welcomed, encouraged and challenged in your time with us.
If you’re new, there are a few things we’d like to let you know to help you find out more about, or find your place in, our church. And if you’ve been around for a while, you may have missed these previously, so here’s your chance to be part of them!
On Sunday 2nd of June we’ll be holding our next Welcome Lunch. If you’ve decided in the last little while that Trinity Mount Barker seems like a good place for you to grow and serve, Kathy and I would love you to join us for lunch at our home in Littlehampton. The lunch will give you a chance to meet some other “new-ish” people and to find out a little about Trinity. Lunch will start around 1 PM. Please let us know via a Green Communication Card that you’d like to come (including any dietary requirements) or to ask for more information.
God, Church & Me is our new members Bible study and discussion group, running next on the 4 Wednesday nights in August, 7:30 – 9:30 PM in the church offices. GCM is an opportunity for us as a church to make sure we’re all working towards the same goals, to find out how things work at TMB, and it’s a chance for each of us to find our place in the church community. In God, Church & Me, we examine our life together in the light of the Scriptures and see how the grace of God revealed to us in the Bible shapes our church life and our own individual part within the community. More info about GCM will be available in the coming weeks.
Our network of Bible Study Groups meet on various nights of the week across the region. These groups are a place to study the Bible, get to know and care for others, and to share life together. If you haven’t yet managed to join a group, the next couple of weeks are a great time to do so as our groups study the Bible in parallel with the Sunday teaching, meaning the new Philippians studies will be starting soon. Of course, you would be welcomed into a group at any time, but the beginning of a series is an easy time to slot in. Again, please use the Green Communication Card to find out more.
Clayton Fopp
Trinity's Kids' Club will be commencing this afternoon for the first time in 2013! If you are in grades 4 -6 in school, or know someone who is, please join us this afternoon - and future Friday afternoons - from 4.00 - 5.30 PM in the church office.Kids' Club will be an opportunity for kids to learn and grow in knowledge of the Bible and of who Jesus is. It will be a fun time of growing in friendship, playing games, getting crafty and learning. We also hope that this would be an opportunity for you and your children to invite friends along to hear the gospel and learn about Jesus perhaps for the first time. Please don't hesitate to get in contact with the office to find out more about Kids' Club for 2013.
Remember, Mother's Day is this Sunday!
If you’re a mother, we’d really like to invite you to join us this weekend. All the usual jokes will come out on Mother's Day - without our mums, none of us would be here! Since mothers got presents and breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day, I always used to ask my mother when “Son’s Day” was! Each time, mum replied that it seemed to her that every day was Son’s Day!
The traditions associated with Mother’s Day started late in the 19th Century with Ann Jarvis, her daughter, Anna Marie Jarvis and a church in West Virginia, USA. 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 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, surprising even. Yet this is God’s command to his Old 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 or not. 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.
Anna Jarvis was very specific about where the apostrophe went in the day’s name. To her, the apostrophe indicated a singular possessive; individuals were honouring their own mother. It was not a plural possessive acknowledging all mothers. However, at Trinity we’re a community. We’re thankful to God, not only for our own mothers, but for all mothers; for those we know personally, and for those whom we know only by the way they have shaped the lives of people close to us. So in a very real sense, for us today is Mothers’ Day.
As we approach Mother's Day, can I encourage you, please also remember those for whom Mother’s Day is not a happy day. Some in our community have not known their mother, or not enjoyed a good relationship with their mother. Some wish to become mothers but cannot. Others are reminded that their mothers are no longer with us. Some mothers suffer the pain of broken relationships with their children. Please remember them in your prayers for Mother’s Day.
Clayton
If you’re a mother, we’d really like to invite you to join us this weekend. All the usual jokes will come out on Mother's Day - without our mums, none of us would be here! Since mothers got presents and breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day, I always used to ask my mother when “Son’s Day” was! Each time, mum replied that it seemed to her that every day was Son’s Day!The traditions associated with Mother’s Day started late in the 19th Century with Ann Jarvis, her daughter, Anna Marie Jarvis and a church in West Virginia, USA. 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 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, surprising even. Yet this is God’s command to his Old 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 or not. 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.
Anna Jarvis was very specific about where the apostrophe went in the day’s name. To her, the apostrophe indicated a singular possessive; individuals were honouring their own mother. It was not a plural possessive acknowledging all mothers. However, at Trinity we’re a community. We’re thankful to God, not only for our own mothers, but for all mothers; for those we know personally, and for those whom we know only by the way they have shaped the lives of people close to us. So in a very real sense, for us today is Mothers’ Day.
As we approach Mother's Day, can I encourage you, please also remember those for whom Mother’s Day is not a happy day. Some in our community have not known their mother, or not enjoyed a good relationship with their mother. Some wish to become mothers but cannot. Others are reminded that their mothers are no longer with us. Some mothers suffer the pain of broken relationships with their children. Please remember them in your prayers for Mother’s Day.
Clayton
A few people have asked for a copy of the prayers that were prayed for Jono on Sunday as he gets deployed to Afghanistan with the Army, so that they can use those prayers to shape their own.
The text of the two prayers is copied below.
Heavenly Father,
The text of the two prayers is copied below.Heavenly Father,
We pray for Jono as he prepares to be deployed to Afghanistan in the coming days. Help him not be anxious as
he gets ready to leave, and as he arrives there, but give him a great confidence in you and in your goodness.
We pray that you will keep him safe while he is away. Please keep him from the harm of injury, accident, or
attack.
We pray that you will protect his relationships with those he serves alongside; that that they will work together
well, not frustrate each other, and provide good support to each other in the coming months.
We ask that in all things Jono will learn to trust you more, and to depend on you. Teach him every day, we
pray, what it means to be a servant of Jesus, even in the strange surroundings of an Army base in a foreign
country. May there not be a moment during his deployment when he feels far from you.
We pray that you will give wisdom to the Army commanders, that they will lead well and make good decisions
as they seek to keep all the soldiers safe and at the same time bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan and
the region.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Father, we pray for all the men and women who serve in our defence forces, and we are mindful this morning
especially of those who will be deployed with Jono in the next few days. We commend them to your gracious
care and keeping.
For Jono and for all of them, we pray that you will provide strength, courage, a freedom from anxiety, and we
ask that you will lead them away from any kind of trial or temptation.
Please convince Jono and all those he serves alongside, that nothing can separate them from your love, shown to us in Christ Jesus.
We pray for peace and stability in Afghanistan, and pray that in your sovereignty you will grow in the
hearts of all people in that country, a true love of peace. Guide those who lead the country, that they may
govern well and make decisions for the well-being of the people. We long for Christ to be honoured across the
world and we pray that Christians in Afghanistan will be free to meet and express their faith without fear or
reprisal.
Father we give thanks for Jono and his place in our community TMB. We pray for ourselves, that we will be
mindful of him and others serving in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Especially for those of us who know him well,
help us be diligent in keeping in contact, as we seek to encourage him, not least of all, as we seek to encourage
him in his walk with Jesus.
We pray also for his family while he is away. We pray for Jess, and his family in Melbourne. Bring comfort to
them they pray as they worry and help them not to be anxious about anything. Surround them with your love
and protect them from harm while Jono is away.
We commit him to your gracious care, Father, and ask that you will bring him back to us and to his family safe
at the end of this 8 month deployment.
We pray all these things in the name of your Son, Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen.
Grace Conference aims to gather women together, to look at the Bible, and to encourage each other in our relationship with the Lord Jesus as we live in today's world. The main speaker this year is Anthea McCall, who teaches New Testament and trains Ridley College students for mission and ministry.Grace Conference 2013 will be held on Saturday, May 25 at Concordia College. The theme of both the talks and the workshops will be 'Shaken Not Stirred - Standing firm in Christ through the difficult times'.
Early bird registration is available until May 5.
For more information and to register, please visit graceconference.org.au.
Please join us on Monday 22nd April, from 8 - 9 PM to pray!
Our focus for this hour of prayer will be our current financial needs as a church. While we've been praying privately and individually about these matters, it's good for us to join together to pray, just as we do for other issues and challenges, like our evangelism, for the Kleins, for local ministries beyond our church, etc.
We'll pray for an hour.
Please join us if you're able.
Our focus for this hour of prayer will be our current financial needs as a church. While we've been praying privately and individually about these matters, it's good for us to join together to pray, just as we do for other issues and challenges, like our evangelism, for the Kleins, for local ministries beyond our church, etc.We'll pray for an hour.
Please join us if you're able.