Encouraging one another – a life of discipleship

A warm welcome back if you have been on holidays and as always welcome to our guests. We have prayed you are blessed and may that continue as you return to daily routines , school pickups and pack lunches, after school clubs and so on!

One of the challenges facing us and many church communities is how can we encourage one another in a life of being Jesus disciples if we don’t meet up regularly?

For some of you coming more than once or twice a month on a Sunday is difficult. We continue to trial different formats at 10 and thank you for feedback on the past two weeks changed format as Godly Play has been on Sabbath rest! I am wondering about continuing the Wednesday evening meal  for anyone who wants come along, with small groups following after.

Some of you are not in our mid week small groups for various reasons. So how can we support and encourage you in your life of discipleship. Let me know as I want each person involved with St Nick’s blessed, growing in their sense of belonging to a loving community, engaging with their trust in Jesus and working that out in daily life. It’s difficult to do that alone. It’s hard to live out the ‘one another sayings’ of scripture  in isolation!

If you want to know what we are thinking about then don’t forget you can listen to sermons from our website www.stnicholasaustralind.org.au/sermon    last month there were a good number of people downloading and listening to sermons which is great. Not because we think we have the best teaching rather it means we are thinking and praying about the same challenges in following Jesus. E.g. Why mention hell, Jesus? June 25th Rewards ? July 2nd The harvest is plentiful June 18th.  

It’s never been easier to find helpful bible reading / study/ devotionals online for our smartphones. I am recommending Nicky Gumbel’s Bible in One Year which works well. There are three readings per day which may be too much, in which case do one. The format is simple i.e.  an introduction, a bible reading and then a short commentary by Nicky followed by a short suggested prayer. Try it or something similar and experience a ‘little daily bread ‘in your spiritual diet! The app link is here https://www.bibleinoneyear.org/

However the Christian life is generally lived in community. Currently we have 61 people linked into our current and new small groups that meet mid week . This is not including the lovely gatherings of Thursday Craft group or monthly Care and Share.  

Let’s encourage one another in our walk with Jesus and  bless one another in community. Let’s be disciples making disciples.

Shalom

Jamie

Nourish – United together in Christ

It has been a great start to the year for Nourish. After the summer break it has been wonderful to connect with new members and reconnect with familiar faces. This year we have had the pleasure of Shirley’s enthusiasm and teaching skills in organising a fun and educational crèche program for our children.  Shirley joins our other fantastic volunteers who give their time generously to support our children while we meet.  Thank you!

This term we began with an overview of the book of Psalms which served as a great introduction to the Prayer Course we are exploring as a congregation. I can’t help but be amazed and inspired when exploring personal issues, such as your prayer life with God, within the small group setting. Everyone has a unique story and different experiences; yet often we are faced with similar challenges and shared frustrations. Together we have been able to explore, discuss, encourage and support one another, and it’s only week two! For every heartfelt moment shared there has been plenty of laughter and a deepened understanding that whilst we are all so very different we are united in Christ.

x Sophie

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"They have real coffee!" – A testimony about grace, friendship and belonging

“I just found this really great playgroup!” exclaimed my friend. “It’s at a church and they have cake and fruit for the kids and heaps of toys. They even have NICE coffees, like barista style. And best of all? It’s FREE! Want to go with me?” Little Lambs was my first introduction to St Nicks. A noisy somewhat chaotic playdate shared with two dozen mums, twice as many children and a host of mature ladies and gentleman INSISTING that they serve us and we take the time to rest and recharge. For a new mum suffering child-induced cabin fever it was heavenly. My friends and I attended Little Lambs for the better part of a year. What stood out the most to us, and what my friends still remember it for, was how welcoming, encouraging and gracious the hosts were each week.

One week when I was visiting on my own with my (now) two children a lady came and sat next to me. She introduced herself as Verity and we had a pleasant talk before she handed me a pretty little invitation to Nourish, a new Bible Study group aimed at mums of young children. She explained that I would be welcome to bring the kids and pointed out Emma, the organiser, a mum I had often seen and spoken to but until that point had never been able to remember her name and had been too embarrassed to ask.

I was very excited about getting the invitation. I had been a Christian for five or six years but my Christian walk hadn’t so much as slowed to a crawl as stopped dead. I had only attended a group bible study a few times, and only in the company of my husband (as nice as that was, I confess I rather prefer it when we go separately…), and a group that catered for mums with young kids (i.e. not in the evening or during nap time) was what I had been wishing for.

Nourish was or rather IS a blessing. At first it was quite a challenge. Six or seven mums, a dozen kids and a bible. As any parent knows, children have this fantastic propensity to drive you to the brink of insanity and they really don’t care who they do it in front of. Fortunately for all of us, they took turns. If it wasn’t your child throwing a tantrum, pushing the other children over or face planting it into a door that week then you knew most likely next week it would be.

Hence, what I believe, one of the greatest lessons learnt in Nourish, at least for me personally, was grace- both how to give it and how to receive it.

Interestingly the more I received it, the better I became at giving it. Those early days were like a prolonged team building exercise.

We have evolved quite a bit since those early days. We now have MINDERS- truly wonderful people who give up their Friday mornings to care for and entertain our young children. This has really given us the opportunity as a group to delve more deeply, talk more freely and listen more attentively. We have realised we are an extremely diverse group of ladies from different backgrounds and at different stages of our walk but still with so much in common and that we can relate to.

I love it that on Thursday nights my three year old son is always happy to go to bed because tomorrow is Friday and “on Friday mum goes to bible study and that means friends! Friends for Michael and friends for you too mum!”

X Sophie