Mar 28 2010
Pastor’s notes
Good Day to all of you. May the Lord bless you as we gather in worship.
We had a really fantastic evening at Merredin last Sunday with our formal dinner, honoring those who have served the Lord in the congregation over a long time period. It was good to hear the stories of the early days and of the families who are the foundation stones of the church. It was not intended but it was such an appropriate follow-on to the sermon in the morning when I spoke about the “seed of the next harvest.” Indeed the pioneers of the church have ensured that those who come after have benefited from their “seeding” into the future mission of the church.
We do need to celebrate God’s goodness in the past – this is much of the content of the Book of the Psalms. And we need to honor God for His faithfulness, in the today and tomorrow of our lives. As we do this we can find ourselves inspired to do our own “seeding” into God’s mission, and I want to encourage you to be involved in God’s outreach to the people within your own sphere of influence. Each of the congregations in the Parish have a goal to reach a certain number of people: 42 in Merredin, 10 each in Bruce Rock and Mukinbudin and 5 in Southern Cross. That’s roughly about one person for each person – and we have twelve months to do it. If you have not already begun to do so, begin to pray for one person; ask God to show you the right time to invite them to church or Bible Study; be caring in Christ towards them and set before them your own example of following Jesus in your everyday life. Easter is a good time to invite people to church – don’t forget the Tenebrae Service at Merredin on Thursday evening at 7pm and the other services around the Parish. Details are on the next page.
Some of the activities in the Parish are also beginning to form as outreach ventures. The Junior Youth (MucaRound) in Merredin is going well under the leadership of Sal Marais and Lisa Arthur (with assistance from Gerhard Seymour). The Bible Study in Bruce Rock has its second meeting this Tuesday afternoon and Margie and I visited the Muka Corner Closet on Thursday. That’s a monthly combined “Morning Tea for the town” and “Op Shop” outreach which has a great atmosphere and attracts all kinds of people. The Men’s Group in Merredin is surging ahead and we have had over 15 men who have attended the Wednesday night sessions. In conjunction with the Men’s Group at the Church of Christ they are now planning a “Secret Men’s Business” meeting at Venue 68 in Merredin on April 7th at 6pm. The guest speaker will be Julian Krieg on “Dealing with stress and disappointment”, “Taking life in context” and “Talk to a mate”. The evening will include a “Fast Track Pitstop Health Check”. Plan to be there, and bring a mate!
Have you visited the Merredin Church website lately? There is a lot of useful information on the site which you can view at www.merredinunitingchurch.org. It includes Bible Reading (with a easy click on download so that you can read it on the screen), Duty Rosters, News updates, most of this newsletter and the weekly sermons. The weekly sermons now also have an audio download button so that if you don’t get to church, you can still get the sermon (almost live!) I am most impressed with all the work that Dave Quinn has put in – we need to use it as much as we can.
Nominations for new elders at Merredin will be announced at the service this morning. The election will take place after the service on Sunday April 11th. We will also be electing a new church secretary and representatives for YouthCare and the Churches Fraternal. George and Val Tengvall have served in these latter two committees for many years. I understand however that they will still be available for election to serve on the Churches Fraternal.
God bless
David
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