Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
His steadfast love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1
In this update I would like to say a big thank you to all those who turned out for the Annual Congregational Meeting last Monday evening. Your engagement and ownership of the work of the congregation is encouraging.
Thankfulness is also the big theme we can take away from the meeting.
We can be thankful for the peace and freedom that allows us to have an orderly common life, where we can meet to conduct our business and make plans for the coming year. These are great gifts, not shared by all our brothers and sisters around the world.
We can be thankful for the resources entrusted to us, a building to meet, money to employ staff to help us sustain our common life as followers of Jesus, and thankful for the willing service and gifts of so many that allow us to use those resources to meet week by week to encourage each other in the faith.
We can be thankful for our faithful, diligent and competent Board who serve us so well. This year, as well as re-electing Helen Y and Graham C for another two year term, we expressed our thanks to Josh H who is retiring from the BOM after thirteen years, service that took in the building fit out and commissioning, and continued for many years after that. The willingness of our Board members to be re-elected year after year is something we should all be thankful for as it gives stability and consistency to the Board’s operation and planning and models faithful serving in love with our varied gifts.
We can be thankful that we finished the year in the black, with income just under $5,000 more than expenditure, and for the generous giving that sustained that outcome.
And we can be thankful that we approved a budget that enshrines our commitment both to helping each other persevere in love and doing good as disciples of Jesus while we await His return, and to helping others become disciples of Jesus through hearing the gospel and turning in repentance and faith to Him.
It is that commitment to our Lord’s command in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nation that guides our budget. It is that commitment that this year was particularly expressed in the decision in the budget to provide for Helen Bell’s appointment, which was heartily supported by those voting at the meeting. Helen’s work in training and equipping our Growth Group Leaders, in evangelism training, and in supporting our women leaders is vitally important if we are going to help each other keep sharing the gospel and then disciple those the Lord adds to our number, and sustain ourselves, particularly the women leaders and through them all our women, in supporting each other with love and encouragement to persevere as disciples.
That commitment to making disciples is itself something to be thankful for. It means we know ourselves how good it is to be followers of Jesus, how good it is to live doing all that our Lord Jesus has taught us. That is a great work of God’s grace in our hearts. It means our hearts are being changed to want what the Lord Jesus wants, that the lost should be sought and saved as we have been saved. It means we live with hope and knowing that our lives matter for eternity, live knowing that our lives don’t end with death and that the purpose of our lives is not to have as much stuff or experiences as we can now, but to hear ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ from our merciful Lord at the last day as He welcomes us into His eternal home. And that commitment to making disciples means that, with all our differences, we are united as disciples of Jesus in seeking to love our neighbours by sharing the gospel with them and glorifying the Lord Jesus as the only one who can save us from the wrath to come.
So give thanks for His goodness to us, seen in all the ways our Lord has blessed us, individually and in our common life. And please pray.
Pray for the Board, that they would know more and more of Jesus’ love for them and the wonder of being forgiven, so that they would be sustained in joy and thankfulness in serving with the gifts the Lord has given them. And pray for the Lord’s provision for all their and their family’s needs, so that they have the time and capacity to keep serving. The work of the BOM is not exempt from the spiritual battle that is a feature of every believer’s life, so pray for them.
Pray that the Lord would continue to provide all we need. Appointing Helen and employing Cat Camilleri for extra hours in the office means we will be drawing down on our reserves unless giving increases by about $85,000. Drawing down on reserves has a very limited life for any organization, especially where the BOM thinks it responsible to have two months wages in the bank at all times. Pray that the Lord, who can supply richly all our needs [Phil. 4:19], would provide for us all and move us to generosity in supporting the work of the gospel in our common life.
And, if you have capacity, consider how, now that the congregation has adopted the budget, you can support with your giving these initiatives in the budget to sustain us in being and making disciples, in bringing honour to our Saviour through our trusting obedience to His word and through making Him known as the only Saviour of the world.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:1
