Genesis – The Origins of Everything

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

The opening verse of the Bible makes a statement that complete transforms our understanding of the world and ourselves. God created everything. The opening chapter of the Bible shows us the order and purpose which God formed the formless.

Who, then, are we? This week Joshua Johnston will be teaching us from Genesis 2 about God’s unique relationship and role for mankind in this creation.

Upcoming:

5.02 Gen 2 The Beginning of Us

12.02 Gen 3 Paradise Lost

19.02 Gen 4-6.4 God’s Severe Mercy

26.02 Gen 6-9 A New Hope?

WHAC Congregational Meeting – This Sunday

This Sunday (5th Feb) at the end of our gathering, Adrian Russell will be joining us at WHAC. The goal is to consider who we are, where we are going under God, and thinking through what it might take to get there.

Please come with feedback on how we can grow together and serve one another, so that the news about Jesus might be proclaimed to your friends, work colleagues and family.

WHAC Gospel Teams

As a large group of believers in Jesus Christ, who seek to encourage and grow one another in faithfulness, we gather regularly to listen to God (by reading the Bible) and speak to him (prayer). This is how God transforms us to be like Jesus. The writer of Hebrews suggests we should encourage one another in these things “daily” (Heb 10:24-25). Practically, we can do this through a mix of having a “Quiet Time”, through 1-1 accountability and prayer partnerships or small group and at our Sunday gatherings. So we want you to consider making time in your week for these vitally important things.

This month we will be forming our Bible Study groups (called Gospel Teams or GTeams) that will work together to read God’s Word, pray, proclaim and serve Jesus Christ together. Some 2016 GTeams will have lost leaders and so will need to be reformed this year. However the expectation that the group whose leaders haven’t changed will continue into this year.

Currently we have GTeams on the following nights:

Monday night mixed (David O, Ben B) – FULL

Tuesday night mixed (Mark G)

Wednesday morning women (Amber, Jo, Rochelle, Mel)

Wednesday evening women (Simone H, Ann L)

Thursday night men (Mike A, Eddie)

We expect that we’ll need to start at least 1 other group during the week to cater for everyone.

This Sunday we will have forms which you can use to tell us what time and what form of gathering (GTeam, 1-1, etc) would be suit you. We will be working hard to raise up sufficient leaders for our GTeams, as well as finding men and women who might be suitable 1-1 partners with you if our GTeams do not suit you.

Once we have heard from you, your GTeam leader will contact you to invite you to their team.

Safe Ministry Training

Children are highly valued by God and deserve the strongest possible protection in our churches and ministries.

As we work to orient young people for life, it is essential that all people involved in Anglican ministry to the vulnerable, including children and teenagers, are thoroughly equipped and trained with approved Safe Ministry training.

All people working with children or youth in ministry, including ministers and assistant ministers, are required to complete Safe Ministry Essentials, and then every three years undertake Safe Ministry Refresher training.

If you intend to work with the vulnerable at NAC this year, then you are required to complete this training. Jacquie Sperinck will have contacted those who are required to do the refresher course. The details are:

Safe Ministry Essentials – Saturday 8.30am-3pm in the Northmead church building

Safe Ministry Refresher – Monday 13th Feb, 7.30-9.30pm in the Northmead church building

If you require information about the training, please contact Jacquie Sperinck at the church office.

Rectory Working Bee

Before Adrian Russell’s family move into the rectory, it will require some work.

If you can paint, clean, dig, sweep, compliment, build, restore, polish, lift, pour, encourage, or perform tasks that will help us prepare the rectory, then please join us on Saturday 4th and 11th from 9am. 7 Thomas St, Northmead.

Ministry Apprentice Program Night

On Monday 20th February at 7:30pm, our Ministry Apprentices will be sharing about their vision and plans for 2017. Since they are dependent on the prayers and direct financial support of individuals, we want to encourage you to attend, so that you might know their needs and hear how you might pray for them.

Since we are particularly responsible for supporting Rusdyan Cocks’ ministry amongst us this year, it will be worthwhile finding out how we as a congregation can train and equip him for a life of serving our Lord.

For more details, please see the MAP Night page.

Opportunities to serve

If you are able to assist us at our Sunday gatherings, we are currently looking for:

Sound desk operators
An Apple laptop – we no longer has access to a suitable laptop to run our PowerPoints and videos
PowerPoint creator – use the Service Leader’s runsheet to produce the PowerPoint display

If you are willing to be trained or able to help us in any of these areas, then please speak with Mark.

Dates for your Diary

February 2017

Sat 4 – Rectory Working Bee
Mon 6 – ESL restarts
Sat 11 – Safe Ministry Training
Sat 11 – Rectory Working Bee
Mon 13 – Safe Ministry Refresher
Mon 20 – MAP Supporters Night
Sat 25 – Music Ministry Training

March 2017

Tues 15 – Friends of Northmead
Wed 29 – Northmead Anglican Churches AGM

WHAC Prayer Points

Praise God as the Creator, who sent his Son as a man in order to save us from sin and bring us into true eternal paradise (Rev 21-22).
Please pray for our key evangelistic activities (e.g. ESL, Playgroup, SRE, etc) as well as our children and youth ministries as they start up this week. Pray that our brothers and sisters in Christ will have the opportunity to clearly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Please pray for Rusdyan Cocks and the other Ministry Apprentices (John Kim, Sam O, Dan Sperinck and Alex Hitchcock) as they serve us this year.
Please pray for our Queen, governments (Fed, state, local), and those who work in our governments that they may administer peace and justice so that we might be able to proclaim Jesus (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
Pray for the formation of our new leadership teams at WHAC that godly disciples of Christ will be given the opportunity to guide, serve and grow us (1 Tim 3:8-13).

WHAC Community News – 1st February 2017