Last weekend about 45 blokes from AM/PM went down to Katoomba Mens Convention.  Highlights were:

• Relationships built (especially on the bus and at the YHA)
• Excellent Bible teaching on the subject of work (Paul Grimmond and Gary Millar)
• Very comfortable accommodation at the YHA Katoomba.  I got a good coffee early on Saturday from ‘Elephant Bean’ up the road
• Watching Matt Wade unbog a small car
• A lot of good books recommended and purchased
• 100% of us felt challenged to change and grow this year as godly Christian men.

It’s been great hearing about how people have been trying to read the Bible more regularly.  The Time with God material is designed to help you in that.

Number 3 is out now on Acts (part 2) and 1 Thessalonians.  You’ll find 40 suggested readings with a few questions and comments to help you understand the passage.  There are also some suggested prayer points to help broaden your prayers!

You’ll find them up the back of church on the info table.  They’re free - so take one, use it and tell us what you think!

Summer Sessions is on again for Unichurch!

Summer Sessions is like a giant all-in Growth Group kicking on through the summer.

Come at 6:30pm for dinner ($4), meet new people, jump in to study the Bible, pray together, and hang-out into the evening. It’s fun, it’s open to visitors looking to join church, it’s for your non-Christian friends.

Greg is leading the opening night on Tuesday Nov 22nd, diving into the huge topic of prayer.

See you there

Sometimes the question is asked, does HBC have a men’s ministry?  This is an excellent question!  Men are different from women in various ways and it pays to minister to men as men.  Every Christian and every church will want to see the men in their Christian community grow in Christ-like maturity.  So the answer for HBC is ‘Yes! You bet!’  Read on to see more on why its important and how we do it at HBC.

photo credit: Powerhouse Museum Collection

In Proverbs, the man (or ‘my son’) is challenged to follow wisdom and pursue sexual purity, sound speech and humility.  In Titus, older men are to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance (Titus 2:2).  Younger men are to follow the example of Titus in being self-controlled and good.  They are to show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned (Titus 2:6-8).  Men are to love their wives as Christ loves the church (Eph 5:25) and bring up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4).  They have a particular responsibility to manage their household and uphold sound teaching in the church (1 Tim 3).  These are only some of the particular instructions for men in the Bible.  All Scripture informs and guides men on what they should think and how they should live.

Every church takes a slightly different approach as to how they do ‘Mens Ministry’.  Some will put on a yearly conference, some will have a monthly breakfast and some take all their men away for an annual camping trip. Other things that happen at different times and places are prayer triplets, accountability partners and social groups.   They are all good strategies and, done well, will grow the men in a church.

At HBC its our conviction that the key to Gospel growth among all people, including men, is Bible teaching, prayer and relationships.  These three elements, which arise from the Bible, work together under God’s providence to grow people in Christ.  Therefore our Men’s ministry will put a high priority on Bible teaching, prayer and relationships.

The main strategy for Mens ministry at HBC is for all the guys to be part of a Growth Group.  Some of these will be single sex and others will be mixed.  Here guys can read the Bible together, pray and build relationships every week!  Most men will end up meeting up in various ways outside the regular weekly time, especially as connections grow.  In mixed groups often the men and women will split up for prayer so we can be a bit more honest and open with each other as we pray.  Sometimes, especially when a passage has specific applications for men and women, guys and girls can also split up for the study.  I try to encourage men to see the men in their group as the guys they should encourage, challenge, pray for and even evangelise with.  I think its fantastic that we have almost 240 men meeting each week to grow as Christians.

Another element of the mens ministry at HBC is the Mens Katoomba Convention.  This happens every year towards the end of February (Feb 17-18 in 2012).  This is a great opportunity for Bible teaching (directed to men from first class Bible teachers), prayer and relationships (especially staying overnight and travelling on a bus together).  Over the last few years we’ve seen many guys take real steps forward as Christian men, husbands and fathers.  We’d love to have 80-100 guys come along, especially from our AM and PM congregations.  Another conference worth getting to is Hunter Mens Convention held in the first week in September.

A third element of mens ministry at HBC is a culture of 1:1 ministry.  Meeting up 1:1 with another bloke to read the Bible and pray is a great way for men to grow.  This year we’ve trained about 20 guys in 1:1 ministry at Monday Madskills and we’re looking to train more in the future.  We’re also keen for blokes to read the Bible with non-Christian guys they know.  At least one 1:1 meet up is feasible for most blokes at church.

There are other things going on as well - usual informal and spontaneous.  Perhaps I’ll blog about these another time.  If you’re keen to see more Mens Ministry at HBC let me encourage you to get in a group, deliberate build connections with the blokes in that group, come to MKC and see where the Bible, prayer and relationships will take you!

This week at Monday Mad Skills we put out the Top 10 Christian Books you should consider reading… here they are (without the funny/cool/interesting dialogue between Richard and I).

10. John Chapman, Know and Tell the Gospel

9. James W. Sire, The Universe Next door

8. Bruce Milne, Know the Truth

7. Don Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation

6. Phillip Jensen & Tony Payne, Guidance and the Voice of God

5.  J.I. Packer, Evangelism & Sovereignty of God

4. Graeme Goldsworthy, According to Plan

3. John Stott, The Cross of Christ

2. J.I Paker, Knowing God

1. Don Carson et al., New Bible Commentary & I.H. Marshal et al., New Bible Dictionary

I can’t say whether the links will provide you with the best price, but I noticed that the New Bible Dictionary and Commentary are on sale right now! Apart from that, please try and buy Australian books direct from the publisher (e.g. www.matthiasmedia.com.au)

Two questions this week at the White Horse Inn (no one took up the singleness question left hanging from Unichurch).

photo credit: Lord Jim

1.  Who wrote the Pentateuch (and does it matter)?

2.  Are the days in Genesis 1 24 hour periods?

Great questions and great to discuss together with our Bible’s open and ready to pray.

Thanks to Laura and Dee for hosting (great hosts).  We’re on again this Sunday at 10:15pm (usually done by 11:30) at 17 Turana Pde North Lambton.

At the White Horse Inn you bring the questions and we all work out the answers from the Bible.

The questions last night:

• What does 1 Tim 2:15 mean?  “But women will be saved through childbearing– if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.”
• Did Jesus descend into Hell (as per the Apostles Creed)?

photo credit: TangYauHoong

The questions from last week:

• What does being ‘baptised for the dead’ meand (1 Cor 15:29)?
• What happens to us between when we die and the resurrection of the dead?  Do our souls just sleep or do they go to heaven in some way?

For the answers you have to be there!

The White Horse Inn happens from 10:15pm to about 11:30 most Sunday nights.  It won’t happen this Sunday because of church conference but will be on again after that.

So the “Time with God” material has been great! Going through Joshua just bit by bit, just enough to dwell on and consider the God who saves and brings about his plans and promises.

But, we’ve decided it really needs its own location - so we’ve setup this site: daily.hunterbiblechurch.org

Ok, so they don’t come up daily, but the idea is that you develop the habit of reading the bible as often as you can - daily even! All the HBC “Time with God” material has been moved there, and all the new posts will appear there too - one every two days.

If you ever forget where it is, you can get there through the website menu above… “Pastor’s blog > Devotionals”

Mens Convention was fantastic over the weekend.  Over 2000 blokes (not all were wearing check shirts) there to learn, grow, sing and build relationships.  There were about 28 from HBC and I reckon we all made changes towards being more godly men, husbands and fathers.

Justin Mote from England preached from 2 Samuel about David and Bathsheba, and from 1 Corinthians 10 about temptation and ‘the way out’.  David Cook (SMBC principal) preached from Gen 3 and Obadiah about sin and pride.  A few quotes:

DC: ‘A half truth, told as it was a whole truth is an untruth’

DC: ‘If your sinful nature was a friend, what sort of friend would it be?’

DC: ‘Grab your hat and run’

DC: ‘Everything that humbles me is good for me’

JM: ‘It’s easier to stay out than get out’

JM:  ‘When we cover up sin it leads to more sin’

Plenty of good laughs too from the speakers, videos and friends.  Hope to see you along next year!

photo credit: Powerhouse Museum Collection

For many years the Moore College external studies course, the Preliminary Theological Certificate, has been helping people all over the world dig into the word of God and understand how the Bible fits together, and God’s big purposes for the world. Here at HBC/Unichurch many people have done some of the introductory courses, such as Introduction to the Bible, Old Testament 1 and New Testament 1. In 2011 we are offering two more opportunities for people to jump aboard a movement that is opening up God’s Word to people all over the world.

photo credit: dtcchc

The PTC courses are offered by “distance education” (many of the early ones are now supported by online resources.) You can do them on your own, or you can join a small group that is designed to make it easier by (1) providing an incentive to keep up with the work! And (2) providing a forum for discussion and clarification of issues as you go along.
Doing a PTC course takes some commitment! The course is meant to be studied over 10 weeks, and Moore College generally advise you should be able to spend 4-5 hours per week in reading and study. It is not free- this year the fees are as follows:
• $80 - Enrolment in a new subject
• $125 - Husband and wife using same notes
• $50 - Concession rate (see Neil for different groups)
• $45 - Re-enrolment in same subject (if you have previously enrolled but would like to do the exam this time)

But the benefits are tremendous. Many people have testified that they have suddenly begun to realise how the Old and New Testaments fit together after doing Introduction to the Bible. Each of the other courses sharpens up your understanding of God’s Word so that you can glorify him in your own life, and teach that Word to others (whether in a Scripture class or Sprout class, small group, training course, or in your own family.)
The first course we are offering support for in 2011 is Ephesians. We will be meeting on Saturday mornings, starting March 5th, from 8:30-10 am (I said it involved commitment!) for 10 weeks, in the church office at 50 Hudson St, Hamilton. The study leader will be Neil Foster, who in a former life was a Greek lecturer at Moore College before turning to Law lecturing at Newcastle Uni.
Paul’s letter is packed with huge issues about the purpose of life, the person and work of Jesus, and how we live as Christians (see the “word cloud” attached which illustrates the key ideas in the letter). This course would be perfect for those who have already done the introductory courses and would like to make more progress towards the full 6 courses that qualify you for award of the Moore College PTC. But if you’ve been around church for a few years and haven’t done other PTC courses before, feel free to give it a go!
{However, if you’re in that situation you might find it better to wait until Term 2, starting June 4th, when we will be doing the first unit in the PTC, Introduction to the Bible. Put it in your diary now!}
For Ephesians, enrolments are meant to be finalised by Feb 15th. If you are interested, contact Neil Foster on 40234323 or neil.foster@newcastle.edu.au before that date.