Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

These are the words that are repeated in Psalm 42 and 43. It’s saying something that’s so different to how our world thinks that we might just miss it. It’s saying that when I feel like my life’s falling apart and nothing going right, the best thing I can do is praise God. The writer looks forward to going to the Jewish Temple and there being able to praise God, that’s what he hopes for; it’s what he looks forward to. More than that… it’s what he knows will help settle his “downcast soul”.

That’s a very different thing than we’d expect isn’t it… for most people in the midst of their life falling apart, we’d think they need to be reminded that God will “work things out for their good”. But the Psalmist doesn’t say that. He says that best thing for your soul is to reflect on your great, saving, awesome God… and praise him.

I hope you take the opportunity to do that today in prayer, and at church on Sunday.

photo credit: suburbanbloke

About 35 men from HBC went away to weekend 3 of Katoomba Mens Convention (March 5-6).  The topic was ‘Men of Service- Love Relationships and Family.  Basically it was fantastic!

John Dickson spoke from Philippians and showed how an understanding of the first readers’ original context makes it clear the gospel demanded a lot from them. 

Gary Millar from Ireland preached on Song of Songs.  He’s a brave man and didn’t shirk away from anything!  We learnt heaps about how to read the book so it made sense.  There was also lots of great challenges to think about sex rightly and relate in a godly way to our wives (for those who have them).

I would certainly recommend for men to buy the talks (especially Gary’s) from the kcc website.  To wives - it would make a great gift!

The fellowship on the bus, at McDonalds and at the Youth Hostel was also a highlight.  I’m looking forward to next year - hope you are too.

Is there a ‘Mens Ministry’ at HBC?  Why have there been less events than in previous years?

As the Maturity Pastor I thought I’d take a moment to answer these questions.

Yes, there is a Men’s Ministry at HBC.  The staff, elders and growth group leaders are committed to seeing men at HBC grow in their knowledge of God, love for others and active Christian service.

How do we hope this will happen?  Well, primarily through relevant biblical preaching and Bible study at Growth Groups during the week.  This is why I see that a large part of my (and our) ministry to men is to encourage them to come to church and to join a Growth Group.  I hope to train enough leaders so that every man at church can get to a group of some kind.  Within groups (whether men’s groups or otherwise) I hope the men will pray together, hang out together, and grow together.

But what about events?  It’s true that special events for men can help with Christian growth and fellowship.  There have been a few less events lately.  This is partly because the calendar has been quickly filled with other really important stuff and frankly, myself and many of the senior guys have been flat out!  This year, the events in the calendar are Katoomba Mens Convention (March 5-6), Hunter Mens Convention (Sept 4) and a Wednesday evening event on August 4th about ‘How to read the Bible with your wife’.  I’m hoping to produce some blogs on this soon.

Would you like to do more with Men’s Ministry?  Why not agree with the men in your group to read a book like ‘the Disciplines of a Godly Man’ by Kent Hughes.  Or ask a staff member or older man to come and speak with the men in your group about an aspect of Christian manhood.  Or go camping together!

The city of Newcastle needs thousands of godly men to share the gospel and live the gospel- I’d love for HBC to play a role in this.

photo credit: One lucky guy

Here at Hunter Bible Church, each of our Growth Groups are rostered on to serve together at our Sunday meetings - as a team. It might sound like an odd way to roster things at church, but I’m convinced that its a really good way because:

Rostering individual people to help out with things like setup and packup can end up being quite unloving. Why is that?

1. it means that a few people have to bear a very large load.
2. It means there’s usually only ever just enough people on for a certain task - and so those few feel pressured.
3. And it can mean that some people find themselves rostered on to do things at church when they’re struggling spiritually, or not even sure if HBC is their church.

On the other hand, rostering our Growth Groups to share a task at church once every month or so provides a Christian context to help encourage people to serve Jesus when they’re rostered on. How do Groups do that?

1. It makes the amount and frequency of service more bearable because there are more people sharing the load. (Many hands make light chairs.)
2. There’s enough people in most Growth Groups for a few members to be able to opt-out one week if they need to. Groups can even suggest that one of their members needs to opt-out because they know where that person’s life is at.
3. As groups get to know and care for each other, they can take the opportunity to enjoy serving together - as a team. They can encourage each other to “do it” for Jesus, and see the big picture.

photo credit: Mat_B,  photo credit: zen,

The HBC elders meet again last night! After looking at 1Thes 2:8-10 and praying together, we had a good night getting through a lot of things - many to do with the upcoming AGM and the possiblity of getting a church building.

We agreed that at the AGM we’d propose that we change the name of the official church association from “Newcastle Unichurch” to “Hunter Bible Church”. We’re also going to propose some minor constitutional changes to keep things in line with the size of our church. More details will come about this soon!

We also decided that the AGM night would be a good opportunity to talk about a building and give members the opportunity to ask questions about the building process and where we’re up to. So, we’re going to get the AGM business started at 7pm and finished as quickly as possible. Then at about 7:45pm we’ll have a kinda’ “open forum” about all things to do with buildings and HBC.

To top it all off, we also decided that Hunter Bible Church should officially take on HMP (Hope Myanmar Partnership) as a mission partner! We’re convinced they are a great organisation and making this official this just confirms that.

Please remember to pray for our elders, and for our church as we think about things like constitutions and buildings.

This week is O-Week, so I have been on campus almost all week.

As I have spoken to students, lined up for free snow cones, pancakes & sausages, had free condoms thrust into my hands by the queer society, dominated the horizontal bungee and invited people of all backgrounds to check out Jesus with us at Unichurch, I have been reminded that as a church we need to praying for our city!

As I was reminded of this I remembered a prayer I read yesterday on the Gospel Coalition blog.  I would like to invite you to model your prayer for our city on this one with me.  Note: this prayer was prayed at Fuller Seminary School of World Missions.  Hence, the reference to morning classes.

photo credit: pj_in_oz!

Almighty and everlasting God this morning we bow before You in prayer for the great cities of earth – London and Hong Kong and Tokyo and Berlin and Delhi and Rome and Kinshasa and Havana and Moscow and Lima and Sao Paulo and Chicago and Mexico City and hundreds of others. Good Lord, in such great measure, these are dark and evil places where crime and prostitution and injustice flourish, where demonic powers stalk the streets and Your sons and daughters become dehumanized. And yet, Lord, in such great measure these are also good places full of education and invention and manufacture and books and great hospitals and universities and seminaries and churches and tremendous interchange of ideas and inspiration. Empower Your churches, O God, to see the cities as the decisive battlefields of our day and to discern the real enemies and to fight manfully on, heeding neither weariness nor wounds, ’til You have built in these cities the New Jerusalem. And empower us, Your servants, to regard these morning classes not as academic exercises heading toward paper degrees, but as Your assemblies, Your assemblies, good Lord, in which we open ourselves to Your presence and tune our ears to Your commands and identify ourselves with our brothers and sisters perishing in the contemporary famine of Your word. This we ask in Jesus’ blessed name. Amen. (Collection 178, T52 – February 21, 1979)

Whether you’ve just joined us at Unichurch or been around for a while, there are lots of things happening this time of the year. I want to tell you about four events at Unichurch. They are all a little bit like train tickets…

The welcome dessert is a single train ticket. Come along if you’ve never been to one of these before. You’ll get to meet Greg, some regulars, find out about our church and share some delicious dessert. But just come once. It’s a single ticket. They are happening at my house on Monday nights during semester, starting 1st March. Call me (Geoff) for more info - 0435 126 121.

Growth groups are a yearly train ticket. At a growth group a bunch of people meet together one night a week to read the bible, pray, share food and look after each other. They are so good that you’ll want to come along for the year! They’re starting on 2nd March. To find out about these groups call Josh - 0431 747 370.

Life to the Full is a monthly train ticket. If you’re checking Jesus out, or have been on the church scene for a while but you’ve got questions about Jesus - then Life to the Full is for you. Every Tuesday night in March join us at a bowling club for a $5 gourmet dinner by a professional chef and check out what Jesus claims about life for your self. You can register here or for more info call James - 0421 159 581.

The last event if FORGE. FORGE is an unlimited family pass. When you buy this ticket your whole family gets unlimited travel on ferries, buses and trains. It’s amazing value! Likewise, the whole Unichurch family is going to FORGE. All the growth groups. Everyone will be there! At $75 it’s incredible value too. FORGE is jam-packed with food, music, talks, relaxing, making friends and so much more. Check out the web page for the flyer, video adds, more information or to register online.

Work out which tickets are for you and come along!

photo credit: swgn,  photo credit: atzu

To the Men,

We’re going to Katoomba Mens Convention this year on Friday/Saturday March 5 and 6.  The theme is ‘Men of Service: Love, relationships and family’

The accommodation, bus and rego are all organised.  We leave 3:15 on Friday at at Energy Australia Stadium and will be back Saturday night.  Cost is $123 or $117 concession.

There are some seats left, so contact me today and bring a mate or two along!

As we look forward to Last Minute Sunday this week, it would be good for us to spend a little time thinking about what we would like Unichurch to look like this year. And more importantly, what does God want for Unichurch?

God says in Php 1:27 that ‘whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then… I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel’

Or Eph 4:1-3 God tells us ‘I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.’ God says he wants us to be united in harmony, united in belief, united in love, united in proclaiming Jesus.

What do you think this would look like in practice?

How do you think you can a life worthy of God’s gospel of grace?

How do you feel you could help bring this about?

Take some time pondering this, and then pray to our glorious and mighty God.

One aspect of the HBC vision is that anyone who is part of the HBC community would serve the church and beyond in a particular area of ministry.  You might have heard of the 20:80 rule at churches- 20% of the people do 80% of the work.  We’d rather see 100% of people to 100% of the work!

A good way to think about ministry is doing something significant in a particular ‘M’.  For example you might choose Membership and therefore join Welcoming team.  Or you might want to choose Magnification and devote every second week to helping set up sound.  If you’re able, it would be also great to do another ministry in a smaller way.  For example, even though you might lead singing you could volunteer to help with holiday Sprout at AM.

If you’d like to change ministries, or change ‘M’s that’s OK and often a good idea.  The best thing is to talk with your ministry team leader and make sure they’re not left in the lurch.  Then talk with leaders of other ministries you’d like to go to, or tick the serving box on the contact card.

photo credit: .Storm