I would like to encourage one another.

In another thread on this forum it was ascerted that there is an air of hopelessness. That we are not very good at sharing our faith or that when we do, we do it poorly. [http://your.sydneyanglicans.net/forums/viewthread/2716]

With greatest respect to Craig, I would like to prove him wrong. That we are indeed trying to share our faith. It might be as individuals. It might be a group effort through programs in our church. It might be through teams of people working in the same workplace.

If you have a friend who has recently responded to the gospel.......share it here.

If you are a new Christian .....lets say between 0 - 5 years come on board and say Hi! Let us know how you came to know the Lord.

Lets celebrate ...... because for every sinner who returns to Christ ..... there is great rejoicing in heaven. Lets rejoice here on earth too!

I feel myself slipping fast off the top 10. Must get the ball a rollin’.

I know of a family that came back to church after the birth of their first child. They said Christianity all of a sudden made a whole lot of sense for them at that time.

I know of a lady that regularly visits a local maternity ward as part of Mother’s Union to celebrate in the joy of the birth of a new baby and to invite the parents along to the local church. A number of families have taken her up on the offer and have since come to church.

I have a friend who straight out asked me if there was a church nearby who could do Christianity Explained with her. Couldn’t find a course so I offered to do it with her one on one. She continues to go to church with her children even though her husband is not yet ready to adopt the Christian faith as his own.

I dont have any beachmission stories because I taught the mini-mites at the time (infants age). But I’m sure there are others out there who could share more stories of people turning to Christ after a beachmission.

On my first ever beach mission I was able to share the gospel with three teenagers. The local drug dealer, a young man who was kicked out of the army, and a dancer from Newcastle. All three made a committment to Christ. One ended up marrying a nice christian girl, another is went to a christian college...and the other is...well we’ll continue to pray for him!

But this was about 4 years ago.

But sonce then I have also seen many people come to know Jesus through youth groups and men’s outreach.

So there you go Heather. Maybe this will help your thread snowball into what you want it to and you can prove Craig S wrong :-)

We started a Playgroup 4 years ago to have contact with mums in the local area.
We invite our Playgroup mums along to evangelistic events.
Several of them have become Christians and regular members at church.
One of these ladies who has particularly
flourished has been bringing her husband along to church events
and he has just done Introducing God.
He was very keen and has now invited his mum along to our new Introducing God
group that starts tomorrow.
Pray that she too will respond and invite others!

******** Woo hooo ******* Fabuous!! ******* How exciting! *******

Somebody open a bottle of sparkly. Welcome to the Kingdom!

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It is good to remember to celebrate with one another when someone comes into the Kingdom!

[I have to remind myself of this fact too and so I am using this space to practise.  ;-) ]

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Every single person who repents is precious to the Kingdom! Thanks for sharing David and Geoff.

Luke 15:3-10
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

David Clarke - 24 July 2007 08:53 PM

One of these ladies who has particularly
flourished has been bringing her husband along to church events
and he has just done Introducing God.
He was very keen and has now invited his mum along to our new Introducing God
group that starts tomorrow.
Pray that she too will respond and invite others!

Hi David,
Will be praying for this gentleman’s mum.
And prayer that the playgroup will continue to bear fruit for the Kingdom!
cheers,
Heather.

Geoff Chambers - 24 July 2007 04:32 PM

But since then I have also seen many people come to know Jesus through youth groups and men’s outreach.

Do tell! How have you or your church been doing men’s outreach?

Well the youth group and men’s outreach was happenning at my former church, St Paul’s Castle Hill. For the youth each yr there is a week long discipleship camp and a weekend evangelism/bring your non-christian friends camp. Every year a number of youth come to know Jesus at these camps and are then put into discipleship groups. I became a christian on one of these camps.

I don’t know much about the men’s ministry. There is a men’s conference every year that our church holds. Recently a car show was held out the church for outreach purposes to men in the community.

But anyway, that is my old church. I’ve done a big swap from a 1000+ membership church in the bible belt of sydney to a church of about 20 in the inner city. Our new minister began at the beggining of this year and hopefully the Lord will give us plenty of stories of winning souls for the kingdom to share. If you live in or near the inner city, and are looking to join a parish that really needs people with gifts PM me!

In Christ

Geoff