This Sunday 25 July we begin our 2010 Integrated Series on 'The Costly Art Of Forgiveness'. The annual Integrated Series is an opportunity for both services and all small groups to look at the same topic over four weeks. Each year we choose topics from the Bible that are foundational to our Christian faith. This year we'll tackle tough questions like 'What is the unforgiveable sin?' and 'Does God always expect me to forgive others?'. Hear the talk on Sunday, do the Bible study during the week, and let's grow together in our understanding of this important topic.

There has been some confusion over the location of SCOOT! for next week. Due to renovations at Gordon Primary, SCOOT! will be held at Lanyon High School (Heidelberg St Conder) from 9:30am to 12:30pm, this Monday 5 July to Friday 9 July.

We'll do our best to communicate this to all registered families, but if you know of someone coming it might be worth just checking they have received this update. And if you haven't yet registered your child there is still time to do so.

See you at SCOOT!

Due to building work, the Gordon School hall will be unavailable for about six weeks, from this Sunday 27 June. During this time we will be running Church Unplugged using the 'Banksia' classrooms common area. Parking is unaffected, so arrive as you normally would, and you will be directed to the new location.

Our church is part of the community partnership for the Breakfast Club at Gordon Primary School. From 8:30am-9:00am free breakfast will be offered to those kids who might otherwise miss having breakfast or benefit from the structure of sitting to eat with others. If you would like to help one morning then contact Sarah Holberton (Wed) or Glen McDonald (Thur) or Jonathan Holt (Fri).

The winter season of our social tough footy gathering has begun. Join us at Banks oval, from 3:30pm each Sunday afternoon.

Last week, Night Church celebrated its 2nd anniversary and launched its vision for the next 12 months.

The vision is to make and strengthen connections with Jesus and with each other, over shared meals.  The plan is to hold 10 food related events that will prompt connections, and the vision is known by the phrase CONNECT 10.

Page CXVI have made 7 songs available as a free download from their website: http://pagecxvi.com/share

Page CXVI describe themselves as "a project started with the idea of making hymns accessible and known again. They are some of the richest, most meaningful, moving pieces of music ever written."

Everyone's talking about it. On Friday 14 May we're hitting the road to Cootamundra for a visit to our link parish there. They've offered to host us on the Friday night, but you need to let us know you're coming. If you prefer to organising your own accommodation that's fine too. They'll organise the program for the Saturday, and we'll enjoy the experience and do what we can to help and encourage them.

Easter is fast approaching, and that means it's time for our annual Good Friday Festival. Put it in your diary: 10am on Friday 2 April at Gordon Park. Included in the festival will be a good friday service, followed by pony rides, jumping castle, morning tea, face painting and helium balloons. And it's all free! Bring your own picnic blanket and/or chairs to sit on.

Billions of dollars are spent on pornography every year. Many are enslaved in a cycle of addiction, guilt and shame. That's why throughout March, Outreach Media is embarking on a bold poster campaign to show the freedom and hope that Jesus offers. This poster will be displayed outside churches across Australia. Visit www.pornequalsdespair.org for more information.

As part of Clean Up Australia Day, there's a bunch of us from Night Church who are helping to clean up the Gordon Pond area on Sunday 7 March, from 9 am 'til noon.

I've registered myself on the Clean Up Australia Day website, which means I get my own personal page! Check it out: www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/nate

Thanks to Outward Bound Australia for initiating the clean up of Gordon Pond.

 

Scripture in Schools is fast approaching. Please prayerfully consider whether you can teach or assist at any of the schools below and let Sarah Holberton know (0423210273 or sarah.holberton@gmail.com).

Tuesday 23 March - Friday 26 March

Wanniassa Hills Primary (12.15-12.45pm)

Gordon Primary School (2-2.30pm)

Monday 29 March - Thursday 1 April

Monash Primary (9.10-9.40am)

Chisholm Primary (1-1.30pm)

Isabella Plains (1-1.30pm)

Urambi Primary (2.20-2.50pm)

It's on again. Another year, another chance to vote on what you'd like to hear preached at church. It could be a topic, a specific part of the bible, or maybe a question that's been on our mind.

Pick up one of the purple slips at church this Sunday to cast your vote.

Someone suggested we start a church library, and so we're going to make it happen. Basically the idea is to create a list of books that people own and are happy to lend, and then make that list available for anyone who is interested. Our hope is that it will help to create a culture of reading in our church, and that it will save people from buying a new book when they could borrow it from someone else.

The kind of books we are looking for are ones that are faithful to the Scriptures and that will encourage and strengthen us to love and serve Jesus as Lord.

If you have a book you would like to add to the growing list, you can do so online here: http://lvac.wufoo.com/forms/submit-a-book/.

We plan to finalise the list and launch the library in March.

This week we launched a new website for our youth group: lvac.fervr.net

Fervr is a website full of articles, reviews and videos for Christian youth, and we have simply created a Fervr group for Lanyon Valley Anglican Church.

Now our youth can hop online and engage with solid biblical content in a way that suits them.

On February 26 and 27 we have a wonderful opportunity to focus to overseas mission and the work of The Church Missionary Society (CMS) with its Canberra Mission Focus. CMS are involved in training and sending Christian missionaries around the world - people like Rob and Arabelle Horne and their family who are serving in Leipzig, Germany, and who our church supports.

The Canberra Mission Focus conference brings together the CMS family from many different places to pray together, to hear from God’s word, and to be inspired by recently returned CMS missionaries. Come along this year as we delve into the Scriptures through engaging and in-depth Bible talks, learn about the joys and challenges of the mission field, and enjoy great Christian fellowship.

For more information and to register, visit www.cms.org.au/resonate

John Piper is an American pastor who has written and published a number of books and articles that help to explain and illuminate biblical truth. Some of these works he has made available as free downloads from his website:

www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/

One of the books that I have recently downloaded is called 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die, and I plan to read and discuss this with my small group soon. There is even a leader's guide for group study!

Jonathan sends out a weekly email with heaps of useful information about the life of our church. If you don't already receive the weekly email, please contact us to be added to the list.

Here's the details for our Christmas services:

Christmas Eve @ 7pm Christmas Day @ 10am Sunday after Christmas | 27 December @ 10am (no night church)

Please contact us if you have any questions.

The Bush Church Aid Society have just launched a new website, which makes for a perfect opportunity to catch up on our mission partners Gary and Nikki Alexander who are serving in Kununurra, North West Australia.

Visit Gary and Nikki's profile page.

You've heard of Church in the Park at Easter, now it's time for Carols on the Oval at Christmas.

All you need to do is bring the family down to Gordon Primary School Oval (Knoke Avenue, Gordon) at 7pm on Saturday 12 December. We'll provide the choir, though we expect you to sing along! We'll also provide a free BBQ for dinner, plus some activities for the kids.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

I've been reading this book: What Is A Healthy Church Member? In it the author says:

Don't let the Sunday sermon become a one-time event that fades from memory as soon as it is over (James 1:22-25). Choose one or two particular applications from the Scripture and prayerfully put them into practice over the coming week. If your church has an audio ministry, take advantage of these opportunities to feed your soul with the click of a mouse.

Our church does have an audio ministry, as noted in the post below. Why not take a look at the bible talks available for download.

If you miss a Bible talk on Sunday, or you would like to listen to one again, you can download the recording from the Bible talks page. Then you can load it on your mp3 player and listen to it on the way to work or school. It's that easy.

We do our best to upload the talks soon after they happen, but not everything will be up to date. If there is a talk missing that you were after, please contact us.

Next week, volunteers from church will be visiting Gordon Primary School to teach students the Christmas story. The lessons will focus on the idea of belonging to God's family, and the students will learn this memory verse from John 1:12:

Some people accepted Jesus and put their faith in him. So he gave them to right to be the children of God.

if you would like more information or would like to help in some way please contact us.

It's great to hear how God has been at work in the lives of other people.

I Am Second is website where you can watch a collection of people share their story. Some of the people are famous, but some are just like you and me. Every one of them has come to realise that their life only makes sense when Jesus is front and centre, and they are second.

Visit: I Am Second

Life is full of decisions. Some of them are pretty straight-forward, but others can leave us feeling stressed and confused. After all, we want to make the right decision, and worry about the consequences of getting it wrong. This is particularly the case with some of the bigger questions like where to live, work, go to church, or who to marry. And unfortunately the Bible doesn't have a specific answer to these questions for each of us! So, we can find ourselves asking questions like this:

How do I know what God wants me to do?

How can I make decisions that are in line with his will?

If you've ever wondered how to deal with these issues, I recommend to you a book called "Guidance And The Voice Of God" by Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne.

It's not the last word on guidance, but it's a helpful discussion of how God guides us and how we can listen to his voice.

If you don't buy the book, check out the few short articles that Phillip Jensen has on his website on the same topic:

The guiding God

The response of the guided

How does God guide?

Two things I love are music and bargains. So you can imagine my excitement at finding a great free music download: Singalong by Phil Wickham. Phil is a Christian musician from the US, and Singalong is a live recording of Phil singing and playing his acoustic guitar to a vocal congregation of about 3000 people. It's a mix of his original work with some classic old hymns like 'I Have Decided To Follow Jesus' and 'Come Thou Fount'.

I've found myself singing along and enjoying the benefit of filling my mind with words of praise to God.

Download Singalong by Phil Wickham.

 

"Thanks!" It's one of the first things we are taught as kids. We've learn that the right response to receiving something from someone is to thank them. And so when we consider everything that God has given us, it's appropriate that we thank him. Like we read in Psalm 118:

"You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you."

If you're not in the habit of thanking God it might be a good time to start. There's a hundred different ways that you might begin that discipline, but one option for you is to join us on the first Friday of every month and we'll thank God together. We call this meeting 'Thank God It's Friday', but we thank God for much more than just Friday.

 

Thank God It's Friday is normally at Jonathan's house from 7:30 for about an hour. The details will always be posted on the calendar.

At Night Church we've been looking for opportunities to be more involved in the community. On Saturday we ran a Fairtrade stall at the Lanyon Marketplace Arts & Crafts Markets.

You've probably heard about Fairtrade or seen the products in the supermarket. The basic idea is that these products guarantee a better deal for third world producers. The Fairtrade Association of Australia & New Zealand puts it like this:

"Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices, Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives."

So from 9am 'til 3pm a bunch of us from Night Church sat at a table near the entrance to the shops selling these Fairtrade products. It was a pretty quiet day, but still worthwhile. We'll be doing it again on Saturday 10 October and Saturday 14 November.

It's a good question to ask.

Why does Jesus matter? Why all the fuss about someone who lived more than 2000 years ago in a little-known part of the Middle East? Why do Christians get so excited about his life and teaching?

Why Jesus? is a very short course for anyone interested in finding answers to these questions.

For details check the calendar.

This Sunday 13 September is Back To Church Sunday.

Back To Church Sunday is about re-connecting people with church. It started in the UK, and last year there were more than 3,000 churches involved.

People lose touch with church for all sorts of reasons, but many would be keen to re-connect if they knew someone locally who they could go with.

Who will you invite?

For more information visit www.backtochurchsunday.com.au or contact us.

There's something special about meeting with other Christians, and sometimes it's a case of 'the more the merrier'. But Canberra is rarely the centre of attention when it comes to big Christian events.

So what do we do?

Well, every year hundreds of Canberran Christians drive to places like Katoomba for things like the annual Katoomba Men's Convention and Katoomba Women's convention.

But not anymore.

This year, for the very first time, we have both a Men's and Women's Christian Convention of our own. So if you're a Christian man or woman living in Canberra this is your opportunity to share in something special.

For Women

The Canberra Christian Women's Convention is on Saturday 19 September from 9:30am to 3:30pm at Rydges Lakeside, London Circuit, Canberra City.

Find out more Register

For Men

The Canberra Christian Men's Convention is on Saturday 17 October from 9:30am to 4:30pm at the Manning Clarke Theatre, Australian National University.

Find out more Register

We're pleased to announce that Glen McDonald has accepted the offer to join the staff team from next year. He's likely to oversee our small group ministry, pastoral care, discipleship and training. Glen will be moving to Canberra from Sydney in December with his wife Beth, and son Zac.

SUPA Club. It's sounds cool, because it is.

Imagine something like our SCOOT! school holiday program, squeezed into half an hour and available at your school every week and you're on the right track. And as of three weeks ago there's a new SUPA Club at Gordon Primary School on Wednesdays at 11 am.

It's great news because it's a unique opportunity for children to learn about Jesus and to have an awesome time with each other and the leaders in a caring environment.

There's already more than 50 children signed up and it's just getting warmed up.

SUPA Clubs are an initiative of Scripture Union and happen in primary schools all over Australia and around the world.

If you'd like to find out more please contact us.

 

This time last month a number of us were frantically preparing for SCOOT!; a week long school holiday program for kids in the Lanyon Valley. SCOOT! began in 2007 and is growing steadily. It's affordable for parents ($5 a day or $20 for the whole week) and entertaining for the kids (games, music, craft, sport, dance, drama). But more than that, it's an opportunity to introduce children to the incredible story of the Bible in an engaging and interactive way. This year we welcomed almost 70 kids each day over the 5 days. Thank God we had enough volunteers! And thanks to Gordon Primary School for the use of their facilities.

It's clear that SCOOT! is meeting a need in our community and we are keen to see this ministry continue to grow in the years ahead. Plus, on the back of the success of SCOOT!, Gordon Primary have allowed us to start a lunchtime Supa Club - but more about that next week.

Last weekend we teamed with ANGLICARE to provide an opportunity for Lanyon Valley residents to donate non-perishable food items for those in our community in a time of need. From 10am 'til 5pm, Friday to Monday, members of the church were available at Lanyon Marketplace to collect the food which is being distributed as part of our Lanyon Pantry program. The Appeal was a success, and thanks to those people who gave generously we have been able to restock this food supply and ensure the Lanyon Pantry continues.

For more information please contact us.

We are pleased to say that last Sunday 3 May marked one year since the official beginning of 'Night Church', our 7pm evening service .

It's the sort of occasion that warrants a party, and party we did. Dinner was provided, with pizza being the indulgence of choice. It was, of course, accompanied by a variety of salads and sides, and finished with one of the largest mud cakes I've seen.

But it was more than just food.

We had the privilege of hearing Dave Wirken share his reflections on the year that was, Kyle Green giving testimony to how God brought him to faith in Jesus, and Caitlyn Green performing a musical item accompanied by Pete Olney.

It was a special treat.

And in addition to all this, Jonathan took the opportunity to remind of us of our mission to know Christ and to make him known in the Lanyon Valley. Speaking from John 4:33-38 he encouraged us to 'open our eyes and look at the fields' - to see the opportunities God has given us to make Jesus known to the people around us; either planting seeds or reaping a harvest.

Thanks be to God for a wonderful year, and let's continue to ask him that the next will be even better.