| | | | News from Barney’s March 2018 | | | |
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| | From Andy and Liz...Hi , welcome to our March newsletter. We hope you like it! Below you will find updates on a couple of our Missional Communities, including prayer points to help as you pray for our community. You will also find some dates for things that are coming up in the next month. Please feel free to forward this to any friends who you think would be interested in reading our news :) During March and April in our Sunday gatherings, we will be looking at 1 Peter together; getting to grips with what Peter was communicating then, and what we may learn from what he wrote today. The letter essentially is about living as disciples in a broken world, and we will be covering themes such as having hope, being a chosen people, living a holy life and the cost of dicipleship in a broken world. These are all topics pertinent to us as God’s people in the 21st Century. There is no denying that we live in a very broken world (you only have to glance at the news to know this is true), but the good news is that there is always hope with Jesus. Not only do we have hope for eternity, we also have hope for God’s kingdom breaking in to this broken world even now. This is something we can pray for, and something we can bring about by living out our vision of being God’s missionary people - seeing lives transformed. You may like to take the time to read 1 Peter in the next week as we begin delving into this particular part of Scripture together. It is our prayer that God will speak to all of us through this series, and that we will respond with obedience and faith. “Grace and peace be yours in abundance” (1 Peter 1:2b) Shalom | |
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| | Praying for our Youth Missional Community | |
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| | 2018 has brought Barney’s Youth lots to be
thankful for. Our Friday night team has grown, and we’ve been able to return to
opening up the church every Friday night. This means that we can be a
consistent, positive presence in the lives of the young people we care for.
We’ve also seen one of our young people step up into a youth leader role.
Despite only being a few weeks into the year,
we’ve already seen some awesome stuff happen. New faces coming to visit, and
returning the next week, and some old faces returning to hang out with us. The
culture of enthusiasm and caring has grown, with young people willing to engage
in thoughtful discussion with each other. | | | |
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| | | Emily, Gabi and Tom had the opportunity to take some young people to Cradle Mountain as part of the Scripture Union camp ‘Bush N’ Biscuits’ last weekend. There, we were able to show them the beauty of God’s creation, as well as introduce them to the big story of the Bible. We all returned feeling encouraged by how God was moving in the hearts and minds of the young people, and drawing them closer to him. If connecting with young people and helping them discover who God has made them to be, and him immense love for them, is something you’re interested in please grab Emily, Gabi or Simon for a chat.
Here are some ways you can be praying for Barney’s Youth over the next few weeks:
For wisdom for the team in facilitating a safe space where young people can come to know God and open their hearts to him For joy, peace, hope and love to fill the lives of the team and our young people For protection over the mental, physical and emotional health of our young people; a lot of them are really struggling
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| | Films and FundingIn the middle of February, Andy wrote to our whole community about some changes to our funding coming up this year. (You can read more about this here.)
Connected with this, we have produced TWO videos. Please watch these videos, and please share them with your friends and family. | |
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| | | | Our short (7 minute) video: | | | |
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| | | | | Our longer (20 minute) video: | | | |
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| | | Coming up in March…15th - Bishop Richard Praying at Barney’s
Bishop Richard Condie (pictured left) is visiting all the Anglican Churches in Tasmania throughout March in order to pray in each location during the run up to Easter. He will be praying at Barney’s at 4pm on Thursday 15th March. All are welcome to join him. | |
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| | | 21st - Alpha Training
Alpha is a fantastic way to help people explore Christianity and ask questions. The Alpha course is designed to work in groups big or small, with people of varying ages and backgrounds. If you are interested in using the Alpha materials at some point, you may like to attend the free training on Wednesday 21st March at 6.30pm at Barney’s. If you would like to register, please click here. | |
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| | | 24th & 25th - Relay for Life
Josh and Sarah Brooks will be leading a team to participate in the Cancer Council’s Relay for Life. This event is a 20 hour overnight walking relay to help raise funds for cancer research and to support families affected by cancer. Their goal is to have someone walking on the track at all times and to raise $1,000. This is a fun and worthwhile event and Josh and Sarah will be providing a tent, snacks and good company! They would love to have your support in any way possible. If you would like to get involved, please contact Josh or Sarah (contact details on Churchapp) or visit their team page (called Film Appreciation Society and Friends) by clicking here. | |
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| | Kids Praise Club 2018Kids Praise Club has had a busy but good start to the year. Having finished the curriculum we’ve been using for the past two years, we are now getting stuck into some new materials produces by Scripture Union. These are flexible and easy to tailor to our group of children, including games, Bible stories, discussion starters and craft. So far we have looked some of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew along the themes of being accepted and being included. Later on we will jump back to Genesis to look at the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are really excited that the number of children coming along to Kids Praise Club has increased substantially over the last 12 months. It is wonderful to be welcoming so many new families to our Barney’s community. The increase in numbers does put some pressure on our leaders, however, and has implications for our safe church policies. For this reason, we have decided to stipulate that Kids Praise Club is now for those in school grades Prep-6 only. For children younger than that, we will continue to improve our foyer space where parents can supervise their preschoolers if they find that more comfortable that being in the main space. Please do be praying for our children as we head into this year, and please pray for more leaders so that we can continue to disciple all our youngest members. If you would be interested in becoming a leader in Kids Praise Club, please speak to Liz Goodacre or email her at liz@tasbarneys.org | | | |
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| | Final Notes…Hospital VisitsAlice Cordwell currently works at Launceston General Hospital and is offering to conduct hospital visits for people connected with our Barney’s community. If you know anyone who may appreciate a visit, please let Alice know on 0408 814 564. Barney’s Prayer NetworkOur prayer network operates by text message on 0481 072 663. Please text this number with prayer requests, with the word JOIN to join and the word STOP to remove yourself from the list. | |
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