Peace at Christmas time.

May we never forget the true, essential,message of Christmas.
Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us, being born in simple, humble circumstances, in a manger in Bethlehem, coming into this lost, dark, sinfilled world to restore the broken relationship between God & His creation, us!
May we once again pause to recognise the greatest of gifts, the opportunity to have peace with God, through His Son Jesus.
What a gift!
Have a safe, peaceful & blessed Christmas,
& all the best for the new year!

The future of the evangelical Church.

Rev. Kevin Webb & myself had the opportunity to attend the 'Baptist Evangelical Today' conference in Sydney last week, held at Morling College. Both of us came away very encouraged by what we heard there from guest speaker Dr. Mark Dever (Pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C.)
Approx 50 of us sat under Mark's teaching & were challenged to remain true to our calling, to be faithful to God's Word, & to stand up for true evangelical beliefs.
With some of the current thoughts 'emerging' from within Baptist circles, many of which seem to challenge long held views & beliefs, it was a solid reminder that we must build our ministry on the Gospel. Our leadership must be humble & servant like, not looking to models that the world holds up, but looking to Christ! We must continue to preach the need for repentance & salvation by grace alone.
Each Baptist Church in the Riverina has a clear responsibilty, to know Christ & to make Him known, to faithfully teach God's Word, to be a light in the darkness, thereby bringing glory to God!
You can find out more about Mark Dever's ministry from these links, there are plenty of free resources for Church leaders & teachers. Well worth a look.
www.capitalhillbaptist.org
www.9Marks.org

Just Do It (TM) Coolamon

Jesus said, "I will build my church."

No he didn't, he said, "On this rock, I will build my church."

Protestant commentators rightly understand "this rock" to be Peter's declaration of Jesus as Christ.

So you see, we have a part to play in Jesus work.

Proclaiming Jesus as the Christ.

Arriving home from the Church Planting Conference (Previous Post) Kev, Allen and Michael felt like the time had come for the RBA to act on a vision of church planting.

Where do we start?

Wherever we can...

There seems to be a possibility that there may be room and resources for a Bible based initiative of some kind in Coolamon, also in Coleambally.

So, Michael Hutton will seek to find time to see what develops in Coolamon, Kevin Webb will see what may be able to be done in Coleambally.

What can you do?

Pray
Pray for Coolamon, as we seek to meet with existing Bible Believing Christians (particularly of Baptist extraction) who may be interested in pioneering a witness in Coolamon.

Pray for Coleambally, as we seek to find out more info about possibilities.

Pray for the proclamation of Jesus the Christ to go into all our towns and farms in the Riverina.

Do
Think about where we might go next, what God has for us to do, what you might do.


Although it makes sense for the people closest to be involved, we want each possible church plant to be seen as a work of the whole association of Baptists in the Riverina.

Prayer Updates

If you would like prayer updates please leave an email address in the comments below
(leave out the @ to evade spambots)

or email Michael Hutton at michaelahutton@gmail.com

Church Planting Conference

On behalf of the RBA Kevin Webb, Allen Crooks and Michael Hutton attended Inspire, the first NSW Baptist church planting conference.




It was good to see so many young folk excited about God's kingdom.





Mike Frost and Pete Davies provided the Biblical foundation for church planting that was sorely lacking in other parts.

We were challenged to see churches as existing and thriving in many shapes and forms not immediately similar to our traditional models

A fruitful meeting was held between the three stooges pictured above right and Pete Davies from MSD (BUNSW) about the possibility of church planting in the Riverina.

Peter listened to and supported our dreams to see the gospel being preached and churches planted throughout the Riverina. He endorsed our plan to start in a small way with the connections that already exist in the town of Coolamon, and maybe later in Coleambally.

Many folk will also be pleased to know that money is being set aside to assist the beginning of a new work in Leeton or Narrandera when the time is right.

The Next Post speaks about how you can get involved.

Catalyst Day in the Riverina

Riverina Baptist Association Rally
Wagga Wagga Baptist Church

'Catalyst'

Saturday 27th March 2010

Please note:
Friday 26th Special training day for Pastors & SRE workers.

Speakers will include:
Rev Ken Clendenning
Rev Vivian Grice
Alan Soden
Greg Gough
Sally Smith
and more!

Workshops covering different areas of Church life.
Special kids program
Back2Basics Youth night
and more!
Make sure you mark your calendars & let others in your church know about Catalyst 2010.

Church Planting: Moving from Policy to Practice

This post will make public the email discussion kicked off by Peter's suggestion to form a church planting working group.

Feel free to add your comment as a comment or email it in.

Peter started by saying:

Can you put this on the agenda for the RBA AGM?

Notice of motion for 2009 RBA AGM
Regarding the church planting initiative presented at the 2008 Wagga
convention: if something more specific is adopted than the motion accepted at that convention, more is likely to happen.

Therefore I move that a church planting working group be established, to be advised by the Union, who shall also be asked to supply representatives. The group shall:

* Identify suitable towns within our Association for evangelism & church planting.
* Find workers & encourage them to move to these towns.
* Establish a small "cell" of support people, who will move there with the workers if they are not already local.
* Establish a board of reference, either one for them all the cells or else one per cell.
* Source adequate funds before the cell is set up, either directly or by finding local employment for cell members.

The search for workers & their support cells shall be conducted first in the town concerned, then in Riverina churches [for maximum local credibility, & so the RBA is more likely to "own" the venture], then in other rural towns, then wider still if necessary.

I asked for feedback from the executive, particularly on whether we like the idea in it's current form.

Here are some responses

Kevin replied:

I agree that unless something concrete is done, nothing will happen and unless resources are found, nothing will happen. We have to get our head around the things Pete is saying. I don't know who is going to do it but we are in agreement that something should be done. Pete Davies needs to be a part of this when he comes we need to have a side bar meeting with him about this.

Andrew Adds:

The concept is good, it certainly means the rubber hitting the road.
I think there is something misleading in the first line, do we advise the Union or get advice from them?
Certainly anyone can bring a motion to the meeting. It is strong but what happens if there are aspects that cannot be met? Is there flexibility to run with resources that are available rather than be hampered by being able to fully meet one requirement.

Just thoughts

Steven also adds:

* Identify suitable towns within our Association for evangelism & church planting.
Then they could possibly be called to;
Investigate & identify the most appropriate ways for that evangelism, and/or church plant to take place at each of the towns identified.

Peter Quinns points can be looked at & adapted to suit the group.
Depending on it's makeup, the group will bring their own ideas as well.
We need to use any resources the Union has available, but still be self controlling as a regional body.
The working group could then report their findings to the executive who could then decide to implement or not.

Thanks for the work that has already been done, good to see something happening!
Steve

Any further comments are most welcome

2010 Men's Day

Open those calendars now and mark down
Saturday 19th June as the 4th Annual Riverina Men's Day.
Once again we'll be meeting at Wagga Wagga Baptist Church
to be encouraged, challenged and equipped to live as Christian men
here in the Riverina.

2009 saw Karl Fase & Jim Wallace joining us as our special guest speakers, and they were great!

2010 is still in planning mode, so watch this space. as soon as our speaker confirms, I'll announce who he is!