The Bridge - Personal Invites Are Our Marketing Strategy!

Most big companies spend millions (sometimes billions) of dollars to reach us with their products, Tesla being a rare exception. Until recently, they spent almost no money on advertising, relying on word of mouth and a superior product, they saved their cash and put it into product development. I think it’s safe to say, they’re doing fine!

In order for us to get the word out there for Bridge we aren’t going to have a glitzy advertising campaign or marketing strategy, instead it is up to us to personally invite our friends, neighbors, and family along to the Bridge.

Obviously, we are not selling a product, but offering an opportunity for eternal life. We are not trying to run a program, but hand out spiritual bread and water to the spiritually hungry and thirsty. We don’t need the Bridge to work, it’s not about making our event a success! It’s about reaching the lost. And you are the best person to reach the lost around you.

So the question is:

WHO COULD YOU BRING TO BRIDGE?

It starts in three weeks! Now is the time to make that invite.

If you haven’t, watch one of the Bridge videos to taste and see if it’s any good. I think they are awesome and will serve people really really well.

https://bridgecourse.org

Riley Spring
International Sunday THIS WEEK!

We will be holding International Sunday this week to celebrate all the different cultures represented in our church community!

We’d love to invite you to bring a traditional dish or snack (no nuts, please) from your cultural background and also to come dressed in a traditional outfit.

Please notify Richard Song at richard@sgparra.org.au if you are able to bring a dish.

We look forward to celebrating with you!

SG Parra Admin
Envision 2025

On Sunday, the 9th of February, we will be having our biannual Church Family Meeting, which we call “Envision”. This is a chance for Riley and different key leaders to give the church updates on how things have been going (ministries and finances) and to give you a vision for this year.

When: 4:30-6:30pm | Sunday, 11th February
Where: Iron Street Hall (27 Iron Street, North Parramatta)
Dinner will be provided and there will be a kids’ movie on downstairs for the duration of the meeting.

We would love for you to prioritise this in your calendar as there will be important announcements and information relayed during our time together. Thankyou!

SG Parra Admin
Pastor's Leave

Riley will be away from the office from 9-23rd Jan.

Richie will be away from the office 13-20th Jan.

They won’t be attending to email or WhatsApp in this time.

Riley Spring
Summer Book Clubs continue This Week!

Our Summer Book Clubs will begin this week for the ladies and continue for the men!

Women’s Book Club: 7:30pm Tuesday 7 January
It’s not too late to join! You can contact Rebs (admin@sgparra.org.au) if you’d like to sign up.

Men’s Book Club: 7:30pm Thursday 9 January
You can contact Richard (richie@sgparra.org.au) for more info.

SG Parra Admin
Subscribing to the Church Calendar

As we come into the new year, here’s your friendly reminder to subscribe to the church calendar if you haven’t already done so! This will help you stay up to date with important events within the church.

For iPhone users:
If clicking on the link below doesn't do the trick, then try this on your phone:
Settings > Calendar > Accounts > Add Account > Other > Add Subscribed Calendar > Paste link. Repeat for each calendar.

For Android users:
Follow this quick tutorial to subscribe to each calendar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBcPO-jO2eI

Links:

Wednesday LG: 
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/35299c88167329e93ce8a9b5876a1d3cebfe8856b4045af71e9f0cb98a17af00%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

Thursday LG: 
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/cd6c1dfd72114035ea1d9f30c118924c79a286331585cd94a463be225ea84853%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

Sunday LG:
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=OWQ3ZDJhMzE0YmE0NWM5NjYyZTcyYWNhZjgyMGU3NDQyNWNkZGVlMzg5Y2ExNDAxNzFjMGQ3YzZhNjk1NzMxYkBncm91cC5jYWxlbmRhci5nb29nbGUuY29t

If you have any problems subscribing to the calendar, contact Rebs at admin@sgparra.org.au.

SG Parra Admin
Internation Sunday - 26th Jan

We will be holding International Sunday on the 26th of Jan to celebrate all the different cultures represented in our church community!

We’d love to invite you to bring a traditional dish or snack (no nuts, please) from your cultural background and also to come dressed in a traditional outfit.

Please notify Richard Song at richard@sgparra.org.au if you are able to bring a dish.

We look forward to celebrating with you!

SG Parra Admin
Welcome Joel Fletcher

A Happy New Year to you all and I hope that you are prayerfully preparing yourself for a new calendar year. I wanted to take a moment to let you know of an exciting announcement for us as a church: we will be taking on a 'Student Minister' named Joel Fletcher, a student at Moore Theological College in Sydney. 

You may remember Joel and Sam as they visited with us a couple of months ago. He is completing his theological studies at Moore and as part of his studies he needs to undertake a ministry placement and we are glad to accomodate he, Sam and their son Jonathan! 

Training up future pastors is not optional but a perennial responsibiliity of elders and local churches and it is our joy to be a part of the journey. Paul makes this clear in 2 Tim 2:1-2.

 "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also."

We came to meet Joel through our other Joel! Joel Fletcher began to be interested in continuationism, one of our 7 shared values, and went looking for resources and asked people who knew of continuationist churches, one of friends at College was friends with Joel Seric and made the connection, who then made the connection with me. 

Its been fun getting to know Joel F over phone calls, catch ups and interviews. He is thoughtful, loves Christ, determined and is doing the risky thing of setting apart his life to serve the Lord. He comes with a great review from his home church, The Lakes EV in the Central Coast, and his previous Student Ministry position at Wenty Anglican. 

The role of a Student Minister is different to a Pastoral Intern. His focus is his studies at Moore and to help give him exposure and experience he will be involved in various serving activities including preaching and assisting in SG Kids coordinating. So this will be a new experience for us all.

His first Sunday will be Australia Day, 26 Jan where I have given him the easy, warm up job of preaching! Nothing like a good sermon to ease your way in! 

As we take this new step froward, please do what you do so well...warmly welcome Joel, Sam and Jonathan into our church family. We don't know what the future will hold but I trust that God has led them to us for our blessing and hopefully theirs too!


Riley Spring
Summer Preaching Series: Psalms

As is our usual practice we will be preaching through the Psalms over the summer holidays period and we will be having some guest preachers, including some very fresh faces!

Jan 5th: Psalm 86 - Riley

Jan 12th: Psalm 46 - Craig Oliver

Jan 19th: Psalm 22 - Jazz Dawson

Jan 26th: Psalm 2 - Joel Fletcher

Feb 2nd: TBC - Louis Baron

Holidays doesn’t mean time off from our soul, instead it is time off FOR our soul!

Riley Spring
Crossway New Year Deal

Crossway Plus' annual e-book & audiobook deal is live! From the 1st to 8th of Jan 2025, Crossway+ members will have access to all ebooks and audiobooks from 2.99USD!

*some exclusions apply.

We recommend signing up (Crossway+ membership is free - sign up here!) and taking advantage of this deal! This may also be helpful for the summer book clubs happening throughout January (True Feelings is one of the books available at the discounted rate!).

Happy reading!

SG Parra Admin