On Sunday Jan 30th, in the evening, we will have our Church Family Meeting, which we call “Envision”. To give us updates on how things have been going (ministries and finances) and to give you a vision for what our year is going to look like! We will also eat a quick Pizza Dinner at 4.30pm so please come early!

Please make this a priority as there will be important and exciting announcements that won’t be repeated!

Times:

4.30pm: Church Family Pizza Dinner

5pm-6:30pm: Envision Meeting + Kids Movie

Where: Tara Anglican Junior School

Read the following update from our denomination’s executive director, Mark Prater, and then watch the video below. God is working through our partners in Sovereign Grace Churches! I have visited this church in their School Hall and so I am excited to see this amazing provision of a building!

“We are excited to share with you the story of one local church experiencing the grace and blessings of God through the generosity of regular church members. Jim Brown, senior pastor at Crossway Community Church in Crestview, FL, shares a bit of how they found their church building and the extraordinary generosity God used to help them settle into the building. 

As you watch, join us in thanking God for his provision and care for this local church. And if you are inspired to give, visit our give page. Your contributions make a difference in the advancement of the gospel in local churches all over the world!”

Watch it here: https://vimeo.com/661495866

Dear Church,

We are looking forward to our planned 2022 Retreat in Feb! 

Church Retreat is an opportunity to head away to encounter God together, to sing together, to fellowship together and to make some memories together as a church family. It is our hope that we will have almost the entire church come on our Retreat, as that has been our previous experience, it makes it all the better to have the whole family there! If you know of people who may also like to check out our church and would like to come along, this would be a great way to experience our church community! 

How kind of the Lord to give us this opportunity as a Church Family?! And so here are the details…trusting that this time we are able to go ahead!

DATE:  

• 25-27 February – Friday 7PM – Sunday 1PM

VENUE:  

• We will heading to the beautiful and relaxing bush based Crusaders Conference and Recreation Centre at Galston Gorge, 8 Crusader Rd, Galston NSW 2159

SPEAKER: 

• This year we have our friend Dave Taylor (Pastor of SG Sydney and Director of Emerging Nations for Sovereign Grace Churches) coming with his family to serve us with the word from Colossians Chapter 1, the theme will be: ‘The Supremacy of Christ’.

PROGRAM

• Friday PM – Registration, Coffee + Dessert, Session 1, Optional Night Activity

• Saturday AM – Breakfast, Morning Tea, Session 2 + SG Kids

• Saturday PM – Lunch, Free Time, SG CUP!, Dinner, Session 3 + SG Kids Movie Night, Optional Night Activity

• Sunday AM – Breakfast, Morning Tea, Session 4 + SG Kids

• Sunday PM – Lunch, Camp Photo, Pack Up

PRICING:  

• We will be having two retreats this year! Our second one being our TOGETHER CONFERENCE (SG Australia Combined Churches) July 29-31st @ The Collaroy Centre (pop this in your calendars now!) Because of this, as a Church we’ve decided we’d love to cover the cost for the SG Parra Church Retreat so that everyone can afford to come to both!

• The entire cost for the Feb 2022 retreat will be a simple booking deposit:

  • $50 per adult

  • $25 per child (over 2 years old)

  • Max $100 per family.

  • Please make out your payment to:

    • BSB: 032-170

    • ACC:436436

    • Reference: LASTNAME RETREAT

REGISTRATION:  

• In order to register you need to complete two steps:

1. Fill in this registration form from us and pay your booking deposit:

   • www.sgparra.org.au/retreat

1. Fill in the registration form that will be automatically sent to you from Crusaders soon –

   • NOTE: in this form you will need to indicate your exact dietary needs, if you fail to do this, your dietary requirements will NOT be accounted for.

• There is also a ‘hardship fund’ should it be needed to help you with these costs and so please don’t hesitate to ask if you are in need to help here.

ROOMING

• Because we are not yet big enough as a church to exclusively book out the site, our rooming arrangements will need to be flexible. Families will stay in a room altogether, everyone else will be placed in rooms with the same gender.

DIETS + DETAILS

• As mentioned, a link will be sent to you automatically for you to complete your registration details.

• In this form you will need to indicate your ‘Diet’ for yourself and any children.

QUESTIONS:

• Jordan Pangan will be helping with all things Admin, If you have any questions, then please contact Jordan – jp@sgparra.org.au

Our Starting Point Course is designed to help you understand what we believe and how we function as a church, as well as a chance to meet the Pastor and new members before joining the church.

Starting Point begins at 9am on Sundays before the Service, childcare can be arranged if needed.

We began the New Year as a church worshipping our great God for who He is and what He has done. Psalm 111 instructed us to see that God’s great works inspires great worship from us. I made three application points:

1) Study His Great Works: have you got a plan for 2022 for how you are going to study His great works as recounted for us in the Scriptures? Perhaps you could be helped by the list generated by Ligonier here: https://www.ligonier.org/posts/bible-reading-plans. Personally, I am using this new resource, ‘Be Thou My Vision’ and the McCheyne Bible Reading plan that goes with it, it’s not very everyone but it’s rich and varied.

2) Worship Him Wholeheartedly: the Psalm begins by vowing to worship God with his whole heart, which means all of life, all of soul. Our worship should not be relegated to distinct slots of time or moments (like Sunday or a quiet time) but should span throughout all our day. How can you worship God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength this year?

3) Walk in Wisdom: The Psalm begins and ends in worship, the worship of verse 10 commends us to ‘fear the Lord’ and to walk in wisdom. Fearing God is all encompassing, a joyful trembling before his majesty and his grace which results in a changed life. It will be impossible for you to have great worship in 2022 if you are walking in known sin. Are there any sins you need to repent of and change in for 2022?

You can listen to the message here

Friends,

Tomorrow night is our first ever SG Parramatta Christmas Eve Service! Let us all prepare our hearts to adore Christ together. With all the case numbers rising, and the panic setting in, don’t take your eyes off Christ. The kids will be singing a new song, written by Henry, and the words are a fitting reminder for us:

“Come hear about Christmas

You don't want to miss this

It's all about Jesus

The greatest gift you could ever receive “

NB: masks are now required for indoor venues, our service will inside the hall, so please bring a mask.

NB 2: Also, children will be in the service with us, we have activity books for them to complete to aid their attention.

We will be gathering on Friday Night, Christmas Eve, for our weekly worship service and therefore we will not have a regular Sunday Gathering. If you would still like to gather, perhaps organise to meet with friends from church or visit a local church in Parramatta to meet our fellow saints and partners in the gospel in other churches.

We look forward to seeing you on Jan 2 @ 10am

We are excited to be gathering together to worship Christ our Saviour as the King of Christmas! Come and bring as many people as possible for our Family Carol Service at 5pm!

Invite friends via the FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/430919108528169/

3 Ways To Enjoy Our Denominational Partnership:

We love Sovereign Grace Churches. We’re stronger as a local church because of our denomination. We’re able to participate in God’s broader mission because of our partnership with our denomination. We receive training, mentoring, encouragement, and accountability through our denomination.

Here are three simple ways you can enjoy this gospel partnership from the comfort of your own home:

1. Check out these global updates and join us in praying.

2. Scan the articles in the 3rd Edition of the Sovereign Grace Churches Journal that cover our new Statement of Faith.

3. Watch this church planter’s God-glorifying, encouraging testimony that was shared at the Pastors Conference in November.

The annual Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference was held November 9-11 in Orlando after a 2-year delay due to the pandemic. Almost 600 attendees traveled from all over the world, including Bolivia, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Germany, Ethiopia, Italy, Mexico, Zimbabwe and the US. Those who couldn’t attend due to pandemic-related travel restrictions and immigration issues from 10 different nations, many from the Asia Pacific part of the world, watched a live-stream which was also translated in Spanish.

The theme was “Christ Preeminent” with the focus on Jesus because “he is before all things” (Colossians 1:17), and “he is the head” of the church’s that we have the privilege to pastor and lead (Colossians 1:18). Each session was planned to build churches upon the gospel and in a way that celebrates the preeminence of Jesus Christ.

Our relationship with Sovereign Grace Churches is not a distant connect but a deep, close and relational partnership! I would love you all to listen to these messages for your encouragement and so you can hear from the key leaders in our denomincation!

https://www.sovereigngrace.com/blog/pastors-conference-2021-messages