Call out to all who can help get Iron St Chapel ready for the upcoming Easter events.
Some tasks for us to complete:
Tidy up the front and side lawn
Gardening - Trim hedges, weeding
Pressure wash the Chapel exterior
Clean the kitchen
Sort out and organise downstairs
If you can help, please reach out to Richard - Thanks!
5 weeks and counting till Alpha launch starting May 2022
Last year we had on average 15 people joining us on Alpha each week. Of the 15, 7 of them are currently involved in reading through the gospel of John with us! - Isn’t that amazing! All Glory to God!
There are many more ‘lost sheep’ out there and we get the privilege to partake in this Mission. Our first step is to pray but then to step out in faith and invite family, friends, colleagues and neighbours to our next Alpha.
Here’s how you can be involved:
1) Please pray!
There is no way Alpha can do anything to help anyone unless God moves in their lives and in our conversations.
2) Join the Alpha Prayer team!
During the Alpha Nights we are going to be praying for the Alpha leaders and participants. If you would like to join the Alpha Prayer Team please contact Richard.
3) Start inviting!
Even though we haven’t set a start date or finally decided on a night of the week people can now join and sign up! - Check out the promo video on: sgparra.org.au/alpha
If you have any more questions, please reach out to Richard!
This week the Seric life group will be providing an Italian themed lunch after church for all who are keen. They will cater for GF and DF also.
In three weeks we will be putting on ‘The Golgotha Experience’, a concert designed to help you experience the the Saviour’s sufferings in new ways.
Get your tickets today here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/sovereign-grace-parramatta-the-golgotha-experience-registration-297863556917
Let your friends know! Invite those who wouldn’t normally come to church.
Date: Thursday 14th April
Time: 7.30pm
Place: Iron St Chapel
This Month Sovereign Grace Music will be releasing the first half of the new Psalms album, ‘Unchanging God Vol.1’! Already there are a number of songs available and they are fantastic, head here to pre-order the new album.
From the Sovereign Grace Music Website:
“For centuries, the church has gathered to sing God’s Word back to him, especially the Psalms. That’s because the Psalms teach us that neither dark despair nor jubilant celebration is out of place when God’s people approach him. Through the Psalms we learn to tremble before God’s majestic holiness even as his steadfast love invites us to draw nearer. In every situation he is our refuge, shield, comfort, deliverer, and king. He is our unchanging God. And now, Jesus Christ has enabled us to sing the Psalms with a faith and joy that only the fully forgiven can experience.
We pray these songs we’ve written from the Psalms would lead you to gladly say with the Psalmist, “Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word” (Psalm 119:74).”
On Wednesday 23rd March, we will have no Life Group’s so that all our church can attend this important seminar hosted by SG Wahroonga with guest speaker Andy Farmer from Covenant Fellowship Church (a SG Church in the US).
The topic is one that affects us all wether personally or with people we know and love: ‘Dealing with the Realities of Mental Illness’. Please put it in the calendar (it should already be there if you have the church cal!), get your baby sitter, and come ready to learn and ask questions.
Lunch after church will be at the Spring’s House, bring $5 per adult for chicken and chips. We’ll have some garlic dip, pickles, and drinks. Looking forward to it!
Your LG leaders will let you know all the details!
A final reminder that this Sunday is our GFF collection Sunday! Please take the time to think through and pray how you’d like to joyfully and generously give this year!
Here are the areas we are planning to support:
BUILDING LOCALLY
VENUE FUND
As we seek to be a faithful gospel presence in our city it is on our heart to be a local church with a local home. We want to have a ‘place’ in our city that we can use as a facility to facilitate works of ministry. And to that end we are seeking to go above and beyond our current venue costs to find our own 24/7 location that can be used for Sunday gatherings, lunches, training, mission, offices, community events etc.
FUTURE LEADERS
It is one of our great hopes and needs as a young church plant to invest in, raise up, and train future leaders within our church, and even to be looking out to how we can be sending men out for future church plants. In order to do this, we need to be setting aside finances to cover wages, education, fellowship experiences (like SG Pastors Conference) so that we raise up the next generation of not just ‘leaders’, but Sovereign Grace Leaders that share our vision and values. A portion of this fund will be used to fund Richard Song’s Pastoral Internship as well as provide opportunities as needs arise in the future.
CARING REGIONALLY
INTERNATIONAL CARE MINISTRIES (ICM)
The Philippines is the 12th most populated country in the world with a total population of 108 million. 23 million people in the Philippines (21%) live in poverty on less than $1.22 (US) per day. Approximately 8 million Filipinos (9%) live in ultra poverty on less that $0.50 (US) a day. These are the people that ICM helps, those who do not have enough food to feed their families, adequate shelter and can’t afford medicine for their sick children.
It has been an absolute pleasure to partner with ICM over the last few years. Through our giving over the years well over 6250 people, in 25 different communities, have been able to get fed and cared for through the Transform Program, and over 80 local pastors, educated and cared for through the Thrive Program. God willing we’d really like to partner with ICM again in 2021, with an ongoing heart to care for the poor and needy in our part of the world.
HELPING GLOBALLY
SGC GLOBAL MISSIONS
Sovereign Grace Churches are our family of Churches. A family who partner together to advance the gospel in Jesus Christ, seeking to fulfil our mission by planting and strengthening churches, training pastors, producing gospel- centered resources, and engaging in missions throughout the world. We’re presently enjoying playing our part in gospel work in over 32 different countries. It’s a big world out there and we’re definitely thrilled to play our part! And yet in all truth we have more gospel opportunities than we have the ability to fund. That’s why we want to once again give to global mission in our family of churches. We exist in Australia because of the generous giving of others, and in global mission, we now have the ongoing opportunity to play our part in the story of others, to the glory of God.
OPEN DOORS
Since 1955, Open Doors has been a gospel-advancing ministry, helping the Church remain in some of the most difficult places on the planet to be a Christian. Open Doors continues to achieve this through discipleship, emergency relief and community development in over
70 countries. Open Doors believes persecution exists wherever the gospel is shared, but as a ministry they do not exist to end persecution or even prevent it from growing. They exist to give people the strength to stand in the face of persecution and shine as brightly as they can for Jesus.
Your LG leaders will let you know all the details!
