The next round of Starting Point will be beginning this Sunday. We are kicking off with a casual afternoon tea the Springs’ house.
This is a great course to attend if you are wanting to find out more about the beliefs and values of our church before making the leap into membership.
If you are keen to sign up, please contact admin@sgparra.org.au or you can find out more here.
It is our hope that this will help parents in their efforts to engage their children in conversations about their learning at SG Kids, to expound upon and apply that learning in their own homes, and perhaps even to prepare their child before Sunday for the story that will be taught.
If you're not a parent, I encourage you to check out the SG Kids Spot each week. It may be a handy piece of background knowledge to spark up a conversation after church with one of our children. They love chatting to the adults of our church and it would be of great benefit for them to see you take an interest in what they're learning about in kids church.
May this weekly, small, colourful square be a blessing to you as you carry out God's calling to teach His Word to the next generation.
John Carr
SG Kids Director
Life Groups are on this week!
Please be praying for the new Lucas and Gergis life groups which will commence meeting from this week!
Life Groups are so vital for us as a Church as they allow us to take the joy of Sunday and work out in smaller communities where we can know each other more deeply and help each other out more personally. We hope that this time together with your group blesses you!
Your LG leaders will send you all the information you need for this week.
As you may already be aware, we will soon be moving to Parramatta East Primary School for our Sunday services! This is to accommodate for growth in our church, which is something to praise God for!
We will be moving equipment into storage at Parra East THIS SUNDAY, October 15th after our service finishes at Iron St in the morning. If you are keen to help with this in any way, please contact Rebs at admin@sgparra.org.au.
Our first Sunday service at Parramatta East will be on Sunday, October 22nd. As with any change, there’s bound to be some bumps along the way. However, we hope that even those would be a means of thanksgiving and worship as we get front row seats to see the Lord building His church.
It is our hope that this will help parents in their efforts to engage their children in conversations about their learning at SG Kids, to expound upon and apply that learning in their own homes, and perhaps even to prepare their child before Sunday for the story that will be taught.
If you're not a parent, I encourage you to check out the SG Kids Spot each week. It may be a handy piece of background knowledge to spark up a conversation after church with one of our children. They love chatting to the adults of our church and it would be of great benefit for them to see you take an interest in what they're learning about in kids church.
May this weekly, small, colourful square be a blessing to you as you carry out God's calling to teach His Word to the next generation.
John Carr
SG Kids Director
Life Groups are back this week! This will be our final week with our previous life groups - a great opportunity to send out and farewell those in our groups who will be moving into a new group from nest week.
Life Groups are so vital for us as a Church as they allow us to take the joy of Sunday and work out in smaller communities where we can know each other more deeply and help each other out more personally.
As much as is possible, it’s our aim for every member to attend Life Group or Growth Group, every time it’s on! This isn’t a rule or a new law, rather, we’d love that these special times go in our calendars first because they’re so good and so vital for our growth AND they are a key way we each play a part in serving each other in the church.
For some, this is made difficult because of shift work, travel, or baby sitting needs. To help you, we’ve attached the Term 4 Schedule once again below so that you can look ahead to when your group is on and organise your calendar/sitting around that if possible.
It’s so great when the most amount of people can be regularly be at group where possible!
I hope Life Groups and Growth Groups bless you once again this term!
As you may already know, there will be some changes happening within Life Groups as we introduce two new groups! This might mean that you will need to unsubscribe from your current church calendar subscription, then subscribe to the Calendar which reflects your new Life Group day.
Please follow the instructions below if this applies to you:
When you are in Google Calendar, look on the left-hand side for "Other Calendars", click the arrow, and select 'Settings'
Locate the calendar you wish to delete and on the far right-hand side select 'Unsubscribe'
Select 'Unsubscribe' again at the prompt.
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
If you have any questions or run into any problems, please contact Rebs at admin@sgparra.org.au.
On Saturday 14th October Australian citizens will have the opportunity to vote on whether they want to make a change to our Constitution by adding a ninth section. The question that will be asked is:
“A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Do you approve this proposed alteration?”
To which you will answer either: YES or NO.
If approved at the referendum, the Bill would add the following words to the Constitution:
Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice
In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
1. there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
2. the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
3. the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
There are many faithful Christian who will have opposed views on this. My job as a Pastor is not to tell you how to vote. But I do commend you all to be good, well-informed citizens, who know what they are voting for/against.
Isn’t it such a privilege that we live in a representative democracy where we get the right to vote!? Thank you Lord!
You would have likely received a grey YES/NO booklet from the Australian Electoral Commission in your letterbox. I encourage you to read that through before Saturday so that you can make an informed decision.
Here is a digital version: https://www.aec.gov.au/referendums/files/pamphlet/your-official-yes-no-referendum-pamphlet.pdf
Finally, let me commend you to pray:
1. For all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to come to know Christ
2. For improved health, safety, education, and life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who sadly, are often very far behind for a multitude of reasons.
3. For unity and peace as a nation, no matter the outcome.
PS. You can vote at 27 Iron St.
As you may already know, there will be some changes happening within Life Groups as we introduce two new groups! This might mean that you will need to unsubscribe from your current church calendar subscription, then subscribe to the Calendar which reflects your new Life Group day.
Please follow the instructions below if this applies to you:
When you are in Google Calendar, look on the left-hand side for "Other Calendars", click the arrow, and select 'Settings'
Locate the calendar you wish to delete and on the far right-hand side select 'Unsubscribe'
Select 'Unsubscribe' again at the prompt.
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
If you have any questions or run into any problems, please contact Rebs at admin@sgparra.org.au.
From Henry Burnett, Sovereign Grace Parramatta Music Team:
I love how our gatherings each Sunday seek to magnify Jesus.
What role does the physicality of our worship play as we seek to make much of Jesus? I wanted to commend to you this article on the 'Physicality of Faithful Worship'. Bob Kauflin in this article gives three reasons why it matters. Can I encourage you to consider these and how you could be faithful in this way as another Sunday of making much of Jesus approaches.
(Click on the image below to read the full article.)
