Category Archives: Baptist

Baptist

The 'Peoples Army' – stood down council staff take to the streets

At a time when most see ‘unprecedented’ obstacles, Mornington Peninsula Mayor Sam Hearn sees opportunity. With COVID-19 lockdowns forcing the closure of many Community Support Centres, Sam (who is also involved in the leadership of his neighbourhood Baptist church community) dreamed up the ‘People’s Army’: redeploying stood down local council staff to deliver care packages to vulnerable and isolated people in the area. The idea came to him after seeing community members share on Facebook how they were reaching out to their neighbours.

‘People have been doing it far tougher than they probably have for decades and decades,’ said Sam. ‘And yet the way that people have just reached out and suddenly become so much more intentional about wanting to do things for their community has gone through the roof.’

The food parcel plan is part of the Mornington Peninsula’s Caring for Community program, intended to help lessen the spread and effects of the pandemic by creating a sense of ‘togetherness’. The council co-ordinated response involved creating a database of all the vulnerable, elderly or disadvantaged people in the area and setting up supply chains directly from supermarkets to requisition food for those who could not get it themselves. More than 2500 families have been supported so far and the formal council response created a ripple effect into the community, with locals sharing approximately ‘ten times’ the resources of the council on an informal level.

‘It cuts through in a different way when someone sees their mayor or a local community leader saying, “This is the way we as a community are going to respond to this,”’ said Sam. ‘So I’ve gone on the front foot very quickly to give the message that this is about checking on your neighbour, call your friends, check in on the older people in your street, make sure people are doing okay.’

It’s not the first time Sam has headed up something like the food parcel plan. As bushfires raged over summer, more than 200 Mornington Peninsula Shire staff came together to offer support, comfort and accommodation to over 1000 Mallacoota evacuees. Sam views the mission to ‘love your neighbour’ as inseparable with community support, particularly in challenging times.

‘I think the biggest opportunity is for the church to truly and fundamentally be a community of people that are really present individually and collectively in an intentional way as good citizens in their local community – that’s always mattered and is always needed.’

Sam has been committed to building long-term community relationships and trust in this local community, seeing it as vital to mission. His first sense of calling was to his own high-school of Mornington Secondary College when he came to faith as a 15 year old and continues now with his role as Mayor.

‘If we as the church want to actually be relevant and present in our communities, we need to build selfless, long-term, trusting, generous relationships with our local community…to support in anyway way,’ said Sam. ‘I think this year will have shown churches across the country whether they are really connected to their community… If you have only turned up when this crisis hit saying “We want to rescue you, we want to help out”, most people will go “Who the heck are you?”’

‘The great thing is that all church communities can encourage and mobilise their members to reach out and care for their neighbours at a time like this.’

Rather than merely an obstacle to overcome, Sam sees the pandemic as an opportunity to serve community, and for churches to reflect on their local community involvement. Bringing hopeful change to community often feels slower than Sam would like it to be, but the pandemic has brought what matters most to the front and accelerated the process.

‘COVID-19 has probably shown us, reminded us and confronted us with the fact that as human beings we’ve always been together at our most cellular and foundational level,’ Sam said. ‘We’re realising that staying socially connected is what matters most to us – being part of community, feeling loved, giving love, knowing our place and feeling a sense of belonging.’

‘This is especially true as we’ve had the heartbreaking experience of coming out of the first wave with a sense of optimism and gratefulness only to see a second wave emerge,’ Sam said. ‘It’s really taking a heavy toll on people’s mental and emotional wellbeing, and a sense of connection and hope is more important than ever.’

Through the second wave, Sam is practically reaching out and connecting with the people he personally is caring for: delivering food to a single dad in his neighbourhood, chatting to other families at kinder drop off, giving the local café owner a call to encourage him.

‘Those simple things can really help people find strength to persevere, not to mention being a witness to the hope and love that is there for them in Jesus.’

 

Source: BUV News

Baptist

Unprecedented Time, Unprecedented Opportunity to Serve

Mayor, Cr Sam Hearn takes us behind the scenes at Rosebud Memorial Hall where Shire staff are preparing the community care packages filled with non-perishable food and essential hygiene items 

At a time when most see ‘unprecedented’ obstacles, Mornington Peninsula Mayor Sam Hearn sees opportunity. With COVID-19 lockdowns forcing the closure of many Community Support Centres, Sam (who is also involved in the leadership of his neighbourhood Baptist church community) dreamed up the ‘People’s Army’: redeploying stood down local council staff to deliver care packages to vulnerable and isolated people in the area. The idea came to him after seeing community members share on Facebook how they were reaching out to their neighbours.

 

‘People have been doing it far tougher than they probably have for decades and decades,’ said Sam. ‘And yet the way that people have just reached out and suddenly become so much more intentional about wanting to do things for their community has gone through the roof.’

 

The food parcel plan is part of the Mornington Peninsula’s Caring for Community program, intended to help lessen the spread and effects of the pandemic by creating a sense of ‘togetherness’. The council co-ordinated response involved creating a database of all the vulnerable, elderly or disadvantaged people in the area and setting up supply chains directly from supermarkets to requisition food for those who could not get it themselves. More than 2500 families have been supported so far and the formal council response created a ripple effect into the community, with locals sharing approximately ‘ten times’ the resources of the council on an informal level.

 

‘It cuts through in a different way when someone sees their mayor or a local community leader saying, “This is the way we as a community are going to respond to this,”’ said Sam. ‘So I’ve gone on the front foot very quickly to give the message that this is about checking on your neighbour, call your friends, check in on the older people in your street, make sure people are doing okay.’

 

It’s not the first time Sam has headed up something like the food parcel plan. As bushfires raged over summer, more than 200 Mornington Peninsula Shire staff came together to offer support, comfort and accommodation to over 1000 Mallacoota evacuees. Sam views the mission to ‘love your neighbour’ as inseparable with community support, particularly in challenging times.

 

‘I think the biggest opportunity is for the church to truly and fundamentally be a community of people that are really present individually and collectively in an intentional way as good citizens in their local community – that’s always mattered and is always needed.’

 

Sam has been committed to building long-term community relationships and trust in this local community, seeing it as vital to mission. His first sense of calling was to his own high-school of Mornington Secondary College when he came to faith as a 15 year old and continues now with his role as Mayor.

 

‘If we as the church want to actually be relevant and present in our communities, we need to build selfless, long-term, trusting, generous relationships with our local community…to support in anyway way,’ said Sam. ‘I think this year will have shown churches across the country whether they are really connected to their community… If you have only turned up when this crisis hit saying “We want to rescue you, we want to help out”, most people will go “Who the heck are you?”’

 

‘The great thing is that all church communities can encourage and mobilise their members to reach out and care for their neighbours at a time like this.’

 

Rather than merely an obstacle to overcome, Sam sees the pandemic as an opportunity to serve community, and for churches to reflect on their local community involvement. Bringing hopeful change to community often feels slower than Sam would like it to be, but the pandemic has brought what matters most to the front and accelerated the process.

 

‘COVID-19 has probably shown us, reminded us and confronted us with the fact that as human beings we’ve always been together at our most cellular and foundational level,’ Sam said. ‘We’re realising that staying socially connected is what matters most to us – being part of community, feeling loved, giving love, knowing our place and feeling a sense of belonging.’

 

‘This is especially true as we’ve had the heartbreaking experience of coming out of the first wave with a sense of optimism and gratefulness only to see a second wave emerge,’ Sam said. ‘It’s really taking a heavy toll on people’s mental and emotional wellbeing, and a sense of connection and hope is more important than ever.’

 

Through the second wave, Sam is practically reaching out and connecting with the people he personally is caring for: delivering food to a single dad in his neighbourhood, chatting to other families at kinder drop off, giving the local café owner a call to encourage him.

 

‘Those simple things can really help people find strength to persevere, not to mention being a witness to the hope and love that is there for them in Jesus.’

Source: BUV News

Baptist, News

Unprecedented Time, Unprecedented Opportunity to Serve


Mayor, Cr Sam Hearn takes us behind the scenes at Rosebud Memorial Hall where Shire staff are preparing the community care packages filled with non-perishable food and essential hygiene items 

At a time when most see ‘unprecedented’ obstacles, Mornington Peninsula Mayor Sam Hearn sees opportunity. With COVID-19 lockdowns forcing the closure of many Community Support Centres, Sam (who is also involved in the leadership of his neighbourhood Baptist church community) dreamed up the ‘People’s Army’: redeploying stood down local council staff to deliver care packages to vulnerable and isolated people in the area. The idea came to him after seeing community members share on Facebook how they were reaching out to their neighbours.

 

‘People have been doing it far tougher than they probably have for decades and decades,’ said Sam. ‘And yet the way that people have just reached out and suddenly become so much more intentional about wanting to do things for their community has gone through the roof.’

 

The food parcel plan is part of the Mornington Peninsula’s Caring for Community program, intended to help lessen the spread and effects of the pandemic by creating a sense of ‘togetherness’. The council co-ordinated response involved creating a database of all the vulnerable, elderly or disadvantaged people in the area and setting up supply chains directly from supermarkets to requisition food for those who could not get it themselves. More than 2500 families have been supported so far and the formal council response created a ripple effect into the community, with locals sharing approximately ‘ten times’ the resources of the council on an informal level.

 

‘It cuts through in a different way when someone sees their mayor or a local community leader saying, “This is the way we as a community are going to respond to this,”’ said Sam. ‘So I’ve gone on the front foot very quickly to give the message that this is about checking on your neighbour, call your friends, check in on the older people in your street, make sure people are doing okay.’

 

It’s not the first time Sam has headed up something like the food parcel plan. As bushfires raged over summer, more than 200 Mornington Peninsula Shire staff came together to offer support, comfort and accommodation to over 1000 Mallacoota evacuees. Sam views the mission to ‘love your neighbour’ as inseparable with community support, particularly in challenging times.

 

‘I think the biggest opportunity is for the church to truly and fundamentally be a community of people that are really present individually and collectively in an intentional way as good citizens in their local community – that’s always mattered and is always needed.’

 

Sam has been committed to building long-term community relationships and trust in this local community, seeing it as vital to mission. His first sense of calling was to his own high-school of Mornington Secondary College when he came to faith as a 15 year old and continues now with his role as Mayor.

 

‘If we as the church want to actually be relevant and present in our communities, we need to build selfless, long-term, trusting, generous relationships with our local community…to support in anyway way,’ said Sam. ‘I think this year will have shown churches across the country whether they are really connected to their community… If you have only turned up when this crisis hit saying “We want to rescue you, we want to help out”, most people will go “Who the heck are you?”’

 

‘The great thing is that all church communities can encourage and mobilise their members to reach out and care for their neighbours at a time like this.’

 

Rather than merely an obstacle to overcome, Sam sees the pandemic as an opportunity to serve community, and for churches to reflect on their local community involvement. Bringing hopeful change to community often feels slower than Sam would like it to be, but the pandemic has brought what matters most to the front and accelerated the process.

 

‘COVID-19 has probably shown us, reminded us and confronted us with the fact that as human beings we’ve always been together at our most cellular and foundational level,’ Sam said. ‘We’re realising that staying socially connected is what matters most to us – being part of community, feeling loved, giving love, knowing our place and feeling a sense of belonging.’

 

‘This is especially true as we’ve had the heartbreaking experience of coming out of the first wave with a sense of optimism and gratefulness only to see a second wave emerge,’ Sam said. ‘It’s really taking a heavy toll on people’s mental and emotional wellbeing, and a sense of connection and hope is more important than ever.’

 

Through the second wave, Sam is practically reaching out and connecting with the people he personally is caring for: delivering food to a single dad in his neighbourhood, chatting to other families at kinder drop off, giving the local café owner a call to encourage him.

 

‘Those simple things can really help people find strength to persevere, not to mention being a witness to the hope and love that is there for them in Jesus.’

Baptist

Blessed to be a blessing

Pakenham’s Follow Bless Collective has received $5000 from the council to continue to support Cardinia residents who are struggling financially and have been affected by the coronavirus.  The $5000 grant will be put towards the cost of the charity’s care packs which are being distributed during the Covid-19 relief and recovery period.  The care packs contain essential non-perishable foods and toiletries and are available for individuals and families who are facing hardship.

“Receiving the grant means that, along with ongoing community donations, Follow Bless Collective will be able to continue to provide care packs until December to those who are struggling financially and have been affected by Covid-19,” Follow Bless Collective community care manager Leanne Griffiths said.

“People have been affected by Covid-19 in many ways, including loss of work, isolation, an inability to access programs and services.

“The grant will allow essential items to be purchased and provided to people who are currently needing practical support by way of food and toiletries.”

To date, 260 care packs have been distributed to individuals and families across the shire.

The Follow Bless Collective’s mission is to “strengthen the community by providing collective services, programs, support and genuine love to those who are undervalued, isolated and disadvantaged within the Cardinia shire and beyond”.

Its purpose is to care for the underprivileged, isolated and homeless; provide practical support for those in need; help make the community a better place though care, crisis assistance and social connection; collaborate with other organisations and individuals; provide opportunities for community members to serve and contribute to their community; and to redeem and transform gateway areas.

Follow has been spearheading this in conjunction with Cardinia Shire and the Church property is the drop off and pick up point for people in need in the community. Care packs are full of non-perishable food, toiletries, face masks and, of course, chocolate!  The local Sikhs have helped with the chocolate donations to be added into our care packs and many other organisations, churches and local community members have also helped provide food, knitted scarves and clothing during this time.

In addition to the care packs, there has been many other acts of kindness in the local community.  Local muslim lady, Shoheli Sunjida has provided the elderly, pregnant women, single parents, multicultural communities and small business owners with free masks.  Ms Sunjida first made masks for family and friends before extending the generous offer into the wider community.

“I had some fabrics and elastics and I have the skills to sew and a sewing machine at home, so I started making the masks … it felt good after completing about 12 masks and did not take a long time,” she explained.

“Then I thought there are people in our community who may not have access to reusable masks and single use masks are not financially feasible.”

Ms Sunjida took to social media to offer up the masks and made it clear that she wanted priority to be given to the most vulnerable community members.  Inspired by the support, Ms Sunjida will continue to create masks free of charge and will even offer Zoom training sessions so people can make their own masks from home.

“I was surprised and overwhelmed by the response that I received within 24 hours, I received hundreds of positive and encouraging comments,” she explained. “I was ready to cut my sarees to get enough fabrics for a few hundred masks.  Some people wanted to pay for the mask, but I am not taking money from anyone.  I am here to help my community in anyway possible in this difficult time and I am confident we will look after each other and come out as a stronger community on the other side because we are doing it together.”

Ms Sunjida hopes those in a position to, can donate to the Pakenham Sikh temple and the Follow Baptist Church in Officer. “They are our local heroes and are tirelessly helping people,” she said.

For more information about the care packs, donations and updates, contact the Follow Bless Collective at info@bless.org.au or check out their website at bless.org.au.

Source: BUV News

Baptist

Neighbourhood Church – coming soon to a street near you

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the initial COVID restrictions came into force earlier in the year, the team at Wodonga and District Baptist Church talked about how they could practically move forward.  Pastor David Hodgens explains that “as a large regional church we recognised that it would only be once restrictions were completely removed that we could function as a gathered community in the manner we were used to; so we looked for an alternative”.  Medium to larger gatherings, assuming 20, 50 or 100 people in the same space were going to be difficult for Wodonga to facilitate because of the contact recording and cleaning expectations. Sensing back then, what we know to be true now, David was also mindful that there might be a second wave of the virus, which could return them to a constrained environment, and so the church looked for a model of gathering that would sustain them for as long as needed.

So began Wodonga’s network of neighbourhood churches.  These churches were intentionally neighbourhood churches, not house churches – the language was important because they wanted to anchor the people in their own neighbourhood. Practically, this would mean church being hosted in a neighbourhood home that was hospitable and large enough to gather with groups of between 5-12 wish social distancing space and capacity to view the online material. It also meant not only finding the homes, but also the hosts.

The church went about this firstly by breaking the wider church up into geographical areas.  “Our congregation is spread across two states as well as the hinterland and so all regular attenders were nominally allocated to a particular neighbourhood church.”

The second step was to produce an online service for people to engage with in the various homes across the region.  “We started delivering our services online from day one of the Covid-19 restrictions and so we already had the perfect platform to engage the Neighbourhood churches with resources for adults and children.”
 

The online service had to be as interactive as possible – particularly around the message. “This remains a bit of an ideal, but small neighbourhood church has a greater capacity to engage with teaching material, conduct discussions and talk about life application and we want to encourage that by providing some discussion questions or activities that can be done by the neighbourhood church as they gather.”

Thirdly, the church had to focus on encouraging people to not just attend the service in the home but to stay for lunch or brunch following the service.  “We also wanted hosts and church members to consider how their neighbourhood church related to their actual geographical location – encouraging them to gather people from the area, connect with their neighbours and be ministers in their neighbourhoods.”

David recognises that the Wodonga network of neighbourhood churches is still a work in progress  and due to the tighter restrictions that have come into place in regional Victoria, the neighbourhood churches have had to shut down for the time being.  But the mission potential for the church to influence the community on a long-term basis is great and this model may continue to operate well beyond the current conditions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Source: BUV News

Baptist, News

Neighbourhood Church – coming soon to a street near you

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the initial COVID restrictions came into force earlier in the year, the team at Wodonga and District Baptist Church talked about how they could practically move forward.  Pastor David Hodgens explains that “as a large regional church we recognised that it would only be once restrictions were completely removed that we could function as a gathered community in the manner we were used to; so we looked for an alternative”.  Medium to larger gatherings, assuming 20, 50 or 100 people in the same space were going to be difficult for Wodonga to facilitate because of the contact recording and cleaning expectations. Sensing back then, what we know to be true now, David was also mindful that there might be a second wave of the virus, which could return them to a constrained environment, and so the church looked for a model of gathering that would sustain them for as long as needed.

So began Wodonga’s network of neighbourhood churches.  These churches were intentionally neighbourhood churches, not house churches – the language was important because they wanted to anchor the people in their own neighbourhood. Practically, this would mean church being hosted in a neighbourhood home that was hospitable and large enough to gather with groups of between 5-12 wish social distancing space and capacity to view the online material. It also meant not only finding the homes, but also the hosts.

The church went about this firstly by breaking the wider church up into geographical areas.  “Our congregation is spread across two states as well as the hinterland and so all regular attenders were nominally allocated to a particular neighbourhood church.”

The second step was to produce an online service for people to engage with in the various homes across the region.  “We started delivering our services online from day one of the Covid-19 restrictions and so we already had the perfect platform to engage the Neighbourhood churches with resources for adults and children.”
 

The online service had to be as interactive as possible – particularly around the message. “This remains a bit of an ideal, but small neighbourhood church has a greater capacity to engage with teaching material, conduct discussions and talk about life application and we want to encourage that by providing some discussion questions or activities that can be done by the neighbourhood church as they gather.”

Thirdly, the church had to focus on encouraging people to not just attend the service in the home but to stay for lunch or brunch following the service.  “We also wanted hosts and church members to consider how their neighbourhood church related to their actual geographical location – encouraging them to gather people from the area, connect with their neighbours and be ministers in their neighbourhoods.”

David recognises that the Wodonga network of neighbourhood churches is still a work in progress  and due to the tighter restrictions that have come into place in regional Victoria, the neighbourhood churches have had to shut down for the time being.  But the mission potential for the church to influence the community on a long-term basis is great and this model may continue to operate well beyond the current conditions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Baptist, News

Blessed to be a blessing

Pakenham’s Follow Bless Collective has received $5000 from the council to continue to support Cardinia residents who are struggling financially and have been affected by the coronavirus.  The $5000 grant will be put towards the cost of the charity’s care packs which are being distributed during the Covid-19 relief and recovery period.  The care packs contain essential non-perishable foods and toiletries and are available for individuals and families who are facing hardship.

“Receiving the grant means that, along with ongoing community donations, Follow Bless Collective will be able to continue to provide care packs until December to those who are struggling financially and have been affected by Covid-19,” Follow Bless Collective community care manager Leanne Griffiths said.

“People have been affected by Covid-19 in many ways, including loss of work, isolation, an inability to access programs and services.

“The grant will allow essential items to be purchased and provided to people who are currently needing practical support by way of food and toiletries.”

To date, 260 care packs have been distributed to individuals and families across the shire.

The Follow Bless Collective’s mission is to “strengthen the community by providing collective services, programs, support and genuine love to those who are undervalued, isolated and disadvantaged within the Cardinia shire and beyond”.

Its purpose is to care for the underprivileged, isolated and homeless; provide practical support for those in need; help make the community a better place though care, crisis assistance and social connection; collaborate with other organisations and individuals; provide opportunities for community members to serve and contribute to their community; and to redeem and transform gateway areas.

Follow has been spearheading this in conjunction with Cardinia Shire and the Church property is the drop off and pick up point for people in need in the community. Care packs are full of non-perishable food, toiletries, face masks and, of course, chocolate!  The local Sikhs have helped with the chocolate donations to be added into our care packs and many other organisations, churches and local community members have also helped provide food, knitted scarves and clothing during this time.

In addition to the care packs, there has been many other acts of kindness in the local community.  Local muslim lady, Shoheli Sunjida has provided the elderly, pregnant women, single parents, multicultural communities and small business owners with free masks.  Ms Sunjida first made masks for family and friends before extending the generous offer into the wider community.

“I had some fabrics and elastics and I have the skills to sew and a sewing machine at home, so I started making the masks … it felt good after completing about 12 masks and did not take a long time,” she explained.

“Then I thought there are people in our community who may not have access to reusable masks and single use masks are not financially feasible.”

Ms Sunjida took to social media to offer up the masks and made it clear that she wanted priority to be given to the most vulnerable community members.  Inspired by the support, Ms Sunjida will continue to create masks free of charge and will even offer Zoom training sessions so people can make their own masks from home.

“I was surprised and overwhelmed by the response that I received within 24 hours, I received hundreds of positive and encouraging comments,” she explained. “I was ready to cut my sarees to get enough fabrics for a few hundred masks.  Some people wanted to pay for the mask, but I am not taking money from anyone.  I am here to help my community in anyway possible in this difficult time and I am confident we will look after each other and come out as a stronger community on the other side because we are doing it together.”

Ms Sunjida hopes those in a position to, can donate to the Pakenham Sikh temple and the Follow Baptist Church in Officer. “They are our local heroes and are tirelessly helping people,” she said.

For more information about the care packs, donations and updates, contact the Follow Bless Collective at info@bless.org.au or check out their website at bless.org.au.

Baptist

Being the Church in Bendigo

On Monday March 16th, the leadership at Bendigo Baptist decided to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving all of its weekend services into one livestream. Like many other churches that have made this move, it didn’t stop us from BEING the church – it just changed that way in which we would GATHER as the church here in Bendigo.

To ensure that our connection across our entire church (i.e. two campus locations) and the broader community remained as effective as possible, we decided to up the level of our communication through a variety of creative means. With our church already appreciating the connection through our livestream, we decided to add video devotionals entitled “Growing Stronger” and then redeploy some staff to shoot another video segment called “This Is Our Family” which is shown each Wednesday evening.

Growing Stronger: Each week, there are three separate video devotionals being recorded by people of all generations in our church. These are posted on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and have been a great source of encouragement to our entire church as they engage and reflect on what our own people are saying.

This Is Our Family: This weekly news segment helps us share a variety of different stories / testimonies telling our wide church family how God is at work in the life of the church. Our theme in 2020 has been the “mission of God in the hands of ordinary people” and this weekly segment has helped spur us along in mission.

Our church has responded well to the extensive effort put in place to keep us all connected. While many are experiencing social isolation, the majority of those within our large church family are feeling a greater sense of connectedness than they did before.

We are so grateful to God for what He’s done in and through us during this period of time.

Ps Dave Lovell
Senior Pastor

Source: BUV News

Baptist, News

Being the Church in Bendigo

On Monday March 16th, the leadership at Bendigo Baptist decided to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving all of its weekend services into one livestream. Like many other churches that have made this move, it didn’t stop us from BEING the church – it just changed that way in which we would GATHER as the church here in Bendigo.

To ensure that our connection across our entire church (i.e. two campus locations) and the broader community remained as effective as possible, we decided to up the level of our communication through a variety of creative means. With our church already appreciating the connection through our livestream, we decided to add video devotionals entitled “Growing Stronger” and then redeploy some staff to shoot another video segment called “This Is Our Family” which is shown each Wednesday evening.

Growing Stronger: Each week, there are three separate video devotionals being recorded by people of all generations in our church. These are posted on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and have been a great source of encouragement to our entire church as they engage and reflect on what our own people are saying.

This Is Our Family: This weekly news segment helps us share a variety of different stories / testimonies telling our wide church family how God is at work in the life of the church. Our theme in 2020 has been the “mission of God in the hands of ordinary people” and this weekly segment has helped spur us along in mission.

Our church has responded well to the extensive effort put in place to keep us all connected. While many are experiencing social isolation, the majority of those within our large church family are feeling a greater sense of connectedness than they did before.

We are so grateful to God for what He’s done in and through us during this period of time.

Ps Dave Lovell
Senior Pastor

Baptist

Ignite moves online!

Ignite is the BUV’s Multicultural Youth & Young Adults Conference. Like most events this year, we’ve had to adapt and bring things online! Though our Ignite crew couldn’t meet in person, we were still keen to gather online to encourage each other in our journey with Jesus. 

 

We tried to capture some of the vibe and atmosphere of what it would have been like if we had met in person! We danced with an online K-pop dance tutorial (Korean pop, for those who don’t know!).
We enjoyed eating and challenged each other on who could make the best gourmet instant noodles. We were encouraged through stories, from keynote speaker Jon Owen (Pastor & CEO of Wayside Chapel), sharing his own discipleship journey. We enjoyed amazing music, through Fatai, who brought her songs of encouragement. We were blessed by our own Ignite crew who shared their musical gifts and talents and testimonies. And we were able to laugh, participate in fun games, and pray together in small groups.

 

 

 

 

Some of the positive impact of the conference were:

“Ignite challenged me to follow Jesus and call out injustice”

“Ignite made me appreciate the faith and multicultural aspects of my life and the   world even more!”

“One of the things that stood out from Jon Owen’s session was when he said     ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’. It makes me think about the people around        me, and who I want to learn from to grow in life and faith. It makes me think about who I currently am and who I want to be.”

We’re looking forward to when we can gather together in person again, but for now, we are encouraged that God continues to move, inspire, and ignite our faith even through computer screens!

Source: BUV News