| To get to our online services, click here. You can always find them by going to our website: www.cranbourneanglican.org.au/online-service. If you’d like to join us for a virtual morning tea (video conferencing) 11am Sunday the 19th of April, click here at 11am Sunday. Meeting ID: 833 3124 0217 Password: 078236 |
Dear church family,
I do pray you had a blessed and good Easter and that the term has started well for those who have plunged into a term teaching the kids at home. I’m praying for you in these challenging times! I just want to highlight a couple of things:
Online Survey
If you can cast your mind back as far as a month or two (how different things were!) you might remember we were part way through our Vision and Mission Process as a church. We’d listened to God, and were just turning to listening to each other as together we looked to discern where God might be taking us as a church over the next 5 years or so. The first part of that process was an online survey – you might have missed it as we launched it in the same week our weekly services were shut down. So can I encourage you to take 5-8 minutes now and fill in the survey if you haven’t yet? It’s a way of having your say about how we’re going and where we’re going as a church. You can get to it simply by clicking here.
Care Communities
We as a church want to make sure that during this time of increased restrictions on meeting you’ve still got a community looking out for you and making sure you’re OK. We’ve now finished setting up our Care Communities – the idea being that each person in the church is assigned a Care Community Leader whose job it is to be in touch on behalf of the church, make sure you’re doing well and asking whether there’s anything we can be doing for you. The list of leaders has expanded a little since last update:
9am St John’s Congregation: Irene Johnson, Renice Giles and Gail McMenamin 10:30am St John’s Congregation: Joseph Walliaveteel, Mitch Achetraritei, Lorraine Serpanchy, John and Sandi Steward, Toni Henderson and Caroline Symmonds. 9am Tooradin: Marie Ormandy.
You can expect a call from one of them on behalf of the church some time in the next week or so just checking in to see if you are doing well in these difficult times and if there’s anything you need, or just for a chat! Of course, please do keep calling and supporting each other informally as well.
Kids Ministry
We’re keen to keep ministering to the whole family in these times. Each week I’ll put up a new resource that can help you navigate these times well with kids. This week, if you’re wondering how to talk to your kids about what’s happening from a Christian perspective, have a read of this short article from Sandy Galea. Sunday church online:We’ve included kids talks in the service and some activity sheets to download for the kids. You’ll be able to find these at our online church page on our website from every Sunday at 9am.
How are you doing?
We want to help you stay healthy and well in every way – and staying healthy mentally at these times can be a struggle. This article from the mental health institute has some great suggestions for how to make sure you ride out this time well.
If you need someone to talk to or would just appreciate being prayed for, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me by return email or by phone. We’re also able to help you with shopping or other needs if you find yourself needing assistance.
Giving – Update
These are financially trying times for so many at the moment; whether businesses, churches or individuals. Please continue to be praying for those finding it tough at the moment.
I’m so thankful to God for His provision for us as a church – so many of you have started online giving and are giving still by envelope – Thank you! The diocese has also extended a helping hand in these difficult times by giving us a three month moratorium on the repayments on our loans, which will be reviewed and possibly extended if services have not recommenced before then. While we’re still down about $700 a week on budget, given the circumstances we are encouraged. For any who would like to, the details for giving to the church are below:
Envelopes
You can drop off your usual giving between 2pm and 3pm on Sunday afternoons at the church. While we are observing careful social distancing policies for this and ensuring minimal contact, we do encourage giving online as we note the government advice to only leave the house if absolutely necessary.
Online Giving
| St John’s, Cranbourne |
| BSB: 083 214 |
| Account: 596 278 950 |
| Christ Church, Tooradin |
| BSB: 633 000 |
| Account: 138 728 704 |
If you have been giving directly into the Building Fund through envelopes, we just ask that you put either your name or your envelope number as a reference. Otherwise you may give anonymously or put your name as a reference, but please do also reference it as ‘giving’ to help our records.