| 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 17th of May, click here at 11am Sunday. Meeting ID: 291 757 7519 Password: 444240 |
Dear church family,
I pray that you have had a blessed and good week. There’s one question I’ve been getting more than any other this week:
When will we get back to gathering in person?
So let me answer in so much as I can! With restrictions beginning to ease I know you will be keen to know when it is that we can begin to gather again for services here at the church buildings. Many of us have imagined the day when the COVID-19 restrictions have passed and the church is joyfully packed, gathering as we did prior to the pandemic. The reality is that with the government’s three stage easing of restrictions we won’t be able to do that even at stage three – even when we can gather, church will still look different for some time yet.
You can download a document setting out the currently planned easing of restrictions by the government and how they relate to churches here.
At present under the stage one easing of restrictions the government is allowing worship gatherings of up to ten people. Given the difficulties of limiting numbers to services and ensuring everyone would have an opportunity to come, for the moment we’re planning to continue our online services at least for the rest of May.
Once we get to the second round of restrictions easing and we’re allowed worship gatherings of up to 20 people, we’re exploring other possibilities including having multiple services throughout the week and the use of an online or phone booking system, which we’ll communicate as soon as we’ve settled on plans and been given the green light from the diocese. Stage three will look different again.
I praise God that whatever the future holds, it’s already held in His hands, and I’m excited be able to start planning and scheming as to how we might be able to gather in a way that honours the government restrictions and is responsible from a health perspective, yet enables us to begin to enjoy once more being His people together. Bring on the day!
In Christ,
Sam.
Vision & Mission Process
Listening to the community
Thanks so much to all those who responded to our member survey, whether online or through a paper copy. These have been received and will be immensely helpful for the Ministry Advisory Committee as begin to draft the new Mission Action Plan for the parish.
We have listened to God, listened to each other, and now we start on the process of listening to our wider non-churched community. One way in which we are doing this is by asking our non-churched friends, neighbours or families to respond to this Survey. Click on the link to have a look at it yourself so you know what you’ll be forwarding on. As you will see, it’s very non-threatening and not at all preachy – we’re simply wanting to understand our community better and listen to what they think the greatest needs are, and get a sense of the kind of thing they would find helpful. This will help us in our plans to serve our community and reach it with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Who are the two people who live in the area and don’t currently go to church that you could forward it on to? Pray about it now! Then copy the google forms link:
https://forms.gle/37n4YtkJFP8GBF2o7
and send it to your friend/neighbour/family member asking them if they would be happy to fill it in.
For those not sure what to say, you could even just copy the template email set out below:
Hi [friendly neighbour/friend/family member – put their name here!]
I hope you’re doing well. My church (St John’s Anglican Church Cranbourne) wants to serve and support our local community in these difficult times and we’re in the middle of planning how we can do that. They’ve put together a short survey and I wondered if you’d be willing to spend 5 minutes telling us what you think the greatest needs are in the area? Here’s the link:
https://forms.gle/37n4YtkJFP8GBF2o7
Thanks!
There you go – I’ve made it easy… Please do pray about who you might ask and get emailing! For those more comfortable with paper, paper copies of the survey are available at the church.
St John’s Fete
The second most asked question I get is “Are we going to have a Fete?” My answer is, God willing, yes! While we don’t know if it will be possible as its so dependent on how the COVID-19 pandemic plays out, we are planning to hold the fete at the usual time of year – early October once school has gone back for term 4. But we need your help! Can you be part of the organising committee? The whole church will be involved, but we do need some who are willing to help co-ordinate and steer the process. To get involved or for more information, please call Barbara Bates on 0428 020 780, or email her at batesbarbara14@gmail.com.
Kids Ministry
We’ve included kids talks in the service and some activity sheets to download for the kids which you can download here (so you can print them off early and get set up before time!) or you’ll be able to find these at our online church page on our website every Sunday from 9am.
Teaching our kids from the bible is important, and so if you want to take your bible time with the kids on Sunday to something more like what they’d do in Sunday school here at church, then this resource (large file – 98MB) is a great place to start. Lessons 94 and 95 are even set in Philippi so would work with our current sermon series.
Thy Kingdom Come
Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension to Pentecost (from May 21st to May 31st) for more people to come to know Jesus.
During the 11 days of Thy Kingdom Come, it is hoped that everyone who takes part will:
- Deepen their own relationship with Jesus Christ
- Pray for 5 friends or family to come to faith in Jesus
- Pray for the empowerment of the Spirit that we would be effective in our witness
If you would like to be part of this global prayer, you can download a prayer journal here, or pick up a printed copy from Monday next week from the church.
Parish Council Update
Your Parish Council met last Tuesday via video conference and discussed a number of matters, including a review of the online services and the care communities, the path towards the re-opening services as COVID-19 restrictions are eased, the St John’s Fete and the ongoing mission and vision process. We also considered maintenance issues at St John’s (the windows in the original church are now fixed and new security cameras covering the whole building installed), and had a discussion about how we as a parish might respond to the rising unemployment in our area. We also looked at how are finances are looking.
Finance
The good news is that you the people of St John’s and Christ Church have responded faithfully and generously and we’re so thankful to God for your support. With the assistance of the diocese through a moratorium on the repayment of the loans and the payment of assessment, and the help of the government’s jobkeeper program, our church is well placed to make it through these difficult times. We praise God for His goodness and faithful provision for us in these times. Nonetheless, without the help of the diocese and the government we would be looking at a sizeable deficit this year, and so please do continue to pray that God would give us all we need to carry on the mission of our church to our area.
Just a reminder that if you give via cash or the envelope system the church is open to receive your giving from 2-3pm every Sunday. If you’d like to start giving by direct debit (we strongly encourage this in the current conditions) the details are below:
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.
| St John’s, Cranbourne |
| BSB: 083 214 |
| Account: 596 278 950 |
| Christ Church, Tooradin |
| BSB: 633 000 |
| Account: 138 728 704 |