Thank you to everyone who filled in a Financial Pledge form. I am still processing them and this will continue to take a little while as we moved to the Central Coast last week and Robyn’s dad moves this week. It’s been a week of moving experiences (dad joke!).
We have moved eight times since we were married and living in Thomas Street has been the longest we’ve lived anywhere together. Moving house is a very stressful experience. It’s rated up there with losing your job and loss of a family member.
We appreciate all those who are praying for us at this time. Please continue to, asking our Father for great patience with each other.
Moving is also a great opportunity to talk with people. We’ve met the bloke across the road, a retiree, and the lady next door, a school teacher. She has already told me she’s an atheist, a very determined one at that, so please pray for her as we continue to be her neighbours, asking our Father to soften her heart to the gospel. Pray also for us, that we might be good neighbours.
One good thing about living on the Central Coast is there’s a really good church to recommend to our neighbours. It’s just like living in Northmead really. To be able to recommend a church without any reservations is a great joy. It’s also a thing to thank God for.
A church like NAC, or the one up here, is not all that common. Two things stand out about NAC and both were very obvious at the Confirmation Service last week. First, the Bible is central to our lives. We really care about what God has said.
The Confirmees told us of their confidence in the facts of Christianity, which they got from the Bible. They told us of the significance to them of the death of Jesus which they get from the Bible. Along with the other members of NAC they are concerned to live out what the Bible says. It shapes our values and our lives.
The second thing that stands out about NAC is we care about other people. We care about each other. When one suffers we all suffer. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. (At least within our own congregations – which are much more like the New Testament has in view when it talks about churches.)
We don’t exist for our own benefit but rather for the benefit of the lost as well as the good of each other. Some of us are shy and some are outgoing but all of us care about lost people. We express that care in many ways. And those I’ve spoken to who are shy wish they were more outgoing so they might tell more people about Jesus. (Christmas is coming!)
Moving house is a moving experience. It’s also very stressful. Processing Pledge Forms is also a moving experience as I see how committed financially members of NAC are to the work of their church here and around the world.
It’s always a moving experience to see what God continues to do among us at NAC. But the most moving experience of all is to remember that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (Christmas is coming!)
Neil
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