reCharge NEWS November 2023
Nov 22, 2023
22nd November 2023 | reCharge News
Australian Christian Book Awards
The October News featured the winners of this year’s Sparklit Australian Book Awards. In addition, the shortlisted books provide a feast of reading which are suitable as Christmas gifts, or your own summer reading. Here are some of them:
Shortlisted Australian Christian Books, 2023
 | Behind the Tears, Bruce Robinson, Green Hill Publishing Bruce Robinson doesn’t waste time wondering why we suffer, but swiftly moves to suggest ways and means of coping, enduring and even growing through experiences of suffering. |
 | Bringing Forth Life, Jodie McIver, Youthworks Media A unique and moving meditation on the eternal significance of pregnancy, birth, and life with a newborn child. Written by a mother, midwife and theologian, this book is a practical guide through the journey of childbirth, including the discomforts, difficulties and occasional heartbreaks. |
 | Disrupting Mercy, Matthew Clarke with Annabella Rossini-Clarke, Turning Teardrops into Joy What would happen if, like Zacchaeus, we allowed Jesus to change our hearts and turn us upside down? In Disrupting Mercy the Clarkes confront our anaemic understanding of God’s mercy and urge us to allow God’s extreme kindness and generosity to disrupt and transform our life and our world. |
 | How to Find Yourself, Brian Rosner, Crossway Without discarding the importance of self-reflection, Rosner suggests that to truly find ourselves we need to look beyond ourselves to our relationships, our community, our history and, most fundamentally, God’s Word. |
 | Imagination in an Age of Crisis, Jason Goroncy and Rod Pattenden, Pickwick Publications This carefully curated treasury of essays and creative works showcases the strength and diversity of the Christian imagination in Australia. |
 | Practicing Peace, Michael Wood, Wipf and Stock In Practicing Peace, Michael Wood explores the centrality of peacemaking to Christian thinking, feeling and living. First, he anchors our pursuit of peace in a theology that declares that we are forgiven by God in Christ and free to forgive others. |
 | Raising Tech-Healthy Humans, Daniel Sih, Spacemakers What to do about children and screens? Daniel Sih has written a positive and practical response to this pressing question. |
 | Religious Freedom in a Secular Age, Michael Bird, Zondervan Reflective While secularism is routinely deplored by many Christians, Michael Bird makes a strong case for the secular state as the best way to ensure freedom of faith (and no faith) and to provide the optimal climate in which the church might thrive. |
 | The Future is Bivocational, Andrew Hamilton, Ark House Press Circumstance, then curiosity, drove Andrew Hamilton to consider alternative models of church leadership. What will sustainable ministry look like in an increasingly post-Christian society? |
Hobart City Prayer
Church leaders from across Hobart gather to pray on the last Wednesday every month to come before God and seek His face. The leaders ask for a movement of God in the city of Hobart and beyond. They pray the city will be touched and changed by His power.
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.
Matthew 7:7-8. NLT
Keep on seeking, and you will find.
Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds.
And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Hobart City Prayer takes place in different churches around the city each month. The venue for the November prayer time is Hobart Baptist Church.
The next Hobart City Prayer is NEXT WEEK.
7.15am for a 7.30am start, Wed 29th November
Hobart Baptist Church 282 Elizabeth St. Nth Hobart
This invitation can be shared with other church leaders to pray in faith for city of Hobart.
Join the Fostering Hope Family!
Fostering Hope recently released a newsletter. You can download it here >
Please enjoy reading it, and learning more about the work of Fostering Hope. The newsletter also explains how you can support children growing up in care, and carers in your community.
They also just launched the Fostering Hope Family which is a great way for people to more formally support the work. Find out more here >
Being welcoming and inclusive to diverse families
Safe Church
Part 1: Single people
Here are some tips to help your church be a place where single people can grow in their faith and feel fully part of a church community. A single person may have never been married, be separated, divorced or widowed. 25% of Australian households are individuals who live alone.
- Be mindful of your use of language, which might unintentionally exclude single people: For example, say “We are having church community picnic. Please invite all your loved ones” rather than “We are having church family picnic. Please invite your family”
- Celebrate and pray for things important in the lives of single people. Such as completing year 12, completing a qualification, and buying a house. (Not only announcing engagements, marriages and pregnancies)
- Acknowledge the joy and pain of special days, like Christmas, Mother’s Day, and anniversary of a partner’s passing away
Useful Resources
Kindle eBook “What we cannot be alone”, by Kimberly Smith.
Pastoring singles with Dani Treweek Podcast episode.
Loving Singles over Christmas and January Podcast episode.
Single Minded Has a website, podcast, and conference.
Walk the World
10-12th November 2023
Walk the World is a community building weekend of prayer and fun. It’s an invitation to get out and about in your local neighbourhood… and pray! Pray for your community and communities around the world. Pray for your church’s ministry and the ministry of our Baptist Mission Australia team members.
Watch the video . . .
Across the weekend of 10-12th November 2023, commit to praying as you walk, run, wheel, cycle, imagine or drive around your area. As you do, BMA teams in Africa, Asia and Australia will be praying for you too!
News From the Middle East
Though the fig tree does not bud
Habakkuk 3: 17-18
and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
The past few weeks have been incredibly challenging. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support in prayer, and I personally extend my thanks to each of you for sending encouraging messages. These messages from distant lands have been like cold water to a weary soul.
We continue to affirm that God is sovereign over the entire universe and holds the power to change the current situation. We earnestly pray for a miracle to stop the ongoing conflict, coupled with a cry of hope for a brighter future for all residents of Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Our churches have been holding continuous prayer meetings and in the midst of sorrow and anxiety, we are spreading the message of God’s love to those who are hurting.
Thank you for your friendship, and for your support for the ministry of the Association of Baptist Churches in Israel, so that we continue to empower, enhance and expand churches in the land where Jesus walked.
From Bader Mansour, Development Officer
Association of Baptist Churches in Israel
Perth Baptist Rock ‘n’ Roll Night
Families and Grief Seminars
An invitation from New Mornings to you and members of your church community to attend the Families & Grief Seminar. This will take place on Saturday 2nd December at The Gnomon Room, The Wharf in Ulverstone.
As we serve our community in the area of mental health and wellbeing, one of our goals is to educate and support individuals walking the journey of grief, with educational events.
Our keynote speakers are experts in the field of grief and will cover:
* Types of grief experienced in families
* Supporting a family. Especially after suicide
* How young people experience grief
EARLY BIRD registrations: Available until 19th November >
DOWNLOAD: Flyer for noticeboard display >
Thank you for supporting families and young people in the area of grief and loss.
Read More ReCharge!
October/November/December 2023
- Waking Up to the Christmas Dream by Andrew Turner
- Ministry Profile Matty Coppin, Burnie Baptist
- Day of Courage en-courages by Fiona Bradley
- Around the Churches Oct-Nov 2023
- October Assembly Report by Alan Firth
- Wynyard Baptist Church Profile by Ps Owen Muskett
- Converge23 Australian Baptists in Canberra, by Ps Anthea Maynard
- Ministry Profile Anna-Maree Richardson, Assistant Administrator
- The Scandal and the Wonder of Baptism by Andrew Turner, Crossover
- Our New College! Announcement from the Tasmanian Baptist Council
- What do we do with the Past? Theology & Culture by Rev Dr Megan Powell du Toit
- October NEWS | December NEWS
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