Around the Churches April – May 2024
Northwest
Deloraine Baptist
Passover at Deloraine
Monday, 22 April was the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the biblical date for Passover. Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples at the meal we call ‘the Last Supper’ (Luke 22:15). Although Holy Communion (aka the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist) is a very ancient and appropriate Christian tradition, it was within the context of the Passover meal that Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Accordingly, twenty-three Christians enjoyed a traditional Passover meal at Deloraine Baptist Church on the evening of 22 April. The meal included roasted year-old ram lambs and all the traditional trimmings.
From a Jewish perspective, the Passover commemorates their redemption from bondage to Pharaoh through the shed blood of the lamb without blemish. As Christians, we also see its further application to our own redemption from slavery to sin through the shed blood of our perfect and sinless Messiah (1 Corinthians 5:7b).
Passover at Deloraine
Although (for now) the Jewish people remain blinded to its significance, the traditional Passover meal is replete with Christian symbolism. For instance, three matzot (unleavened bread) are placed in a special ‘three-in-one’ bag. During the meal, the middle matzah is broken (“this my body”), wrapped in linen and hidden away. It is later ‘discovered’ – a prophetic picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Four cups of wine are traditionally consumed, representing the four promises God made to Israel in Exodus 6:6-8. They are the Cups of Sanctification, Deliverance, Redemption and Restoration. The third cup is not drunk until after the meal. It was this one (Luke 22:20) that the Lord referred to as “his blood.” However, Jesus deferred drinking the final Passover cup until his return (Matthew 26:29). In fact, our Lord is currently teetotal while he serves as our great High Priest in the Heavenly Temple (e.g. Hebrews 9:11 cp. Leviticus 8:8-9).
The event lasted two-and-a half hours and was enjoyed by all participants. Many agreed that it was a more meaningful commemoration of the Master’s death than the traditional hot cross buns and chocolate eggs.
Lifeway Devonport
Social activities
The vibrant Lifeway worship community is busy throughout the week, with Monday Tribes for kids after school, Converge for young adults on Tuesday evening, Men’s Coffee and Cheese Wednesday afternoon, Seniors’ Bible Study Thursday morning, Prayer Group Thursday evening and Fellowship Group on Saturday. There are also Pulse small groups, which meet regularly to support and pray for each other.
Visiting Chaplain
On Sunday 28 April the Chaplain of the Adelaide Crows Football Club spoke at the morning service and gifted a guernsey to Pastor Nicholas and longtime supporter of the crows Bill Magor.
May Mission Month
During May Mission month the dedicated Mission Team have worked hard to form study groups for most days of the week, set up a wonderful interactive display in the auditorium and, after worship Sunday morning in the Café, provided a guest to speak in the Human Library about a chapter in their lives connected to mission.
Deaths
Recently, Alec Small from the Karingal Community and Trevor Levett passed away.
Sheffield Baptist Church
Membership Increase
We are pleased to say that our doors are open each Sunday to witness and share the gospel with locals and visitors alike. In February we welcomed two new members which was a real encouragement.
To us long term attendees, we are thankful for speakers from different churches making themselves available to preach each Sunday, it is a special blessing. Our fellowship teas continue to be well supported on the third Sunday of the month at 5:30 pm followed by singing of hymns and favourites for approximately an hour.
Ulverstone Baptist Church
Social activities
UBC Seniors continue to meet on the first Friday of the month for fellowship and morning tea. The have enjoyed guest speakers, Ian Pickford with a display of various flags; Josh Skeat from the Ulverstone Anglican Church, as well as Valma and Yasmin McPherson (mother and daughter) who spoke in a morning themed “Remembering Mothers”.
Our recent Men’s events have included riding bikes to the Turners Beach Berry Patch for breakfast, go-karting and indoor cricket. These events have been well attended by a variety of ages and has been a wonderful opportunity to reach out, encourage and strengthen relationships.
On Mother’s Day weekend, about 40 of our UBC ladies enjoyed a scrumptious morning tea at the Turners Beach Berry Patch in their yurt. As Mother’s Day and May Mission Month both share the month of May we were blessed on Mother’s Day to have a mission visit from Andy and hear of the work he is doing in Southeast Asia.
Our winter table tennis competition has once again commenced on Monday evenings.
From the pulpit
Over the course of the last few months, we were challenged and encouraged by Pastor Louis and Lyn McKay as they preached a series titled “Called”.
Home in glory
We were saddened to hear of the passing of our dear sister Ivy Priestley. We give thanks to the Lord for the blessing that she was to our UBC family and all who knew her.
Wynyard Baptist Church
Pastor Changes
In 2023, Franz Brosch started the role of associate Pastor at Wynyard. Before that, he grew up in Germany in the southwest region. He always believed in God, but when it comes to Jesus and the Gospel it was in secondary school that his understanding grew. He was baptised as an adult to affirm that commitment. Recently, Pastor Owen Muskett retired after 10 years of service and the church affirmed Franz in taking Owen’s role as successor. God has led Franz and Heidi in ways that they had never expected. Pray for the church in this time of transition, and with the added challenge of Franz completing his studies.
North
City Baptist Church
Community and adventure!
The City Baptist community has enjoyed a few adventures this year. We ventured out for a baptism at Low Head (see pictures), we joined the Marginata community in Evandale for a Taize gathering, and the Launceston Easter Festival happened on our front lawn.
The community garden (St Leonards) continues to flourish, providing welcome and hospitality to many former refugees. Our church is supporting an ecumenical initiative in Launceston that is focused on providing a safe space for young adults to ask faith questions and build community.
We hope to begin a new seed of faith, fun and community by welcoming parents/carers and their children to a weekly nature play space. This is in partnership with the manager of Utas Inveresk community garden; we are still waiting for the right person/people to help with this initiative.
With our emphasis on prayer lately, we welcome you to pray with us as we seek God’s direction for future steps.
Latrobe Baptist Church
Remembering Two Women
It was a sad couple of months for the Latrobe Church in February and March with the passing of two of our ladies. Both ladies are very sorely missed but we know they are both now at rest with the Lord.
Anneke Carrasco, (1949 – 2024) passed away suddenly on 26 February after a short illness. She had not been with us long, but her smile and cheeky manner is remembered by all of the church family
Beryl Rallings (1931-2024) passed away on 26 March. She had been a member of the church for many years. Beryl had a wonderful singing voice and this was mentioned by lots of people at the funeral as something they remembered about her. She was a beautiful Godly woman who loved her Lord and showed that in her life.
Newstead Baptist
Matu Church
There are five Baptist churches in the Launceston area. In 2020, Rodney and Maddy reached out to connect with the Matu church. That has begun a journey of coming closer into community and being on a journey of growing in relational connection. Now the Matu are based out of Newstead Baptist.
The Matu meet on Friday nights, Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. The Matu Pastor has had two decades of ministering in church and he has a deep heart to connect with the Pastors around Tasmania.
Summerhill Baptist Church
Alpha
We are well into our first Alpha with Session Six this Thursday, 9 May. God has blessed us with around 14 people each week, consisting of around eight from our congregation and six seekers. There are a wide range of ages, personalities, and backgrounds, all attending the course for different reasons. There have been some great conversations already, and as relationships and trust develop people are engaging more.
This doesn’t mean it is without its challenges. There have been times when we believe there has been negative spiritual pressures brought to bear on our groups, sometimes through distractions, discouragements, physical disruptions and recalling deep emotional experiences.
But we are hugely grateful to God, not only for the opportunities to reach out and share the gospel but also in the incredible ways he is working in so many in his church here. Many supporters bring along beautiful food each week, with so many praying for the team and guests alike. May the Holy Spirit be at work through each one for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10)
South
Citywide Mornington, Lenah Valley, Levendale and Nepalese
Deaths
We have been sad to say goodbye to three of our long-term members in April. Ed Straatsma, Patsy Appleby and Neil Broomhead all served their Lord and his Church faithfully throughout their lives. We praise God for them and rejoice that they are now with Jesus.
Baptisms
We have been blessed and excited to witness two baptisms in the last month: Anya Evenhuis and Brendan Isaac have testified to their faith and been baptised – much to the delight of family and church friends.
Levendale
We have re-launched a fellowship in Levendale under the care of Paul Dare. They are now able to receive our streamed services from Citywide. It’s a small beginning and we are praying for God to move amongst the people in that district.
ANZAC Day
Again, this year we ran a fun festival for the community at Lenah Valley. It’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot of connections. Each year we are encouraged by the numbers of people who express their appreciation for the opportunities they have to express their thanks to people who have served our country and to celebrate together our freedoms and culture. The morning is a good expression of community.
Dinner Together
For the rest of this year, we have offered an invitation for other Baptist churches in Hobart to join us in our monthly Dinners Together. Our goal in this is to build a stronger community across our churches and get to know each other better. This month there were 65 involved which included 11 from Hobart Baptist.
Foundations
All southern churches are invited to join us as we run the Foundations course again. The course runs over 12 weeks, offering both lunch time and evening classes weekly. This is a discipleship journey looking at God, Ourselves, Others and the World. Register on our website.
Nepalese
Nepalese
The church is growing by 10 percent every year, and we’re up to 90 people at services, but we only have 70 chairs, so this is a good problem to have.
Claremont Baptist Church
Window on Witness
Last Christmas time, we wanted to make a display that would draw people back to the “reason for the season” so we set about to make a nativity scene outside the church. Everyone was involved, the men with bits of wood and things, the ladies with craft materials. The stable, a donated cubby house, grew to accommodate wisemen and shepherds, a sheep and donkey. Time came to dismantle the display and we found the stable was now too heavy to move!
We now have a window to dress, and this has opened up a range of creative ideas. We try to change the display every six weeks. Dog walkers, people waiting at the bus stop and cars passing by are looking in the window and taking notice!
The church asked for poppies to be made for an Anzac Day tribute, below, and over 900 knitted, crochet, paper and felt poppies were made by the ladies!
Easter
This Easter, beside wonderful worship services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday we reintroduced the Dawn Service on the Montrose Foreshore. We’d like to call it a “sunrise service” but clouds shrouded the sun. Nonetheless it was a wonderful morning with participants from five different churches in the Northern Suburbs, worshipping and praying for our community together.
Increase
We have been blessed over the past six months to see a gradual increase at Sunday morning worship services from around 25 to well over 40 some mornings. Our Sunday School is active and vibrant again thanks to a new dedicated teacher. God hears and he answers prayer!
Hobart Baptist Church
Luminous Festival
Winter is when things generally get quiet. At Hobart it is our busy time. It is a positive way to interact with Dark Mofo in a positive way. Theme is Sacred Tasmania the links between sacred and sustainability in Tasmania. We have representatives of Parliament coming to our church. To register, visit the website.
Esteem Coffee Shop
Esteem Coffee’s customer base has been growing, but somewhat incremental. Starting this week the coffee shop will be offering all hot drinks for $3 for everyone. And… in July they will trial a ‘pay it forward’ scheme. This will begin with 100 hot drinks to give away.
So, if you would like a drink, you cannot pay for your own cup because it is already paid for! But if you would like to pay it forward for someone else, they will add it to the running total and keep offering everyone free cups of coffee until the running total lowers to zero.
Around the Churches April-May 2024
Read More ReCharge!
- Recharge News May 2024
- ReCharge News April 2024
- ReCharge News March 2024
- ReCharge News February 2024
ReCharge Articles 2024
- Assembly Report 2024
- Leaning on God by Hazelyn Mohan
- Farewell to Pastor Owen and Dawn Muskett
- Reader reply to Gender Diversity by Peter Smith
- Passionate About Reaching Young People for Christ by Stuart Crabtree
- Why I Value Professional Supervision by Michael Henderson
- Healthy Church Audit Time by Rodney Marshall
- Supporting the Supports by Andrew Turner
- Demolishing Barriers, Crossing Divides by Stephen L. Baxter, Mission Director
- A Particular Kind of Boldness by Andrew Turner
- Around the Churches March 2024
- Gender Diversity by Liam Conway
- From ‘Curious Outsider’ to LifeWay Pastor by Morgan Read
- The Turning of the Tide? by Andrew Turner
- An Ode To The Shepherd by Frans Ammerlaan
- Intercultural Australian Baptists by Geoff Maddock
- Aboriginal Sunday 2024 by Paul Dare
- Reason for Great Hope to a Broken World by Stephen L. Baxter, Mission Director
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