Hi everyone, most of you will know that this Sunday (April 7) is our much anticipated public launch of the new Lidcombe PM church community. I’m excited about this because it is a great missional opportunity and it is also a space to grow in more intentional discipleship and community. My earnest prayer is that God through His Word and by His Spirit will continue to shape us and mould us through this new ministry project, and so I’d love for you to consider partnering with us in the launch.
Now many of you have already made commitments to this new community. I know that some of you have either i) transitioned from being a regular at Lidcombe AM to becoming fully fledged team members at Lidcombe PM or ii) committed to attending both services for as long as you foresee. And both of these are so helpful for us moving forward. Those of you who have committed to PM will know that we’ve had our ministry orientations last Sunday, and it is so nice to know who is officially on board and how each of us are serving. So for those of you who fall under these two categories, a big ‘thank you’ for making this commitment. I want to thank you because I know that change is never comfortable but you’ve still decided to follow through with it, but I also want to thank God for you because I know that He is the one who has led you to the place where you’ve decided to commit.
That being said, I know that there is a separate category of people. These are those who either i) have not yet decided whether they want to make PM their regular church community or ii) have decided that they still want to love and serve the community at AM. For those of you who are undecided, can I encourage you to keep prayerfully pursuing this. Honestly, in this case, the outcome is not as important as the process because both staying or changing are really good options! Both will enable you to grow in love and service, so either works! What is potentially harmful is not making a decision or sitting on the fence. This makes it hard for us as shepherds to care for you because we don’t know where you belong, and this makes it hard for our ministry leaders because they don’t know whether to give you a space to serve. So if you could, please make a decision and commit to it for the sake of our community. You are of course always welcome to drop in at the service that you haven’t committed yourselves to because we are afterall one church. We would always be encouraged by your presence! But clarifying it for us will enable us to set the right expectations.
But for those of you who have committed to AM, I also want to thank you for making that decision. You’ll know that we’ve had another group from Lidcombe AM moving across to Burwood AM to help that ministry there, which means that Lidcombe AM will also be blessed by having more hands on deck. So thank you for making that commitment, and I just want to encourage you to partner with this new church plant by praying hard for us.
Pray for this coming Sunday – especially with the baptism which means that there will be newcomers – and pray that the Lord will move peoples’ hearts to see their own sin and need for repentance and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Through Zach and Darren’s baptism, we hope to show the world the goodness and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we hope that this sign and seal of God’s covenant of grace will draw many to God Himself.
So would you please take a few moments right now to pause and pray. I reminded the Lidcombe PM community that what we’re doing with this new church plant is nothing short of supernatural. Why? Because we’re hoping and expecting for spiritually dead people to be born again. No one in their power can manufacture that. Only God can. And so with supernatural causes, we need supernatural means. Thank God that He hasn’t left us to our own – He has given us the powerful gift of prayer and the promise of Christ’s intercession. So please pray with us right now and also in the days to come.
Allelous Community Group 