Some years ago, a very talented children’s worker at our church in Wollongong was doing some puppetry for our local Scripture assemblies. She was unavailable for one of the days, introduced me to her huge mouth puppet and said, “Practice at home Kathy, you’ll be fine!” I was hesitant, but hooked! Since then, “Wacky” has…

In recent discussions that some of us have been having about how we arrange the interior of our church, it’s been helpful to ask the prior question: ‘Why do we have church?’ I’m a creature of habit and end up doing things just because that’s the way I do them – I don’t think about…

“Wow”, “Excellent”, “Magnificent”, “This is the best thing ever”, “I’m definitely doing this again next year”… We hadn’t been at the Square1 camp for 24 hours yet, but I’d just asked the kids how they would describe the camp so far. Siu Lin (Blackheath Baptist Church) and myself had taken six Kapow kids and four…

The first Anglican church in the upper mountains was built at Mount Victoria in 1874-5 as an outlier of St John’s at Hartley. The Rev Edward Symonds came to Blackheath to minister, first from the rectory there around 1880 and then in the new St Aidan’s, opened in 1884. The opening of Katoomba College, a…

Like most people, Tim Keller tries to have a morning time of devotion and prayer. John Calvin, however, argued that when it comes to daily prayer one time of prayer and devotion is not enough. In our weakness, we should set apart certain hours for this exercise. Calvin taught that we should designate set times,…

I’ve been reading Revelation again in my personal Bible reading and, as I’ve gotten to the end of the book, I’ve been stunned again at the vivid images John gives us and the wonderful way the book speaks to our time and lives. Revelation 20:4 is a debated section but let me encourage you in…

I want to thank all those who have been praying for David Pettett, Steve Williams and myself over the last couple of weeks while we have been in the Solomon Islands. From all accounts, it appears God has been very much at work in those who have attended the training seminars, both the men in…

Introduction The worship team has been working through a number of issues with the current setup in the upstairs area of the church building. Some of those issues are: difficulties with the pews, lack of creche, and an area for children during and after the service. Background It has become apparent that there are a…

Having the last six weeks off on long service leave has been a lovely rest and a little taste of heaven. However, it’s a joy to be back in the saddle of ministry. I’ve been refreshed by the relief from the daily pressures of ministry, and glad for the break, but I’ve also had a…

I’m not very concerned with official titles, but it may be helpful if you have heard it at least this once! This is a part-time role, 17 hours a week. Generally I work Tuesdays, Wednesdays and some Thursdays. In the future I will spend two days a month in Mount Druitt or Penrith. The aim…