Vince Williamson, the Connect09 Lay Ambassador Co-ordinator, says he has been greatly encouraged by the number of lay folk who, once they have understood Connect09, are fully embracing and supporting this initiative. At a local meeting recently, one person stood up and said ‘I have been praying for years for a revival in Sydney and I truly sense that Connect09 is the beginning!’

With 70 000 Christians actively praying and connecting, then we should be expecting God to do great things in our city. It would be hard to argue against.

This will be the perfect opportunity to be both enthused and informed ahead of the run down to Christmas and the New Year, and the run up to 2009.  We promise motivation as well as up-to-the-moment information.

Key presenters:
Vince Williamson - Co-ordinator, Connect09 Lay Ambassador Program and Russell Powell – Senior Media Advisor.

Don’t miss this opportunity.
For more information, contact the office. 

Churches have several ways to integrate the program with the flow of Sunday services, either substituting the BIG DAY IN for a normal service or re-arranging existing services around the 10am time slot.

Some churches are moving all services to a larger premises to view the program with all congregation members present. It will be helpful to organisers if you could indicate which option you are considering. More information will follow in coming weeks.

Click here to download the Big Day In Registration Form

Send completed forms to:
Connect09
PO Box Q190
QVB Post Office
NSW 1230

or to the Connect09 office
or fax to (02) 9267 8601

This first phase includes:
* The Essential Jesus - Luke’s Gospel
* The Chinese Gospel of John
* The Arabic Gospel of Luke

To order resources, go to our ‘Resource’ page or click here.

*Orders can still be placed after October 31st but additional charges will apply.

As the media turns its eye to Synod this week, Connect09 has also caught it’s eye.
An article entitled ’Anglicans out to connect‘ features in the Sydney Morning Herald.

We have found 6 nights in late November and early December when the Connect09 lay team, headed by Vince Williamson and Russell Powell, are available to run a repeat night in your region. 

This will be the perfect opportunity to be both enthused and informed ahead of the run down to Christmas and the New Year, and the run up to 2009.  We promise motivation as well as up-to-the-moment information.

Key presenters:
Vince Williamson - Co-ordinator, Connect09 Lay Ambassador Program and Russell Powell – Senior Media Advisor.

Don’t miss this opportunity.
For more information, contact the Connect09 office.

Run by Outreach Media (part of the FEVA ministry) , CREATE will feature leading professionals in the fields of media, graphics, advertising, architecture, web design, theory of communication and much more.

The purpose of the conference is to help ministry teams bridge the gap between our Christian culture and the ‘Post Christian’ world we live in.  

It’s a kind of Christian ‘Marketing conference’ with other things thrown in.  For some, mention of the word ‘marketing’ is a turn off, yet we’re all involved in marketing to some degree.  All churches think about the way they’re perceived by their local community.  

When it was run two years ago at St Anne’s Ryde, the conference was titled: ‘Promoting the Word Through Image and Text’.  The overwhelming response then indicated that people know they need help on the kinds of issues this conference deals with.  

So this conference should really help us ’lift our game’.  It has 3 broad categories:

1.  Understanding the times - does access to the 24 hour news cycle really mean that we understand the mindset of those who don’t know Christ?  What do changes to work, leisure, family and so forth mean for gospelling?  What are the recent changes in social behaviour and the affects of technology? This year there will be a special focus on the Internet as well as a seminar on ‘faith and risk when starting new ventures’.

2.  Message creation.   What’s the best way to connect the gospel and gospel events with the world we live in.  A number ofseminars will address strategies for generating good ideas, how to write well for a whole range of genres, including fiction, press releases, and advertisements, and thinking through how to package these into effective connections that impact with our community.  In addition the ‘Back Yard Bard’ from Melbourne will run a workshop on dramatic Bible reading.

3.  Message execution.  If we get these first two things right, how do we get the skills we need to execute on the good ideas without spending a fortune?.  Seminars from two years ago such as ‘Arriving and Staying on the Web’, ‘Graphic Design Inside the Box’, ‘Death by Powerpoint’ and ‘Beyond the Vox Pop’ will be on again with fresh content as well as new seminars on using technology to best advantage, creating ‘stunts and props’ and many more.

FEVA’s Malcom Williams is excited at what could be achieved in a day. “We’re discounting the registration fees on group bookings to encourage groups to come.  This is the kind of conference where a whole bunch come from church and then they go out for dinner to debrief afterwards. Church ministry teams should think about bringing as many people as possible and and sending them to the various elective strands through the day so they can swap notes and ideas.”

If a minister brings members of their church they’ll have the opportunity to present their church promotional material to be looked at by industry professionals in small workshops.  Their will be other opportunities to think about their church site with industry professionals in the fields of architecture (including a session on the logistics of getting your ‘DA’ approved).  All attendees will be given a free ‘CopyWrong’ DVD that will help their church do the right thing in the area of copyright.

“This conference is a one stop shop and a great preparation for Connect09.”

Lunch will be provided on site and workshops will run regularly so people can learn about several areas across the day.

Informing, encouraging and enthusing lay people about Connect09 is critical.  Ministers and church leaders are central in this.  It is also our hope that a number of key lay Connect09 enablers or “Ambassadors” in each region of the diocese will be a valuable asset to ministers and small group leaders as they seek to inspire and mobilise our 70,000 or so “foot soldiers” who are at the front line of gospel work in their street, apartment blocks, parks, schools, shops and places of work.

Each region of the Sydney Diocese is different and we have a wide range of parishes.  We hope to recruit a mix of people as Connect09 Ambassadors in each region so that we can match the right people to the opportunities that will arise to promote Connect09.

Vince Williamson, our Ambassador Co-ordinator, will be working closely with the Ambassadors to match the right people to the right event.  As a volunteer himself who has juggled full-time work and various ministries himself over many years, Vince knows only too well the demands placed upon the kinds of capable and faithful people who will be Ambassadors.  He will be working to make sure the workload is manageable and appropriate for all involved.

Our first Connect09 ambassadors will take part in an evening training session this week which will seek to provide them the resources & knowledge they need to go out and inform other groups of people, both small & large, about how Connect09 will look in their local community.

If you are interested in having a Connect09 ambassador come to your church or group, contact the Connect09 office on 9265 1587 or the Connect09 office.

• Ordering opens 29 September 2008.
• Ordering closes 31 October 2008.

Resources

1. Luke’s Gospel, printed in English. “The Essential Jesus”: a contemporary Australian translation. 80 pages of 109mm x 128mm.
• 180 gospels per carton, with a minimum order of 5 cartons [900 gospels]

2. John’s Gospel, printed in Chinese. Revised Chinese Union version, simplified characters. 100 pages of 180mm x 107mm.
• 200 gospels per carton.

3. Luke’s Gospel, printed in Arabic. Translation by Van Dyke. Plain cover. 46 pages of 150mm x 100mm
• 200 gospels per carton.

Ordering checklist:

* Have you and your congregation used the NCLS Community Social Profile to consider numbers of households, census collector districts and demographics within you Parish?

* Have you begun to plan your local 2009 campaign and communicate the Connect09 timeline to your congregation?

* Did you know that John Barnes (Connect09 Ambassador) has volunteered to help you plan your Parish orders? Contact: 0400 881 843.

* Have you and any key staff and lay people registered to receive up-to-the-moment information via the Connect09 e-bulletin?
Click here

RSS helps to solve a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the site, without having to visit the site individually to check for new information.

For more information on feeds click here.

“When Tina and I were talking about what things we naturally do in our lives that might allow us to meet others, we decided that taking the kids down to a nearby park to play might work. So we gave it a go yesterday. We prayed that God might send us people our way as we headed down to a park by the lake that’s near us. Even though the park looked empty we decided to hang around and just be available to meet anyone if God would send them.
We soon came across a couple who had brought their boys down to the lake to do some fishing. They weren’t having much luck but a nearby stork was and they starting chatting with us about it. The conversation turned to where we each lived and what jobs we had. After a while they asked me if I’d decided where I would be sending my kids to school. When I admitted that I hadn’t really given it a lot of thought yet, they proceeded to tell me that they send their boys to a Catholic primary school even though they don’t go to church and by the way, do I go to a church? Why yes I do, I answer - it’s funny you should ask that, and I then get a chance to tell them about church and where it is etc - and all at their initiative! Isn’t God amazing?”
Nalin

“We were in a playground with our kids and we came across a young muslim family arriving for a BBQ. Emyo strikes a conversation up with the wife and after a while they’re exchanging phone numbers and email addresses. I get introduced to the husband and we wind up having a long chat about all sorts of things. It turns out they are a family from the Middle East who recently came to Australia to further his studies. He’s a very nice guy who is working very hard so that he can (and already does) help people in poorer countries with humanitarian projects. And why is he doing this? He tells me that it’s so that God will hopefully look favourably upon him when he dies. We wind up getting an invitation to visit their home in a few weeks time when their bathroom renovations are complete!
How weird and how exciting an afternoon that was for us - and I put it down to just prayerfully making ourselves available to be used by God!
Hopefully we’ll be able to build some of these relationships over the coming term (and make others).”
Brian

“Guess what.... I’ve just arrived home from the Body Combat class that our bible study chose to do as our “connect” for this term and I’m very excited!!!
The girls from my group and I started “Body Combat” last Tuesday and met this really nice girl and we began talking before, during and after the class and said “see you next week”. So tonight here she was again, and at the end we invited her to come to Macca’s for a coffee (which doesn’t really go hand in hand with a gym workout but is excellent for a “connect” workout) and she said yes. On arrival we saw two other ladies from our church having a coffee and so begins the conversation about how we all go to church together. Then our new friend asks “What church do you go to?...” and what do you know, she used to go to church several years ago and is about to get married soon in a church nearby her home. Needless to say we spent the next hour freely talking about church, work, kids, life and we’re going to see her again at the gym next week.
God is amazing ... and after praying last week for another opportunity to talk with her, He has come through, better yet He may be about to bring this lovely girl back to Him. Who would’ve thought this could actually lead to something? People said it might be hard to chat/connect at a gym, but hey if you have the social agenda at Macca’s planned afterwards it can work wonders… not to mention God’s hand in all of it.”
Jessica

“Two of us have been out connecting with our church neighbours today: With the 8 units, 4 were unapproachable to the outside world via locked gates, the remaining 4 doors were opened by very friendly faces.
1 lady had a sick husband + visitors and asked us to call again;
another, the mother-in-law had passed away yesterday and he requested a call-back next week.  A christian lady from the Uniting church engaged in lengthy conversation and survey details; as did another lovely lady who suffers from ill health as does her husband and she fears he may not survive his operation.
I learned some people have been taught for their safety they have to lock their gate.  I learnt that when you do God’s work you get a great ‘high’ and you want to convert everyone. I learnt I have new people to pray for and with a sense of urgency!”
Scott

“Had a great time out with Susan doing the survey this morning. Looking forward to another very soon.
Also, Baker’s Delight have agreed to give us some bread weekly for eight to ten weeks.
I think some others in the group might be willing to take that out – if not, we will.
Exciting times!
PS. We have been asleep. We need to reverse our anesthetised state.
Praise God for his goodness.”
Shiloh

Names have been changed.

6. Brand all activities possible with Connect09.
7. Have home groups do the training material from Simon Manchester and Bill Hybels.
8. Teach and train parishioners.
9. Hold shed days for blokes.
10. Give parishioners a “neighbourhood spiritual watch” with responsibility to pray for a group of neighbours, survey them, invite them to events and speak to them on spiritual matters. One parish has a parish map and people involved mark the location of their house on the map.

11. Use the sequence pray/survey/invite. A common survey form is used. The parish is surveying in April/May then planning to do a leaflet drop in July/August about the evangelism program “Start the ultimate relationship”.
12. Do audits of people coming to services on their experience.
13. Speak with local people about the issues in the neighbourhood and run events that address these issues.
14. Provide doorknocking training.
15. Pray for a street a week in services and show a video of the street.

16. Print the Connect09 logo on T shirts.
17. Use the Anglicare tin bin appeal as a means of connecting.
18. Involve Anglicare in parish ministry.
19. Do street surveys that relate to services at the church.
20. Provide welcome packs for newcomers.

21. Have leaders of congregations drive Connect09 activities.
22. Plan activities with other area deanery members.
23. Provide local newspapers with stories on Connect09.
24. Distribute a broadsheet to the parish.
25. Visit people who have recently moved into a house and provide them with church information and other information relating to the district.

26. Have an outsider audit what it is like to be a guest in the congregation.
27. Have ministry groups run Connect09 activities.
28. Put together a team of men who will evangelise 18-40 year old men through activities involving cars and motorsports.
29. Have parish prayer team send weekly prayer points to the Connect09 website.
30. Get small groups praying for Connect09. Have a prayer champion in each group and have the group adopt a street/suburb/people group.

31. Include Connect09 and Mission prayers in liturgy.
32. Explain Connect09 to parishioners and enthuse and envision them repeatedly throughout 2008. Have staff visit small groups for the same purpose.
33. Research the parish through NCLS, ABS, and discussions with mayor, police, newspaper, school principals etc.. Conduct a church inventory of current points of contact.
34. Identify the key nodes in the district.
35. Identify the best cold contact methods including times to call, methods to use, alternatives to door-to-door contacts.

36. Develop the plans for Connect09 by brainstorming new connections, selecting new connection strategies, budgeting for resources, selecting connection weekends of each month, selecting partner churches and blitz weeks when parishioners will be asked to take time off to participate.
37. Connect with public schools through a morning coffee cart, backyard blitzes, a benevolent fund and pupil free day kids clubs
38. Have a stall at market days.
39. Distribute Connect09 coasters to pubs and clubs.
40. Advertise key sermon series and marriage courses through doorknocking or letterbox drop.

41. Make contacts in nursing homes through church services, inquirers courses and easy exercise courses.
42. Use local media through letters to the editor, lifestyle articles and advertising.
43. Train people using Evangelism Ministries ‘Welcome’ kit, coaching welcomers, EM ‘Just Start Talking’, So Many Questions and Gospel Bites, and by practising doorknocking.
44. Small groups from the church intentionally going to pubs and clubs to contact people there.
45. Contact people who have been baptised or had their children baptised in the church but are not now attending.

46. Refocus the op shop to connecting with people rather than selling.
47. Work with the Christian surfer’s organization.
48. Talk about Connect09 with the Bible study groups.
49. Provide community lectures.
50. Involve congregation in a Connect09 planning day.

51. Letterbox drop DVDs prior to major events.
52. Have Connect09 ambassadors speak to parish groups about Connect09.
53. Use the “Jesus all about life” period in September 09 as a time of focussed activity.
54. Use anniversaries as a focus for activities.
55. Use small groups as a focus for connecting.

56. Have congregation members walk around small areas and pray for the people there.
57. Appoint street champions.
58. Teach congregations how to pray through sermon series.
59. Pray for streets then connect in relationships.
60. Provide welcomers training.

61. Have a team from outside assess the church.
62. Use plans from the Bishops-court conference as a basis for activities.
63. Have a Connect09 subtitle such as “Connecting with Jesus for life” and use the subtitle as a basis for major activities.
64. Have a minister responsible for discipling.
65. Make 2009 a major year of children’s events.

66. Have a prayer deacon responsible for encouraging prayer and provide regular prayer points.
67. Develop a five-year plan and keep putting the vision and plans before the congregations. Hold a combined service that will focus on Connect09. Prepare sermons and Bible studies based on Acts that will motivate people to be involved. The details of this plan with connecting ideas are available for those interested in reading it together with the strategy of a “Ginger group”.
68. Have the Connect09 team meet in the local bowling club for their discussions.
69. Have the deanery approach the local newspaper to do advertising and an advertorial several times per year.
70. Provide children’s activities on the pupil free day after the school holidays and invite the children and parents to church on the following Sunday.

71. Engage a children’s worker.
72. During the prayer time in gatherings have people use their Connect09 prayer cards to pray for people on their lists.
73. Rector to put aside ½ day each week for Connect09 thinking and planning.
74. Become a padre at a local club.
75. Set aside 5 minutes in each service to train the congregation.

76. Provide people with DVDs containing a gospel presentation, testimonies and answers to frequently asked questions.
77. Invite people to an organ recital that includes a gospel presentation.
78. Do a well publicised walk through the parish.
79. A strategy one parish has adopted is to pray for people in part of the parish for a period of 6-12 weeks, then letterbox drop in the area advising they will be visiting for a community survey. The final question in the survey will be an offer of a sample bag from the church including a personalised copy of Luke’s gospel. If the person wants it, the sample bag will be dropped back later and the person will be invited to discuss a summary of the gospel at a later date when there will be an invitation to join a “Christianity Explored” course based on Luke’s Gospel.
80. Hold a church “open week”.

81. Train parishioners with “Six steps to talking about Jesus” and “Christianity Explained”.
82. Hold a “Biggest morning tea” to raise money for the Cancer Council and have a testimony from a person who Jesus has helped through cancer.
83. Use the “Junior Jivers” program for 0-5 year olds and their parents.
84. Have the rector speak with each of the small groups in the church to enthuse them about Connect09 using some of the information from the Bishops-court conference, and to personally give people prayer cards.
85. Have weekly Saturday prayer meetings.

86. Hand out church information in shopping malls.
87. Have another NCLS done in the parish.
88. Have small groups and women’s group do research and think how to reach people.
89. Identify the gifts of congregation members and use them.
90. Do cold turkey connecting and doorknocking.

91. Give a DVDs with a message from the Archbishop and a gospel presentation.
92. Plant small churches.
93. Survey people’s views on spirituality.
94. Hold a big barbeque.
95. Have a monthly prayer hour before church.

96. Doorknock for the Red Shield Appeal.
97. Give a DVD with information about the work of the Anglican Church in Sydney and include local church information.
98. Encourage people to go to the lay ambassadors training.
99. Base a prayer diary on the Lord’s Prayer.
100. Invite parishioners to morning and afternoon teas to enthuse them about being part of Connect09.

101. Set aside a proportion of Parish Council time to discuss Connect09.
102. Train generation X people for evangelism using the Evangelism Explosion material “XEE”. Follow this training with “Share life” and “Multiplying life”.
103. Help with working bees at the local school and hold thanksgiving services there.
104. Survey the congregation, then run events that they will invite people to.
105. Run a holiday club followed by a holiday club Sunday.

106. Hold a gingerbread night with a speaker and testimony and offer a follow-up Christianity courses.
107. Meet with local politicians.
108. Book the mobile blood bank, have it come to the church and invite congregation members and local residents to give blood.
109. Ask parishioners to test the doorknocking questionnaires’ on friends and family then go doorknocking.
110. Reduce the number of “church” activities for a period in 2009 so that people can spend that time connecting.

We as Christians need to go another step.  We must not just love the place and the community we live in, but see things through Jesus’ eyes.  Luke tells us what happened as Jesus approached Jerusalem for the last time.  The city was prospering and yet we are told of Jesus that, “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city he wept over it” (Luke 19:41).  The word for ‘weep’ here does not mean to tear up like a beauty queen but to weep loudly or mourn. What makes a man who worked on building sites until he was 30 weep publicly? Jesus saw so clearly the desperate need and the inevitable future of this city that had said ‘No’ to God and his messengers again and again and again. They had said ‘No’ so often that now the truth was hidden from their eyes. God had decided the time for judgement had come.

We live in a society that talks about peace and contentment, and yet we seem to grow further and further from both. We get richer but relationally poorer. Our weddings get bigger and our marriages get shorter. Our houses get bigger and our families get smaller. We communicate across the world without difficulty and can’t talk across the dinner table.  We live in a society that does not have peace with God. In fact the richer we become the more we ignore him and walk away. 

So Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Why? He knows the judgement day is coming. “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.”

We know this happened just 40 years later when the Romans crushed the Jewish rebellion, completely destroyed the city and dispersed the Jewish people.  Why did it happen?: “...because they did not recognise the time of God’s coming to them.” Jesus sees the consequence of their rejection of their king, and he weeps for them. 

We talk about Mission and the desire to reach percentages of the population, plant new churches etc. These are all good things but nothing will really be achieved until we see our communities through Jesus’ eyes and share a heart that weeps for them.  Jesus loved his city, loved his people and wept for them as he understood their desperate need of salvation. Have we really understood the fact that without Jesus the people we live among are on their way to hell? Even in our churches, I wonder how often we speak about this. 

I have begun to pray that God might break my heart for the people of the Wollongong Region. That I might grieve over their lostness and so pray and work to see them come to know Christ.

The Christian life carries a strange contradiction: we are to be the people of great joy as we know the Lord and yet we are to be the people who weep over the lostness and need of the cities we love. Let us pray that God would break our hearts, that we might see cities and our communities as Jesus did and so pray and work for them to hear the message of God’s forgiveness through His king.

The Rt. Rev Al Stewart is the Anglican Bishop of Wollongong in the Diocese of Sydney

We are committed to assisting parishes to establish parish based ministries that are intentional about helping children to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Our experience and success in this specialised work means that we can work with parishes to develop a ministry model that appropriately reflects community needs and practically represents what the parish is able to offer.  Our focus is about moving away from overlaying the same model in every situation to working with parishes to ensure their ministry to children has a “local fit”.

Initially Kidzlink provides experienced personnel to work with parish leadership teams to shape a ministry to children.  We then offer ongoing support to skill and resource those involved in establishing and developing the ministry within the parish.  Taking time to build a good foundation at the beginning ensures that the ministry has both longevity and success.

Here are three different types of ministry models we offer:

Playgroup

Kidzlink supports churches in establishing and running Christian Playgroups.  Often the first building block of a family oriented church, Playgroup builds a bridge with families in the local community and is a valuable outreach ministry.
Playgroup is a world of fun and play….imagination, learning, laughter and tears, a world of friendships, sharing, caring and building relationships.  It’s a place for making a mess and cleaning it up! It’s one of the most worthwhile places you can ever be.
There are different models for a Christian playgroup and the one you choose may be influenced by the area you live in, whether your church draws a large number of children along to Sunday kid’s activities or whether you minister to many people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
At Kidzlink we can offer you help in setting up a Playgroup that will best suit your church and area.
For more information on accessing Playgroup programs, advice, training, resources and more please the Kidzlink Sydney office.

Weekly Children’s Groups

Kidzlink offers support to many weekly children’s groups meeting in or under the banner of Anglican churches in Sydney. Each group operating in this network represents different needs and a different approach to how best to serve the children and families in their church and community. Some groups choose to be for boys or girls separately and others co-ed. Some choose afternoon and some evening. We at Kidzlink strive to help group coordinators to sift through the needs to find the most appropriate combination of factors and strategies that will achieve their goals.
As mentioned earlier, we do not seek to overlay one model of children’s ministry on every church, we seek to assist churches in tailoring the structure of their group to best suit their leaders, kids and families.
Groups have available to them the Kidzlink Ministry Adviser, programs, equipment, advertising material, giveaways and much more. If you would like to find out more about how to go about setting up a weekly children’s group, please contact Kidzlink for some helpful advice.

Special Events

One fantastic way to make contact with the unreached families within your community is to host special events which offer friendly, meaningful and unobtrusive introductions to your church and its people.
Just like any other ministry initiative, each church will have different goals and will require different strategies in order to put together the most effective special event package they can. Your church may choose to host a Family Carnival where entire families are invited to enjoy the activities you provide. Or perhaps a Holiday Club during school holidays or simply a one day bonanza where kids can come and hear the Gospel while participating in relevant and engaging activities.
Kidzlink has a range of helpful products and resources available for churches to access. One such resource is the recently released, ‘How to Host a Special Event for Kids’. This comprehensive book offers ideas and advice for every stage of managing your special event and is useful for both inexperienced and experienced event coordinators alike. We also offer additional support through our Ministry Adviser and we have lots of fantastic equipment for hire.

“Congregation members may know what’s going on locally” says Connect09 Executive Director Andrew Nixon “but they become really enthusiastic once they realise what is planned across the diocese as support for the local church.”

The Connect09 ‘strategy nights’ will feature input from Vince Williamson, the leader of the Ambassador’s programme, an initiative to enthuse ordinary congregation members about what can be done to reach out to their communities. Diocesan media adviser Russell Powell will also outline support for churches and how to link in with the Jesus All about life media campaign. “We want as many lay leaders as possible” says Mr Nixon “and I’m sure they’ll leave fired up about what we can do together.”

See right for details on the regional strategy night in your area.