Quarter Three Review: People are Precious

Dear St Andrew’s,

Last week I was on leave. It was good to stop, catch my breath and reflect with thankfulness on what had been a very busy—but also very fruitful—third quarter of the year.

At our recent Synod, Archbishop Kanishka Raffel reiterated our Diocese’s five-year focus: prayerfully seeking annual attendance growth of 5%, particularly through people coming to faith in Jesus. He was also careful to say that 5% growth is neither a necessary nor a sufficient measure of a church’s health or its leaders’ faithfulness. It is intended to focus our prayers, hearts, imagination and effort.

Or, as he put it rather more memorably: “People are precious. People are lost. The gospel is beautiful. What can we do?”

That helps us look behind the numbers to the people and stories they represent.

One Sunday in July gave us a lovely glimpse of God’s work. At 10.30am, Mel met a Year 5 girl who had attended a Christian camp and wanted to discover more about Jesus. She arrived with her brother and mother, joined enthusiastically in prayer and went home with a Korean Bible for her family to read. On that same Sunday, a Buddhist family came because their children wanted to attend Kids’ Church; another child, first invited to Xtreme by a friend, returned with her mother, and went home with her own Jesus Storybook Bible; and a family who had come through HUB returned for the first time since HUB Sunday.

God is often at work through the invitations of children—and children can be surprisingly persistent evangelists!

We saw the same culture during our August guest services on The Beauty of Christianity and The Sense of Christianity. On those two Sundays, we welcomed 36 and 45 new people and visitors respectively. Most came because someone had prayed for them, spoken with them and invited them.

The 321 course which followed was attended by 21 people, around half of whom would not yet call themselves Christians. Every one came with a Christian friend or family member. One participant said afterwards that they wanted to join the follow-up course and talk about baptism and taking the next step.

The quarter ended with another wonderful encouragement. Twenty-five young people travelled to Katoomba for the fourth KYCK weekend, supported by nine youth leaders and two parents. We are particularly grateful to Karen Chia and Peter Wong, who spent the weekend supporting the team, cooking and helping everything happen. There were also two birthdays to celebrate—but the greatest cause for celebration was that eight young people recommitted themselves to following Jesus, and one young person put his trust in Jesus for the first time. Praise God!

These stories are encouraging, but they also bring responsibility. An invitation or a decision at a conference is not the finish line. We want to help people trust Jesus, become part of his people and grow as his disciples. That requires patient friendship, prayer, follow-up and a willingness to open both our Bibles and our lives.

Now for a few numbers. Across the third quarter, average Sunday attendance was 345 adults and children, up approximately 9% from 317 in the same quarter last year. That exceeds the Diocese’s 5% goal, although attendance growth and growth through conversion are not quite the same thing.

The Hall Development has also continued to take visible shape, with the steel structure and timber framing for the roof now in place. There is still plenty of work ahead, but each new stage makes it easier to imagine the ministry opportunities the completed building will provide.

Financially, general offertory to the end of September was $658,313, compared with a year-to-date budget of $643,500—$14,813, or just over 2%, ahead. This is welcome encouragement, although larger one-off gifts have contributed. September recorded 124 regular giving units. With attendance increasing, a relatively smaller proportion of our church family is carrying the financial responsibility for our shared ministry.

As I look back over the quarter, I am thankful—not merely because activities happened, buildings rose or numbers increased, but because people heard about Jesus, Christians invited their friends, newcomers were welcomed, young people renewed their commitment, and one young person crossed from death to life.

People are precious. People are lost. The gospel is beautiful. Let us pray that God will continue to use us to grow disciples of Jesus Christ.

Blessings,

James