northpoint
Newcastle Adventist Church Reaches 100
Newcastle Adventist Church (NAC) has seen many changes in recent months. The church was launched 2 years ago as MyHouse Ministry Centre with around 30 committed members. The food pantry ministry they were running at the time received up to 100 patrons each week. Adventist Students on Campus (ASOC) was started in 2018 by NAC to reach students at Newcastle University. Each Sabbath around ten university students come to church and around twenty attend Friday night care group Bible studies. An evangelistic series run in May 2018 resulted in five decisions for baptism. The NAC church camp on the October long weekend of 2018 was a life-changing experience. Not just for Maureen who was baptised
and the five more who made decisions for baptism, but for all 65 members and seekers who attended, including many from ASOC. A number of people have been baptised and several more have made decisions for baptism through the work of our six ‘ARISE for life’ Bible workers in the second half of 2018. We praise God for the way He has been working in Newcastle Adventist Church. Read the full story on the conference website.
The NorthPoint Bulletin is back!
Over the last 6 months, the communications team at the NNSW conference office has experienced big changes. We have a new team and direction for communications as well as some great content for you to share with your congregation and the wider community. One recurring feedback was
regarding the amount of wasted printed resources. Most people interact with digital media, so there’s little need for so much printed material. So you can now find all conference news online on our website: nnsw.adventist.org. au, along with some amazing video stories from around our conference and further afield. The printed NorthPoint is reduced to what you are holding in your hands right now. With the saved resources, we have created a quarterly magazine that is an evangelistic resource which you can share with your friends and the wider community.
We trust that these changes reflect a better use of communications resources and we would love to hear from you. Do you have news you would like shared with the rest of the conference? Please contact us at northpoint@adventist.org.au.
June 2019
North New South Wales Conference News
A Balanced Approach to Health
God is balanced and so is everything that comes from Him. But as fallen human beings, we have the tendency to go to extremes. And in the attempt to rescue the balance, the health talks and workshops at Big Camp this year brought the theme “Refocus” inspiring people to reconsider the Health Message and its truth.
Nearly every Seventh-day Adventist in the world recognizes the health message as a powerful tool to connect with people and share the Gospel. But a contributing factor to the lack of balance in this topic is that not all diligently study and understand its full context in the Spirit of Prophecy.
Camila Skaf, the Health Director for the NNSW Conference, explains that a typical example of that is the use of Ellen White’s texts and quotes that support one point of view while pointing fingers to people who don’t follow the advice given in those quotes. “So instead of bringing people together, the misuse of the health message can separate people. Ellen White wrote about that; if wrongly used, the health message can injure the ministry. So having a balanced view of health, and using the health message with an othercentred focus is essential for its success”, she adds.
Considering himself an enthusiast of the health message, Christopher Rantall who listened to the health talks, says that he has seen how the lack of balance in preaching to others can negatively impact its reach. “I’m quite involved with health back home, and in the past, we’ve done a lot of projects to meet people where they’re at. We used to do a lot of cooking demonstrations and health presentations, and I found that when we started stepping off the health principles, within what Ellen White and the Bible teach, people started to drift and not attend”.
“So we need to have that balance where we present the truth of health”, he acknowledges, adding about the Big Camp health workshops, “it’s amazing that that’s exactly what was presented here”.
The start of a movement
One positively surprising element was the engagement with the health activities during Big Camp. Mrs Skaf points out
that the team expected around 20 to 50 people to attend the talks and workshops. “I remember entering the first talk and it being pretty empty. It was on a Monday at 9 am, and during the worship, there were less than 30 people in the audience. But 15 minutes later, right before the start of the talk, I looked back, and there were more than 400 people!” She explains that the numbers only increased during the other talks and workshops, “so we clearly saw the beginning of a movement!”
And to be a whole movement, the health department also brought the focus to children with the launch of the Kids Health Expo and kids cooking class. Through games, music and fun they learned the core values of the health message and the eight natural remedies given by God. “It was inspiring to see that nearly half of the children registered at Big Camp attended the expo”, says Mrs Skaf.
Big Camp Appeal
Raises over $500,000
We want to thank you for your generosity to the Big Camp Appeal. We have reached the goal of $500,000 and the treasury department is still waiting to receive the total amount collected in local churches. We praise God for the opportunity to work together with Him. The 2019 Big Camp Appeal will fund projects in church planting, regional evangelism, health evangelism, urban centres of influence and discipleship training. For more information on these projects visit nnsw.adventist.org.au/bigcampappeal.
“Parents were telling me that on the way back from camp, on the four-hour drive the kids were teaching them all about what they had learned. So we want to include whole families to be part of this health movement”.
She also explains that this movement is not only about having healthy bodies or even healthy people, but it’s also about healthy hope. “When you minister to people, and you help with their needs, their physical needs, the spirit of prophecy tells us that they will be open to their spiritual needs. So this movement is not only about bringing physical wellness; it’s about bringing salvation and eternal life”.
Big Camp 2019 Coming Up
3201 campers attended Big Camp this year. Worshiping together with other believers is an amazing spiritual experience. The event included 12 divisions, 65 workshops, over 25 speakers, yet the spiritual value is immeasurable. Many decisions were made and we praise God for the opportunity to worship together as a family.
CHIP Facilitator Training
May 25-26
nnsw.adventist.org.au/health
Faith & Science Conference
July 16-19, Avondale College
nnsw.adventist.org.au/news-and-events
Town Hall Meetings
July 29 - August 7
In preparation for the constituency meeting on September 15, “Town Hall Meetings” will be help in 8 locations explaining Constituency Meeting Logistics, North NSW Conference Strategic Plan, Constitution Changes, Best Use of 112 Lake Road and to give people the opportunity to ask questions. Constituency meeting delegates and any interested parties are strongly encouraged to attend. More details at nnsw.adventist.org.au/news-and-events.
This movement is not only about bringing physical wellness; it’s about bringing salvation and eternal life.
Faith FM Update Let’s adopt Newcastle Airport
Kent Kingston
People are in such a rush these days. It’s not often we slow down and have time to reflect on personal or spiritual things. One of the rare places where we are still required to spend time waiting, however, is at the airport.
One of our key regional airports has gone international. Newcastle Airport has been making a big fuss over the direct Virgin route to Auckland they added during the summer tourist season. Every day about 3300 passengers pass through the terminal and, given Newcastle Airport’s expanding ambitions, that’s a number that’s likely to increase.
Experience tells us that many travellers are open to exploring spiritual things. On the Spirit of Tasmania ferries, for example, passengers take up to 400 Signs of the Times magazines each month— they’re provided free to passengers on the boats’ tourist hubs, thanks to generous sponsors. Signs magazine, of course, is aimed precisely at the public—it’s an evangelistic magazine so even though weighty spiritual and biblical issues are presented, there’s no churchy jargon. Imagine if we could adopt Newcastle Airport as a strategic location to place Signs magazines for the travelling public to take and read. It’s completely doable. All it would take is a few hundred dollars per month to sponsor the magazines and have them placed in the three brochure racks by airport employees—they would keep the racks stocked for us so long as we provide them with enough Signs to do so. Ready to fly? Contact us at info@ signsofthetimes.org.au. And remember, Signs is for Sharing!
Kent Kingston is editor of Signs of the Times magazine.
The Faith FM network has been growing over the last 12 months with the network now broadcasting on VAST increasing the total potential reach to almost 6 million Australians.
In the recent months there have been a number of exciting events. In March, Kangaroo Island radio station was launched by the Mayor of Kangaroo Island, Mr Michael Pengilly. On-demand Faith FM podcasts are now available on the Faith FM website. Direct-sourced (vs 3ABN-sourced) content has now reached 75% completion with new programs from a variety of speakers having been introduced – including international presenters such as Clifford Goldstein and Dwight Nelson, as well as Australian presenters including Gary Webster. Following the launch of Faith FM into the outback in December on the VAST network, the ATSIM team have been actively preparing to launch a weekly radio program targeted to reaching Indigenous Australians. The North New South Wales 2018 Big Camp Appeal funded the purchase of 14 licenses across our region exposing over 170,000 residents to the Faith FM broadcast. Please continue to uphold the Faith FM radio ministry in your prayers.
We face many challenges, but God is continuing to do amazing things as our pastors, lay-people, and church leadership around Australia are working together to harness the opportunities God has given us to reach people through radio. If you haven’t explored Faith FM yet, head to faithfm.com.au and explore.
NNSW Baptisms Rise Rapidly
The NNSW Adventist church has broken a 39-year baptism record in 2018 with the total number of baptisms and professions of faith coming in at 309. It has been amazing to see God working in our communities in so many different ways - church plants, centres of influence, school evangelism, small group Bible studies, prayer meetings, health programs, individual members... it’s our privilege to witness the Holy Spirit touching peoples hearts and growing the Kingdom. May God bless you as you surrender to His leading in your life.
Executive Report
There is never a shortage of activity in the North New South Wales Conference. This brief synopsis from the beginning of 2019 is by no means comprehensive. This year, summer camps were split between before and after Christmas due to the Union Camporee. Both Junior and Teen 1 camp were filled to capacity with a strong attendance for Teen 2 as well. The campers were given opportunity to reflect on the evening meetings with the counsellor in their cabins through a series of spiritually focused questions. Many young people took a stand for Jesus and expressed a desire to be baptised. We anticipate adding a 2nd Junior camp next year due to demand.
Pr John Bradshaw held a rally in Newcastle from the 8th to the 10th of February for an initiative called Proclaim 2019. During 2019, many churches in the Newcastle region will be focusing on hosting evangelistic reaping events. Please keep Proclaim 2019 in your prayers.
Speaking of prayer, it was determined that the annual Prayer Conference should be moved toward the beginning of the year in order to start the year off with a focus on hearing from God and seeking Him. From the 1st to 3rd of March, over 250 attended the Prayer Conference which was titled, “Fully Charged”. Powerful messages were brought to us by Pr Gary Blanchard (world youth director), Blair Lemke (NNSW young adult director) and Charissa Fong (NNSW Prayer Coordinator). You are encouraged to set aside the dates of 6-8 March, 2020 for next year’s Prayer Conference with Pr Pavel Goia joining us from the General Conference.
Big Camp is always in the highlight of April and this year proved to be no exception. Over 3200 campers were on-site with 500+ day visitors for the Sabbath on Easter weekend. Some highlights included Super Sunday where the local community was also invited. There was a strong attendance and it is anticipated this will become a regular feature of Big Camp. The health lectures during the weekday mornings were packed out with 400-600 people in attendance. It is clear that a health movement is beginning to take shape in NNSW! Another point of celebration was reaching the Big Camp Appeal goal of $500,000. These funds will enable innovative frontline ministry to take place between this Big Camp and the next. Thank you for your generosity. Ultimately, we praise God for the many baptisms that took place on the beach during Big Camp and the over 200 decisions for baptisms in the tents during the evening meetings.
As we continue through 2019, we pray that the ministry taking place in each of the churches in the NNSW Conference will reflect Jesus as highlighted in the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan: Growing Spiritually, Serving Humanity, Making Disciples and Proclaiming the Gospel. Wishing you God’s richest blessings!
Tom Evans Conference President
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Enquiries
The NorthPoint Bulletin is printed 10 times per year by the Adventist Church (North New South Wales Conference).
Editor Maddy Voinea
Phone (02) 4951 8088
Email northpoint@adventist.org.au
Website nnsw.adventist.org.au
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Disclaimer: Articles express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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