northpoint
Kempsey Students Awarded Young ICT State Champions
A group of year seven students from Kempsey Adventist School have been awarded the title of state champions after entering their project in this year’s Young ICT Explorers competition.
The competition, funded by global technology companies and national universities, challenges students to leverage technology to develop answers to real-world problems.
The “Real-time Learning” project submitted by Kempsey Adventist School’s students Ellia, Abby, Joaquin, Josh, Rhy and Alara, looked at the challenge of using technology to improve learning in the classroom. Full article on the conference website...
Food For Thought: Cooking Demos at Coastlife
Coastlife Adventist Church have just completed their second major cooking demonstration entitled “Food For Thought”. The class focused on recipes and foods that are good for mental health.
They also ran a kids cooking activity as a creche during the program, which was very well accepted. The evening concluded with a combined meal time with everyone at the table.
The team did a great job! The food was fantastic. The kids program was a win, and everyone was blessed. Some of the folks that attended are currently studying the Bible and/or coming to church. A couple of the ladies brought a number of friends.
Next Gen Ministers Preach in Mindoro
By Blair LemkeOver the last two weeks the NNSW Conference has had a team of 34 young adults and Next Generation Ministers with their mentors conducting a large-scale evangelism campaign on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. A joint initiative of the Southern Asia Pacific Division, Northern Philippine Union, South-Central Luzon Conference, Adventist World Radio and the North New South Wales Conference, the evangelism campaign covered 40 sites across the region of Oriental Mindoro and was received exceptionally well by the locals. A four-day medical mission, hosted by Adventist World Radio and supported by the local government, ran concurrently with the first few days of the evangelism campaign and provided free medical care to over 5000 patients offering dental care, health check-ups, minor surgeries, prescription glasses, hair cuts, massages and more. Our team were actively involved in providing this care and praying for and ministering to the patients and invitations to attend the nightly meetings were extended.
During the campaign, each of our young adults and Next Generation Ministers had their own site that they were responsible to preach and minister at. For many of the team, this was the first time preaching and was an incredibly rewarding experience where they tangibly experienced God working through them firsthand and grew in their knowledge, appreciation for and commitment to the precious message of the everlasting gospel that God has entrusted Seventh-day Adventists to share with the world.
After preaching at separate sites throughout the week, the presenters and baptismal candidates from each site came together at a central location on the final Sabbath for a combined program where Pr. Tom Evans preached and baptisms were conducted. A remarkable total of 408 baptisms from across the sites was recorded with more expected over the next few weeks as additional commitments and spiritual interests from the evangelistic effort are followed up. Among those baptised as a result of the campaign was a Sunday keeping Pastor from a local “Church of God” congregation with his family, as well as four rebel commanders of a rogue military group in opposition to the local government and 18 of their followers.
We praise God for the Kingdom growth and impact that He was able to make through our team of NNSW young adults and Next Generation Ministers and we are thankful for the missional culture of our young people in this conference. Please pray for our team as they head back to their local churches and communities and make the most of the opportunities that God gives them to put into practice their renewed love for evangelism and for sharing the love of God within their own spheres of influence.
We continue to raise funds to provide Bibles for the baptismal candidates from the campaign and for local Bible workers to continue to follow up spiritual commitments and interests generated from the campaign. If you are interested in contributing you are able to do so via the following link: https://nnsw.adventist.org. au/donations/bibles-for-the-philippines/
Blue Hills PBLs and Northern Rivers Adventurers Combine
Blue Hills College infants teachers, Julie Jackson and Allison Parkinson have taken the challenge of PBL (Project Based Learning) to an exciting new level and have loved the journey with their classes of pre-kindy and kindergarten. With a beautiful untouched and inaccessible rainforest area, right on the school grounds, they, along with their classes, decided to make it an enjoyable place where students could visit. Full article on the conference website...
Harvest in Drought
An amazing gathering of churches was experienced at the July Regional in Gunnedah.
Many members from Bourke, Lightning Ridge, Moree, Tamworth, Coonabarabran and other churches travelled long distances to enjoy a day of praise and fellowship. Avondale Brass travelled to add blessing and encouragement in the midst of the long drought and bring some joy to the churches in the West. The brass band visits many churches to share great music and uplifting spiritual messages.
Upcoming Events
2019 Outback Mission Trip
September 25 - October 9 Register on the conference website today.
2019 Adventurer Camporee
Sept 27-30 Stuarts Point Convention Centre
Women’s Retreat
November 8-10
Stuarts Point Convention Centre
More News Online...
nnsw.adventist.org.au/news-and-events
God’s Leading in Service Ministry
By Carolyn FosterI was born into a Christian family and around the age of 12, I was baptised. All my life I have believed in Jesus and yet for a lot of my life I have been searching for more. I am currently serving in the ADRA Op Shop, Tuggerah and this is where I feel my life is changing in a big way.
Each morning as we set up for the day, we take time to pray. The volunteers are people who come from different churches and from the community. We don’t all necessarily believe the same things. What we do believe and desire together is to make a difference in the lives of people who come in each day. We desire to have a place where people can come in when they are having a rough time and know they will receive help in whatever way we are able to help. Some people come in asking for prayer, some come in asking for food or clothing and we feel so privileged to be part of an organisation that can help people in this way.
As I talk with the people who volunteer, one thing which keeps coming up is that each of us feels so thankful to be there. We are making friends in the community and this is another way in which we can change our local communities. There are so many lonely people who are searching for a way to feel connected. This has been a great way for not only the community to connect but for volunteers to connect and feel complete.
In Matthew 25:40 it says “I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me”. And then in Acts 20:35, “In everything I have shown you that, by working hard, we must help the weak. In this way, we remember the Lord Jesus’ words: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’”. Full article on the conference website...
RTM Church Needs You!
Raymond Terrace Mission (RTM Church) is seeking young and/or enthusiastic and committed Seventh-day Adventist volunteers to assist in running an outreach Newstart Juice ‘cafe’ on the main street of town. We already have a young team in place, and seeking to grow and expand our influence for health and for Jesus! Raymond Terrace is located just north of Newcastle. All interests please contact Paul Kochanski on 0410132491.
Wanted: Singles Ministry Leader
Looking for expressions of interest for a volunteer to lead out in planning events for singles 30+ - 65+ for the NNSW conference. Mentoring will be offered to such a person from other active conferences. If you are interested please contact Christine on 0403519878.
NCD Pathway
Loving Relationships Continued...
By Gillian Knight - NNSW NCD CoordinatorHow do you know when someone really loves you?
I hear you say, “Well it depends on the relationship, and there are different kinds of love depending on whether it is a spouse, sibling, parent, child or friend”. Alright, so what makes the love of my spouse different to the love of my friend? In some cases, our spouse is our best friend, so the love would be the same.
Did God create these varying degrees of love or have we divided our love into different packages and, dependent on the person requiring the love, decide which package we will open and give them. Did Jesus model this kind of love to others when he was on earth? Did he decide who deserved all His love and who didn’t? No. The God of the universe says, “I know
you. And more than know you, I love you so much I will do all I can to meet your deepest needs.” This love is also extended, not just to those who love Him back, but to everyone.
In part two of our look at Loving Relationships we will dig deeper and look at the specific questions in the survey that measure relationships in our community and how we can show love to one another.
Last month, I mentioned how the questions on Loving Relationships can be split into four groups. The first group was, “We appreciate each other’s contributions”.
Q35 – The atmosphere of our church is strongly influenced by praise and compliments.
Q83 – Our leaders regularly praise and acknowledge volunteers.
Q48 – When someone in our church does a good job, I tell them.
In a healthy church, encouragement is embedded in the culture because leaders role model it and individuals take responsibility for encouraging one another. This is also closely linked with questions in Gift-based Ministry that talk about feeling supported in ministry, feeling like God is using you and knowing your work has value.
There is nothing wrong with showing kindness and gratefulness to others for a job well done. Do we not experience God’s kindness extended to us every day? It certainly follows that if we experience God’s kindness, we will be transformed by it and reach out in kindness to others. When we show kindness to Christ’s followers, we are being kind to Him and to His Father.
How many times do we see Paul in his letters providing love and praise for what people have done and encouragement to keep on going?
The second group of questions was “What’s the mood here?”
Q32 – There is a lot of joy and laughter in our church.
Q43 – I know of people in our church with bitterness towards others.
Q80 – If I have a disagreement with a member of our church, I will go to them in order to resolve it.
Leaders need to work on the “atmosphere”, encouraging relationships, growing people not just doing tasks, addressing tensions as they arise and having a clear process for conflict resolution. It is quite intimidating to be in an environment marked by avoidance, criticism and an absence of encouragement.
The third group, “Are we friends?” is just one simple question.
Q39 – I can rely on my friends at church. Is your church a community where people are growing relationships that are dependable? Sadly in our Adventist culture, the answer is no. We have challenges when it comes to sharing and trusting our “friends” at church. It should be the first place we come to where we always find help and trust.
The fourth group is “the relational onion”.
Q11 – I find it easy to tell other Christians about my feelings.
Q30 – In our church, it is possible to talk with other people about personal problems.
Q61 – Our leaders show concern for the personal problems of those in ministry. Q30 – I share with various people in our church about my spiritual journey.
Christians need to grow in relationships that permit and encourage the sharing of feelings. They need to be able to admit to one another when they are up or down. It follows that relationships should grow to the point where people can share personal problems and not be concerned that they will be looked down on, judged or deemed unworthy as believers. Then at the very core is the freedom and encouragement to walk the journey of faith together, honestly and openly.
For such relationships to grow in a church there must be trust, the absence of the critical spirit and leaders prepared to show the way in their relationships. It is very hard to grow a church if these aspects of relationship are largely missing.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34
