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Let the Little Ones Come to Me
Let the Little Ones Come to Me I once heard a friend say, “Whoever wrote the song Easy Like a Sunday Morning never tried to get their family of small children up and out the door to church on time!” There’s breakfast to organise, showers to have, clothes to iron, odd socks to find, nappy bags to pack… it’s a big task! And there’s nothing easy about it. But, here at BPCC we believe it’s so worth it! Jesus himself said, “Let the little children come to me…” (Matthew 19:14), and we are passionate about seeing every person, whatever age they are, growing in their relationship with Jesus. The church is, after all, a place for all ages. And that’s why on a Sunday we offer age-specific ministries for
Compassion Update
Compassion is a Child Sponsorship Program that serves children living in poverty. But, it addresses so much more than a child’s physical needs. It also meets the needs of their heart, mind and soul. Because, as Compassion so often says, the hope of Jesus, the care of a local church and the encouragement of a sponsor are more powerful than poverty. For over five years we have been so privileged to partner with Compassion Australia to sponsor hundreds of children in Northern Thailand. We recently received correspondence from two Partnership Facilitators that are written on behalf of the Child Development Centres we partner with. We want to share these with you to show you that your support in their lives has an important impact, especially through these uncertain times.
Three Rules of Engagement at Church
Three Rules of Engagement at Church Rebecca McLaughlin has written one of the best and most helpful books I’ve read in recent years: ‘Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World's Largest Religion’. She expertly and insightfully handles some of the thorniest objections to the Christian faith. I highly recommend it to you. But it’s something else Rebecca has shared that has stuck in my memory. In an article titled ‘Make Sunday Mornings Uncomfortable’, she shared three rules of engagement at church. These are three rules that guide the way she and her husband approach the Sunday gathering. They are deeply thoughtful and immensely practical. I share them with you in the hope that we might all capture the heart of these ‘rules’ and begin to put them into
Who’s Afraid of the ‘H’ Word?
Who’s Afraid of the ‘H’ Word? What do you think about when you hear the word ‘holiness’? It isn’t a word that we use often, and for some it comes with strong negative connotations. It might bring to mind strict rules, unreachable purity, stern conduct, and bland obedience. But holiness is a common theme in the Bible, and it is never described as a bad thing! In fact, holiness is described as something great, which leads to true happiness. Holiness in the Bible is a key part of a Christian life, and is something to strive for. Holiness describes absolute moral purity—to be holy is to be completely good, to not only do what is right, but to never do wrong. God, of course, is the perfect embodiment of
The countdown is on!
The countdown is on! You might be wondering ‘what countdown?’ In roughly 60 days, athletes from all over the world will come together for the much-anticipated, perhaps controversial, and slightly postponed (thanks COVID) Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. And while there are many discussions going around regarding the wisdom of holding the event in light of the pandemic, let’s focus for a moment on the athletes who’ll be there to compete. I can only imagine the extensive preparation that must go into training and being ready to compete at an international level. The degree of self-discipline athletes must have leading up to an event, is just amazing. And how can you not admire their determination and focus? Everything they do is with the end goal in mind – winning. With
You’re Invited!
You’re Invited! Later this year, on Sunday 18th of July, we will celebrate 30 years of ministry on this campus. We are thankful to God for all that he has done in and through us as a church, and we look forward to all that he might continue to do into the future. We want the whole church family to be able to gather and be part of the celebrations, so we intend to hold one worship service at 9am in two locations (the church auditorium and school auditorium). Both locations will have live music, a live MC, with the sermon to be livestreamed into the school auditorium. After the 9am service we will then hold a celebration on the lawn and around our campus with jumping castles, hot
A Prayer for Mother’s Day!
A Prayer for Mother’s Day I wonder if there is any other day in our calendar that provokes such deep and contrasting emotions as Mother’s Day? For some, it is a day of celebration, gratitude, and joy; you rejoice in your role as mother (and perhaps now as grandmother) and give thanks for the blessing of your offspring. For others, though, it’s a day of disappointment, loss, and pain; you grieve unfulfilled desires, unreconciled relationships, and untimely loss. For many, it will be a mixture of both. Mother’s Day is a lot like life; it’s good and grievous, beautiful and broken, joyful and painful. This is why perhaps the most pressing need on a day like Mother’s Day (and every other day) is prayer. To turn to the God
Did Jesus Always Correct People
Did Jesus Always Correct People? Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. (Philippians 4:5) I’ve had this nagging question in my mind recently. I’ve always thought it’s Biblical to be both courteous and reasonable to others, but I wondered whether these ideas were truly Biblical? I recently heard someone argue that Jesus was gentle with sinners, that he wouldn’t have corrected every single wrong thing a person said or did all the time. In other words, he was reasonable. It’s not that they were arguing that he would water down the truth… but rather, that he was gentle and took his time with people. This made sense to me knowing how Jesus befriended the ‘big sinners’ of society (Luke 7:34). They seemed to love him! The Bible clearly says
