A L L S A I N T S P E T E R S H A M

Find us online: allsaintspetersham.org.au 1

“I was thinking the other day, what’s our vision for the next

ten years?”So asked one of our church members a

few months back. The timing could not have been better as I had been thinking along these lines too. It will be our family’s 10 year anniversary at All Saints come early 2012, and more importantly we’ve kicked two big goals recently: first, funding the Youth Minister’s role from our general budget (ie: no more need for grants) and second the upgrades and repairs to the property under the CAP (Capital Appeal Program) will soon draw to a close.

Over the last 10 to 15 years All Saints has experienced a significant turn around under God’s gracious hand. To repeat a metaphor I used recently: ‘All Saints was on the operating table with the paddles applied to keep us alive. Thankfully, there was a pulse, and over the last decade or so we’ve moved to the recovery bay, to the general ward, through rehab and now we are in a much stronger and healthier position as we leave the hospital doors behind.’

What’s next then? In one sense, it is the same as we have been, namely we are to be the church of God, gathered around Christ and his Word, living lives of love and service for the benefit our church and of our Inner West Community, all done by the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we keep preaching Christ, we keep on living out the gospel. Yet, in another sense, we need to rethink how we go about this

work given that we are fitter and healthier than in a long time. Surely our capacity is bigger!For this reason we have surveyed our church members, asking what they value and esteem about All Saints, but also soliciting honest

criticism of our church. The goal is not merely to get nice things said, but to listen to how we might serve each other and our neighbours better. The results of the survey have been published on the members area of the church website.

In addition, a group called ‘To 22’ (ie. Towards 2022) has been formed to help steer the thinking on this matter. They will report to Parish Council, however please feel free to approach the group at any time with any input or contribution you might have. The members of that group are: Antony Blake, Michael Dicker, Sally Hutchinson, Liz Livingstone, Kenton Webb and myself.

Continued page 2...

Year 13 Fiji Mission TripFor 5 weeks in July Daniel Higgins went to Fiji. Catch a glimpse of why he went there & what he did!Page 2

A (Sometimes) Quarterly Newsletter Volume III, Issue No 9: August 2011

Blast from the past!Our resident history buff Noel Cragg has some quirky information on the All Saints rectory.Page 3

BIG things are happening at Salt...Find out what’s been happening with Salt youth group and why they’ve made the change to a new time and space.Page 3

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ALL SAINTS?

Insidet h i s i s s u e

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2 Find us online: allsaintspetersham.org.au

Towards the end of June I went with about thirty-three other teens and ten

or so adults on a month long short term mission trip to Fiji. It was one of the biggest

months of my life – so much happened, and I feel like I've learnt and grown so much! To be honest I'm not really sure how I'm going to sum up the whole experience in just a few hundred words...

You can take my word, it wasn't just a month of chilling at the beach snoozing under palm

trees and feasting on coconuts! Our Year 13 mission trip was very much focussed on building

relationships and spreading God's word. Other organisations go to Fiji with the intention of building houses, or schools, but the basic idea behind our Year 13 trip was really: 'let’s go to Fiji and talk to a bunch of people!'. It may sound like that’s not much of a goal, but Year 13 has been sending a crew to Fiji now for 4 years and it was an amazing

experience to continue those relationships, talk with local people and find out what life is like in Fiji beyond the tourist resorts. We saw a side of Fiji that most people don’t experience.

When I tell people that I went to Fiji on a mission trip a month ago, the usual reply I get is: 'Oh, Fiji! I went there on a holiday once, it’s really nice!'. Now, there's nothing wrong with going on a holiday to Fiji- in fact without the tourism industry, the country probably wouldn't be able to support itself! But there really is a big difference between the Fiji shown to us in the tourism magazines and the Fiji that is actually there.

From my experience I know that Fiji isn't always the abundant country full of fun, sun, sand and beach that is advertised. The people over there don't actually have all that much, and it really does teach you how blessed we are to be living in a country that is as well off as Australia. Fiji has many areas where it needs help, and one I noticed is the lack of sound Bible teaching and training.

I really do feel blessed to have had the opportunity to go to Fiji and have this experience, and I hope and pray that the people we met over there were just as blessed by the experience as we were.

Daniel Higgins

Continued from page 1...One task the ‘To 22’ group has already

considered is how well the ‘Seek & Save’ ‘Strengthen Faith’ and ‘Serve’ headings fit with what our church should do and is doing. Here is what we’ve found:First, many agree that the ideas behind

these headings summarise really well what we should be doing as a church. We need to seek out the lost from Christ and share the gospel with them.

Second, we must be a church that strengthens the faith of those we have contact with.

And third, to be just like Jesus we must be a church that serves each other and our community.It is likely that these three objectives

will remain our agenda, but the group has found that we’ve not done well in communicating what they mean and therefore the language needs to be simplified & adapted to make the meaning clearer and more user friendly.

These are the changes we’re proposing:

‘Seek & Save’ becomes ‘Connect’ – the objective being to connect with each other and with the Inner West community and connect them to God.

‘Strengthen Faith’ becomes ‘Grow’ – the objective being to make our ministries the best possible avenues to grow people in their faith.

‘Serve’ remains the same, where our objective is for each church member to serve in at least one ministry inside our church and one other in our community.

The ‘To 22’ group will assess each ministry of All Saints in the light of these three objectives, but for now each of us may like to ask ourselves ‘Do the words “Connect, Grow, Serve” capture what All Saints is about and do they communicate well?’ and ‘To what extent is your Christian life and involvement in church shaped and described by the three words Connect, Grow, Serve?’

Antony Barraclough

WHAT’SNEXT FORALL SAINTS? I've been at All

Saints for... About 2 ½ years now.Once upon a time I... thought that I could think my way to salvation.I find a lot of joy in... prayer and meditation.It’s not fashionable but... ( to quote the Byrds ) “I like the Christian life”If my life was a book, the title would be… “Lord I believe , help my unbelief”I came to All Saints because… at first I liked the look of the place . But once I came inside, I liked the teaching and the culture of the church – intelligent, passionate, scriptural.One thing I love about All Saints is… Bazz’s sermon on a Sunday morning. It always stimulates and challenges, and provides brain and heart food for the coming week.

SecondsWith… Michael Brown

Michael is a regular member of the All Saints 8:30am Sunday service

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3 Find us online: allsaintspetersham.org.au

Not since Salt moved from 7:30-9:30pm on Friday evenings to Sunday evenings 5:00-7:00pm in 2006 has there been a something this BIG for Salt youth group!

Amazing things have been happening at Salt over the last 6 ½ years… we’ve introduced a Salt band as a regular feature on Sunday nights, we’ve got 4 regular weekly Bible study groups, we’ve got our own annual Salt camp in October, we’ve had three Year 13 students from Salt, and we’ve grown from 6 regular young people a week to a regular average of 33 per week and it’s getting a bit squishy in the youth room!

So it is with much thankfulness to God for his grace (and with fear & trepidation on my part as well) that we have moved Salt from 5-7pm on Sunday evenings in the youth room to 4:00-6:00pm on Sunday afternoons in the All Saints Church Hall.

Usually only ⅔ of people turn up on any given night & still there’ve been 4 occasions this year we’ve been left with only 3 or less spare seats – that’s without everyone there! We’re anticipating more growth over the coming years and now seems the right time to make the move… 5 weeks in, all seems to be tracking as well as expected, but I would love to know

your thoughts & feelings on this so please let me know.

Mike Dicker

There’s lots happening around the All Saints property with new asphalt laid in the carpark, a new driveway entrance to the property off Church St, the new front fence under construction, and 2 new floodlights installed in the garden for the front of the church, the place is abuzz through the week with tradesmen! You may have also noticed that the tiled roof on the rectory has been completely

replaced for the first time in 103 years! At a cost of $30,000 that’s not a bad price, only an average cost of $277.77 a year.

Hopefully this roof will last another 103 years!

The Rectory is also sporting a new kitchen, as well as currently having its

first interior paint job in 40 years.

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Blast from the Past...Before the first Rectory was built on the church site towards the

end of 1874 the Rector lived in a rented cottage at the corner of Audley Street and New Canterbury Road. Today this site is occupied by Silvas’ Charcoal Chicken Shop.

Sydney Morning Herald 13 April 1874

Sydney Morning Herald 1 October 1874

At the Warden’s meeting of 25 March 1907 the Rector Rev. Canon R. E. Goddard reported that the rectory was damp throughout the building and not fit to live in.

From this report and further committee meetings it was decided to build a new rectory, which is the present day rectory. This rectory was completed and opened in August 1908.

Noel Cragg

The congregation of All Saints’, Petersham (Anglican), have resolved to complete their church and to erect a parsonage.

o BUILDERS,-TENDERS are invited for the ERECTION of a PARSONAGE at Petersham. Plans and specifications may be seen on application to J. F. HILLY, Architect,

128, Pitt-street.

T

PROPERTY WORKS

THE CURRENT DAY RECTORY BUILT IN 1908

BIG MOVES FOR SALT

THE NEW TILED ROOF

THE ORIGINAL 1874 RECTORY ON THE ALL SAINTS PROPERTY

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4 Find us online: allsaintspetersham.org.au

Trivia Night - September 9th 2011Help raise much needed funds for our Year 13 student Daniel Higgins and the Fiji mission trip he went on in July.When: 7:30pm Friday September 9th.Where: All Saints church hallCost: $5 per adult, kids under 12 free

Staff Changes

As of Friday August 19, Sally Hutchinson has started in the role of All Saints Office Administrator as Chris Daniel is returning to High School teaching.We’re so thankful for the way Chris developed & shaped this role to be such a benefit to All Saints. She will be missed.

WHO ARE THE CHURCH STAFF?

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Yes. You and me...

Outreach Poster - August 2011

People are relational beings, and the God of the Bible is a relational God...Find out more: www.thatposter.org

If you have ideas for the next issue of The Chronicle or feedback on this issue, email the editor, we’d love your feedback and comments!michael@allsaintspetersham.org.au

!

Senior Minister Administrator ………...……. Student Ministers ……………… Year 13 Youth Minister Antony (Bazz) Sally David Sarah Anton Daniel Michael Barraclough Hutchinson Blowes Oakey Marquez Higgins Dicker 0413 933 838 0402 918 123 0425 262 060 9569 4735 0414 960 304 0434 290 245 0400 308 112

!

HAVE YOU NOTICED?

He’s too humble to tell you himself, but since he became unemployed a few months ago, Brian Rose (a member from our 10:15am congregation) has donated most of his spare time to doing odd jobs around the All Saints property. You may have noticed that the new kitchen walls and ceiling have been painted, as well as the walls, ceiling, and cupboards in the carpeted room, not to mention the 1500 or

so bricks Brian has cleaned with hammer & chisel for the rebuilding of the front fence, and the windows he is currently repairing & painting in the carpeted room.

All Saints has been richly blessed with the efforts of Brian & Carl our grounds keeper. Certainly the words of Jesus ring true of them:

“whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and

whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”

Mark 10:43All Saints says “THANK YOU”!

SOC - Oct 6th-9th

Get your rego form for the Salt October Camp! Download from saltyouth.org.au or grab one from Mike.