you and ....

On Sunday we starting our new preaching series at Morning Church (9.30am) on 'You and ...'. The topics and dates are in the picture below. This week the topic is 'You and God'. Look forward to seeing you there! Chris.

Pokies at church?

I just got my annual letter from Ashfield Council pointing me to the local clubs (Wests, Club Ashfield, Ashfield RSL and Wests Sports) for their community grants. In the letter it says, "the proposal must demonstrate how their project will benefit residents of the Ashfield Community including low income earners, carers, young people and isolated groups."

Like usual we will not be putting in a request for this money won by gambling but maybe the best proposal to help these groups would be to reduce or eliminate the pokies where the money came from in the first place. This might be the best way to care for the low income earners, young people and isolated groups. I think it is a bit of a no brainer myself.

National Day of Mourning

On Sunday we will be observing the National Day of Mourning for the Bushfire victims as part of our normal Sunday church meeting. It is an opportunity to 'honour those who have lost their lives, support those who have suffered and recognise the work of our emergency services.' There will be an opportunity to write in the national Bushfire Message Book and we will be ringing the bells for two minutes at 11am like churches across the nation. Our prayers will be particularly focussed on the issues to do with the bushfire situation. Chris.

Christmas at Summer Hill Church

Christmas is a very special time for us and so we have some special events. On Christmas Eve (24th) we have Christmas for Kids at 6.30pm, Midnight Christmas at 11pm and Christmas Day (25th) we have our Christmas Celebration at 9.30am. Look forward to seeing you there.

Music TIme starts on Monday (28th)

Our Music Time groups starts up again this Monday at 10.30am. If you have a preschool child and want to do something really valuable with them please come along. Your first visit is free.Check out our website for more information.

Christmas Services

Our Christmas Services are:

9:30am Sunday 23rd Dec - Carols and Lessons with Chris Thanopoulos and Chris Braga.

11pm Christmas Eve (Monday 24th Dec) - traditional carols and the Christmas message about Jesus.

9:30am Christmas Day (Tuesday 25th Dec) - our all-in-together Christmas celebration.

Not just new to the area, but new to Australia!

The citizenship ceremony I attended made me ask the question, 'how many new people are there in our area?' I searched around on the latest census data and discovered that in some parts of our area 50% of the people are new in the last five years. Not only new to the area, but new to Australia!

I know that 50% just seems like a nice round statistic, but it is hard to comprehend that as you walk past every house and every flat that half the people you see living there were new to Australia in the last five years.

This is the reality of living in an urban context. The suburbs are not like this at all. Our church has this wonderful opportunity of being a Christian community that can welcome these people to our shores.

Check out the 2006 census data for new arrivals in our area.
...and the data for just down Canterbury Road.

(It would be great to have a name for our church that immediately was welcoming to these new people to Australia, and not be at all seen as holding the banner for a denominational/ethnic allegiance)

The glass is half full

As the pastor of our congregation I have been invited a number of times to the local citizenship ceremony. I was able to accept the invitation to the one that happened today (Thursday 28th June). The Mayor of Ashfield, Ted Cassidy, asked if I wanted to make a speech - of course I did!

As I sat there working out what to say, the oath caught my eye. I says, "From this time forward, under God, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people... ". So I gave a short speech on how our nation will not survive if it is built on selfish individuals, but on people committed to the good of others, with all our lives dependent upon God. I acknowledged the diversity of religious beliefs and welcomed people at citizens to a nation that has had incredible religious freedoms. Then I sat down.

But only half the people swore this oath. The other half made an affirmation of allegiance which is identical to the oath but removes the phrase 'under God'. Was it disappointing that half the people took this option, first made available in 1966? I think not.

Most of the people at the ceremony came from countries which would be described as non-Christian, many of them from mainland China. It thought it was great that half of them had deliberately chosen to take the oath and see themselves as citizens of Australia 'under God'. I would say the glass if half full.

We now need to make connections with them and find opportunities to share the good news of what God has done for them in Jesus Christ.

Changes in the Australian Oath of Citizenship.

Clr Ted Cassidy, the local Mayor

Cities collect people from all nations

All around the world, people from many different ethnic backgrounds find homes in big cities. The same is true of Sydney as we welcome people from many different nations. For the Christian church it means that the task of world mission is both beyond our shores and in our cities. I made up a pie chart of the ancestry of people living near my church (from the 2001 Census Data).


It is quite amazing to see the huge diversity of people. Even in an area which has many Anglo-Celtic people (30%) there is the need for mission to people from many different backgrounds. The challenge for our church is to be able to engage in cross-cultural mission as we take the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations.

Whatever your religious or ethnic background the message of Jesus being Saviour and Lord is the most important thing you will ever hear - “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. " John 3:16

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has a good article on ethnic and religious diversity in Australia.

Face of Tomorrow tries to give a picture of what people will look like in the future in the cities which are experiencing global ethnic integration. Click here for their photo of the future face of Sydney.