Why would you change your name?

On Sunday we start our series on the book of Ruth and I was struck by the pain Naomi went through in the loss of her husband and her two sons. Her name, Naomi, means 'delightful', but that is not how she felt. When she returned home she wanted people to call her 'Mara' which means 'bitter'. She had been so hurt by the circumstances of life that she couldn't even bear to hear her name.

The reality is that people carry around so much hurt in their lives. Healing from the wounds of life often takes time and is one of the most significant experiences that makes up who we are. In the end the book of Ruth is not about Naomi or her daughter-in-law Ruth, but of a God whose plans are purposes are bigger than we can first see. Trust him and praise him!

Trees to get a hair cut

Over the next few weeks the trees on our property are going to get a haircut. Most of them will have some work done on them with these four being removed because they are infected at the base, are splitting apart and have a dangerous lean. When I take this picture again we might be able to see the church!

History of St Andrew's

Listen to Stuart Braga, my dad, as he addresses the quarterly meeting of the Anglican Historical Society on the history of St Andrew's. The first section of the talk wasn't recorded until I threw my mobile phone in front of the speaker so we could record the event! Either play it below or the mp3 is here.

Church Picnic

In Jesus' life the sharing of food and hospitality were a display of his acceptance of people. There weren't many other people at the park while we had our picnic last Sunday but what struck me was just how different we all are - age, stage of family life, religious background, cultural background - and yet how the good news of Jesus has brought us all together. Thank you to Thelma and Pauline for organising the game of cricket!

Night Church - a new church for Generation Y

People in their twenties often move closer to the city when they get the chance. This is true of Summer Hill where the increase in population due to babies is about the same as the increase due to people moving into the area in their twenties. The graph shows just how many people there are in our area who are from Generation Y - the green bit (click on the image for a bigger version).

Our church has to be really great at taking the gospel of Jesus to this age group. To do this we are starting up a team who are going to be the seed group for a new Night Church. The idea is to gather together people who feel they could be part of this and equip them for the task.

We don't want consumer Christians but people who have a heart for the lost, are prepared to be missionaries with their friends and are willing to take risks for Jesus. We need people who are able to live out 2 Timothy 2:3 "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus."

Our seed group will meet weekly at the Rectory at 6:30pm from June 3rd. Be in contact if you are interested in being part of this new team.

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.

Front Page of Inner West Weekly

Marie from the Inner West Weekly rang me to say that the article she had put together on our church had been chopped right back - the reason - the article and photo were going to be on the front page of the local paper! It had a great headline, "Spreading the word of Jesus". With so many people ignorant of the message of Jesus it was great to have this publicity just before Easter. Praise God.

Check out the article at here.