Building Christ’s Church
By Proclaiming His Word
So That God is Glorified

Our God is directing all history towards a goal: the new creation. The new creation will be a community characterised by intimate and loving relationships. It will be a place where God and his Son Jesus are worshipped forever.

When Jesus said “I will build my church” he was referring to that community. Even now Jesus is gathering men and women from all over the world to be part of his people. The way people are gathered into that community is by the proclamation of the good news of Jesus.

Here at The Lakes we are privileged to work in partnership with Jesus as he builds his church. We want to build a community around God’s word where the Bible is taught faithfully and where we urge each other to respond through lives of trusting obedience, thanks and praise.

How is Christ’s church being built at The Lakes?

It is about engaging with our non-Christian community. It’s also about connecting with people who are already Christians. We want people starting the Christian life as they come to hear the gospel of Jesus and become new creatures in him. We want people growing in their love and knowledge
of God. And we want God’s people to delight in serving one another and to be equipped to do it better. The following posts will unpack those a little more…

Over the past year we have had a wonderful time engaging with our community.

• The gingerbread house event had over 300 people in attendance.We continue to increase the number of classes of School Scripture with 29 teachers from The Lakes.
• We continue to increase the number of classes of School Scripture with 29 teachers from The Lakes.
• We have a key role with Ourimbah Christian Students at Ourimbah University.
• Good News Week continues to be a terrific week of engaging with our community. This year we had over 300 kids – over 100 of them are not normally part of our church family! The adults tent showed hospitality to almost 200 adults, and 130 people volunteered their time, money and energy to make the week a great success.

Engaging goals for 2010:

1. We want to distribute 2,000 gospels throughout our local community.
2. We want every member of our church actively praying for three Non-Christians.
3. We want to give every member of our church the opportunity to prayerfully consider how best they can engage with their Non-Christian family, friends and neighbours.

Connect for Life

During 2009 we joined in the “Connect 09″ campaign initiated by Sydney Anglicans. During the year we gave away many resources designed to help our community come to know Jesus.

• We gave away over 6,000 copies of Luke’s gospel (“The Essential Jesus”).
• We also ordered and distributed over 4,000 copies of Colin Buchanan’s DVD to primary school children in our region.
• We also gave away hundreds of “What’s happening at The Lakes?” DVDs.

What was “Connect 09″ now becomes “Connect for Life”.  We want to keep the momentum of outreach that we have enjoyed in the past year as we head into 2010.

During 2010 we will continue to engage in a doorknocking campaign throughout our area but this needs to be a grass-roots outreach where all our members are committed to engaging with the community in a whole host of ways.

We want to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the tens of thousands of people living in the Tuggerah Lakes area.

Starting goal for 2010:

We want to offer the Simply Christianity Course eight times throughout the year followed by Back to Basics.

Simply Christianity

One of the key ways we help people start a relationship with Jesus is through the Simply Christianity course. The course involves five hour-long weekly sessions which give people the opportunity to sort out fact from fiction by looking at Luke’s biography of Jesus.

Everyone is welcome to come along to participate in the course or bring a friend along to help them investigate the claims of Jesus.

We run the course regularly on Sunday mornings and during WOW on Wednesday mornings. Occasionally we run a larger scale event in the community centre with dinner included.

Probably the most significant way people connect in church life is through attending church on Sundays and commitment to Bible Study groups. Other ministries that encourage connecting are:

• Fostering hospitality amongst church members.
• Newcomers’ suppers – every month an opportunity for newcomers to hear more about our church and decide whether they would like to continue on at The Lakes.
• New Member’s Lunch – every couple of months there is an opportunity for people who have decided to make The Lakes their church home to come and find out about opportunities to be involved and serve.
• Our Church Directory, weekly prayer email and website are also key ways we seek to help our members to be informed and connect with one another.

There are also great opportunities for connecting through regular activities of BOBBS, WISE & SKI:

• BOBBS is our men’s ministry and provides opportunities for men to come to know Christ, one another, and be encouraged to be better fathers, husbands, leaders, workers and sons.
• WISE is our regular women’s get together There are also other women’s events which take place during the year.
• SKI is open to men, women and kids to get to know one another during the regular outings.

Connecting goals for 2010:

1. We want every person who visits our church to be offered appropriate avenues for further connecting into church life.
2. For anyone who chooses to move on from The Lakes we want to provide them with an opportunity to connect into another church fellowship.

Weekends Away

The weekend away is our key connecting activity each year. We encourage everyone to come along and be involved. Each of our congregations has their own weekend away.

• 30th April – 2 May: Church @ 5 weekend
• 10 – 12 September: 8.30am congregation weekend
• 17 – 19 September: 10.30am congregation weekend

Both morning congregation weekends are at the WEC Campsite at Morriset

We want to provide encouragement and opportunity for every follower of Jesus to grow and mature in their relationship with God and in their love of his people and the wider community.

Midweek Bible study groups are a great way to grow in relationship with one another and with God. We encourage all our members to commit to being part of a weekly Bible Study group. There are a huge range of groups from Watanobbi to Bateau Bay. They meet at various times to suit different needs: mid-morning, mid-afternoon, early evening, late evening.

Some of the other groups in which you may consider being involved are:

• Recovery: A ministry for people recovering from destructive habits, hurts and hang-ups.
• Salt: Our Friday night youth ministry which covers year 5 to year 12.
• Seniors: Our seniors meet on Tuesday mid-morning. They also sponsor the Glengara Friday church.
• Preliminary Theological Certificate: We offer a range of opportunities to study the Bible and theology more deeply than Sunday church or mid-week groups allow.

Growing goals for 2010:

1. We want to provide every member of The Lakes opportunity and 1. encouragement to continue to grow as followers of Jesus.
2. We want every member involved in a Bible Study group or offered the 2. opportunity to be an associate member of a group.

Our growing knowledge of God ought to bear fruit in an attitude of service. Our serving will never flow out of a mere sense of duty but rather out of a growing love for God and for one another. We will genuinely seek to do whatever pleases God and whatever is best for those round about us.

We want a place where God’s people are trained and equipped to actively play their part in building Christ’s church.

Some of our key serving ministries are:

• Helping Hands: This is ministry offers practical support of those in need.
• Equip to serve: We offer a series of practical training in a range of ministries: personal evangelism, personal discipleship, small group leadership, child protection training and other skills in teaching children etc.
• Focus on Service: We provide a formal opportunity each year for our members to consider what ministries they would like to be involved in the following year.

Serving goals for 2010:

We want to give every member of our church the opportunity to consider how they can be involved in serving in the year ahead.

Sending goals for 2010:

1. We want to be training one MTS apprentice per 100 adults (or part thereof).
2. We aim to see 10% of all our giving directed towards the work of the gospel outside of The Lakes.

Ministry Training Strategy (MTS)

Our Missionaries

Another essential aspect of helping us maintain a broader perspective is to continue our support for overseas missionaries. We are committed to supporting our missionaries both financially and in prayer as they seek to bring the gospel of Jesus to different parts of our world.

The Gillham Family

Simon and Margie, with their children Maddie and Noah, are serving with CMS in Namibia, Africa. Focus: Pastor Training with Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS) which is an inter-denominational training facility for pastors and evangelists throughout Namibia and the surrounding countries.

During 2010 we intend to financially and prayerfully support two church plants:

• Coast Evangelical Church (Forster): Chris Ekins and his family started this church in in Easter last year.
• Singleton Evangelical Church: a daughter church of Maitland Evangelical. They called their first pastor (Scott McKenzie) in the middle of 2009.

Multiplying goal for 2010:

We want to actively explore opportunities for planting a congregation at The Entrance.

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches(FIEC)

FIEC is a fellowship of churches and pastors across Australia. Our churches are committed to praying for one another and continuing to promote church planting throughout Australia. FIEC pastors seek to provide support and encouragement to one another (for more information visit www.fiec.org.au).

Expanding goals for 2010:

1. We aim to expand by 10% each year.
2. We want to employ one full-time pastor per 100 adults (or part thereof).
3. We aim to raise $6,000 each month towards the purchase of a block of land (or existing building).

Annual General Meeting

Our AGM is more exciting than it sounds. It is an opportunity to review the year and present ministry strategies for the future. It’s an opportunity to reset our vision as we seek to fulfil our mission.

The AGM is one of the key events that we ask all our members to attend each year. To vote at the AGM you need to be a formal member of The Lakes.

Administration Committee

Our Administration Committee over the past year has consisted of David Sheath (President), Michael Lowbridge (Secretary), Craig Ayling (Treasurer), Hayley Charters and Colin Montiford. The Administration Committee plays a key role in managing the finances and assets of The Lakes. They meet monthly on Monday nights.

Selection Panel

The Selection Panel has consisted of Craig Ayling, Michael Lowbridge and John Eves. The Selection Panel have the responsibility of recommending a replacement Senior Pastor should the need arise. The Selection Panel do not meet unless the need arises.