St Nicholas

Healing with Elijah House

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Elijah House

Elijah House Ministries offers several courses on heart healing, sometimes called inner-healing, where we work with the Holy Spirit to get to the root of our problems. Here at St Nics, we firmly believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and the transformation that God’s Spirit brings, as we align to god’s word. That’s why we often run these Elijah House courses. The Christian walk can be a challenging one – we invite God into our lives, surrender our lives to the Lord, but our walk doesn’t end there. We have begun a journey of following Christ and becoming more like him. Part of this is taking off the old (like weeding a garden) and putting on the new (like planting new seeds). Some weeds are more stubborn than others. We often don’t know why or how to get rid of them. Elijah House ministries brings teaching and learning that help us in this journey o sanctification and wholeness.

What is Elijah House?

Elijah House is an organisation that offers a series of teachings on how to heal wounds to the heart (spiritually). As EH teaches, these wounds are part of the root system that produces bad fruit in our lives. By tackling the root system, we can be rid of these weeds and bad fruits, making room for good seeds to be planted and good fruit to grow. During the courses, there are opportunities to invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the root of the bad fruit, then we bring it to the cross and replace it with truth, light and life. The teachings themselves highlight the importance of Jesus, faithfulness to scripture, our redemption through His sacrifice for us on the cross, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Why?

Some of you might be wondering: why? Good question. When we first become Christians, we do not instantly become like Jesus in every single way. Some of us experience old thought patterns instantly vanishing, but then as we continue on our journey, we notice behaviour in ourselves and other Christians that are definitely not Christ-like. Why? Well, we are on a journey. If you have given your life to Jesus, then you have offered your life to the Lord to change you…and He will if you continue to surrender it. We are going through the process known as sanctification and transformation. We are not perfect, but God doesn’t leave us in our mess, our old ways or bad habits – isn’t that wonderful? It is through Christ, and only through Christ, that we can become more like Him.

Elijah House at St Nics

This year, St Nics has hosted Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 5 and Unit 6 in-person and Unit 1 online (ongoing). For our church, running these courses alongside Alpha and Living Free, is crucial. It provides the opportunity to press in to his word, be open to His Spirit and grow closer to the Lord. While we don’t yet have the dates for the courses that we will run here next year, you can be sure St Nics will continue to host these courses. You may like to know that anyone can attend the units (you must have completed unit 1 first). Surprisingly, not all of our attendees live here in the South West Region of WA, some have come from Perth and its surrounding suburbs. Thank you to all those who have made that special effort to come and join these courses in Australind.

Where to from here?

St Nics will be hosting more Elijah House courses in the future, understanding that it has been very beneficial for those who have attended, revealing hidden sin and helping individuals take it to the cross. The work done in Elijah House prompted the leadership of St Nics and its members to notice a gap in accessible prayer ministry. Not only do we offer some prayer ministry at the end of Sunday Service, but a new ministry has been put into place: The Well of Living Waters Ministry. It is designed to utilise the skills and lessons taught in EH and apply them to anyone who needs help. More on this in another post. There are also online and face to face EH courses available on the Elijah House Ministries website.

Thank you

A big thank you to all the volunteers who get involved with the prayer ministry and the catering of these events. Yes, I said catering. Volunteers cater for these events when on site, this enables the attendees to focus on earning, fellowship and growth. Thank you, also, to Rev. Jamie and Verity Murray for their efforts in organising these events. We are so grateful to Elijah House Ministries for this wonderful teaching. A final thank you to you, our reader. Bless you!

Busy Bee at St Nics

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On the 18th October this year, members of the St Nicholas church family attended our Busy Bee event. They cleaned, organised, and tidied our church building, did some gardening on the church grounds, and gave the Heritage Church a fresh layer of sealant. Since the Busy Bee typically happens twice a year, once in Autumn and once in Spring, the maintenance work we do during this time is important. The church warden runs the event and volunteers from St Nics come to do the work. They happily give up a Saturday morning to keep our church building and grounds a safe place for the family and visitors to gather.

Why a ‘Busy Bee’?

Busy Bees are fantastic for two reasons. First, they allow us to serve. They remind us that we are here to serve one another just as Christ came to serve us. Matthew 20:28 says, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Of course, there are many ways for Christians to serve one another and the wider community. (For one such example, you can check out this blog post about the Craft Group.) Second, they keep our gathering place hygienic, safe, orderly and pleasant. While church is not a building, it is important to have a suitable place where we can focus on the Lord and fellowship with one another.

Gratitude

So thank you to those who attended this October! Thank you also to the various members of our church who have helped throughout the year (those who have cleaned the bathrooms, the floors, the cups and plates, have sorted out the sprinklers and have done the weeding around the grounds). Such efforts do not go unnoticed and are greatly appreciated by all who gather at St Nics. As the body of Christ, together we can and do love our neighbours as ourselves in the way we serve. How beautiful! Thank you, Lord, for guiding us and bringing us together to serve your kingdom.

volunteers applying sealant to the Heritage Church
A well-deserved break during the Busy Bee event

Craft Group Generosity

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St. Nic’s Thursday Craft Group have been busy and generous crafters recently. They made an astonishing 45 blankets and 15 teddy bears for the “Wheelchairs For Kids” Organization. Isn’t that something? Each child that needs a wheelchair gets one each along with accessories, such as knee blankets and toys. There have been some very talented ladies with amazing skills that have put this together and made them all for these children. Their hearts have gone into these and it truly shows. The craft group’s generosity is sure to be felt by those who receive these blessed gifts.

“Wheel Chairs For Kids”

The charity, “Wheelchairs For Kids”, is on a mission to provide wheelchairs, knee blankets and soft toys to children all over the world who would otherwise be without access to adequate wheelchairs. If that wasn’t enough, they also encourage the more senior members of society to get involved in the manufacturing process, creating a sense of community and camaraderie. It is truly heart-warming to know there are charities out there making a difference. Already, they have supplied 50,000 wheelchairs to kids in over 90 countries! If you want to know more about the charity, their website is: https://wheelchairsforkids.org/

The Craft Group

The craft group itself gathers on a Thursday morning at 10am here at St. Nicholas Church. During this time they come together to create various items for all sorts of reasons, especially for supporting charities. Not only do they make things, but they connect as a group, chatting, drinking tea and coffee…and sometimes enjoying a bit of cake. These ladies surely have big hearts and lovely attitudes. Their actions set a good example of how to be light and salt in our community. It is a privilege to have them as part of the St Nicholas community here in Australind. If you want to get involved, you’re more than welcome to come on a Thursday.

Thank you, craft group, for your continued kindness and generosity!

Craft group goodies
Craft group goodies
Craft group blankets
Craft group blankets
Craft group goodies
a close up of the blankets
a close up of the teddies

Alpha: Kat’s Testimony

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Kat’s Testimony

Alpha, 2018

When I first started Alpha I was very sceptical about everything: God, Jesus and Christianity as a whole. I was very set in the way of that in order to believe, I had to have hard evidence. I had to see it to believe it. I also desperately wanted to have an experience like I felt that everyone else was.

Alpha for me was one of the best experiences I ever had. I met people with similar questions to me and felt like I was not alone but part of a family. Being part of Alpha completely changed me and doing it in a group was wonderful because we had different questions and different views.

On Alpha I found my own path and started my own personal journey. I gave my life to Jesus and since then have started the most wonderful journey with God. I was blessed with a real experience with the Holy Spirit. My life changed for the better and I just know now, how real God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are and am so grateful they are in my life.

I truly recommend this course for anyone with question and who wants to develop a better relationship with our Lord. Alpha for me was the first stepping stone into my own personal journey with God and Jesus.

12 posts,12 months

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It has been a year since I started my role as Communications Officer at St Nic’s. One of my earliest and enduring initiatives has been separating the feature of our weekly print bulletin from our (almost!) as regular blog posts.

“Looking back only gives you a sore neck!” is a regular saying in my favourite sport, Supercars. However, at times looking back can be also be a pretty awesome and satisfying exercise.

So for this blog post, I am looking back at 12 of my favourite posts from the past 12 months. In no particular order (drumroll please):

Our Stories

Finding Her Voice
Blessings of a Moon-Boot
God-incidences
Millennials @ Church Part 1 & 2

Our Prayer life

1 Minute Prayer
Prayer Changes Things
United in Prayer

Our Community

Presenting the Marvellous Site Management Team

Our Personal Growth

Where is Your Sacred Space?
Journaling Part 1 & 2

Our Understanding

An Easter Reflection
The Good Gift of Power at Pentecost

Happy Reading everyone!

AMP 2018/19 – Get Involved! Step 4: Get in on the Action!

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So you’ve enrolled to vote, you’ve been praying about the nominations, you’ve read the report and sent in your questions- now it’s time for action!

Nov 25th AMP Part 1: Elections & Ministry Reports

This is when the actual election happens and where we get an overview of the past ahem… 9-ish months (we’ll explain soon). Voting takes place over 2 weeks (18th & 25th) and is like going to the polls – there’s ballot papers, instructions and you have to get marked on the roll that you’ve voted.

Feb 17th AMP Part 2: Financials & Budget

If you like numbers or are interested in stuff like income and expenditure you don’t want to miss this! This is when we will vote on our budget for 2019. We will release it 2 weeks earlier for us all to analyse and dissect. Again, please send in questions beforehand!

Why the 2 parts?

Having our elections early means our new councillors and office bearers can hit the ground running when they officially start their roles Jan 1st. It also gives a neat six weeks for any handovers to happen. The rhythm may feel off (with only 9 months since our last AMP) but by next year it will feel right in time!

And Voila! AMP accomplissez!

AMP 2018/19 – Get Involved! Step 3: Get in the Know!

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This weekend we are releasing our Annual Meeting of Parishioners Report for 2018/19. Thus we humbly introduce to you:

Step 3: Get in the Know!

Inside the Report you will discover a collection of submissions from our Ministry Team Leaders (MTLs) and church leadership sharing their reflections of 2018 and their ministry goals for 2019. (If you would like a copy please get in touch with the church office here.)

Did you know…?

The who, what, when, where, why and how of our many ministries here at St Nic’s Minster? You’ll find some amazing facts and information about our community life in this report. Read it – and get in the know!

FYI the only thing you won’t find in the report is the financials (income, expenditure and budget stuff) – they can only be done at the end of the year so they will be released separately in time for Part 2 (Finances & Budget) of the AMP Feb 24th 2019.

Hang a sec, I have a question…?

We like questions- they’re great for learning stuff! Unanswered questions are not so great. That’s why we love it if you submit your questions before the AMP. That way we can ensure your question gets answered. And who knows? Maybe someone else would really benefit from hearing your question answered!

So please, if possible, submit your questions by Nov 22nd!

Stay tuned for Step 4: Get in on the Action!

AMP 2018/19 – Get Involved! Step 2: Get in the Mix!

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Earlier this month we launched our 2018/19 AMP campaign and sent out the call to get those Schedule 9’s in (see our post here). Many of our parishioners jumped into action and before we knew it, those of us in the office had the fun task of compiling this years Electoral Roll.

If you are yet to submit your form, please do so this Sunday!

But enough of that, lets keep the momentum up! Next up is –

Step 2: Get in the Mix!

Nominate for positions – there a four vacant positions on the Parish Council for Councillors (all Councillors must be re-elected each year). Also, we have one vacancy for a Church Warden (we may have a maximum of three Wardens).

The Parish Council is integral to the governance and running of our parish (find out more here). If you are interested in serving our community in this way, speak to Jamie or Suzanne. Nominations close 8th November.

Next in line- Step 3: Get in the Know!

Serve up some justice!: Ping-Pong-athon 2018 @ Vineyard Church

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St Nic’s parishioner and dad of two, Byron Forster joined the Fight for Freedom during Oct 12-13, read on to find out more…

There are some things about living in Australia that remind us how blessed we are. Then there are the things we see around the world that just make you hug your kids so tight. Human trafficking is one of those scourges of this world, especially when it comes to children. So Aussies have found a way to help rescue children from that life… by playing Ping Pong!

Pong vs Slavery

This year our local event was at the Vineyard Church in Bunbury, organized by Tim Wheeldon and his team. Not only did he arrange it, he then went on to play for over 13 hours straight! You would think that by that point fatigue would set in and I could get a few wins, but I guess it just meant he really had his eye in and morphed into the Roger Federer of ping pong!

Regardless of the scores, the kids are the real winners. There are 9 different organisations across SE Asia that the Pong raises money for. More information on each of these wonderful organisations is available at www.pingpongathon.com.

We set ourselves a goal to raise $6000 at the Bunbury Pong and by God’s grace we achieved our target before we were even half way through the event. Our grand total was over $15,000 to contribute to the national pool. Congratulations to everyone that was involved with playing and donating. With ping pong marathons happening all over Australia throughout October, we have been able to band together and raise over $318,000 this year, bringing our grand total to over $1.57 million since the Pong started in 2011.

We can really make a difference in the world of Human Trafficking when we band together. I am so proud of all the people that make this happen from those hitting a ping pong ball over a net, to the men and women who pick up those children and show them the first sign of love that many of them can remember. Next year we will set ourselves a new target, and you are more than welcome to be involved!

Thank you and God Bless
Byron Forster