This week our family’s life has been dominated by health and education. It sounds rather political, yet my reflection is, in fact, pastoral!

Over the weekend, and early into this week, I spent the bulk of my time in the paediatrics ward at the Base Hospital following an injury to one of my sons, that they experienced playing social sport. The staff in the ward were caring, lovingly invested and personable. I had a number of positive dealings with the nurses and even answered some questions one of them had about which translation of the Bible would be good to use. I also give thanks that even as some of the surgery times were being delayed, one of the nurses felt they too should pray that my family would be looked upon with favour. Remarkable. Upon our departure, we bought a bunch of Australian natives and I put together an acrostic PAEDIATRIC poem!

Secondly, while half our family found ourselves in the Health sector at the Base Hospital, the other half of my family was involved in Education; with my daughter completing Work Experience at a School in far western NSW. This area of NSW struggles to attract and retain teachers, yet a couple from SCPC are serving in the public school and preschool in the small town. It is a fascinating intersection between their work life and their personal lives, with a few members of the town coming around to their house each week for Bible book club. This week the book club was looking at Mark chapter 8 and considering the earth-shattering claims of Christ, read them below! My wife was struck by how engaged and invested the members of the book club were. Praise God.

So, now you might better appreciate why health and education was on my mind this week. It also brought to mind one of the late Tim Keller’s reflections that as believers loving engage their workplaces with care, love and a personable approach, great advances are made for the gospel. He even suggested proactive and pastoral touches in the workplace by Christian brothers and sisters,^[1] could well achieve greater gains for the gospel than all our Global Mission Organisations put together. Thus, I give thanks for the many members of SCPC involved in health and education and pray that you might be salt and light in your workplace.

Let me finish with the striking call of Christ to live a full and satisfying life from Mark 8.

SP

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38

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_{^[1] Aussie Evangelist, Sam Chan, in his book How to Share Jesus, Without Being That Guy by Zondervan books, suggests that we ought to aspire to be our neighbours’, our work places’ and our sporting clubs’ unofficial Chaplain!!}

Here’s a short “ancient and modern history” on our two properties (99 Brewster Street and 16 Wyrallah Road in East Lismore) before we come to Sunday’s congregational meeting.

Firstly, the ‘ancient history’…
In 2016 we used funds from the two properties we owned in Lismore [1] to purchase these two properties (99 Brewster Street and 16 Wyrallah Road), which included land-locked land. Our interest in the properties was that it had a big enough land footprint to build an adequate space for our East Lismore church family. Council allowed us the provision to build on the land, as it was gazetted as ‘flood fringe’. The thought was to look at building options to include a floor height able to resist the one-in-one-hundred flood. The need for this land was a contingency, as our weekly rent for hall hire with the Department of Education doubled around 2014-2015. It was difficult to tell whether this unexpected increase signalled a desire to cease our long-term lease and Leadership Team (LT) felt we needed a contingency if things changed rapidly. The successful purchase of these properties allowed us scope to continue our ‘university accommodation ministry’ (offering accommodation to students moving into town for their tertiary studies), but with the additional land, gave us a potential building space if our relationship with the department changed. From 2016-2022 we were able to receive rent from both 99 Brewster Street and 16 Wyrallah Road. This rent was able to be directed to ministry and administration needs for the church family as we owned the properties outright. [2]

Now, the ‘modern history’…
February 28, 2022, changed many things in our city. Following the flood recovery, it didn’t take LT long to report to Committee of Management (CoM) that a new building contingency was required. But before we were in a position to decide “what next?” we had to wait until the property repairs were complete on the Brewster Street property before we could consider seeing the properties and land sold, and then to find a more suitable piece of land to build on. So, the phone call (received in June) indicating the prospect of a pay out for the Brewster Street property was an unexpected, but welcome, offer. This had been a long and complicated path since February 2022:

• February 2022 – Brewster Street property destroyed.
• March 2022 – Insurance claim notification forms were completed for both rental properties.
• April 2022 – Various contractors were engaged by the insurance company to consider the damage and prepare a scope of works.
• May 2022 – 99 Brewster Street stripped and further assessments made regarding water damage and asbestos. It was indicated that a minimum of 12 months would be required for the structure to dry out before further assessments could be undertaken and any reinstatement works commenced. Subsequently, the insurance company fenced and padlocked the property.
• June 2023 to April 2024 – Further works and assessments carried out by the insurance company regarding existing damage (pre-flood) and re-instatement works that would be required for the property to be restored to pre-flood condition. Communication at this stage was between the Presbyterian Church of Australia (NSW) insurance manager, the Presbyterian Church of Australia (NSW) insurance broker and the insurance company. Final stages of this communication included a
  suggestion of a cash settlement offer from the insurance company instead of the insurance company carrying out reinstatement work.
• June 2024 – Communication between SCPC CoM and Presbyterian Church of Australia (NSW) insurance manager regarding the findings of the above assessments and reinstatement works. SCPC given the option of a cash settlement at this stage in the claim.

So, from June 2024…
CoM expected we may require congregational approval (due to the amount involved) but as insurers were in the Northern Rivers, we understood there was time pressure to receive clarity from SCPC on the path we wished to move. Thus, CoM planned an additional meeting on July 28 and voted unanimously to receive the insurance pay out. We then knew the insurance matters could be settled, we now found ourselves in the position to sell this whole property, a movement faster than we anticipated. Therefore, not only will our meeting on Sunday include a motion to receive the insurance pay out, it will also include a second motion designed to give agency to LT and CoM to sell one property (or both properties and the land-locked land between them). If you google the property addresses, you will see the land between them is owned by SCPC.

We will only briefly touch on this material on Sunday (as a good deal of this ground was covered in our information session on August 14) and CoM will set aside 15 minutes for further questions on Sunday. Please note, before the meeting, a member of LT will pray, as the issues raised in the meeting do include comments regarding the devastating flood of 2022, and it may raise unexpected emotions for some members of our extended church family. Would you pray for Sunday? We expect the meeting on Sunday to go for around 30-40 minutes. The meeting begins at 11:15am in the Hall at Lismore High School.

It is hard to go past the Psalms, in these times, no matter the outcome on Sunday.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm 46:1-3

SP
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[1] 101 Dalley Street, East Lismore and 6 Park Avenue, East Lismore.
[2] Leadership Team personally covered mortgage repayments on a small difference between the sale price of Dalley Street and Park Avenue and the purchase price of the Brewster Street and Wyrallah Road properties.

“How do you recover from a broken heart?”

That is how I opened a letter I wrote to the Trustees of the PCNSW on the two-year anniversary of the devastating floods in Lismore.

My letter to the Trustees was a plea to help us in our insurance claim for the devastation to the property we own at 99 Brewster Street. The letter led to a phone call with the General Manager of PCNSW. Then, like what happens for so many of us, time quickly passed and no real update arrived until an unexpected call from the insurance contractor that was doing repair work within the Northern Rivers in June. This call led to our discovery of a proposed pay out to SCPC for the property in Brewster Street. This, in turn, led to a flurry of phone calls between members of CoM at SCPC and the denomination. Thus, we feel we have had to play catch-up to try to get the process moving in a sensible amount of time. Below is firstly the process to date and then the two further tasks required:

• CoM met on 28^th July to unanimously endorse that we proceed to receive the pay out.
• Due to the amount of money in the pay out, the congregation needs to endorse it.
• Finally, the members of the Trustees of PCNSW also need to endorse it.

Therefore, the purpose of the congregational meeting on 25^th August will be to vote on the following two motions:

1. Accept the insurance pay out for 99 Brewster Street to the value of approximately $345, 000.

• Give the Committee of Management delegation/authority to sell the properties at 99 Brewster Street and 16 Wyrallah Road.

Understandably, members of the extended church family will be interested to know if the properties and land were both sold, what would we do with the proceeds of the sale?

As we have indicated over the last 6 months, we don’t actually know. As part of those reflections, LT, and subsequently CoM, is interested to hear reflections from our building working group. [1] They are preparing a briefing report for LT to peruse at their weekend planning from 25^th – 28th October this year.

However, here are two possible outcomes:

1. The funds of the sale go into a trust fund with PCNSW. Funds from the sale of the properties cannot be used for staffing, admin or ministry events. Funds received from property must be spent on property. The money in the account would grow as it earns interest. [2]
2. Funds of the sale could go towards the purchase of local rental properties, where rent from these investment properties could service staffing, admin or ministry events at SCPC.

I have mentioned in other correspondence with you at SCPC, that we are experienced, nomadic people, having endured different meeting locations over the last five years. [3] Obviously, from a theological perspective, being ‘nomadic’  is entirely correct, heaven is our home! But there is a general fatigue at the challenges of being renters and having to move in and move out most weeks of the year! We, as an extended church family, are indebted to our pack up and set up teams at Lismore High. There is a lot of physical and mental strain that goes into our weekly preparations at Lismore High, much of which is unseen to the extended church family.

Yet, as Rory Shiner, chairperson of The Gospel Coalition Australia notes, there is a greater threat to us than the physical rigour of setting up and packing up. Churches who meet in public spaces sit on a ‘ticking time bomb’ that at any moment can be removed. Even over the weekend, Dave and Kathy Thurston mentioned that in their church plant which met in a public school in Sydney, one Sunday morning 10 years ago, they found a sign on the fridge in the kitchenette at the school saying that they had three months to find an alternate meeting space. No email, no phone call, no meeting with the school executive, just a note on the fridge! We need to not be naïve or cynical about the future of Australian churches.

Am I interested in a building project? Absolutely not! (70% of pastors leave a church following a building campaign) [4]. Am I willing to explore the need of a building at SCPC? Absolutely!

Now, our greatest goal at SCPC is our vision to grow followers of Jesus. That’s where I want to spend 110% of my thought life, emotional strength and physical strength. Yet, a gospel base will be paramount in a rapidly changing culture. Therefore, we continue to move forward with gospel zeal, a LT with the heart and a CoM team with skill.

Christendom might be over in Australia, but what a hope that Christ will build His church and the gates of hell will not destroy it.

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Matthew 16:13-20

SP
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[1] You will remember from other Leadership Team reports we have called this working group our “SCPC spies”, like those from Numbers 13, seeking a good “flood-free” land!
[2] Recently, up to 50% of interest accrued from the growth in interest from the fund can be used for ministry purposes.
[3] This includes venues used by SCG from 2020-2023.
[4] Peter Steinke, Courageous Leadership in Family System Theory (p. 17).

Hello Team SCPC

I can’t wait for our SCPC family Olympics day on Sunday! What a fantastic way for families in our
church to connect with families in the community. Now, are you welcome if you’re single? Absolutely – you are part of our family! So, everyone, come and enjoy the fun and colour on Sunday morning at 9:30am, and then we have our regular 6pm gathering.

Now, our day does mean we will still tackle the question ‘Who is God?‘ But the way I approach it is very different to the study I prepared on Christian doctrine. I am thankful for having gone through the study with others during the week to help me consider how to ‘pitch it’ to a community member. But this has meant I will use Psalm 139 as an invitation to meet the God who knows you, and finish with the invitation to know God by knowing the son of God, Jesus, who is gentle and lowly.

Thus, as you engage the study next week, you will get no help from Sunday’s Bible talk! In the study I was following a traditional theological approach that suggests we can know God through his creation (see Psalm 19). But sadly, and devastatingly, due to the fall Romans chapter 1:18-32 reveals we (as a collective humanity) have a disposition to supress the truth, even though we can witness the majestic creator God in creation.

Now, not only does creation sing the praise of the majestic God (Psalm 96), his word the Bible reveals his character, nature, likes and heart to our world. Then, in fulfilment of the God who is Trinity, the Word (Jesus) enters our world. We see this powerfully in John’s gospel when Philip asks to see God, and Jesus replies (essentially) that you are looking at him! [1] This idea reveals the questions on the Trinity, and as I worked through the study during the week with others, and we saw the repeated passages that capture the Trinity, I found it very powerful personally!

Finally, the study ends on the wonder of God radiating his presence to the world, through the son, who is the exact representation of God.

So there you have it.

This Sunday we will see the God who is knowable and knows me from Psalm 139, then next week in your DNAs you will see the knowable God found in creation and his word (Psalm 19), who became flesh as a human in the God-man Jesus (Hebrews 1), and whose radiant glory can be exhibited in us through the Holy Spirit’s ministry, as we exalt the spectacular son Jesus Christ.

I simply loved preparing this material and benefited immensely from Michael Reeves’ book The Good God, a Moore College distance education course (you might like to enrol) and Broughton Knox’s book (through Matthias media) The Everlasting God. And here is a grab from Sunday’s Bible reading, how great!

1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Psalm 139:1-6

SP

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[1] John 14:8-18