January 08 Newsletter
January began with the pulling down and packing away of the Christmas decorations for another year. As a result of our very successful Christmas Open House we now have a few new members attending our Sunday afternoon classes with us. We are also in the situation where we have members now bringing along their friends. As a result these classes have grown over time from an average of four or five people attending each week to eight or nine in our small lounge room. Likewise our Saturday afternoon English Bible Study at church has seen an increase in numbers from twelve or thirteen to eighteen to twenty in recent times.
We have been running our Saturday classes for over two years now and it became difficult trying to increase the level of English with newcomers starting all the time. What we wanted to achieve was to begin a second class which would not only be more challenging for those with a better grasp of English, but also to take the participants to a higher level in their walk with God while at the same time making them more aware of His purpose for them.
As a result we recently began Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life (PDL) course one night a week. This course teaches people the purpose of their life here on earth, which is really only a preparation for the afterlife. Rick has sold over 30 million copies of his book and his courses have been conducted by church groups throughout the world. The course is based on reading a chapter a day for 40 days, interspersed with the watching of a DVD and complemented by weekly group discussion. While the course is meant to be completed in around six weeks we decided to only do a chapter a week. This means that allowing for various holiday breaks throughout the year we can stretch it out to a 12 month course. We wanted to limit the course participants to fifteen but ended up with eighteen starters.
We recently received an email forwarded, interestingly enough, from one of our Chinese friends here and showing how God is using a young Australian man by the name of Nick Vujicic. For reasons which cannot be medically explained Nick was born with no arms or legs, but God is using him in an amazing way to bring people around the world to come to know Him. We were spellbound as we watched Nick shaving, operating a computer, swimming, and going about doing everday things without limbs. This in itself was incredible enough, but when you got him on stage and heard his testimony we were inspired at how he has used his life for God’s greater glory. You can go to Nick’s website at www.lifewithoutlimbs.org
Praise Points:
Praise Him for the increase in those joining our classes and wanting to know more about God.
Praise that our special friend who recently came to know God, a few days later was instrumental in his brother also making a commitment.
Praise God for the amazing inspiration and life of Nick Vujicic.
Prayer Points:
Pray for daughter Donna as she enters her thirtieth week of pregnancy, following a number of complications along the way.
Pray for safe travels as we spend time travelling China over the Chinese New Year / Spring Festival season.
Pray for His guidance, wisdom and discernment in everything that we do.
