Church Family News, October 2022
Hobart Baptist Church, Sunday, 30 October
This week, Stephen Baxter will bring the first message in our Vision Sermon Series “Welcome“.
Holding the series at this time of year will, hopefully, enable us to move into 2023 with a strong sense of purpose and direction.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray God’s Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is heaven. As we pray it today, we know we are not the architects of God’s restorative work, but participants with Jesus in bringing God’s shalom to our city.
SERMON: Welcome: Learning to Live Like Jesus in Hobart
BIBLE READING: Romans 15:5-7 (ESV)
WATCH: LIVE on YouTube at 10.00am Sunday >>
Join our Q&A’s each Sunday by texting your question to 0491 070 718.
Kids’ Church and Youth program are on this Sunday.
All are welcome to stay on for morning tea after the service and then lunch together.
OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER DATES
FRIDAY/SATURDAY 28 & 29 October. Tas Baptists Annual Assembly, Riverlands, Longford.
SUNDAY 30 October, 10am. Vision Sermon Series “Welcome” begins.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY 4 & 5 November. GLS – Global Leadership Summit – Voice your Vision. Have you signed up yet?
SUNDAY 20 November, 12pm. Church Annual Members’ Meeting – Election of Officers and Deacons.
WEDNESDAY 23 November, 6:30 am for 6:45am. Annual Tasmanian Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast. Hotel Grand Chancellor.
Vision Sermon Series begins
This week, we start a new series “Welcome: Come As You Are”.
Our title Welcome comes out of our desire to be a place where those without a faith and those looking for a place to express faith, can feel welcome.
Welcome has two specific audiences. To those in the church it is an aspiration and call to the church we aim to be, and to those outside the church it is a declaration ‘you are welcome here’.
To read more, visit the “Welcome” Sermon Series Page>>>
GLS 2022 – 4 & 5 November
This year’s Global Leadership Summit is fast approaching!
It will be held in the Soundy Lounge over two days: from 7pm Friday night to 3pm Saturday, 4 & 5 November.
It is a great opportunity to develop skills which are applicable to all walks of life.
Anyone who is in leadership or looking to be is invited to attend. Please talk to Stephen, Matt or Heather if you are at all interested. Numbers are limited, so put your name down today!
Previous Summits have been extremely worth while so if you feel called to leadership you are encouraged to attend.
HBC Annual Members’ Meeting 2022, Sunday, 20 November
Have you considered membership at Hobart Baptist Church? HBC would not exist without the support and care of our official membership.
All are welcome to the Annual Members’ Meeting for 2022 will be held in the Gibson Hall on Sunday, 20 November, after the 10am service. This will include elections of Officers and Deacons. The nominations book, in the Tabernacle foyer, is now open and closes on Thursday 10 November.
If you would like to nominate someone, please ask them first, and if you can’t get to church to fill in the nominations book email Celia Munro to arrange it.
A General Members’ Meeting will follow on after the Annual Members’ Meeting.
Prayer Breakfast, Wednesday, 23 November
HBC is putting a table of 10 together for the Annual Tasmanian Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast at the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Breakfast starts at 6.30am and this years’ guest speaker is Robyn Moore, AM.
The table is filling up fast, so if you’re interested, be sure to talk to Stephen, Matt or Heather before Friday, 11 November, when registrations close.
It is a great opportunity to gather together with like-minded people from across Tasmania to pray for our State, our leaders, parliamentarians, businesses, schools, communities, and community organisations; our families, youth, and children.
Letter from Jit and Jan in Thailand
Our Dear Friends,
We come with thankful hearts for your interests and various types of support – we couldn’t do what we do here, if we weren’t in partnership with God and you folk !
We write against the backdrop of so much of the world in turmoil: The war in Ukraine; the tragic killing of the children; teachers and others in North-East Thailand; flooding in so much of Australia; financial insecurity….. the list could go on and on.
How precious to know that we have God in whom we trust who gives us peace and hope. COVID is less but not gone. We still need to be careful, for us and our members. One of our team and his family currently have another bout, caught from a teacher at the school where his wife teaches.
Please pray for wisdom as to whether we gather people this year to celebrate Christmas. The last couple of years, when we have been in Australia, the team have delivered gifts to folk at home. But gathering together for those who are able is encouraging, time for some fun and an opportunity to share the meaning and love of Christmas in a group setting. Our daughter Anna will be coming from teaching in the school holiday period, so we have set the tentative date for Lanternlight Christmas so she can share too. May you be conscious of God’s peace and encouragement.
Our love to you,
Jan and Jit.
For more news, read their newsletter here>>>
AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW LOVE AT HOME
Beautiful 10 month old Bella Lay has recently been diagnosed with Leukemia and treatment is already well underway. Bella and her parents have had to move to Melbourne for the entire course of her treatment taking them away from their jobs/income and and making it expensive for family to visit etc.
Bella is the first child of Than Tun and Lay Ber. Than Tun and Lay Ber have been married less than two years. Both came to our country via refugee camps in Thailand having fled Burma. Damo is a great mate to many of us, and has put in the hard yards as a landscaper to provide for his new family.
You can support this young family through a GoFUNDME.COM campaign set up by Kelvin.
The money raised in this campaign will be given directly to Bella’s parents to be used in whatever way they see fit. So far $5,257.53 has been received and sent to them.
**The Youth are making a video for Than Tun and Lay Ber which Hyland started last Sunday. You are encouraged to make a short video clip (10-20 seconds) of greetings, or perhaps a simple prayer and send it to Hyland hyland.smith@students.scc.tas.edu.au for inclusion.
CHURCH DIRECTORY
The 2022 HBC Directory (v2) is available. If you have not received a printed copy yet, but would like one, please let Celia Munro or Heather Galloway know. Or reply to this email.
By its very nature the directory goes out of date very quickly! So in future, it would be extremely helpful if you can please notify the secretary of any errors, changes, deletions or inclusions so that our church database on Elvanto is kept up-to-date and the production of a new directory can occur with greater ease next time. Contact Heather Galloway on secretary@hobartbaptist.org.au or call 0427 974 073.
GIVING – Your tithes and offerings
‘Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.’
2 Corinthians 9:7
We thank all who give faithfully on a regular basis, as without this support we would not be able to operate. Your offerings support our budget: and through that it enables the church to continue to be an important part of the North Hobart landscape and the place from where we can prophetically serve the City of Hobart.
It is where we can know the benefit of worshipping with others, where we hear the stories of Jesus and how they apply to us, where we are encouraged in our journey with Jesus, from where we can share God’s love with others and help them to know and trust in God themselves. Our influence can also be far reaching – there is no limit to God’s love through our deeds and actions. Thank you for your generosity.
EFT is a great way to ensure regular giving and as well there are offering boxes available for use as you leave the Sanctuary.