Online Church & Home Church
Can you believe that our very first online worship service was all those weeks ago on 22 March? We’d been given notice just that week that we could no longer gather in the church building, so had to quickly sort out tech/youtube/communications to make sure we could all still worship together, it was a crazy time! We weren’t quite sure how it would all work out, but I believe God has been so good to us in how He’s kept us together as His people and as a worshipping community. The sense of community, even though we cannot all be in one place, is still so strong. Perhaps it’s even stronger than before! And that’s all because of the wonderful way each one of you has been involved - checking in on people, inviting people over, providing meals, praying for others and the church. Thank you for all that you are doing, this is the body of Christ in action!
While restrictions are easing, we are still a little way off from being able to all gather in the church building once more. We will keep you updated as news and directions come in from Synod with regard to this. In the meantime, we will continue live-streaming and we look forward to having a special “home church experience” on Sunday 26 July. This will involve small groups meeting in people’s homes to join in with the live-stream. The live-stream will be more interactive than usual and provide moments where the home churches can stop for discussion and prayer. We will let you know more about this during this Sunday’s worship. Please do take some time to complete this short survey to let us know your thoughts about online church and whether you would be interested in hosting a home church on Sunday 26 July. We will make sure everyone who would like to be part of this home church experience is linked up with a host.
Let’s keep praying together for the Spirit’s guidance and for the strength to continue shining the light of Christ into the world.
Last Sunday, the Guyatt family hosted the Wuttke and Gearing families for worship. So cool to see people joining in on their instruments at home!
This Sunday
9.30 am 21 June
Bible Reading:
1 Kings 19:1-15
Songs:
It is well with my soul
(in A, key change to C)
Yes & Amen (in C)
Blessed be Your Name (in G)
Everlasting God (in G)
"What are you doing here?"
9 times out of 10, being asked this question means you're in the wrong place, doesn't it?
In this reflection Dr Paul Jones from Trinity College Queensland considers what it meant for Elijah, and in turn, what it might mean for us today.
Tune in for 10 minutes and reflect on your expectations of God—and God's hopes for you. We’ll also be watching this video on Sunday and Matt will unpack it a little more for us.
check out the Bible reading this week from 1 Kings 19:1-15 when Elijah just needed a little lie down and a snack!
The Garden Brisbane
A regular Tuesday night at The Garden.
Local missionary and extreme frisbee expert, Carly Kies, is busy serving and supporting uni students as part of The Garden. If you would like to find out more about what The Garden does and how God is working there, sign up here to get in touch with Carly or to receive her prayer newsletters.
Before social isolation, Carly and the team held a free dinner/discussion event in The Garden house every Tuesday night, they’d also meet with students on campus on Wednesday arvos, and hold a free lunch every Thursday in The Garden house. Each member of the team would also meet one-on-one with students who were wanting to know more about God and Christianity.
During this time of social isolation, much of The Garden’s ministry has moved online. However, with restrictions easing, they have been able to gather again in small groups, which is great news for the uni students who are all a bit “over” Zoom and online events right now! Please be praying for Carly, The Garden, and all the uni students they support. It is a particularly tough time for uni students as they face another semester of online learning.
If you would like to partner with Carly and The Garden, you can give through the tithely account.
A few of us from TUC have helped out (or really just hung out!) at The Garden on Tuesday nights.
LoveToowong
Thank you all for your generous donations to the LoveToowong fund! These have allowed continual support for those affected financially by the COVID-19 situation. Currently, we have enough in the LoveToowong fund to support people until the end of this month, so please do consider if you would like to make a donation to keep this support going.
You can do this by making a transfer to the TUC bank account with the reference LoveToowong. Any offerings marked with LoveToowong will not be used for the regular running of the church. Instead, this will be used to provide financial support to those in need. Please also be in touch with us if you require financial support and/or pastoral support.
TUC Bank: National Australia Bank (NAB)
A/c Name: Uniting Church Toowong General Parish Fund
BSB: 084424
A/c No: 508563314
Find more information here.
Would you like to join the Tech Team? It’s a lot of fun! Please get in touch with us =)