Bob Marks
Read the Warringah Church bulletin.
Thank you for your faithful support of our work in the Lord here in Sydney. We appreciate very much the love and care that you all show towards us.
We want to share these photographs with you so that you can rejoice with us in the good things that are happening here and so that you can continue to pray for God’s continued blessings on this work.
The Warringah church has been meeting on the Northern Beaches of Sydney for nearly 35 years! For the past 20 years we have owned and met in this building in the suburb of Curl Curl. It is not the biggest building nor the most comfortable, but it is a blessing to have a place of our own.
We have around 30 – 40 people meeting each Lord’s Day for worship and Bible classes. This next picture was taken recently at the time we had a special gathering to honor the work done by Don and Maxine Klingenberg who had put over 30 years of their lives into the Lord’s work in Australia. These people were all either former members or current members of the Warringah church.
We presented Don and Maxine with a book filled with messages of gratitude and love from all present and many who weren’t able to be there.
We have been happy these past twelve months to have three people obey the gospel and become a part of our congregation. The first was Jeanette Anstiss, who is a long-time friend of one of our members. Jeanette started coming to our Friendship Groups several years ago and slowly got more and more involved.
Then Jim and Laurel Hockey were baptized, and we rejoiced in this. Laurel came as a result of a friend’s invitation, but she was reluctant to study the Bible. Eventually her husband expressed a desire for his wife and himself to “join the church” and so a study was set up that resulted in their baptisms.
For many years Lynne has been running a weekly playgroup for mothers and little children. As well as providing a service to the mothers of the congregation, this has been a means to reaching out into the community. These days, by far, the majority of the participants are from the community and the playgroup has a very good reputation in the community. This picture of the babies present for a playgroup session in their carriages was taken by one of the mothers.
We also reach out into the community by running children’s programs. We’re reported before on our successful Holiday Bible Clubs (VBSs) like the one we held last year when Austin Church was here and we had as a theme the Prince of Egypt. We built a cardboard pyramid which the kids just loved!
This past year we’ve been running a monthly Funky Friday program for children 7 years of age and above, and this has proved very popular.
There are several aspects to each meeting including games, craft, eating and some sort of lesson from the Bible. For some of these children this might be the only exposure they have to the Bible!
Another thing we’ve done for 4 years now is have a Give Away Day for which we fill our building with secondhand household goods, toys, sporting equipment, etc., and invite the needy to come and help themselves. The local news media has given this effort pretty good publicity with the result that we have had very successful Give Away Days. People line up outside our building waiting for the doors to open. If only they would do that on Sundays!
Each person who comes through the door receives a brochure telling them of the other things we do as a church, and inviting them to participate.
For more than a year now, most last Sundays of the month, we have conducted a Sunday evening service for youth and young at heart to which we have invited youth from all over the area. We ask young men from the various congregations to lead the singing, word the prayers and deliver the messages. For some young men, this is the first sermon they have ever delivered! And then they go on to present lessons in their home congregations.
Another area-wide program that we have been heavily involved in for many years has been the annual summer camp. For the past two years I have worn the hat of Chairman of the Board and Director of “Challenge.” The family camp runs from December 27 to January 1 and participants come from all over Australia and even internationally.
The camps provides lots of different activities besides a focus on God’s Word. One of my favorite photographs from camp is of these little children waiting their turn to ride a horse!
We hope you enjoy seeing these pictures and appreciate that you have a part in the success of these programs by your involvement in our support. Brethren, please keep these programs and us in your prayers.
Christian love,
Bob and Lynne Marks