Happy New Year 2015

You are now entering your mission field.

These were the words which were written on the back wall of the church where I committed my life to God thirty-three years ago – Glad Tidings Tabernacle in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Pastor Lloyd Averill was the senior pastor there at that time. The words were there to be read as you left the building and were a reminder that we were to carry God away into every aspect of our lives – into our workplaces and families, in our neighbourhoods, and in some cases, to the ends of the earth.

God is still at work wherever we are, not just in church on Sunday. We are part of the family of God throughout the earth – whether it be through prayer for the persecuted brothers and sisters of our faith, or ministry through our local church, or conversations with unsaved family or workmates, or acts of kindness through which we can demonstrate in a practical way God’s love for all of us.

We live in a world which has tried alternative philosophies and found them hollow and wanting. In some cases we live in a world of abundance which has failed to bring fulfilment. Often we live in a world of uncertainty and anxiety about the future. We live in societies aware of a pervasive darkness of violence and danger.

Against this backdrop the Christian message is one (the only one) of genuine hope. We trust our lives to God, who unlike the gods of any other religion, does not require us to attain some standard of perfection to become worthy of Him, but who took pity on us in our human frailty and became a man, so that through belief in Jesus we could accept eternal life. Christianity is the only religion based upon a personal relationship with God – a loving heavenly Father who extends to us His love, forgiveness, grace and peace.

I pray that throughout 2015, the Christian church will be salt and light in this world, that God will build His church, bringing many lost souls into His kingdom and that I personally, through whatever sphere I am operating in, will be a witness to His loving care in my life.