Financial Update

In September last year I shared with you the difficult financial situation we faced – with the possibility of finishing the year $45,000 down. Praise God for His generosity reflected in His people; we finished 2012 with approximately a $9,000 deficit (the figures are still being finalised).

Whilst this is a fantastic improvement on what we were facing, it still left Church Council with very difficult decisions when working out this year’s budget. We were facing up to a $50,000 plus deficit for 2013. A big part of this will be covered by promised donations (over and above regular tithes and offerings) but we still had to make some staffing cuts to have any chance of covering our costs.

The decision has been made to reduce our Children and Families Pastor’s position to 32 hours per week. This will leave Libby with 15 hours per week in PITSTOP (this is funded by the government and includes PPP parenting program etc) and 17 hours per week for the rest of our Children and Families Ministry. This is a decision the Church Council agonised over but we could not in good conscious move into the year with such a large deficit. As it is we are still facing a deficit budget of about $8,000, so there is still more work to be done.

The consequence of this decision is that we have effectively reduced the time put into our general Children and Families ministry over the last 2 years by half (up until the end of 2010 Libby was employed for 30 hours per week with another person employed for the PITSTOP program for 15 hours per week). Libby, Glen, Tim R and I are continuing to strategise the best focus for Libby’s time as helping children and families grow as disciples of Jesus is vital for the life and health of our church (across all campuses). We will be looking to more and more people from the congregations to help lead Kid’s GIG and other children’s ministry.

Please be in prayer for this most important part of our life together. Please pray for Libby as she adjusts her time and priorities. Please pray about how you might participate in helping disciple children. Please continue to be faithful in giving to work of God through this part of Christ’s body called Logan Uniting.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

Surprised by Hope

Happy New Year!!! Through our “Elijah” series we are being called to a fresh surrender to God and a more radical belief in His work in us and through us. I am looking forward to the way God will lead us in experiencing this individually and together throughout 2013.

From the 17th Feb right up until Easter we will be engaging in a whole of church experience using NT Wright’s “Surprised by Hope”. I found this following extract from a website advertising the material:

“Gain an exciting new vision for your life on earth in light of your future in heaven. Wonderful as is the promise of heaven, a glorious hereafter is just part of what salvation is about. What about today? Jesus called his followers the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Your life here and now is of tremendous consequence, and what you believe about the future has a direct impact on how you live in the present.

In six transforming, faith-inspiring sessions, premier biblical scholar N. T. Wright opens your eyes to the amazing full scope of what God's Word has to say about the world to come and the world that is.

Filled with discussion questions, thoughts for reflection, and ideas for personal application, this study will help explore such questions as:

o What is heaven really like
o Is our main duty as Christians simply to help non-Christians get there?
o What hope does the gospel hold for this present life?
o In what ways does God intend for us to experience that hope personally and spread its healing power to the world around us?

Surprised by Hope will give you a clearer vision both of the future and of God's kingdom at hand today.”

This really will be an incredible, life changing journey we engage in. The way to get the best out of this series is be to be part of a weekly faith life group where you can help each other apply the transformative insights you hear and discuss. If you are not currently part of a faith life group we will help you join an existing one or become part of one of the new faith life groups we will be creating for the duration of this series.

I praise God for gifted interpreter’s of God’s word such as NT Wright who can help us walk in the fullness of God’s purposes.


Yours in Christ


Graham Keech