Year in Review
Thanks to your prayer and support during 2019 I have been able to do the following:
Visit and promote my work to 8 local churches.
Oversee and Train 8 Student Leaders.
Design newletters, several fliers and digital images for Uni Fellowship.
Present workshops and seminars for Uni Fellowship, Tasmanian and interstate events and conferences on a range of topics.
Sit on 2 Q&A Panels.
Oversee 8 Student Leaders.
Preach twice.
Train 22 recent grade 12 graduates to understand the gospel--not just the WHAT but also the WHY! I helped them develop a solid personal story share how they have personally encountered the good news of Jesus.
Share resources and ideas with you in Christine: Behind the Scenes to benefit your own personal ministries.
January Project
Our Staff Team Leader, Mikey Lynch, is great at encouraging us to pursue our passions to bring great benefit for the kingdom of God. He knows that I am passionate about women seeing themselves (and church leaders seeing women) as "co-laborers in the gospel" just as Paul called several women in the early church. We've had several of these sort of discussions in Christine: Behind the Scenes.
Mikey prompted me to consider using my time in January while the students are still away to develop an online resource that church planters can use to learn about how to recruit women on their teams and use them strategically as co-laborers in the gospel for the entire life and growth stages of the church. So stay tuned for more discussions in January as I begin fine-tuning these ideas and prepare a draft proposal for an online course for church planters. I've already floated the idea with two people at Geneva Push and they look forward to seeing what I have in mind.
Don't miss out on the project discussions! You can join the group here.
2019 National Training Event
Nearly 2000 university students from around Australia gathered in Canberra in early December to be inspired by local and global mission to proclaim Jesus and to be trained in a variety of skills ranging from
Knowing the gospel and telling God's story of redemption through their own story,
Reading the Bible,
Biblical Theology,
Systematic Theology,
Biblical Ethics,
and Teaching a Series
A friend of mine went every year to NTE and did every strand.
I thoroughly enjoyed leading my week-long training with two other campus workers from Brisbane. My greatest delight was watching 22 recent Grade 12 graduates pour over passage after passage throughout all of the Bible that took them beyond their memorised gospel script into the WHY of Jesus needed to come and WHY they and their friends need Jesus. They are now equipped to have conversations on campus with their friends that will go beyond just sharing their testimony and a memorised gospel presentation. They can actually answer questions and cultivate an ongoing conversation with new friends.
At meals, you never know who you're going to sit with. I had several wonderful conversations with other staff and students. Please pray for Paula. Paula discovered this year that she can paint. In February, she sensed God leading her to create a painting ministry. Prompted by God to communicate his grace in her art, she sells her paintings to create parcels for those entering the psych ward at her local hospital.
You can follow her and read her writing on Instagram at project__grace
I'm looking forward to next year's NTE.
Meet a Team Member
Pictured above is Anita Kapinga who was elected to be the 2020 President of University Fellowship of Christians' Student Executive Committee. She is also one of the students on my leadership team next year and one of the recipients of two books some of you generously donated.
1. How has Uni Fellowship helped you "proclaim Jesus and present everyone mature in him"? (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students mission statement)
Uni Fellowship has taught me what it means to live out the great commission in whatever context I am in. It has given me practical tools and a supportive environment/ team which encourage me to proclaim the gospel, taking hold of all opportunities.
I have also learnt the importance of having Jesus central to everything I do and all my relationships. As Christians we must be continually learning from one another and pointing each other toward our Lord.
2. How have you benefited from 1 to 1 ministry in the past/present? What do you hope to learn in 2020 to hone this skill yourself?
I benefited enormously from 1:1 ministry with a former Uni Fellowship staff member, as we encouraged one another and spent a lot of time thinking about how each passage we read should change our lives and thinking.
In 2020 I hope to learn how to better move from friendly catch-up conversations, to conversations that count for eternity. I’d love to be able to have honest conversations about spiritual issues as a natural and regular part of my Christian relationships.
3. How might learning more about prayer help you be a better Fellowship Group leader?
In learning more about prayer myself, I hope to be able to use fellowship group time to pass on that knowledge by example and by sharing. I would love to be able to guide my fellowship group in prayer that brings all glory to God.
Gospel Giving
This Christmas give a Gospel Gift to a friend and save the chicken, goat and school supplies for their birthday.
You can choose from the following gifts that will directly support the work I do in proclaiming Jesus and presenting our students mature in Him. You will receive a digital copy of your gift within 24 hours. For a print copy, please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery.
Your regular monthly contribution or one off gift goes a long way to making my work sustainable so that I can get on with proclaiming Jesus and presenting our students mature in Him.
If you'd like to know more about partnering with my work financially and giving the gift of the gospel, this Christmas, send me an email at christine@ufcutas.org . Or click on one of the Give buttons below.
Family
Many friends, supporters and colleagues have approached me and asked me with deep concern about how 2019 has gone regarding my work. These expressions of concern really boggled me. It was my sister-in-law who brought clarity for me: their concern may come from knowing how difficult my daughters initially found transitioning to my new work commitments.
Of course!
My confusion can only come from that I think these last few months have gone really well. I think we've all forgotten their big feelings about my work.
If anything, I know we've "arrived" because when I was away in Canberra for 5 days, I received ZERO urgent text messages from family members. And all those jobs that my girls thought only mummy could do, they either trust their dad now to be able to do it or he has actually trained them to do it themselves.
They enjoy occasionally coming to my office (I've got games here we don't have at home) and meeting the students. The students and other staff (nearly all parents themselves) are marvelous about talking to them making them feel a genuine part of our ministry.
My girls have gone from resenting my early-morning or late-evening meetings to realizing that those meetings are actually rare and I still walk them to school most days and pick them up and cook dinner for them and am super available to talk about any tween dramas at school. Each night I'm home, after we pray and read, I stay with them while their music plays for one song each ... just in case there's one more thing they want to get off their mind or need just one more snuggle.
This year Mike and I have had some really constructive conversations about making sure we communicate our work commitments with each other well and also making sure our expectations around work are on the same page. (They were. We were just making sure. Definitely a regular healthy conversation to have!)
Today is the last day of school for our girls and both are looking forward to next year. Mike's work, on the other hand, is still going hard. We'll make sure he relaxes properly during the holidays.
Giving Back to You
Sharing resources is my way of giving back to you and supporting your own relationship with Jesus and your church family and your own ministry. All links have been shared in Christine: Behind the Scenes. Join us in the group to discuss how the content might affect our lives and gospel work.
Spurgeon: All at It: "We cannot say to the women, “Go home, there is nothing for you to do in the service of the Lord.” Far from it, we entreat Martha and Mary, Lydia and Dorcas, and all the elect sisterhood, young and old, rich and poor, to instruct others as God instructs them. Young men and maidens, old men and matrons, yes, and boys and girls who love the Lord, should speak well of Jesus, and make known his salvation from day to day."
Upcoming Speaking Events
Bookings for speaking at your church, ministry, school or event are open for 2020.
Please contact me at christine@ufcutas.org to discuss your event.
28 March: Tasmanian Women's Bible Conference (Talk - Equipping Women in Word Ministry)
