4th May 2022

May the 4th be with you!

Thanks for clicking on this week’s news update. We have a lot going on this week behind the scenes so we thought we’d get this out into your hands as early as we could. Praying as ever for all of you who are connected either through our Hub located church family, our growing online church family and / or you are a friend or partner living elsewhere in our great nation or world.

The following is a brief update on all that we are working on together currently for your information and response …….

SUNDAY 8TH MAY – Happy Mothers’ Day to all the wonderful women of ‘the way’ who are actual parents or grandparents OR are spiritually parenting disciples in some other meaningful context …. THIS WEEK we will use a chunk of our time together to meditate on the meaning of Spiritual Parenting, particularly in this troubling epoch of world history; always in the context of Christ’s sacrifice and aligned with the culture of the kingdom of heaven. Engage with us if you can at the Augusta Street East Corrimal NSW HUB from 10am in the room AND via live-stream if you can’t be physically present with us … (see our Facebook page and our YouTube Channel)

IMPORTANT NOTE: We were to commence our message theme for May, focusing on ‘Intimacy’ this Sunday but Julie and Gary have returned from Townsville needing this week to recover fully (PLEASE pray that God will lift them up) so, Graeme needs to step back up and lead on Sunday, particularly as David and Andrew are serving our sister church, the River Church in Dapto and it’s minister May Housler also. Thanks everyone for your patience and loving support. Appreciate your prayers as we work things out IN Christ’s plan for us this week. We will commence our month of May “Intimacy’ theme on Sunday 15th with Julie reflecting on ‘Intimacy with Father God’, on the 22nd David will share his heart about ‘Intimacy with Christ’s Body’ and on the 29th, Graeme will share some pertinent and hopefully practical thoughts about ‘Intimacy with the Lost’.

Wrapping Up our time spent with Brian and Nola Medway

Graeme would like to thank God and thank you all with a grateful heart for receiving his mentor and wife so wonderfully, welcoming them as you would, long time members of the family. Brian and Nola were so excited about our time together when they finally left mid afternoon Sunday. Graeme has had two emails from Brian since they left, talking about how terrific the time shared was, how the Holy Spirit had clearly led our interaction and in his estimation was clearly leading us as a church, and how important the connection was and will be as we launch headlong into this ‘Seven Years of Gospel Impact’ season. The message Brian preached on Sunday builds firmly upon what God has been revealing to us together for some time now and so we will seek to unpack that even more as we move forward towards the pivotal second half of this year. More soon …..

Bible Studies, Emerging HOPE Communities + HOPE College Tutorials

  • 6 of us enjoyed last Saturday’s HOPE College Intensive Workshop and quite a few more have already registered to engage the presentation sessions as soon as they are available. They will be available to view (session by session) on our YouTube Channel soon, BUT, only to those who register to view the sessions as they will be listed privately (for all sorts of privacy and copyright reasons). IF YOU REGISTER VIA OUR College Contact Page, when the sessions are available, you will receive your own link to them and the accompanying notes. Stay tuned for more information BUT do register ASAP.
  • Monday’s FORTNIGHTLY 10.30am at the Augusta Street HUB – The next meeting of the ladies Bible Study and Prophetic Activation is DUE to be Monday 16th May at the HUB. Contact Julie Padwick for details or to register your interest, via her mobile if you know it OR let us know you’d like to contact her via our Contact Us page and we’ll pass your enquiry on to Julie.
  • 1st and 3rd Wednesday’s of each month – 10am on Judy’s Verandah in East Corrimal – The next meeting of this relaxed bible discussion will be Wednesday 18th May. For more information contact Beverley Boots directly if you know her mobile OR let us know you’d like to contact her via our website’s Contact Us page and we’ll pass on your enquiry to Beverley.
  • Tuesday’s WEEKLY 9.15am – 10.30am from NEXT Week (10th May) – Graeme will make himself available on Tuesdays weekly for chats about College study, subject matter, assessment advice, interest and enrollment issues etc. This will happen AT THE HUB or IN HIS ZOOM ROOM. Drop by the Hub OR click on this online ZOOM ROOM LINK anytime between 9.15am and 10.30am on Tuesdays.
  • Friday’s WEEKLY 7.30am – 8.45am from 20th May, Face-to-Face at the Augusta Street HUB AND Repeated WEEKLY 5pm to 6.15pm Tuesdays (after the Friday session) ….. ZOOM COACHING BY APPOINTMENT …. The 12 week term will consist of
    • 4 Weeks of ‘Biblical Foundations for The HOPE Project Revelation’ FOLLOWED BY
    • 8 Weeks of ‘Discipling and Multiplying no-name Disciples’.
    • REGISTER YOUR INTEREST BY EMAILING the Secretary if you know the email address OR use the College Contact Page. More opportunities to gather the harvest around the word soon. Here’s another couple for example ….
  • Blokes Bi-Monthly Hang Out and Mutual Ministry Time – Blokes are inviting their mates to this terrific time of sharing a meal and inspiring, even challenging fellowship bi-monthly. The next gathering for our Men’s Ministry Group will take place at 6pm on Tuesday 31st May at the Rowles Residence in Mangerton. For more information as it comes to hand, contact Andrew Fisher directly if you know his contact details, OTHERWISE let us know you’d like to contact him via a message to our website’s Contact Us page and we’ll pass on your enquiry to him.
  • The Sanctuary Illawarra – Our southern hub church plant is back at the grindstone with online and face-to-face engagement opportunities. Stay tuned to their their YouTube channel and or Facebook page for updates as they come to hand. Pray for these ‘Backyard Missionaries’ AND give The Sanctuary connection details to anyone you know in the Southern Illawarra that would benefit from the ministry of this Targeted Mission HUB, particularly re. their Soul Recovery ALL Addictions weekly meeting 8pm Monday’s at Central Church Hall, 4 Fitzwilliam Street Port Kembla.

Other News Snippets

Booking Appointments to meet with Graeme – The Management Team and Senior Minister’s Group are working to refine Graeme’s schedule to maximize his time leading the church into its mission both in kingdom collaboration responsibilities, as well as equipping and discipling IN NEW Harvest fields. We will make it this easy to book appointments with all of our key leaders soon, but for now, this is the link to book them with Graeme. Open the link, choose a date (little calendar picture top right), click on an available time (these will be obvious), fill in your name and contact stuff, and in the content box note a venue and a reason for the meeting (some are listed or you could use your own). Submit and Graeme gets an email and a process to confirm with you. The link is now visible at the bottom of any personal email you receive from him AND it exists as a QR Code on the back of his business card, a number of which are available on the reception desk or you could ask Heather or one of her fabulous Hub Hosts. Scan the code and his appointment options open up.

Northern Illawarra Scripture Board Update – There is an important Board meeting scheduled for NEXT Monday 7.15pm. Term Two has begun and God has been on the move within our Teachers and Chaplain since the Commissioning on March 20. The logistical stuff is coming into a significant season with fundraisers like Trivia Nights, Silent Auctions and Pie Drives to organize for the first time since 2019 (stay tuned for details about these) but the important front line things are warming up also. All our workers are reporting positive changes, and active care and support of what they are invested in at their respective schools, with many opportunities to serve the school communities approaching (the NAPLAN testing season) AND there have been reports of young people giving their lives to Christ. Please be in prayer for these exciting opportunities. praise our Lord for the reports and for the board as it represents the church as one on the north-side and gets stuck in to ensuring things keep moving forward from a labourer in the field perspective at their meeting next Monday night.

Illawarra Prayer Breakfast – will be held this year 6.30 – 8.30am, Friday 27th May at Shellharbour Civic Centre. Graeme has booked a table for our church as he did last year, so that we can be present and play our part in this kingdom building and advancing endeavour. THERE ARE ONLY 9 TICKETS so if you’d like to join Graeme on that Friday morning EITHER deposit $40 per ticket into the Corrimal Community Church account, BSB 637 000, account number 724196462 and identify the deposit as ‘IPB(your surname)’, OR contact the secretary via this Contact Us page and let her know how many tickets so you can negotiate payment etc. Thank you!

Biggest Morning Tea 2022 – officially this year’s BMT for Cancer Council awareness and fundraising is Thursday 19th May. Our mate Carol Bond, Paramedic Manager from 12 Augusta Street usually runs the event from HER PLACE. We have helped her out in recent times and so once we know what she has planned, we will encourage people to support her hosted event, whenever she has decided to hold it. Save the date and more information as it comes to hand.

A Wee Poem – During these past few months in this new season, we have celebrated fresh creativity regularly, particularly in the arenas of worship and music ministry. The other day, our mate Alex sent in this poetry offering and we thought it should be shared for your edification, challenge and enrichment. We thank God for what He’s doing through people like Alex and here is the poem with a little explanatory context up front. ‘The Old Man of Hoy’

Weekly Pastoral Prayer Update (designed to give you points for prayer on more than one day)

  • Firstly, we are THANKFUL for all the answered prayers that often go unnoticed. Thank you, Lord, for Your faithfulness.
  • Secondly, each and EVERY week we pray for each other and our brothers and sisters representing the Illawarra region’s body of Christ through other local churches who meet around us. And as Jesus prayed 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. We know this is a season when we will need to be combat ready and so we pray for each other that we would stand firm in the victory Christ won for us … AND that the Lord will add daily, those who are BEING SAVED! We particularly pray for the upcoming Illawarra Prayer Breakfast, that the churches of the Illawarra might be ‘In ONE-ness accord’.
  • Thirdly each week we pray for the New Season of Mission Effort – we pray for the continued outworking of the 2021 commissioning as your servants work out with you, each calling, metron and scope of mission. (see also mission prayer points) – We thank you for the catalyst to our Pillar of ‘PREPARE’ that Brian and Nola’s ministry with us last weekend brought.
  • Fourthly, here following are the MOST RECENT prayer requests that we have been given permission to share across our praying network … (please talk directly with the source of the request if you want more info)
    • June’s son and our mate Craig Blanch – for a good MRI result and June’s friend Mim for her recovery after an accident and subsequent surgery.
    • Gary and Julie – for their complete health restoration. We thank you for travel mercies and pray now for their return to good health and well-being. Also for their daughter Jemma recovering from surgery.
    • Jono’s Dad Richard who has been in hospital a couple of times since Easter. Praying for his full recovery and for the whole family’s peace and well-being, and for Jono’s physical health at this time. We thank you that Richard was able to enjoy his 91st birthday celebration recently.
    • Gwen’s full recovery. We pray for peace for her children and Jason in particular. We thank you Lord that Gwen was well enough to join us on Sunday which enabled us to celebrate her 90th birthday with her.
    • Ken and Beverley Boots’ daughter Rachael dealing with exhaustion and other life and work related issues having been at the front-line at Gold Coast Hospital these last couple of years.
    • The Shea family – previously involved at CCC. Praying for peace and hope for Eric and the family after June’s passing last week. Memorial at Parson’s Wollongong this Friday 29th 10am. Graeme reports that Andrew and Cathryn would like to pass on their thankfulness for our prayers and expressed love and care.
    • For Christine seeking prayer for wisdom and strength for her and her two sisters and the aged care consultants helping them care for their Mum in her own home, also for her family members who have been inundated with water during recent rains and their daughter with a broken arm. It was lovely to share personally with Christine on Sunday.
    • John and Margaret grieving the loss of a close family friend.
    • We thank you Lord that Evelyn was well enough to re-join us last Sunday. We Praise You Father for answered prayer.
  • Please Keep Praying for these Brothers and sisters and situations –
    • We continue praying for Murray and Julie and the Food for Life Community Care team as they think strategically about ways to streamline travel between pick up locations etc.
    • We pray for the people doing it tough that our Food for Life volunteers come across weekly when they serve hampers off the truck.
    • We continue to petition our Lord Jesus for Heaven’s answers to the needs of so many who have lost significantly in these floods up and down the east coast.
    • Please pray for God’s will to be done in and through the upcoming election and not the will of lobbying people with agendas that only interpret what God should do. Let us pray for a holy and righteous outcome in this federal election. Let’s prayerfully hold governing authorities to a heavenly standard and an integrity that flows from living out and seeking God’s kingdom rule of human hearts and not the rule of the kingdom of this world (Romans 13 and 14)
    • For all of the wonderful people connected with our church family as we stand together during this new season of the battle for souls. We thank God for His encouragement, His healing touch and His mercy, grace and protection.
    • We pray for Dot and her family, Maree and Jacki and their families.
    • We pray healing for Margy and Alex who are dealing with a variety of health issues currently.
    • We continue to pray for Harry, Joy and Greg, Elsie and Carolyn’s family, Julie B and particularly her Mum and for Kylie and her family and friends’ needs.
    • Grant Wilson (Kiama Baptist Minister) whom Graeme saw recently. He is now back at home in Kiama and has started a minor regime of work. Pray for his continued good recovery, his family and the church as they deal with challenges in this time of transition. Grant has asked to pray that he has more grace for the long haul and for a quick and complete recovery from Covid now.
    • We pray thanks to God for the work of the Northern Illawarra Scripture Board and ask Your wisdom and guiding hand to be upon the Board as Graeme leads their May meeting on the 9th, where significant changes in teaching and preparations for a couple of big fund raisers will be discussed. We pray that we are empowered to play our part in this kingdom advancing work as it increases across the northern Illawarra churches network.
    • We pray both thanks to you God and ask for exceeding abundant blessings on all the new people who are determining whether or not to partner with us in the mission You have called us to.
    • We also pray with thankfulness for the wonderful and consistent giving and investment that our family and partners offer to enable this mission to thrive.
  • The World needs our Faithful Prayers –
    • We continue to pray for people in the Ukraine and Russia, for peace, for unity, for a sense of purpose together for the future, instead of the divide and the misdirection that seems evident currently. LORD HAVE MERCY!
    • We pray for this hepatitis outbreak around the world and ask for You intervention Lord, bringing about a speedy restoration of health. LORD HAVE MERCY on those affected and those working out what’s happening.
    • We pray for anyone who is in peril in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Please pray for the people who are hungry and helpless. Pray for the church (under persecution) that they along with World Aid organizations will be able to be God’s effective hands and feet in that desperate scenario.
    • Pray for the people in many other countries who are dealing with political, religious and military unrest and or are being subjected to violence and persecution; in particular this week we pray for Papua (Indonesia), Eritrea, Burkina-Faso (particularly in the East where Jihadists seem hell bent on eradicating Christian facilitated education), Algeria and Indonesia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    • PLEASE add any concern you have for our world HERE and pray LORD HAVE MERCY!
  • Of course if you have any thing you feel confident to ask us to SHARE in prayer for, please call, send a text or email Gary Padwick if you know his contact details, otherwise via our Contact Us page. We can help connect you and Gary will faithfully engage our prayer-network (please be patient as he gets back into a home routine and fully recovers from his health issues).
  • Thank you for continuing to uphold each other and the lives and circumstances of our partners everywhere in life-empowering prayer.

Love and blessings,

The CCC HOPE Project Communications Team