“And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.” (Acts 16:13)
Ahoy Church,
As you’re enjoying time to rest and open up your lives/homes to others, I encourage you to start 2025 with a plan to gather with other Christians.
In Acts 16, Paul, Silas and Timothy were in Philippi and looking to connect with other followers of Jesus. Instinctively, they rose on their day of weekend worship and headed down to the river where they assumed other Christians would be gathering to pray.
When Martine and I returned from a road trip to discover that a bunch of you had started meeting at Moffat each Sunday, this is the scripture that came to my mind. It seemed like the most natural place for believers to meet each weekend to encourage each other and pray to our great God.
In fact, this is how our church started, Brad and Marcello discussed gathering as believers each Sunday in the park out of obedience to God’s word in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25.
Given this is how Christians started out, and how we started out as a church, I want to encourage you that making a commitment to gather each week with other Christians places you in good company!
Recently, Fred and Marcello shared with me about the phrase: “Learn. Do. Repeat”. They were enthusiastically relating this phrase to the Christian life. We learn from Christ how to live, obey him and then repeat it indefinitely. This may sound monotonous, but it’s actually how humans mature and grow from babies, to adolescents to maturity.
Like life, much of the Christian life is repetition. Prayer, confession, forgiveness, generosity etc. It’s in this process of learning, doing and repeating that we find the pathway to the riches of maturity.
Ironically, we aren’t meeting this week :) but from Sunday January 12th I encourage you to grow a habit of gathering to encourage each other. If you’re unable to join us at 4pm, or you live elsewhere, please ask if you need help finding or starting another gathering of Christians
Whether you join us, another church or start something small yourself, join the 2,000yr practice of gathering each week in 2025 to celebrate Jesus.
God Bless and see you 4pm, Sunday 12th Jan!
Blokes, Bonfire + Bible
Missing everyone? Join us at Jesse's house for a fireside kick of the footy, chat and a laugh. Men, young and old are welcome!
Day/Time: Sat 11th Jan, arrive anytime from 430pm.
Contact: Jesse Mannix, 0423 050 192
Address: 286 North Maleny Road
Coming Up
January
Sun 05 Jan NO GATHERING
Sat 11 Jan 430pm Blokes, Bonfire + Bibles - 286 North Maleny Road Sun 12 Jan 4pm Moffat Gathering Sun 19 Jan 4pm Moffat Gathering Sun 26 Jan 4pm Moffat Gathering
February
Sun 02 Feb Worship Gathering at Maleny
Our Mission
To help people find and follow Jesus.
Our Rhythms
Get to Know Jesus: how are you getting to know Jesus this week?
Invite people into your life: who can you intentionally open up your life to?
Gather and get involved: who can you connect, listen, share or pray with this weekend?
Our Giving
We are slowly being led to needs for our giving kitty! Please take time to ask God if there is someone in need around you whom God wants you/us to help!
Last month's giving: $11,057 Last month's expenses: $11,751 (includes Youth T-shirt purchase of $1,814 which is to be reimbursed)
Balance: $TBC
Giving Kitty Oct 23- Nov 24: $5,000
Giving out Oct 23-Nov 24: $6,286
"Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed." - Proverbs 19:17
If you would like to support what we are doing and our giving to those in need, you can get started giving to Open Road to meet the needs of our church or get in touch with any questions you may have.
All Prayer Needs!
We are still encouraging each other to start sharing your prayer needs with the church. It’s a practice all Christians have sought to cultivate and one that every single individual and family really needs!
So, please share any needs in your life on the link below so we can pray for and followup with you as time goes by: https://forms.gle/PbQAVjjMLuD4ASmWA
Find more prayer resources and the above prayer link at https://www.openroad.church/prayer/
Good or God
Got a "good story" or a "God story"? Bring it with you on Sunday and share it with others, even with the whole group, if it's brief and encouraging!
Keen to know more?
Subscribe: At the bottom of every page you can subscribe to our newsletter.
Updates: View a list of all our weekly updates.
