Jesus Club Community opens disability-inclusive ministry for adults at Tamworth
Here’s a press release from Jesus Club Community:
Jesus Club Community, an evangelical Christian organisation, has partnered with Oxley Vale Anglican Church to open a new Bible-reading club for adults with intellectual disabilities (I.D.) in Tamworth, NSW.
Jesus Club Tamworth is in Oxley Vale, just minutes from Tamworth, with a population of over 63,000, of which 5.6% or around 3000 have some form of disability. The club is the region’s only ministry dedicated to sharing God’s good news to adults with I.D. in a meaningful way.
Simon and Margaret from Oxley Vale Anglican Church approached Jesus Club in March this year with this idea for their community. At the time, they had four people with disabilities in their congregation and they wanted to set up a dedicated Christian ministry for people with disabilities to have fun, form genuine friendships and learn the gospel in a way they could understand.
What attracted her to the Jesus Club program were its gospel-centred vision and extensive library of over 100+ Biblical-teaching resources for adults with I.D.
“I like that [Jesus Club] provide the [teaching] material… and that there are a number of programs written already, that include suggestions for songs, craft, and worksheets. We didn’t have to keep reinventing the wheel… It just makes running [a disability ministry] so much easier!” said Margaret.
The other big plus was Jesus Club’s newly developed online training program which helped their volunteers quickly train up in the ins and outs of disability ministry.
“We viewed the recommended videos over four or five sessions and read [the corresponding] parts of the orientation book… [Their training] is very comprehensive,” said Margaret.
So when Jesus Club Tamworth opened in May, the club’s volunteers felt thoroughly prepared, having trained in everything from the Jesus Club vision to information about different forms of intellectual disabilities, safe ministry and helpful practices for communicating and relating to adults with intellectual disabilities.
Their club now meets once a month, and the first report from volunteers was very encouraging:
“We were all very pleased about our first meeting. All aspects went without a hitch, with six members, six leaders, and one carer. The feedback from members was that they enjoyed the singing, the game, the dressing up and the video of the Great Banquet… Next meeting, we may have three potential new members!” said Margaret.
About Jesus Club:
Jesus Club’s purpose is to make Christ known to adults with I.D. so they can have a friendship with God forever. Since 2017, they have helped many churches grounded in the gospel to establish disability-inclusive ministries that share God’s good news with adults with I.D.
It now equips 20 churches to run the Jesus Club program and has a network that spans from Lower Mountains to Northern Beaches and Turramurra to Albury. Their new online training allows them to set up a Jesus Club anywhere in Australia.
Here’s their website.
CMS Summer School 2023 registration is now open
Registration for the NSW & ACT CMS Summer School 2023 at Katoomba is now open.
When The Noise Won’t Stop – Paul Grimmond
From Moore College:
“Do you or a fellow Christian suffer from Anxiety?
Author and Moore College Lecturer Paul Grimmond knows what it’s like.
His newest book ‘When The Noise Won’t Stop’ is packed full of research and Biblical wisdom that will help Christians who suffer from Anxiety – and those who care for them, including pastors.”
– An encouraging 3 minute video.
When The Noise Won’t Stop is available from Matthias Media.
See also this interview with Paul on The Pastor’s Heart (28 June 2022).
Temptations preachers face to give up on the Bible
“Preachers are not special. Every Christian faces temptations to sin. Preachers face the same temptations as every Christian. Like any of us, preachers are ruined through financial greed, sexual immorality, or alcohol abuse. However, there are some specific temptations preachers face concerning giving up on the Bible. …”
– In its series on preaching, The Australian Church Record has this very helpful article by Phillip Jensen.
Mark as the Backstory to the Gospel: Mark 1:1 as a Key to Mark’s Gospel
“In this article I argue that Mark 1:1, while not a purpose statement for the book, is a title and similarly helps us to correctly orientate ourselves to the Gospel. There is a growing consensus in commentaries on Mark for this reading, and I will show why there are good reasons for adopting it. I also want to explore some of the implications of understanding 1:1 this way. …”
– In the latest issue of Themelios (Vol 47, No 2), Moore College’s Peter Orr looks at what the opening of Mark’s Gospel tells us about why it was written.
Obedience and Submission in 1 Peter — the full set
At Forget the Channel, Moore College Lecturer (and ACL Council member) Lionel Windsor has now posted the full set of his videos on Obedience and Submission in 1 Peter.
Here are the individual posts –
Part 2 – What does it mean to “obey” Jesus Christ? (1 Peter 1:1–2:10)
Part 3 – What does it mean to “submit” in human relationships? (1 Peter 2:13)
Part 4 – Why does 1 Peter instruct Christians to “submit”? (1 Peter 2:13-17)
Part 5 – What does it mean for first-century slaves to “submit”? (1 Peter 2:18–25)
Part 6 – What does it mean for wives to “submit” and “obey”? (1 Peter 3:1–7)
Part 7 – What does it mean to “submit” to church leaders? (1 Peter 5:1–5)
A very relevant series!
The Purpose of Preaching
“Part of my job involves teaching people to preach.
If I’ve learned one thing over the years it’s that you can’t learn to do something until you understand the goal. So I find myself asking the question, over and over again, what is the purpose of preaching? It’s a really important question.
Understanding the purpose of preaching not only affects the preacher, but also the listener. What is a preacher trying to do when they preach? What is the hearer supposed to do with what they’ve heard?”
– The Australian Church Record has published this encouragement from Paul Grimmond at Moore College.
Image: Paul Grimmond on The Pastor’s Heart.
Review: War on the West, by Douglas Murray
“Douglas Murray continues the expose and critique that he began in his Madness of Crowds, focussing on the West’s increasing loathing of itself, particularly through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and a general contempt for its own culture and history.
It covers the remarkable events of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and riots, showing the ideology animating that movement.
Murray gives a highly engaging account of how the same ideologies animating BLM are increasingly taking over corporations, schools, universities, and our politics. …”
– This review of Douglas Murray’s latest book is published at JohnAnderson.net.au.
Obedience and Submission in 1 Peter
At Forget the Channel, Moore College Lecturer (and ACL Council member) Lionel Windsor introduces his research on Obedience and Submission in 1 Peter.
Here, he asks, “What’s the issue?”. This is the first in a series of videos.
Helping Grandparents win grandchildren to Christ — with Ian Barnett
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“How can Christian grandparents be more intentional about their faith and leave a lasting legacy of faith in their grandkids and peers?
How do we as pastors, minister to those older than us encouraging them and How can they minister to their grandkids, whether or not their kids are Christian?
Ian Barnett is the former senior pastor of Figtree Anglican Church in Wollongong, and is the founder of the Australian National Grandparent Conference, which is happening in September.”
Moore College Sunday 2022
Moore College Sunday 2022 is coming up.
The College has posted videos and graphics you can use to encourage your church to pray.
Moore Q&A #9 – Finishing Well
In the latest Q&A video from Moore College, Lionel Windsor, Jane Tooher, Dan Wu, and Chase Kuhn discuss what the Bible says about finishing well.
Single Minded 2022
The Single Minded Conference for 2022 is coming up soon –
“We live in a world which says our bodies exist for pleasure and self-expression, and that this must be pursued at all costs. But the Bible tells us that our bodies have been made for holiness and self-control, and that rejecting this comes at great cost.
Such conflicting messages can leave us feeling that the world says nothing but “Yes!” to our bodies, while God says nothing but “No!”.
But is that true? Is ‘No’ really all that God has to say about our bodies?
Join us for Single Minded 2022 as Sam Allberry helps us explore what it means for us to have been created with bodies, what it looks like to have a body that belongs to the Lord in a world of confusion, and how God’s word helps us to live this out in our everyday lives.”
– Learn more, and Register, at the link.
Sharpening our evangelistic preaching — with Ross Ciano
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“How do we proclaim Him clearly as we should? What mistakes do we make? How can we improve? How do you best approach different kinds of evangelistic talks? How can you be creative about presenting sin?”
– Ross Ciano from Marrickville Anglican is Dominic Steele’s guest this week.
Revelations!
David Cook shares several observations from the UK while he and Maxine are on a trip there –
“A vast untapped resource seems to be being tapped very effectively here.
Figtree Anglican run an annual Grandparents’ Day and the Armidale Anglican Diocese began a Next Phase conference this year, but mobilising retirees for productive Kingdom service has gone to another level here.
Conferences on ‘Faith in the second half’, deal with issues like transition to retirement, from caring to being cared for and from life to death as well how to serve well in the church and to succeeding generations in our older years, seems to be meeting a real need (faithinlaterlife.org). …”
– Read his observations at The Expository Preaching Trust.
Related:
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…