St Michael’s has been a great trainer, sender and supporter of people going into Christ’s harvest field. That’s what Harvest: Next Steps in Focus [Wednesday, June 24th from 6:30-9pm at Wollongong Hall] is all about – to continue as a church praying, raising up, sending and supporting God’s people into Christ’s massive harvest field. Now […]

How God took a quirky kid from Coffs Harbour and made him a catalyst for the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus across two continents and throughout many parts of the world 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote the poem ‘Who am I?’ from the confines of a Nazi concentration camp.   He expresses the disconnect between his confident appearance & his inner trembling.  It’s uncertainty we all know, to varying degrees.  That mismatch between who we feel we are, how we present to others & who we imagine should be.  Which – if any […]

We were made to worship and pray — but that doesn’t mean it comes naturally.  There’s a common assumption that prayer should be instinctive. If your heart is full enough (or desperate enough), it will simply overflow into prayer. And if it doesn’t, there’s no way to learn and grow in it.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian, called this out as a […]

Picture this; you’re tasked with taking 54 teenagers to an off-site conference, over a whole weekend, with 2000 others, in temperamental weather conditions, and facing the prospect of limited sleep. What emotions are stirred in you?  For many; fear, anxiety, and stress. For the leaders of St Mick’s Youth excitement, joy and anticipation (and yes, admittedly a little fear, anxiety and […]

‘Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends’ (John 15:13).   Jesus’ words have particular resonance this April. April’s first weekend, we remembered with a public holiday how Jesus himself, lovingly laid down his life for the world.  This final weekend, we remember with another public holiday how soldiers past & present laid down their lives for the nation.   Both sacrifices […]

A great question.  I was in the cathedral, stacking chairs with the doors open mid-week.  A friendly passerby had seen the doors open.  His parents married here.  He thinks he might’ve been baptised at St Michaels.  So he wandered in.  ‘How is the religion thing going?’    I was able to tell him it’s great.  But we’d always welcome others to find out more. It’s great for a number of reasons. To share just two:  […]

Blessing Others: Let’s share Christ in our community  As Easter approaches, it is good for the church to pause and remember why we gather. We meet because God called us to Himself through the death and resurrection of His Son. We gather to grow in our love for God and for one another—but also so that the love of Christ might […]