As we heard last Sunday, the Anglican Church in our diocese has nominated the last two Sundays in November to raise awareness of the ongoing and pervasive problem of domestic abuse in our communities and in our churches. This is in conjunction with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25 – […]

Autumn: the season of colour. Here in Australia, the trees give us green, russet and amber, in the sky and on the ground. It can be quite beautiful, but the display is nature’s last hurrah before the gloomy slide into winter. By the first century, the glory days of Israel were well and truly fading. […]

How amazing it is to see God growing his kingdom! Since starting work as a community chaplain, I have had the privilege of witnessing God’s work in the lives of many people in our community. Thank you to the many people who have been praying and partnering in this ministry. This partnership between our church […]

Theology, history, intrigue and masterful telling with delightful humour (everything I love most in a book!!) combine to make Susan Pursell’s ‘The History of the Nicene Creed’ a must-read. Written for primary aged kids, with 8 chapters and cartoon illustrations, this is a short and accessible introduction that will be good for anyone, of any […]

Earlier this year we came to the end of the first Grief Share program to be held at St Michael’s. It ran weekly for 3 months and was held in the Hub at St Michael’s Corrimal. The idea of running a Grief Support Group had been considered for some time at St Michael’s, in response […]

Want help checking your roster, seeing the service plan, viewing your team, or syncing your roster straight to your calendar? Watch the short video below to find out how.

An Ancient Work Translated for Today This autobiographical text, The Confessions, was written by Augustine in Latin between AD 397 and 400, and I am so glad it was translated into English. I was gifted this great read, a window into Augustine’s journey to faith and a deep dive into theological and philosophical questions and […]

Last Sunday, we read of God’s character in church: ‘My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.’ (Hosea 11v8). God sees the depth of sin & rebellion in His people, and is stirred to compassion, moderating his justified anger. Christ had the same heart of compassion when he saw people harassed & […]

What’s this book about? Becoming a Welcoming Church by Thom Rainer, published in 2018, challenges Christians to develop ways of welcoming newcomers to church every week. While there are some great welcoming ministries currently in place at St Michael’s, including welcoming teams each Sunday and long-serving outreach programs and partnerships with people from our local […]

I remember the night I realised I had the wrong idea about church. I thought church was for loving myself, instead of loving others. About ten years ago, in my Growth Group in Bathurst, we did a study series on loving our church family. One activity really changed me. We were asked to make a […]

It takes a whole village to raise a child African Proverb When I was growing up, Sunday School and Scripture classes were an important part of village life, an accepted part of raising a child. Sadly, this is no longer the case, and as a result, most children know very little about Jesus. Christmas and […]

What is this book about? The 7 Myths of Singleness by Sam Allberry is an incredibly insightful read that brings to light many of the negative assumptions and ideas surrounding singleness with the purpose of displaying its unique value instead. He highlights that singleness is not the absence of good things but a gift and […]

What does it take to disciple a young person into lifelong faith? More than fun and games at a Friday night youth group, it turns out…  While many of us truly value ministry to teens (we support it, we pray for it, we encourage our youth group leaders), we often view it as something that […]

MyChurchSuite MyChurchSuite is for members to interact with functions of church – the directory where you can contact others, your roster, also event invites, and it will also log all the emails sent to you (no more searching in your inbox). Who can see my information? Staff and relevant ministry leaders have appropriate access. Other […]

Last year, a woman walked across our church car park with her son. She didn’t know much English. But she saw one word on our church sign, written in her own language: “Welcome.” She came into church that day and saw another family being baptised because they had put their trust in Jesus. She became […]

What do you know of the heritage of your faith? The great saints of the past? What’s your view of history and its importance to your life? To our world? I love history, always have, always will. I have studied history and taught history. I read traditional history books and historical fiction. I listen to […]

In June about 40 women and two babies gathered together at our Corrimal Church to be part of the EQUIP Women’s conference. The teaching was on the second part of Revelation – chapters 6-22. It was a day of feasting! Hearing God’s Word read and explained by three speakers, women from different St Michael’s congregations […]

We could spend hours listing sitcoms and movies centred entirely on friendship. It’s something we all experience in highs and lows, ebbs and flows, and something we long for whether we realise it or not. Vaughan Roberts, Rector of St Ebbe’s, Oxford, England, author of many wonderful books including God’s Big Picture, wrote a book […]