The Best Medicine Tastes Bitterest

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7

I thank the Sovereign Almighty God, our creator and healer, for His grace and mercy through all the trials that we go through, especially in sickness.

Please read the short reflection I wrote hours before being discharged from the hospital on 10 November. May it encourage and inspire all of us.

Working Bee on Saturday, 25 November, 9:00 AM

Please bring your tools, equipment, and anything else to keep us buzzing. We aim to clean and beautify our surroundings while having fun and fellowship.

Thank you!

Life Concert by Neil and Joanna Johnston

Neil and Joanna were the previous pastors of Oamaru Baptist Church. After serving in Baptist pastoral ministry for 26 years, they followed God’s lead into a music ministry for churches. 

Watch their Life Concert on 25 November at 7:00 PM at Reach Church.

Weekly Reminders

• Youth Ministry – Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 PM
  NOTE: Please ask Tom or Bevan for more information. Thank you!
  
  
• Prayer Meeting – Thursday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM at OBC.

Carols in the Park Oamaru Gardens on 9 December

This Christmas season, we have an exciting opportunity to bring Oamaru the message of love, joy, peace, and hope through “Carols in the Park.”

Tom Francis is the event’s Master of Ceremonies.

OBC Christmas Events Schedules

24 December, Sunday, 10:00 AM – Regular Sunday morning worship

24 December, Sunday, 2:30 PM – Carolling at the Sandringham House

25 December (Monday) – Christmas Day Service at 10:00 AM

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” – Luke 2:14

Supplementary Food for the Spirit

I am sharing some links to articles about our Baptist faith and life. Please take the time to read. Thank you!

• Church Life Survey: first response
• Prophet or priest: pastoral leadership for extraordinary times

Thank you, Bevan, for sharing this photo with me last week. Perhaps you want to show the beautiful view and animals you have one fine day in Oamaru while I recuperate.

Whenever I see photos of livestock, Romans 8:36 always comes to mind: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Light has broken through

He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head. Micah 2:13

True enough, as we heard most people say about Invercargill, a generous rain welcomed us on Sunday evening and through the night. We stayed on Monday and left the city on Tuesday morning, and the intermittent showers never left ultimately.

From Invercargill, we drove towards Queenstown, and passing through the Devil’s Staircase lookout, we stopped to rest and enjoy the view. That’s when I saw the sunlight breaking through the rain clouds, which had started clearing.

Micah offers a glimpse of our victory procession – our king passes on before us, our living Christ leading at the helm. The shaft of light breaking through the clouds reminds me of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, the most significant victory from death to life. Death’s storm is over because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.

Annual General Meeting on 7th May

On Sunday, 7th May, we will hold the Annual General Meeting right after the worship service.

We sent the annual and financial reports last Sunday via email. We gave out printed copies for those who don’t use the Internet. Please let me know if you haven’t received your copy yet.

Please remember that we will have a shared lunch after the meeting.

Weekly Reminders

• Youth Ministry – Monday from 7:00 to 9:00 PM
• Prayer Meeting – Thursday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM
• Music Jam – Thursday from 4:00 to 5:00 PM
  We are resuming our music jam now that classes also started.

Regional Hui 2023

Please read this invitation to the Regional Hui 2023 that Rachel sent us.

Our Otago & Southland Baptist Regional Hui is not far off now; we’d love to see as many as possible join with others for a couple of days. 

“Jesus in People and Places”
Friday 26 May (10:30 am) – Saturday 27 May (lunch)
Alexandra Baptist Church, 6 Gregg St, Alexandra

NB: Due to the sudden cancellation of the booking by the previously advertised venue and short timeframes to replan, Hui, this year will be a little different than in the last 2 years. The timeframes will be slightly shorter, and no accommodation will be provided, so it will be up to each individual to find (some links to options below). We’ll give this difference a try and see what we think! 

Just twice a year, we gather formally as an Association, so this is one of those opportunities for us to join together to:

• listen to God and to others
• reflect
• learn
• dream and envision together 
• worship
• pray
• strengthen relationships and connection
• celebrate the stories of Gospel renewal and God at work
• come away for a couple of days from the usual activity. 

This Hui is for pastors (of all types), elders, and ministry leaders – paid and voluntary. We will be joined by folk from the Baptist national support team, including the National Leader, from Arotahi and from Carey Baptist College.

I encourage you to bring a group from your context to enjoy this together and to be then able to digest the whole hui as a church team.

Cost: $110 per person – full registration 
Plus, options for day and evening attendance only.
We do not wish finance to be a limiting factor in your attendance,
so please talk with Rachel if it needs to be.  

REGISTRATION IS OPEN 
Please register by 23 May for catering and planning purposes.

We look forward to seeing you and spending time together. Please be praying for this time together, for those who will share and for us all as we connect, worship and unpack what God is saying.

Giving

Thank you very much for your continued support for the ministries the Lord God has entrusted us with. Your generosity means a lot for the development and progress of His work.

If you would like to set up an automatic payment for regular giving or to make a one-off donation via Internet banking, the Oamaru Baptist Church account number is (ANZ) 06-0941-0015036-00.

May the Lord God bless you and keep you.

Keep your hope and faith up this Advent and all seasons

Did you ever have a boring Christmas? I asked this question in my sermon last Sunday when we talked about the “knowledge of the son of God” and “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” mentioned in Ephesians 4:13.

When you are stuck up with the thought of Christmas as a merry, colourful, eventful season, when and where Jesus Christ was born, you will quickly get bored because it is the same thing each year, isn’t it?

No Christmas season will ever be dull when you think of Christmas as waiting and anticipating Christ’s second coming. Who knows, Jesus Christ will come tomorrow. So, keep your hope and joy up this Advent season.

December schedules you need to remember

Christmas 2022 Activities

• 9 December, Friday – Singing Christmas carols at the Observatory Village
  
• 11 December, Sunday – Christmas Around the World Worship-Service; shared lunch;
  Guest Speaker – Rachel Murray;
  
• 18 December, Sunday – Carolling at the Sandringham House Rest Home
  
• 24 December, Saturday – Christmas Eve Service
  
• 25 December, Sunday – Christmas Day Worship-Service

Watch out for more details!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Isaiah 9:6a

We will sing carols to our neighbours living at the Sandringham House Rest Home on 18 December at 4:00 PM.

There will be a CAROLLING PRACTICE after the morning tea on Sunday.

Our Children’s Sunday School

Praise the Lord God Almighty for answering our prayers regarding the Children’s Sunday School revival beginning last Sunday. Please bring your children and invite others to come to Sunday School.

Let us pray for our Children’s Sunday School to grow more as the Sundays go by.

Christmas Around the World Sunday Details

We will quickly meet after the service to discuss our 11 December event. We need to determine the following:

• Presentations – Christmas songs in the native language, testimonies, poems, etc.
• Foods to share
• Dining and kitchen team
• Welcome and ushering team
• Aftercare team

Let us invite our family and friends to come and join us.

Spiritual Gifts Inventory

Last Sunday, we did a simple survey of the Spiritual gifts in our church after the worship service. Thank you very much to those who have submitted.

Below is the partial Spiritual gifts inventory map.

Others who haven’t done it are requested to do the inventory after the service using the chart or diagram I presented last Sunday as a guide.

Also, write down the gifts and talents you use to serve the Lord. For example, in the image above, “singing” and “cooking” is not mentioned in the Spiritual Gifts chart, but they are gifts or talents one can use to serve or evangelise.

Join our weekly prayer meeting

Every Wednesday at 3:00 PM at OBC, we gather to give praise and express our gratitude before the Almighty God. It is a time of petition, intercession, sharing and praying for one another.

Food collection is still going on

We still have space for more donations to our Food Collection project. We will be giving these to families in need soon. Please share. Thank you!

Group Facilitators’ Training on 17-18 February 2023

In pursuit of our mission to follow the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, we will be holding this training on 17-18 February 2023.

We aim to organise home Bible studies and use the Theological Education by Extension materials. We need to train facilitators who lead and facilitate these Bible study groups.

Please pray about joining the Group Facilitators’ Training.

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field. Luke 10:2

Keeping Out of the Pit of Nothingness

“Behold, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; But You have kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have hurled all my sins behind Your back. Isaiah 38:17

Make bitterness a season of testing, a vital ingredient towards spiritual growth and maturity. Treat it like the fog that eventually dissolves. We thank God for keeping us out of the pit of nothingness.

Sin quickly discourages us not to continue with our faith journey. The world accuses us of our unworthiness. Praise God, for He has cast away our sins behind! The Lord God has taken our souls out of the pit of nothingness. CLICK to read more.

Children’s Sunday School Restarts

Congratulations to our Children’s Sunday School Team – Erin, Jane, Cheryl, and Ray! Thank you so much for your availability.

I have asked Erin to be the team leader. Let us pray for them as they plan and implement.

Please note that in last week’s meeting, we all agreed to support them through our availability to assist as helpers and with other tasks they might need help with.

Christmas Around the World Sunday DETAILS

On 11 December, we will hold a Christmas Around the World Sunday. We will share how we celebrate Christmas in our native countries.

Sharing could be through a testimony, a Christmas carol in your native language, or Bible readings in different languages.

We will also have a taste of “home” during our shared lunch as we bring food that we customarily have on Christmas.

Our Regional Leader, Rachel Murray, will be our guest speaker.

REMINDERS…

Carolling practice after the worship-service

We will have a practice after the service for the 9 December Carolling at the Observatory Village.

Prayer Meeting @ OBC on Wednesday, 3:00 to 4:00 PM

It is a beautiful time to thank the Lord God for answered prayers, say intercessory prayers for those who are sick and suffering, and petition God’s will for His faithful children. Come and pray.

Please send your prayer requests through our CONTACT US form, phone number, or FB page.

Group Facilitators’ Training on 17-18 February 2023

In pursuit of our mission to follow the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, we will be holding this training on 17-18 February.

Next year, we aim to organise home group Bible studies. We need to train facilitators who will lead and facilitate these home groups.

Please pray about joining the Group Facilitators’ Training.

Christmas 2022 Activities

• 9 December, Friday – Singing Christmas carols at the Observatory Village
  
• 11 December, Sunday – Christmas Around the World Worship-Service; shared lunch;
  Guest Speaker – Rachel Murray;
  
• 18 December, Sunday – Carolling at the Sandringham House Rest Home
  
• 24 December, Saturday – Christmas Eve Service
  
• 25 December, Sunday – Christmas Day Worship-Service

Watch out for more details!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Isaiah 9:6a

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above.

We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand.
God sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes, and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.

We Plough the Fields and Scatter

Food Collection on-going

As announced last Sunday, we are collecting food for people or families needing food relief.

Please check the expiry date of your donation.

Thank you!

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

Hailing the CAB

No. “Hailing the CAB” is not about getting a taxicab. Last Wednesday, I visited the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) to avail of the free legal advice they offer through the kindness of law offices in Oamaru.

For many of you here, you have known CAB all along. The yellow signboard is a familiar sight along the sidewalk.

I wonder how many migrants know about CAB and its services.

In 2011, we had the opportunity to learn about CAB through our Chinese-Kiwi landlord in Auckland, a CAB volunteer himself.

Advocating for migrants in our community doesn’t have to be very big. It is as simple as hailing the CAB.

OBC Sermons Online

Yes, I have gradually put up the past sermons on our website. Feel free to browse and study them, and contact me if you have some questions. These sermons will be part of our “Resources”.

See the links below.

• A Ministry Strategy for OBC Part 1
• Distinctives of a Lively Church
• The T.A.O. Strategy

We are calling for people who can be part of our children and youth ministry team!

“They grow up fast” is a common expression I hear about children. OBC has the facilities for a vibrant ministry for our kids. Let us take the chance to teach and train them in the Godly way they should go.

We need people to compose our Children and Youth Ministry. Please let the pastor or Bevan know.

REMINDERS…

Prayer Meeting @ OBC on Wednesday, 3:00 to 4:00 PM.

It is a refreshing time, sharing answered prayers and concerns and expressing our dependence on God’s Almighty Power. Please come.

Group Leaders Training on 17-18 February 2023.

In pursuit of our mission to follow the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, we will be holding this training in February. We aim to train leaders who will lead and facilitate Bible study groups. Please approach the pastor if you are interested.

November Roster is here!

Please feel free to jot down your name on any vacant slot. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the life and ministry of OBC.

Let us talk about Christmas

After grabbing your cuppa at our post-service morning tea, let us talk about our Christmas activities.

Some whisperings about holding a “Christmas Around the World”, carolling at a rest home, and a BBQ have been milling in the last few Sundays. Let us make it happen.

Franklin Graham Tour coming to Christchurch on 12 November 2022

According to Pastor Perumal, “there will be Free Buses from Oamaru to Christchurch return for the event. Buses will leave from REACH Church. More details to come.”

For more details, grab some promotional cards on the table in the foyer. Bring some for your family and friends.