25 March 2020

The Ashfield Baptist Leadership Team are praying for you as we all respond to extraordinary challenges.  We are committed to helping our church find the best ways for us to fulfil our call to be a ‘caring community sharing God’s love’

This letter is to update you with our current plans.  It is a work in progress, so thanks in advance for your patience.  

In summary

Worship:  We will find new ways to worship together. We will try going online next Sunday 29th March.  More details to come.

Discipleship: Having our faith nurtured is very important.  We will provide daily devotionals via Facebook and the website plus other resources in the future.   We hope small groups will meet in new ways.

Staying in touch:  We want to contact you regularly. Do you want to receive messages from ABC via text, phone or email?  You will get a very short survey soon to find out your preferences.

Pastoral care:  As our church community will not be meeting face to face for the foreseeable future, the Pastoral Leadership Team have been thinking about ways to look after each other in these uncertain times. One important way is to pray. Set aside a few minutes every day to pray for our church, each other and the wider community.

Everyone in our Church Directory will be linked to an Elder (Gordon Torry, Lydia Brichta and Stuart Gibb). We will also offer a ‘buddy system’. See more detail below.

Partnerships:  The other congregations and hall users have all stopped meeting in our building.

Mission and welfare:  We are thinking about how we can be a Godly presence in the community.  All ideas welcome!  Send them to admin@ashfieldbaptist.org.au.

Finances:  Our church’s finances will be very stretched and if you have the capacity, we appreciate your continued support of our mission and ministry. See below for online giving details.

Staff:  Our staff continue to work and we are paying attention to their wellbeing.

In more detail

Worship:  The leadership team is keen for us to maintain gathering for worship, including being able to have our own preaching, music, and prayers for each other. This Sunday 29th March we hope to pilot an online service using software called ‘Zoom’. 

How will it work? You will need a computer and the internet or join with others in their home. We will send you an invitation in an email with a ‘Meeting ID’.   You can click on the link and join the service using this Meeting ID.   We will send out more information in the coming days. 

Discipleship: Having our faith nurtured is very important.  We will provide a range of resources.  Daily devotionals will be posted on:

We will support small groups to keep meeting.  Pastor Peter and others will preach from God’s word.     

Staying in touch:  We want to contact you regularly and have purchased a great new system for keeping in touch more effectively.  We are setting it up at the moment so more details will follow.

Do you want to receive messages from ABC via text, phone or email?  If you already know, email your response to Maria  -admin@ashfieldbaptist.org.au. You will get a very short survey soon to find out your preferences.

Pastoral care and support during Covid-19 shutdown

As our church community will not be meeting face to face for the foreseeable future, the Pastoral Leadership Team have been thinking about ways to look after each other in these uncertain times. One important way is to pray. Set aside a few minutes every day to pray for our church, each other and the wider community.

From Stuart Gibb (Elder):

We have decided to establish a “buddy system” to make sure everyone in our church has someone to support them emotionally and practically. Can I ask every individual / family to think of one or two other people / families who they would like to link up and check in with at least once a week for a chat and where appropriate the offer of practical support. It can be someone you already know well but I would also encourage you to reach out to people who may not be as well connected. Check with them by phone or e-mail that they are OK being buddied up with you and then send me an e-mail confirming who your buddies are (sgibb33@gmail.com).  If you need someone’s contact details email Maria (admin@ashfieldbaptist.org.au) who has access to our current church directory. I will then track all the connections and identify people who have not been included.

The elders will do their best to ensure that everyone is included in the buddy system but if you don’t feel comfortable participating that is OK as well. The elders are also available to speak with anyone directly who needs prayer or practical support. 

We will be exploring other practical measures to support our church and the wider community in the weeks ahead.

Stuart

Partnerships:  The other congregations and hall users have all stopped meeting in our building.  Please remember to pray for them as well.

Mission and welfare:  We are thinking about how we can be a Godly presence in the community.  All ideas welcome!  Send them to admin@ashfieldbaptist.org.au.

Please pray for the Child Care Centre and Ashfield Baptist Homes as they deal with the impacts of Covid – 19. In particular, please pray for the ABH Board, Leigh the Chief Executive and all staff as they work tirelessly to keep the residents safe and for the residents and their families as they face these difficult times together.

Finances: Church finances will be under additional pressure at this time. While many of you do make regular electronic payments to support our ministries which we greatly appreciate, can we ask others to consider doing likewise, even if only during this crisis. The account details are:

    Ashfield Baptist Church

    BSB: 012-215

    Acc. No: 008 603 578.

May God bless you all.

The Ashfield Baptist Church Leadership Team

Pastor: Peter Thomas

Elders: Lydia Brichta, Stuart Gibb, Gordon Torry

Deacons: Callum Gibson (Secretary), Beverley Moore (Treasurer), Jenny Gibson, Ken Overton, Ruth Powell

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