The credit crunch

After 2 years we now have a credit card... so we can now buy presents over the internet for those folks back home in the exalted category of people who could reasonably expect a pressie from us. As these and other purchases are made we will be cranking up Qantas frequent flyer points... although you probably couldn't class us as frequent flyers... maybe we're wannabe frequent flyers!
I'm looking forward to 10 years time when we may have enough points to fly one of us back over seas!

On the home front we're just about to get the Christmas Tree out for the summer(!) and things are both winding up and winding down on the church and school fronts.

Ambitions in the garden remain high as I try to produce tomatoes, courgettes, lettuce, potatoes, capsicums and chillies as well as the ongiong herb empire which now has basil and lovage! I have also come round to the conviction of not having a petrol lawnmower... but to reduce my carbon size 13 footprint by the acquisition of a push mower! It's a lot more bovver than a hovver... but it's more healthy too... and leads to a tremendous sense of well being... i think!

The Australian government has also just informed anyone with dependant children that they will recieve $1000 per child on Dec 8th. That means no more excuses about getting the garden finished!

Green things

Well folks... we have a garden of sorts. While I haven't been posting on my blogs I have been levelling my land, spreading out topsoil, laying turf and covering our garden beds with copious quantities of gum bark mulch. We also have a fine array of native plants as well as a little fairy garden for our 2 little fairies... (it is unclear whether Nathan will be admitted to that part of the garden - I guess it depends on what sort of day the fairies are having).
Our herb garden continues to surprise us by its resilience to our amatuer gardening skills and we have managed to get a veggie patch up and running with some tomatoes, zucchini and lettuce.
It has been good for us as a family to get on with this. The kiddies now spend much more time outside. I even had to put the trampoline back up. (yes I'm still personally over the weight limit)... now for the deck!!!

Links to the motherland

It was nice catching up again with Wim De Haan who has just spent a while over in the Uk and who is a member of our church family in Kingston. He appreciated the time he and his wife Julie spent at Hook Evangelical Church. Just chatting with him reminded me of you all and of the peculiar ways in which God joins his people together in networks and contexts that you'd never suspect!

We do think of you all often (friends and family in UK) ... and actually we'll be thinking about you all a bit more as my sister has been getting on very well indeed with an absolutely wonderful guy she met here when she was out here visiting in February! It's going to cause one of those slightly weird clash of context things... the New Year bash that my family has... and that we will miss... will now be attended by one of the elders from the church i pastor here in Margate!

God is good!

Any way, feel free to leave a little comment. It's always nice to know people have connected with us from the motherland.

Footy fever

This coming Saturday afternoon... 27th September... sees the Geelong Cats thrash the Hawthorn Hawks (it's that obvious!) in the AFL Grand Final at the MCG. It will be a pale reflection of the skill, commitment, athleticism, courage and general spectacle of the Tasmanian Reformed Churches 'North vs south' footy game held on that same morning. And yes, I'm putting myself forward to participate in this illustrious contest. Last years fixture produced a badly broken finger, busted knee and a damaged back on our team... (and that was just the half time talk!)

All of this is tonic to someone in their mid thirties who would like to be more active but probably doesn't do enough consistent exercise... and as for me... toned... taut... ultra prepared... it's meat and drink! RRRRR!
Please pray that I am toned... taut... ultra prepared for the sermon I'll need to preach Sunday morning... and that I'll be in a physical state to deliver it!

Ali is looking forward to seeing the last of footy for a while as it takes a big break over the summer.

The Garden of Eden?

We are trying to change our block of land into a garden at the moment... what with summer just round the corner. So we've been through a whole design process with a designer... but she didn't like straight lines ...at all. She also seemed to wield a mystic power over us as things that we started off wanting are not necessarily things that we have ended up with... and are we unhappy with the final plan? Not at all! It's going to be wonderful... well over 100 different species of colourful native plants... with little pathways for the kids to rush around in and even a secret little fairy garden... (including the delightful 'fairy fishing rod' and 'bleeding heart' shrubs) which I'm sure is going to become the girls last sanctury from Nathan in days to come! And hey... I'm putting my foot down about the deck area... straight edges only... (I'm going to have to build the thing after all!)

It will be nice to be able to spread out into our space though! Looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll be posting some photos of the 'works' for you to see. The designer also furnished us with a gnome... bless her!

Still there ...and then some!

Well, regular readers may have picked up a recent sense of slackness on my part... that this blogging thing has got too much and my commitment is starting to waver... but I'm coming straight back at ya!
Not guilty, as you suppose, of less blogging but actually here with news of a new blog I am starting... so actually it's MORE blogging! Can you deal with THAT!?!

It's called FRONTLINE and you can get there by clicking on the link. The idea is to be much more ministry focussed there and much more family and life focussed here. So come on then... hit me!

Conference Junkies

Hi everyone. I've just had back to back conferences. For most of last week Ali, myself and little Nathan were in the lovely spot of Collaroy Beach on the coast north of Sydney (piccy below). The Salvation Army have a lovely conference centre there at which our denomination chose to hold its ministers and wives conference. Very nice too. Lovely surroundings. En-suite 'hotel' rooms and HOT BREAKFASTS! Yeah!
This was the first time we've been 'out and about' in the denomination and we really enjoyed meeting some of our brothers and sisters from around the country. It wasn't all serious... in one activity we actually won a bag of goodies containing a bottle of wine, some chocolate, toiletries and a tiny red thong (!)
The theme was church planting and the thrust very simple and yet very challenging... keep hold of the gospel at the centre... be prepared to let go of the stuff round the edges... and train up your replacement as you go. Good stuff.
The other conference was on the weekend prior to the aforementioned. It was called MTS Challenge and our state coordinator of the Ministry Training Strategy, Mikey Lynch did his best to put people off 'full-time, paid ministry' in his talks. Our other speaker, Dave Thurstan, helped us understand some of the hard realities of ministry and more importantly how to deal with them helpfully, humbly and hopefully... memorably laying out a challenge to us to compose our own psalms - he shared a number that he had written and they were very instructive and helpful. Of course he preached from the ones we have in our Bibles.

So back here again, reunited as a family, in lovely Margate ...and all the kids are sick. Well... it was nice while it lasted.

World Youth Day

I was just reflecting on some feeling I've come across about World Youth Day held recently in sydney on July 20th. A number of folk were inspired by the united witness of the 220,000 young people who attended and the focus on Jesus and the cross and so on.
Frankly I found the whole thing depressing.

When I talk about the person and work of Christ and salvation I don't mean the same things as were being spoken during this festival even if some of the terms were the same. This was particularly borne out as I learned with interest of the granting of a 'plenary indulgence' for the complete removal of punishment by penance in this life or purgatory after it either for an individual or their loved one. This indulgence was granted as the WYD cross will tour through all Australia and beyond. I quote...

'For the newly granted WYD indulgence to be received, people should:
devotedly take part in a sacred ceremony carried out publicly in honour of WYD Cross, be solemnly exposed or at least be attentive in the presence of this cross by means of access in a public place either in a large crowd or alone;
celebrate Sacrament of Penance (10 days before or after);
receive Holy Communion (10 days before or after);
pray for the Pope's intentions;
recitation of Our Father, the Creed and prayerful invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (one Hail Mary).

All of this in the appropriate spirit of repentance. You can read more here.

It is striking, and worrying, that faithfulness to Christ and the testimony of all those martyrs of the reformation might be so easily sacrificed on the altar of 'being united as Christian's'. Of course we should long for unity but that unity can never be at the expense of the gospel.

'...Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God' (1 Peter 3v18)

Outstanding!

We're pretty busy as a family and so we love to make the most of our time off. It means that the time we have off is 'outstanding', but that then leaves a lot of projects 'outstanding'!
Outstanding projects at home include sorting out a back yard lawn... sorting out the back yard... getting a fence up along one side of our property so that we can call our back yard a back yard.
Finishing all this is currently outstanding and when its done it will be still be outstanding... which is the way i've argued it to myself, that whether finished or not... it's still outstanding! ...i haven't tried this out on Ali yet though.

The fine lines of feedback

Encouragement and criticism after preaching a sermon involve some very fine lines. We all need encouragement, especially preachers, but encouragement can cross a line from encouraging (which is good) to being put on a pedestal (which is terrible).
Criticism and/or negative feedback can also be both good and bad. It's essential for the continuing integrity of sound doctrine and pastoral sensitvity. It can also indicate when people have been stirred up (how much we need that!) - more than one great preacher has spoken of the need for any prophetic message to get under the skin of the hearers. But there's no doubt that criticism can be discouraging.
Then there's the temptation to prepare messages that I feel will produce encouragement rather than criticism or negative responses. My pride craves affirmation.
Then there's the manner of 'encouragement' or 'criticism'. Trite affirmations don't necessarily encourage. Trite criticisms tend to undermine the whole premise of preaching. When the first comment is 'it was too long' (I can't tell you how depressing that is) - it may well have been too long but the important question was 'did it matter?' or 'was it important?'
Some reflections...

• My motivation must come from the desire to be a workman approved by God (2 Tim 2).
• The effectiveness of my (and any) preaching only comes through the work of the Holy Spirit to challenge, rebuke and encourage. Any and all glory goes to God
• The standard by which to measure preaching must be truth.
• Truth is divisive.
• Opposition is not necessarily discouraging. It could be the most encouraging thing whereas affirmation might just be an indication that I've said what peoples itching ears want to hear 2Tim3.
• 'If anyone puts you up on a pedestal... get straight off it' - David Jackman. Glory to God alone.
• Conversations amongst the saints and testimonies resulting from the word preached are amongst the most encouraging things for a preacher to learn of. Glory to God alone.
• The preacher is always under the same word. 'For any issue I feel convicted to address in my ministry, I always check myself on it first' - Tim Hawkins

What do you think?

Family matters

At certain times we really feel the distance from our family in England. Ali speaking with her Dad about his dad's funeral was certainly one of those times, 'The only ones who weren't there were you'. It wasn't said with hurt... it was just the facts.
It reminds us of what we don't have any longer in those close, supportive family relationships that many take for granted. Seeing the kids with their grandparents and cousins and uncles and aunts on our recent trip to England crystalises it even further.
We have to look for those sorts of relationships in our church family in the absence of our physical family, but I'm not sure the two equate to each other. They certainly don't in practice. (although don't get me wrong, we have amazingly loving and supportive friends here who I'm sure would do anything for us)
But should they equate to each other?

User friendly...

Well, here I am at the crux stage of keeping a blog going... 1 month on and still going strong! Thank you for your interest and support and for your prayers. I am also continuing to learn about these things and have been tweaking the settings a bit to try and do some new things.
Hopefully this will make it easier for you to keep up with the 'constant updates'!

If you would like to know when this blog is updated feel free to ‘subscribe’ via RSS feed. It lets you know when the site has been updated. Most current web browsers now have RSS capability. It is simply a matter of going to my website and then pressing the button on your browser that looks something like this:




It will give you a list of ‘feeds’ that it found on that page for you to choose to subscribe to. Once subscribed, A link will appear in your ‘favourites’ list (in the feeds section) in the web browser and change to notify you each time a new post is added.
Thanks to Michael who shared this secret knowledge. His blog is a stimulating read, just click on his name there.

too short - enjoyable - sad

I've copped some flak this week for having my hair cut too short. I've actually had my hair cut the same way for at least 12 years! This time it seems I've gone too far! We're all pretty busy at the moment and actually most of it has been enjoyable. Highlights would be an opportunity to go through 'Introducing God' as a couple with some lovely friends of ours. Being involved with a wedding of a couple of our youth leaders. Lovely to see and hear about their shared passion for gospel ministry as well as for each other.

On a different note one of Ali's grandads passed away last Saturday morning. It made our recent trip to England that much more precious to us and especially Ali as we were able to spend some time with him. We're praying for the family, especially Ali's dad - Dave - at this time. We were able to get a lovely photo of Ron together with Ali's other grandad Pat.
To my mind he was a down to earth sort of man with a gift of common sense. It doesn't appear that he had a faith. Certainly not one that he talked about. Ali was about to send him a letter to share some of the things she felt she hadn't shared with him before. But it was his time. She's still going to send it but to her grandmother instead who will be hardest hit by his passing.

I guess I'm most reminded that 'there is a time for everything... a time to be born and a time to die...' and therefore 'to remember your creator before the silver cord is severed... and the dust returns to to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to God who gave it.'
(Ecclesiastes 3v1-2, 12v6-7, The Bible)

Thank you

I've been taking some grief about this blog! So thank you, those of you who have been kind and encouraging, even constructive! It's OK - I'm determined to fight on through the gentle jibes and boyish banter - I'll win you all over, you'll see! In time you'll not be able to wait for the next weeks family bullets!

Less sleepless nights

Does any particular ministry in the church live or die with me? It's an issue I've been thinking about. I'm not thinking here of my core remit but of various 'church ministry departments'. A recent example is our kid's church. The coordinator had indicated she would step down last year. She stayed on until end of term 1 this year in the hope that someone would step up. No one did.

Who's responsibility is it?
Organisationally there are certain things that the leadership should do: communicate the issue, communicate the need, approach likely candidates - basically, ensure the church is aware of the situation and the need.

But if 'the worst' happens and Kid's Church stops, where then does the responsibility lie? Who was responsible for the closure? Well surely it was the church who 'functionally' decided not to step forward. At that point there is opportunity to confirm the 'decision' made, even though or 'especially since' it may have been a default decision.

The church is a body which Christ equips with the gifts it needs to do what he wants it to do. The pastor is an influential part of that body as are other leaders... but that's what they are, PART of the body. It is the WHOLE BODY that must take ownership of the activities. As it happens Christ has given us his gift to the body for this role - we now have a coordinator for Kid's Church!

welcome to my world

This is my new blog. Welcome.

I hope it is going to keep all those of you who crave information about what's going on with us Sayer's satisfied. I see it as a little window into our world down here in Tasmania. It also provides a quick way for you to share back / comment / say hi etc. I'll be posting bullets about the family; various thoughts I'm having; and of course bits and pieces of what's going on in our lives and ministry.
I'm aware that lots of people still graciously pray for us (despite having no up-to-date information!) I thank God for all of you.
It was really good to spend some time in the motherland over May. We're sorry to those of you who missed us. Unfortunately there were always going to be some casualties. It was a time of BIG hellos and BIG goodbyes. It was a time to marvel at that peculiar level of relational intensity that results when you add two or more sets of children together. We certainly won't miss the traffic congestion. We certainly will continue to miss our family and friends.

All of it seems like a long time ago... especially with the long haul homeward journey in between!
We're back into it again here in Margate. Our senior minister is away on 3 months paid long service leave (great idea! you get it after 10 years service... 8 yrs 3 months to go then!) and the other key leader will be away for a month very shortly. I'd like to remind them that while I was away nothing big and nasty reared up in the church life and so it would be nice if they could reciprocate!

I took my first wedding recently. I don't know about anyone else but I really enjoyed it! And it seems that I did, in fact, marry the bride and the groom before God, according to Australian law and under the rites of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia. God is gracious indeed. It should be noted that I was far more nervous than at least the groom and possibly even the bride!

Well I'll leave it there for now.

why the church isn't mine

'you know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you. May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me' (psalm 69 v5-6)



These verses hit me pretty hard this morning. They hit me hard not just as a pastor, but in all my roles; father, husband, friend.

I'm always a model - the question is 'Am I a good one or a bad one?' Fact is: I fail. That fact brings with it the sharp edge of these verses... that's the challenge for me as one who has some influence and responsibility for God's people, and it extends into my other roles too.


The spectre of moral failure and its consequences has kept on reappearing recently... just the other day I heard of another minister who's blown it. May those who's hope is in God not be disgraced because of it!


Thankfully God is infinitely more influential and despite any failings, on my part or others, is still well able to sustain people's hope. Including my hope too.

As David goes on... 'O Lord, the LORD Almighty, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me'

I thank God that the church is his. And his people are his. Not mine.