Team Australia - Joy-filled Christmas and more

Published on Friday, November 30th, 2007

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”   Luke 2:14


May this Christmas season bring you joy and celebration through the knowledge of our Saviour’s birth.  What an incredible year it has been in Sydney. Changes in the ministries and in the country have had their rewards and challenges. We continue to be thankful for the privilege of being here, serving the Lord. Thanks for being a part of this ministry.
ministry

Ministry Info

  • In House Network – “I think that this is the purest form of adult mission I have seen. Meeting people where they are daily with the Gospel. What a privilege.”   – Greg Clarke, accomplished author and speaker

This year has seen many different opportunities of evangelism within the Central Business District of Sydney. I have been given the leadership role in coordinating evangelistic events and training in many of the organisations throughout Sydney. We have had over fifteen events inside companies. I have had many different authors and speakers assist in this ministry. The last two events were in Westpac Bank and Telstra (Largest Telecommunications Company) and had attendances of 89 and 50. The Westpac event had over 2/3 non-Christians attend the forum discussion on “Why I am not an Atheist” given by Greg Clarke. The opportunities to share the gospel are overwhelming and we ask for your prayers in seeing more people come to Christ through these strategic outreaches within organisations throughout the CBD.

  • Investigating Christianity – After the event we offer for people to attend a course called Investigating Christianity. I have had the privilege to teach a course at Telstra and Westpac. It is a four week course asking the questions, who is God, who is man, who is Jesus and how to get right with God. The classes are attended by non-Christians who are inquiring about the God of the Bible. After the class two weeks ago, one of the attendees said, “I did not have high expectations for this class, but I thought I would have a go. Russ, I was pleasantly surprised, you have begun to change my view on God. Can we keep doing more studies?” It is amazing to see people who would not go to church, but are willing to come along and learn about God at work.

  • Church planting – We are coming to the end of our two year transition period on the field. Now we can be a direct part of leading a church plant. We have been studying the methods of effective church planting in Australia. We have coordinated an action plan for a future church plant.  Different people have shown interest in working with us on the church. The opportunities are plentiful for doing a work in Sydney. We just ask for your prayers on the community and core group of people to work with on this new venture. Our goal would be to start in 2008, but we will leave this in God’s hands and see what His goals are for church plants throughout Sydney.

  • Jason and Amalie Parmerlee – What a joy it has been to work with Jason and Amalie this year. They will be leaving in December to go back to Ankeny. Pray for their direction to serve the Lord in the future. We would pray it would be to come back to Australia, but regardless, it has been an honour to call them friends and counterparts. Goodonya, mates!

Family Info

  • Tasmania – (An island state of Australia) Cathy and I celebrated our 40th birthdays and our 15 years of marriage during a long weekend in Tasmania. A school mate from my High School days contacted me this year, inviting us to Tassie. Kevin and Korina Lund welcomed us and helped to enjoy an amazing part of Australia. Beautiful family, beautiful home and eternal friends.
  • Serving God – The girls recently went up to the Central Coast for the annual Youth Camp with two other churches. The theme was ‘Serving God’ and they came away with new ways to serve Him in 2008. They have made some great friends in Australia and are constantly assisting Cath with so many things at home, especially keeping up with Caroline.
  • Scouts – Josh just got back from a trip with his scout troop to the Wombeyan caves. He is working on his different badges. He has also turned into quite the engineer. Legos are a passion for him, but he also seems to be able to fix or re-make many different things. He rebuilt a skateboard for his friend’s birthday this year and it was cool.  I am not sure where he gets it, but he is talented.
  • Caroline in charge- Caroline is all over the place. Non-stop action. Dancing, singing, bossing… at two she is a thrill to have around.  She surprises us daily with new things she’s learned from colors, shapes, letters, numbers to the names of the flowers in the garden!  She has a strong personality, but she has no problem sharing the love. Pray for us!

Financial
Thank you for your faithful support. We committed last year to only do a financial update twice a year. Please contact us with any questions. I know it is something that is a reality all over the world in overseas ministry.
International Cost Index – Due to the strength of the Australian economy and the weakness of the American dollar we have seen an increase in our support needs. The ICI and the Australian field council determine the increase in our support requirements. Sydney was just ranked internationally, as the fifth most expensive place to live in the world. This is due to lack of building, strength in the dollar and increase in the Australian stock market. We did come to the field over-supported and increases in support from churches in 2007 had our support level at over 100%, but due to steady increase in support needs we are currently under-supported by 9% or $400 per month.  We are making a request to all who have considered supporting our ministry, but currently do not or anyone who would be willing to increase their monthly support of our ministry. (Based on our number of current supporters, that would be a mere $13 per supporter per month) Thanks for your prayerful consideration of our needed support.

Thank you for your support and prayers. We hope you all have a good Christmas season. we hope to have a new prayer card and images on our website at the beginning of 2008.

The adventure continues…

Russ, Cathy, Rebecca, Hope, Joshua and Caroline


A Down Under update….from Cathy’s Corner!

Published on Monday, October 15th, 2007

With all Russ has going on right now, he offered me the opportunity to do the update this time and I jumped at the chance.  Life and ministry don’t slow down here in Australia so here’s an update from my perspective….
On the ministry front, Russ works hard and puts in many hours planting the seeds of the Gospel message here in Australia.  Whether its through filling the pulpit both at our church, Cornerstone Baptist on Sunday nights, or at other churches where the Pastors have had little time off to the incredible ministry in the heart of Sydney.  Russ recently put helped in coordinating an evangelistic talk at Telstra and Ernst and Young, the biggest telecommunications company and accounting firms in Australia, at their head offices.  Preparations were already going well, but then the Chief Operating Officer of the corporation for Telstra decided to attend and then the class size doubled (89 attendees)!  Praise the Lord! Also, there is a follow up Investigating Christianity courses that will follow; the current sign up for the courses are 20 (Telstra) and 5 (E&Y). Please be praying for the non-Christians attending.
 We also hosting a team from one of our supporting churches and has the team going in all different directions to help with everything from ministry in the city, a Holiday Bible Club at one of our sister churches to construction work at a nearby Christian school. They have been a huge blessing to our ministry in the city and at the HBC. Jay Mcfarling, Richard Karnes, Brent and Kim Knoll have been such an encouragement to us and the local churches. There were nine decisions for Christ at the HBC. Thank you for sending this team, they fit in great down here.


 In his spare time (when’s that?) he has been praying, planning and preparing for the future church God would have us plant.  Russ calls it his “Nehemiah days”.  He’s waiting from the green light from the Lord on the area of the city and the men to partner with in the ministry.  Its exciting to see the ideas God is giving him and we know He will show us just where our future church should be planted.
Our older girls have stayed busy this school holiday working at 2 different Holiday Bible Clubs.  They have really honed their skills with working with little ones and are growing bolder in their desire to share Christ with others.  They also have really begun to enjoy cooking/baking and are trying new dishes out on a regular basis, especially to take to the different youth group functions they attend. 
Joshua and Caroline are the best of friends and can usually be found playing together.  Joshua stays busy with his neighborhood buddies, Scouts and Legos.  Caroline stays busy with just about everything.  She has a real knack for music and pick up a tune after hearing it just a few times. 
I stay busy at home….homeschooling, preparing for Sunday school, assisting in the Holiday Bible Clubs, opening our home in hospitality and reaching out to ladies I have befriended in the neighborhood. Please be praying for the kids gowth in school. Also, pray for two ladies who I have become close friends with that do not know the Lord.

Jason and Amalie Parmerlee contiue thier hard work through the ministry at HBC, Scripture Classes in the public schools and the Youth program at Cornerstone Baptsit. Keep praying for the long term benefits of all the work they have done here in Sydney. We praise the Lord for them and the blessing they have been to us this year. It will be hard to let them go back to Iowa.
Prayer requests:

  • Clear direction on upcoming church plant
  • Fruit from three Investigating Christianity Courses
  • Growth of Youth after school club at Glorious Hope Baptist
  • All of our support needs being met by the end of 2007, currently need $300 per month, 7% of total support.

Thanks for all of your support and prayers. We continue to be amzed at what the Lord is doing here in Australia and we count it a priviledge to be apart of it.
The adventure continues…
Cathy Matthews


Kids Update

Published on Sunday, August 19th, 2007

We have secretly taken over the website of www.matthewsdownunder.com. We just wanted you all to know what the Matthews kids are doing in Australia. All the things Dad talks about are cool and all that, but we thought it was time for you to hear from us! 

Hope and Becca-  While Dad has been preaching at Inner West Baptist, we have been working hard. We have been teaching the Sunday school that goes on while the service is on. It has been fun and hard work. It would be better if Dad did not preach so long, but he said it is a message that has to shared. We will be patient with him, but an hour!  

Youth group has been great with Jason P. leading us. We went to a couple of great youth events this year, we have gone Put-put and we are constantly doing games. Jason is good at teaching us the Bible and we have learned a lot this year.  Dad has been taking us out to play tennis; it has been cool to learn how to play.

We have made new friends this year and we are now thirteen. Mom and Dad say they need extra prayer because of that, Ha Ha! Joshua- 

I am a Scout. I was vested a few weeks ago. It is a lot like the Scouts in the States, but we have to pledge allegiance to God and Australia. I got to carry the flag the other night for the troop. My shirt has an Aussie flag on it. Cool! The group is fun and I have learned some cool things, like knots and safety rules.  I have turned into a Penrith Panthers fan, instead of the Cowboys. The Panthers are doing bad this year, but my friend Alexander and I still cheer for them. (That is for real football, Rugby League! No wimpy pads on these blokes) Dad’s team is doing pretty good, Rabbitohs. Goofy mascot, but they are a tough lot from Redfern. Caroline-  You did not think I could reach the keys, but am 2, now! I like important things like Winnie the Pooh and playing with my play kitchen.

 I really like music and I am learning to sing along with a lot of different songs. 

My favorite color is pink, today. I think tomorrow my favorite will be purple, no red… 

Everyone says all my words are sounding Australian, I don’t know about that, but I have lived here longer than anywhere else, MATE!   

That is it for now. We love our country of Australia. We have learned alot about Australia and God. When are you coming along? It has been fun sending you an update, let’s keep this thing between us, okay? We will send more updates later. Love to hear from some of your youth groups and Sunday School classes. Thanks for praying for us!

See yas, mates- The Matthews kids  

 


Praise, Prayer and Planting

Published on Sunday, August 19th, 2007

team australia-
 Winter is coming to an end in Australia; there is a change in the air. The weather is changing; people are looking forward to cricket and the beach. There are things happening in the churches and we are looking forward to the spring and what God has to bring for us. We would like to ask you to be praising the Lord with us and praying for these specific events coming up.
 

Winter is coming to an end in Australia; there is a change in the air. The weather is changing; people are looking forward to cricket and the beach. There are things happening in the churches and we are looking forward to the spring and what God has to bring for us. We would like to ask you to be praising the Lord with us and praying for these specific events coming up.Praise
 Many of you have been praying for our Homebuilders group that has been meeting on Friday nights. It is a specific group for young families in the church. We have a good combination of Christian and non-Christian people coming along to the group. One of the ladies who have been coming to the group came to know Jesus as her personal Lord and Saviour a few weeks ago.  What an exciting time in her life and would ask for your prayers for her husband. We are praying that he would also accept Christ. The work that this group is doing in the community is exciting. We hope to be able to be an outreach in the community and pray for more salvations and growth of the Christians that are coming along.

Many of you have been praying for our Homebuilders group that has been meeting on Friday nights. It is a specific group for young families in the church. We have a good combination of Christian and non-Christian people coming along to the group. One of the ladies who have been coming to the group came to know Jesus as her personal Lord and Saviour a few weeks ago.  What an exciting time in her life and would ask for your prayers for her husband. We are praying that he would also accept Christ. The work that this group is doing in the community is exciting. We hope to be able to be an outreach in the community and pray for more salvations and growth of the Christians that are coming along.
Prayer
 

The Ecom team is doing another Introducing God outreach in the city this Thursday. We will be having Dominic Steele do the talk. We are inviting more people to come along and inviting many back that have attended the course in the past few months. The talk will be based on the Good Samaritan and how we can relate with being the man beaten on the road. A powerful message and we are praying for building on the relationships with many of the non-Christians that will be coming along and that the message penetrates through to the hearts of those coming.
  Planting
 As our transition period (First 2 years on the field) is coming to a close, we are looking ahead to the time to plant a church in Sydney. We are praying for people to partner with us in the ministry, the place where we will be working to plant the church (we have been studying specific communities in the Sydney area) and provision from the Lord for direction on this journey. As the reality of this coming, we are overwhelmed with His desire to us, but we are encouraged by His continual supplying of our needs. Please pray for our God centered direction.

As our transition period (First 2 years on the field) is coming to a close, we are looking ahead to the time to plant a church in Sydney. We are praying for people to partner with us in the ministry, the place where we will be working to plant the church (we have been studying specific communities in the Sydney area) and provision from the Lord for direction on this journey. As the reality of this coming, we are overwhelmed with His desire to us, but we are encouraged by His continual supplying of our needs. Please pray for our God centered direction.
Spring is almost here and we are thankful for the opportunities that await us in this new season. Thanks for being apart of this journey.
The adventure continues…
Russ and Cathy Matthews


Christmas in July?

Published on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

team australia-

Sorry for the recent Christmas update. Not sure why it was sent out, but we hope you had or will have a Merry Christmas and that you are doing well. It is coming to the end of winter here in Australia. So, we wanted to celebrate the spirit of the season.

 Thanks for your continued support and prayers. We will send out another “current” update soon.

The adventure continues…

The Matthews Family


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