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


Visiting team and housing

Published on Friday, July 13th, 2007

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ… Colossians 4.2-3
 

Visiting team and ministry
We want to say thank you to Matt Borst and Lisa Behrends for leading an incredible team to Australia to assist in the ministry. Thank you to the churches (AFC and FCC) for sending this incredible team to work with us in Sydney. The youth group was a blessing to all of the churches and ABWE team that they came in touch with during their visit. Their ministries while they were in Australia, Holiday Bible Club at Madang Primary School, serving at Cornerstone Baptist and Glorious Hope Baptist and participating in the Ecom ministry in the city. Their servants’ hearts and willingness to be involved in various ministries opened the door for sharing the Gospel and being a light in the “dark places” of Sydney. The ministries were fruitful and exciting to see the doors God opened for us. All of the churches and people say, “Goodonya, mates.” And “Come back soon!”
 

Housing
We have been encouraged by support that continues to come into assist with the ministry needs in Australia. The housing market has been exceptionally difficult and our rent has been increased for our home. We had been looking for the Lord’s guidance in moving from our home. The family has been encouraging in their willingness to move. On 13 Friday, we received a check from a supporter. It was marked specifically to be used to pay for the difference on our rent for one year. This check, along with other support, we will be staying in our home for one more year. With this support and other financial support, we ask for your prayers on how we can continue and do more to impact our community for Christ. We still are in need of monthly support, but it has been improving monthly. Thank you.
 

Prayer requests:

  • Continued opportunities to share the Gospel with the people of Sydney.
  • Direction with potential church plant opportunities
  • Support needs

Prayer request-Investigating Christianity- team australia

Published on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007

team autralia-

A prayer request: Russ will be starting to teach a four week course tomorrow (5 June) called Investigating Christianity at Westpac Bank. After the evangelistic talks by Greg Clarke, “Is it sane to believe in the resurrection of Jesus?” The attendance within the bank was over fifty people. We had numerous people interested finding out more about Christianity. Please pray for the class.

Madang Holiday Bible Club- Please be praying for the the Youth Group coming from the States and the team that is preparing for the club at the Madang Primary School. We had approx. 70 kids last year and we pray for 100 kids to come along to the “Trailblazers Holiday Club.” Please pray for safety, for fruit and for God to be glorified!

Russ


Matthews Bi-annual Ministry Report

Published on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

team australia-
The first part of 2007 has brought exciting opportunities and new challenges for our life in Australia. We hope that our monthly updates, through our website, have been able to keep you informed of all the Lord is doing in the land Down Under. This is our bi-annual update of the details of our ministry, which will include our financial information.

ministry

  • homebuilders – We have been privileged to start a new home group at Cornerstone Baptist this year. The growth of the church meant we needed to look to a new home group for mid-week Bible studies. We started the ‘Homebuilders’ group that will primarily have an outreach to young families and married couples. It has been great to build relationships with the current six couples; we ask your prayers for each of the couples and the potential for new families in the next year.
  • introducing God – I have been running an iGod on Thursday nights in the city. The team has had increased interest in the course and many non-Christians coming to hear more about the God of the Bible. It is a pretty labor intensive course, but in establishing an environment for the non-Christians to come has made it worth the effort. We have between 30 -45 people attend each week.
  • holiday Bible club – We have a youth group from the US coming in July to work with our HBC at Madang Public School. (Yes, we are able to do a HBC in a public school!) Please be praying for Matt Borst, Lisa Behrends and the youth team that will be coming.
  • preaching – I have been regularly preaching in the evenings at Cornerstone Baptist Church, working through Acts. It has been challenging and motivating to see the missionary journeys, growth and persecution of the first century church. We are looking forward to the opportunity of starting a church in the future in Sydney.

 

  • jason parmerlee – What a blessing this man has been to us this year. Jason has taken on some big tasks this year and it has been great for the churches and for our family. He is teaching scripture in the public schools, running the youth group at Cornerstone Baptist, helping me with the Introducing God course in the city and strives to find other ways to serve the team in Sydney. He has only been here four months, but we are grateful for his servant’s heart.

family

  • melbourne – The family was able to get away for a long weekend to Melbourne. It was a long drive, but it is a beautiful city. We stayed at a caravan park and thoroughly enjoyed the city. We visited Tim Loftis’ church, Suburban Baptist and had a nice day with their family. We, also, had the opportunity to learn all about Ned Kelly, the notorious bank robber. Read up on him, if you are coming to Oz. Fascinating history.  
  • youth group – The girls are apart of the youth group this year. Wow! Thirteen years old. They love it. Making friends. They went to a big youth conference; KYCK in April. It was great to be apart of the ministry and see the youth group growing as a team. The youth group will be apart of the HBC in July.
  • scouts – Josh is looking to join the Scouts. He had a great time the other night at his fist meeting. He even was pretty good at cricket!
  • talking- Caroline is talking up a storm, still a bit of babbling, but she is not short of words. She is the center of all conversations at church. Caroline likes to get around to all of the families, but seems to like spending a good portion of her time with the Young Adult Men, hmmm….    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 with any questions.

  • exchange rate – The exchange rate is the highest is has been 17 years. We have made the necessary adjustments to our budget. We are not leaving beyond our means, but if the dollar increases by more than five more cents on the dollar, we will need to move. We understand that is a part of the ministry, but we hope not to have to move until we know the area we desire to do a future church plant. Please pray for the needed adjustments to occur.

  • 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 2006 had our support level at over 100%, but due to steady increase in support needs we are currently under-supported by 10% or $600 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 approximately $13 per supporter) Thanks for your prayerful consideration of our needed support.

Thanks
Thank you for your support and prayers. This update was longer, but we wanted to keep you informed about the current year. Please  pray for the needs presented in this letter. Know we are praying for you, also.

The adventure continues…

The Matthews Family (Russ, Cathy, Rebecca, Hope, Jushua and Caroline)
If you are not a current subscriber to our monthly updates, we encourage you to go to our website www.matthewsdownunder.com and click onto the RSS link. We update our information on our website monthly and you can get them automatically through this link.


Introducing God, Sanity and Exchange Rates

Published on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

We just wanted to send out a letter of praise and prayer requests. It has been a busy time here in Australia with Easter and moving into the fall. It is a beautiful time of year and a time of celebration, as everyday should be due to the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We always are thankful for your prayers and here are some specific requests this month.
Introducing God
  I have had the privilege of overseeing the Introducing God course in the city. We will be holding the course on Thursday nights from 3 May through to 14 June. Please be praying for Christians to bring their non-Christian workmates along to the weekly course. This weekly course gives a casual environment for people to come and be “introduced” to the God of the Bible. Throughout the course we travel from Genesis to Revelation and be introduced to Jesus. It is a great course that has seen much fruit throughout the years. Jason Parmerlee will be helping me with this ministry in the city.  Please pray that we have a minimum of 100 people come to the course and that God would draw them into a relationship with Himself.

I have had the privilege of overseeing the course in the city. We will be holding the course on Thursday nights from 3 May through to 14 June. Please be praying for Christians to bring their non-Christian workmates along to the weekly course. This weekly course gives a casual environment for people to come and be “introduced” to the God of the Bible. Throughout the course we travel from Genesis to Revelation and be introduced to Jesus. It is a great course that has seen much fruit throughout the years. Jason Parmerlee will be helping me with this ministry in the city.  Please pray that we have a minimum of 100 people come to the course and that God would draw them into a relationship with Himself.
Sanity
 Some may question mine, but that is not the basis for this praise. During Easter season, many In House groups in the city (HSBC (Hong Kong Bank), Price Waterhouse Coopers and Mallesons (Australia’s largest law firm)) wanted to do an In-house Easter outreach. Greg Clarke, a theologian from a local university, did a series of talks called “Is it Sane to Believe in the Resurrection of Christ?” Building the argument for the historical and theological truth of Christ’s resurrection, Greg answered the many questions that people have about this amazing event.  We had groups from 20 - 40 people come to the talks and many were not from a Christian background. In the conclusion, after developing a superb argument for the resurrection, Greg posed the question, “ If the resurrection is true, then is it insane to not to believe in the resurrection of Jesus?” We heard many stories of people that were impacted by this message. Pray for people coming to a saving knowledge in the Saviour’s resurrection.

Some may question mine, but that is not the basis for this praise. During Easter season, many In House groups in the city (HSBC (Hong Kong Bank), Price Waterhouse Coopers and Mallesons (Australia’s largest law firm)) wanted to do an In-house Easter outreach. Greg Clarke, a theologian from a local university, did a series of talks called Building the argument for the historical and theological truth of Christ’s resurrection, Greg answered the many questions that people have about this amazing event.  We had groups from 20 - 40 people come to the talks and many were not from a Christian background. In the conclusion, after developing a superb argument for the resurrection, Greg posed the question, “ If the resurrection is true, then is it insane to not to believe in the resurrection of Jesus?” We heard many stories of people that were impacted by this message. Pray for people coming to a saving knowledge in the Saviour’s resurrection.
Exchange Rates
  Headline: “Australian Dollar hits 17 year high.” – Sydney Morning Herald; 11 April, 2006
To the credit of a wise federal government and a booming economy, the Australian Dollar is at a high rate of return. Great for Australia. Bad for people working in Australia depending on funds from the US. We have been seeing a steady increase in the exchange rate over the past few months and it does not seem to be slowing. It means that if it goes up anymore we will have to move and it limits the finances used for ministry. We are looking for many different ways to stretch the funds we have coming into the country, but it has hit hard this month. We need prayer on this matter, primarily for wisdom on moving and how we can maintain our ministries with fewer funds. An age old challenge that does not deter us, but we could use your prayers.

To the credit of a wise federal government and a booming economy, the Australian Dollar is at a high rate of return. Great for Australia. Bad for people working in Australia depending on funds from the US. We have been seeing a steady increase in the exchange rate over the past few months and it does not seem to be slowing. It means that if it goes up anymore we will have to move and it limits the finances used for ministry. We are looking for many different ways to stretch the funds we have coming into the country, but it has hit hard this month. We need prayer on this matter, primarily for wisdom on moving and how we can maintain our ministries with fewer funds. An age old challenge that does not deter us, but we could use your prayers.
That’s it for now, mates. Thanks for your support and prayers!
In the News:

  • Rugby Season began, (Union rules) Waratahs are awful, (League rules) Rabbitohs are doing great and the Aussie Cricket team is looking to win the Cricket World Cup.                Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!
  • Labor Government was voted back into office in New South Wales (state government) during last election, not a good thing.
  • Shark attacks an albacore fisherman off the coast. Man is swallowed up to his shoulders by shark. Manages to free himself by poking shark in the eye, even though his head was in the shark’s mouth. I told you, ministry in Australia has a real “bite” to it!

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