Finances in Sydney: It has been an amazing year of ups and downs. The GFC, flux in the exchange rate, new supporters, losing supporters, increase in ABWE administrative fees, increase in the cost of living in Sydney and general cost of living in the largest city in Australia. We are thankful and amazed how God has continued to provide for our needs. One unique opportunity was presented to us this year. We have an Australian group that is willing to support us. So, we have been able to gain additional support from those we work with in the country we are serving. This is an encouraging confirmation of our work here in Australia. Also, due to many of our faithful supporters, we have been able to maintain our support levels throughout 2009.

We have been informed by one of our churches in the US and two of our individual supporters that our support will be changing in 2010. Thankfully it was not due to damaged relationships, but financial challenges in the lives of our churches and supporters. Our support for the coming year is currently at 97% of our monthly support levels. This means we are under-supported by $158 (US) on a monthly basis.

We would appreciate your prayerful consideration in making up this difference in our support. Please consider taking up a portion or all of this support need. Besides the work we are doing in Sydney, we commit to pray for you regularly.

To give go to the ABWE link provided for the easy to follow instructions:  www.abwe.org/give/

To give you perspective of what this support would be going toward here is a list of our 2010 ministry needs.

Ministry opportunities in 2010:
• Application for citizenship (February)
• Working towards a church plant in the city in 2011
• Exciting programme at City Bible Forum (new speakers, new evangelistic outreaches, new courses)
• Growth and planning for Urban Fight Club (Men’s ministry)

• Active role at Glorious Hope Baptist Church (Preaching, evangelism and teaching)

• Furlough (Appointments set w/ all churches and a supporters dinner in October) Anyone who would be willing to assist in some of the financial costs of flying to the US would be appreciated.
• General expenses of living

Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to seeing you in 2010. We hope to see you at one of our supporting churches or at the supporters dinner we are planning at the end of October. More details will be coming for this event in the next month.

The adventure continues…
Russ & Cathy Matthews

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. It has been an amazing year for our family. The opportunities for ministry continue to grow. We have had the privilege of seeing people come to Christ through the various ministries that we participated in this year. We hope that you are receiving our regular communications through our free RSS feed on our website, www.matthewsdownunder.com. Through the Lord’s will and your support we have been able to be a apart of this amazing work in Australia.

We committed to communicating our support levels to you twice a year. With all of the world economic challenges, Australia has been effected by the changes too. We have been very thankful for the continued support from all who have supported us regularly this year. With some of these adjustments we are currently close to our 100% support level, we are only experiencing a shortfall of $80 per month.

We appreciate consideration from you or your churches when evaluating your upcoming budget discussions.

Thanks, again, to God and you for all you have done for us this year. Know we pray for our supporters regularly. Please keep in contact with us. Happy Christmas and New Year.

The adventure continues…

Russ and Cathy Matthews

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.