“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
Ephesians 2:4-5
Dear brothers and sisters,
Once we were dead, now we are saved – that is the gospel. That is why we do what we do at LMAP. Praise God for his great love and mercy – we are made alive in Christ.
As we gather to serve together in mission and ministry – we seek to reach those who don’t know Jesus and we care for those who do. There is so much to be thankful to God for over this past year. And looking forward, there are good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. We hope. In faith.
As part of Vision Sunday, we cast our eyes forward to 2026 – both at what we hope to do, who we want to do that with, and how much that will cost. All in God’s hands.
In 2025 we have been able to celebrate much – people becoming Christian, people being baptised, congregations growing, kids and youth ministry growing, a new 4.30pm gathering (which soft started this month) and the start of the Mt Riv Redevelopment.
As I want to talk money, let me first express thanks for the generous way that our members have given each week to fund the day-to-day mission and ministry at LMAP. Many have given generously and sacrificially. And further, in one month, members of our church family have given $90.9K toward our LMAP Mt Riv Redevelopment Appeal (Target = $87K). This is tremendous and means that we will be able to progress the Phase 2 work on the existing building as soon as the new Hall is open. This full amount will go to the Mt Riv development. Thank you and praise God.
As flagged, I need to bring 2026 before you so that we as a church can work out how to staff for next year. Our Parish Council want to propose a budget and ask our membership to pledge for 2026 as a way of indicating what level of giving we can plan on for next year.
The Key Request:
We would like to appoint Julie Haddon as a Minister in the GROW/SEND space and Josh Schroder as a Minister for Music/AV (Josh finishes at the end of this year as a YouthWORKS trainee). Both of these appointments would be on a part-time basis. This is exciting, not only because these two lovely people are well known to us, but because of what they will bring to the mission and ministry efforts at LMAP.
With a growing church come both growing opportunities and increasing pastoral demands. We believe that these two ministers have particular gifts: Julie in teaching, discipleship and training (hence the GROW/SEND) and Josh in Music, AV and Youth (hence his role) and will help us as a church reach those we don’t yet know and care for those in our family. And we believe that both will complement and strengthen our existing ministry team and leaders.
The Key Question is:
Do we as a church family have the capacity under God to fund mission and ministry and add Julie and Josh to the Ministry Team in 2026?
Lower Mountains Anglican Parish recognise under the sovereign rule of our heavenly Father that in his providence he gave custodianship of the land on which we meet to the aboriginal people of the Dharug and Gundungurra tribes. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
