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My Postcard Home in ‘The Bugle’

Filed Under: Articles, GAFCON, Holidays, Jamberoo Anglican, Papers by Jodie — 2 Comments
8 November, 2018

Our local newspaper ‘The Bugle’ has a nice little column on the back page of every fortnightly edition which provides residents with a way to share about a recent journey overseas.

I took the opportunity to share about our recent trip to Jerusalem, in which I speak of the significance of walking in the same place where God, himself, trod.

It was an amazing experience to have this geographical connection with the places I’ve read about all my life in the Bible, and it’s a joy to share this with the many people who live around the area of my church.

My Postcard Home in The Bugle

 

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Goodbye Oak Flats… and Hello Jamberoo!

Filed Under: Jamberoo Anglican, Oak Flats Anglican by Jodie — Leave a comment
30 October, 2018

Our full-time church for 2019… Jamberoo Anglican

On Sunday 26th August, I announced that I will be leaving Oak Flats Anglican to become the full-time Rector of Jamberoo Anglican.

In 2015, our two churches formed a partnership to share our resources to help grow the gospel in the Illawarra.

Three years ago we planted an all-new, Saturday night service at Jamberoo, and through this ministry, God has grown Jamberoo so that it is now ready to stand on its own two feet with its own, full-time rector.

After much prayer, Mandy and I have decided that it is best if we now focus our full, ministry attention on growing Jamberoo to maturity, in God’s strength.

We are very sad to leave Oak Flats after six years, and we rejoice in the love and fellowship we have warmly shared during this time of life and ministry.

We also thank God for the wonderful fruit we have seen through this parish partnership, and how he has brought new life and renewal to Jamberoo.

Our final Sunday at Oak Flats will be on 2nd December, and then we’ll start full-time at Jamberoo in January.

Please pray for both parishes as Oak Flats seeks a new rector, and Jamberoo seeks to grow its giving to be able to fully support a full-time minister.

Above all, pray that the coming years will see many people come to know and grow in the Lord Jesus Christ through these two, wonderful churches.

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How Great Thou Art… Aussie Style!

Filed Under: GAFCON, Music by Jodie — Leave a comment
30 October, 2018

Song leading at GAFCON Jerusalem 2018

At Gafcon Jerusalem 2018, I was privileged to lead the music on the Friday sessions.

On that day, I taught an ‘Aussie’ version of the hymn, ‘How Great Thou Art’.

For those who asked, here are the lyrics to the new verse:

When through the bush and on the beach I wander,
and hear the birds sing loudly in the trees.
When I look out across the vast horizon,
behold the land that stretches sea to sea.

Special thanks to Graham Stanton for first crowd sourcing the songwriting via Facebook, and to all who contributed to bring the lyrics to their final canonical form.

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Hello, again

Filed Under: Internet by Jodie — Leave a comment
17 October, 2017

It’s interesting to reflect on how much the Internet has changed in only a few years.

Back in the mid-1990’s, I set up my very first website, and a few years later registered the jodiemcneill.com domain name.

There was a time when a personal website was the main way that a person would have a presence on the World Wide Web.

Fast forward to the present era, and Facebook has really become the web-within-the-Web for so many people.

Perhaps this is the reason that I’ve not posted on this website for several years.

Nonetheless, it still seems worthwhile to have this website going, not only for the fact that it provides an interesting archive of my contributions to the online world over a few decades.

One thing is clear, however: the site is really a little out of date.

God willing, I’ll get a newer photo up soon, and probably try and blow away some of the cobwebs in the WordPress installation, including, maybe, a newer theme.

So, watch this space.

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What’s my church mission statement?

Filed Under: Communitas, Oak Flats Anglican by Jodie — Leave a comment
26 February, 2013

When I first started at Oak Flats Anglican back in October last year, I was quick to try and find out if my new church had its own mission statement.

A mission statement is simply a short and pithy sentence that describes just what it is that any particular organisation is on about. In other words, it’s kind of like a mini ‘job description’ for the whole organisation, something that tells us what we should and shouldn’t be doing.

When I had a look around, I couldn’t find one.

But that’s fine. It’s not essential. It’s useful, but it’s not the end of the world if we don’t have one.

So, my assumption is that the mission statement of my new church is actually the same mission statement as the whole Anglican Diocese of Sydney… which goes like this:

‘To glorify God by proclaiming our saviour the Lord Jesus Christ in prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit, so that everyone will hear his call to repent, trust and serve Christ in love, and be established in the fellowship of his disciples while they await his return.’

I’ve got to tell you… I really love this mission statement. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but it really sums up just what we should be doing as Oak Flats Anglican Church.

But how do we personalise it? How do we at my new church make it our own?

Well, this week I put down my thoughts in an article I wrote for a new online ‘Christian thought leadership’ website called Communitas.

It’s called ‘Recycling a Mission Statement’, and I’d be interested for you to read it and give me your thoughts.

And as you finish reading it, you’ll see why my church will need to get working on our ‘values’ as a church… sometime soon in the future!

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