To God’s holy people, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

When writing a pastoral letter, it seems appropriate to begin by borrowing from the Apostle Paul. I admire his heart for the mission and his love for the people God has placed in his care. I am called to provide that same care for the people of Burnside through my ministry here.

We are a growing church. Every day God blesses us by bringing new people our way and many of them are joyfully making Burnside City Uniting Church their spiritual home. All of us are growing in our faith, in our service and into the image of Jesus Christ as we follow Jesus together.

We are a church that has chosen to passionately serve God in this place. We are committed to having a Ministry Team with two Ministers of the Word working together, with a high level of administrative support and a Youth Coordinator ministering with our young people for 10 hours a week. This team is in turn supported by the whole congregation who volunteer to use their various gifts in a wide range of ministries throughout the community each week. The fruit of this ministry is beyond measure, lives are changed and people come to know Jesus. There is much more than we will ever see until all is revealed in heaven.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people.

Our strength is in our people. It is indeed our personal faith in Christ Jesus and our love for all God’s people that motivates us as a church. Our hope is firmly placed in God and God works through faithful, loving people. This is where you come into the picture; we have a call to serve and a vision that guides us as we serve. We seek to be “A vibrant community, committed to Jesus, passionately engaged in mission”.

This growing vision now stretches to calling a half-time Children & Family Ministry Coordinator to join our team. Please note that we are looking for someone to work with us, not for us. This person will join a team that are prepared to roll up their sleeves and work hard. This team is made up of 350 people who have each been given a variety of spiritual gifts and have each been called to use these gifts here to the glory of God.

One of those spiritual gifts is the gift of generosity or giving. Time and again we show that we are a very generous church. I rejoice that we are able to do so much because of the resources God has given us. I ask that you would once again give serious thought to how you can best respond to God’s call to invest in our ministry to our wider community.

I believe that we are all called to this challenge and that a Children & Family Ministry Coordinator will help us to minister more effectively than ever to the needs of people in the younger community. We already have a great ministry to young people through Junior Church, mainly music, Family Fun @ 5, Youth and Young Adults. A key focus of this new position will be to pick up on other ways to minister such as playgroups, kids clubs, parenting classes and greater involvement of children in worship. The vision is that from birth to adulthood we will be meeting the spiritual needs of this younger generation.

Please pray. Ask God to guide you to make a decision about how you can support this step of faith in your church. Without an increase in our overall giving we will not be able to make a serious offer of employment to anyone to take up this proposed position.

Jesus is the one we proclaim, instructing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end we strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in us.

Grace be with you.

Matthew Bond

July 2013 (The bold references are from Colossians 1:2, 3 & 4, 28 & 29 & 4:18 – just a little bit paraphrased)