At the moment, it is the lull between the constant rolling of semester and the high energy of the National Training Event (NTE). It’s a great time to pause and give thanks to God for all he has done for us this last semester, and to plan ahead for the last push of the year. The defining feature of this semester has been our “Meet Jesus” mission. Along with all the other AFES groups around Australia, and many partnering churches, we invited people to meet Jesus for themselves, to consider reading the Gospel of John, or come and hear more about who he is.
We raised the visibility of our group by giving out free iced coffees at spots around campus, and made a lot more connections with new students. It was a great opportunity to get to know students and invite them along to some of our events. We held a few talks on the topic of suffering, considering how meeting Jesus shapes our thinking and experience of suffering. A couple of new students came along as a result of this. These were friends of one of our regulars, and what we find is that people often need multiple connection points and invitations before they come along to an event.
Pray that the connections we made during the meet Jesus mission will have ongoing fruit. Pray that will will not tire of making ourselves visible, or of pointing people to Jesus.
One of the great challenges we put to our students this semester was to invite their friends to read the gospel of John with a friend. AFES published some easy to use gospels – “Uncover John”. One of our students has been reading through, week by week, with a friend. When they finished John he was keen to move on to Mark as well. We find that (unlike coming along to an event), a friend will often say “yes” to an invitation like this, without any extra steps needed.
Please pray for this student, that he may believe in Jesus, and find true life in him.
Our Bible talks continue on as our mainstay for the group. We sit in the 10-20 group size each week and have dinner afterwards. It’s great to sit around and chat about gospel in life, and how semester is going for everyone. We worked our way through the book of Numbers (or as it was originally called, “In the Wilderness”). It has been refreshing to look at a different genre and see the many ways this book paints a picture of Christ and the gospel we so desperately need.
Thank God for the ways we have met Jesus in the wilderness and the many encouragements we have had in the Bible talks.
AFES treasures the local church, and our group has been praying regularly for many in our region. We had a particular connection with Gordonvale/Babinda Presbyterian church this semester, heading along on one Sunday to help serve in whatever way we could. It is always very encouraging for us and a great training opportunity for our students as they lead, preach, sing, and talk with the locals.
The National Training Event begins this weekend. Without fail, it serves as a fantastic tool to help encourage, train, and spur students on in the gospel. It is particularly good for our Cairns crew to get along to, as it helps us to see the broader fellowship that we are a part of, and lets them hear of the many ways that others around the country have been standing for Jesus in their own contexts.
Once the conference finishes we’ll head a bit further north for mission in Bundaberg and Gayndah.
Pray that our student’s hearts and mins will be filled with the beauty of the gospel, and that our hands will be zealous to serve the local church in Bundaberg.
Once the NTE bustle has waned, I’ll have a chance to do some planning for 2025, and then we’re looking forward to some down time with family at Christmas.
Thank you all for your support and care, your partnership in the gospel, and your ongoing prayers.