Parish Council Update - September

Bible Reading

Acts 20:7-12 teaches us to expect the unexpected. God is able and the excitement of the gospel means we should always expect the extraordinary work of God. Paul preaches a long sermon and someone dies - but God even uses this to show his power!

2023-2025 strategy planning

• As we discuss focus areas for 2023-2025, some of the areas of focus we are discussing are:
  • Bible training and discernment
  • foundational courses for new and old Christians
  • welcoming newcomers - outward focus and reaching those who are unfamiliar with church
  • exploring new avenues to reach people with the gospel.
  • Youth ministry - strategic planning
  • Meetings and gatherings - ways to fellowship and meet together
  • Church - revisiting why we meet, what we do and how we do it.

Thanks Giving update

This is exciting! As of our Parish Council meeting on Tuesday night, our giving for Thanks Giving 2022 stands at $80,000. With a target of $160,000, we are keen to keep praying to reach our target, but remain very, very thankful to God for the financial gifts that have already been given!

Major Works

• Ermington: The electricity cables have been relocated underground. The playground has been scheduled to begin construction at beginning of October.
• Eastwood: The new toilet block and access ramp are near completion! We are yet to lay the final carpet in the foyer - which may happen as soon as next week. Everything else is done, including the new grass and synthetic grass area. (Thanks to David Smith and David Mayes and the great team who worked hard at the mid-week working bee!)
• Bells: Approval from the Diocese has been given to proceed. We are in the process of approaching Ryde Council for DA approval

Finances

We are very thankful to report that our regular giving (offertory) is currently at 99.3% of the budget! This is absolutely wonderful and we want to continue to encourage every member to keep up with this amazing consistency in giving so that we might continue in the gospel work ahead. Thank God for the faithfulness of his people and please keep praying, with thanks, for God's provision.

Details for online banking can be found on our website here: Giving page

Budget summary:

• Income required:
  Year to date: $555,191
  Weekly: $15,973
• Current offertory:
  Year to date: $551,425
  Weekly: $14,729
• Shortfall: $3,766
  The current offertory is 99.3% of the budget.

Budget 2023

Parish Council will be working over the coming months to establish the budget for 2023. Please pray for us as we balance the needs of the Parish across St Mark's and St Phil's in regards to staffing and other weekly running costs. Thank you!

Election Day and Granny Smith

St Phil's will be a polling place for the Ryde local West Ward Election. We will be running a Barbecue on site to raise funds for a few local Not For Profit groups.

As usual, we will of course have an amazing team at the Granny Smith Festival to run free face painting for kids and to connect with people at the festival and share with people about the work at St Phil's and St Mark's.

We encourage everyone who is able to sign up this Sunday to help at one or both of these events which will be on Saturday, October 15th.

Prayer

The meeting finished in prayer at 9:45 pm.