CATHEDRAL NEWSLETTER - 7 December 2023

Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash

Friends in Christ, as the Cathedral church of a global city, we are privileged to welcome visitors from many different nationalities, languages and cultures from around the world. 

I am delighted by how volunteer welcomers and regular Sunday attenders seek to extend Christian hospitality to those who visit our Cathedral and its church services. 

I am especially pleased that we have Scripture portions, as well as booklets and posters that explain the gospel of Jesus, available in multiple languages.

After all, Jesus gave this 'replicating commission' to his first disciples, on the basis of his resurrection authority:

...go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. [Matthew 28:19-20]

That's also why we have long been so delighted to have the chance to partner with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in encouraging interest, prayer, financial giving, and other support for the missionaries they place to commend the gospel around the globe. As the CMS slogan says, we want to see a world that knows Jesus! 

This week, the Cathedral's Chapter (governing body) decided to create a mission link with Gillian Akers, who will be going to France as a CMS Associate in 2024. This means she will be a self-funded worker, that CMS supports logistically and in prayer and care, but not with a stipend. 

Our link with Gillian developed because over the last couple of years, she served at the Chapter's honorary Secretary, preparing agendas, taking minutes, and reminding us of our responsibilities on our action register. She helped us enormously. (She is also a friend of the Archbishop and of our Cathedral Administrator, Lisa!)

We know from our support of the Apieczoneks that post-Christian France is 'gospel poor', and Gillian wants to use her early retirement years to assist a local French church in seeing the gospel go forward. She writes:

A follower of Jesus since my mid-teens, I’ve served him throughout a busy professional career, mostly in my local church but also through a range of non-church-based ministries. Widowed in 2020 and approaching retirement age, I reconsidered how to best serve Jesus as a newly single person and with God’s gift of plentiful time. I realised that I could stay in Australia and spend more time supporting my local church, but since France and its people had been on my heart since my teen years and knowing the secular nature of the society, I longed, under God, to see more French people know Jesus. 

In France, a nation that is legally and proudly secular, evangelical Christians are few and scattered, but are growing in number with an ardent desire for Christians to grow in maturity and be equipped to make new churches.

...I have observed first-hand the witness and encouragement to other Christians that comes from simply being at church each week and continuing with regular ministry, especially during tough times. This is how I hope to help with gospel growth in France: assisting others to mature in their knowledge and love of Jesus by being a member of an evangelical church and participating in everyday church life. I plan to support the growth of Christians within the church and also venture "outside the walls" to reach people in the local community.

Would you join us as we begin to pray for Gillian over the next year. (You can read a little more here and sign up for prayer points if you wish.)

More broadly, it's not too late to sign up for the CMS Summer School, 6–12 January 2024, in Katoomba.

Summer School is a great way to begin the year being deeply rooted in the word of God and enjoying fellowship with other believers. Come and enjoy in-depth Bible teaching, diverse and encouraging missionary sessions, amazing music, and opportunities to grow your heart for God’s mission. This year the key speaker The Rev Dr Ed Loane will deliver talks from Galatians, reflecting on Christ’s saving work and the implications for those who have been set free to serve him. Hear additional talks from Archbishop Kanishka Raffel; James Wong, Anglican Archbishop and Primate of the Indian Ocean, and Bishop of Seychelles; and others, alongside many CMS missionaries as they share how God has been at work among the nations, in their cross-cultural miministries. 

More info at the CMS Summer School website. 

Warmly in Christ

Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney

P.S. If you are challenged by the idea of becoming a missionary in retirement, why not listen or watch to this 30 minute podcast interview on the Pastor's Heart called "Rethinking retirement to avoid the sin of the sluggard - with Mike Raiter". 

Remember you could also be a missionary right here in the Cathedral, as a mid-week welcomer, where the locals and nations come to us!