Stepping Out To Be Renewed

In the past weeks I have felt more and more challenged by God. The question that keeps coming up is – how am I reaching out to those who would never consider walking into the church? The barriers for people are big and can be based on who they perceive God to be and what they think being part of a church is. There are two potentially overwhelming realities to grapple with bundled into this challenge;

1)Every Baptised person is on mission to share the Good News of Jesus in word and in deed – articulating and spreading the Gospel is our primary call as Catholics (Mt 28:19).

2) In order to fulfil this call, we need to go outside the church to the highways and byways to be Christ and to tell them where our hope comes from (1 Peter 3:15).

I have been an engaged and enthusiastic believer all my life – I love Jesus – but this does not mean I have always felt equipped to communicate this to others. A powerful tool for me has been returning to what Revelation calls “our first love” or “what you did at first” (Revelation 2:4). In this passage we are called back to the initial fire and hope contained in Jesus’ message of freedom. In this passage in Revelation Jesus identifies how we can get caught in the minutiae of church life and different understandings and lose sight of the most important thing. Jesus calls us to step into renewal and rediscovery of the foundational reason for our belonging to the body of Christ. I have found every time I return to the message of Jesus saving love, I find something new, something precious and I never get sick of it!

The upcoming Alpha course offers the chance to be refreshed and renewed in a personal experience and understanding of faith. It is a space where you can invite those in your life who are not part of the church to ask questions and discover the life changing truth of the Good News. Alpha is a place for those who have never encountered God or Church, it is a place where we can reach out to those outside the Church and invite them to discover who He REALLY is. My invitation to you is to come and be RENEWED and REFRESHED and, in the process, bring someone who has questions.

Just this last week I was at a shopping centre in Brisbane with a friend. Before I left to meet her, I had felt a small nudge from God that He was sending me to someone. As my friend and I were leaving I saw a lady walk by and as she did, I knew that she was the lady God wanted me to talk to. My friend needed to go, and we were ‘busy’, and I didn’t stop because it was inconvenient. To my shame, I did not walk back. I did not step aside. I let her go. I will never know what may have come from stepping out, what good and beautiful thing God may have done with my step of faith. It was an opportunity that I will never receive again. Don’t let this chance pass you by, step out in faith. Invite and accompany someone to Alpha and discover what God will do.

Beth – Mission Co-ordinator on behalf of the Faith & Formation Team

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The course will run on a

Monday afternoon in Landsborough (commencing 28th April) and on a Tuesday evening in Caloundra (commencing 29^th of April) and runs through until the 30th and 1^st of July respectively.

You can click HERE to register or contact the parish office.