Burnside Family Church has responded to the new thing that God has been doing in Tanzania with Pastor Daniel and his work with the elderly Maasai in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area as a result of a visit by me back in 2017. As a church we were very encouraged and blessed to be able to step out in faith last year. We raised enough money for a 4WD. This vehicle is proving to be of substantial help in transporting people to medical help as well as transporting water and firewood to the elderly. Through the development of a partnership with HealthServe Australia (of Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship origins) money was provided at Christmas time to assist with supplies of insecticide, some vehicle repairs and picnic outings for the elderly. The most recent donation has provided some funds to build one Boma or grass hut which will serve as a day gathering shelter for the elderly of one village.

The Vision

Due to distance, low supplies but high cost of medicines, and virtually no medical services specific to the elderly, Pastor Daniel’s vision is to build a medical centre which will service the community and provide appropriate treatment, medicines and resources for the elderly. He has been given a place to build just outside of the conservation area and offers of assistance with stocking and running the facility. The building plans put the cost at around $140,000 AUD

We respect Pastor Daniel’s integrity and vision and once again have set about in faith to raise finance for this facility. This year’s target is seven times greater than last year.  As we pray, we don’t know how the Lord will provide this amount, but we can trust that our God, the Lord and maker of heaven and earth is up to the task!

“This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:2

Fund Raiser 2024

The fundraising event at Burnside City Uniting Church on Saturday 21st September was a Christian Concert hosted by Burnside Family Church.  A big thank you to our strong team of volunteers who helped with the myriad of tasks for the event. We are very grateful that due to the venue and the band being donated for our use, all the proceeds from the concert can go towards the fundraising goal. Thanks also to Ryan Reynolds for pulling together a team of Barista students to serve coffees and hot chocolates, helping to boost the proceeds. Besides the sales from the concert, many people who were invited but unable to attend have donated generously.

The Jesus Music Collective are a wonderfully talented band, who provided us with exquisite renditions of songs from the Jesus Music Pioneers era, sharing some of the personal stories of conversion of the song writers. Their music was both entertaining, uplifting and worshipful. My personal favourites were Put Your Hand in the Hand by Gene MacLellan, So you want to go back to Egypt by Keith and Melody Green, They’ll Know We are Christians by our Love by Fr. Peter Scholtes and Hear the Bells Ringing (the Easter Song) by 2nd Chapter of Acts.  These songs transported me back to my teachers college years and an anointed Christian Fellowship I was part of.

At the concert, I shared with the audience the journey that we are on with Pastor Daniel and the Maasai people in Tanzania. I wore a Maasai blanket, given to me by Daniel and his wife. I was given permission and told, ‘You’re Maasai now’. (By the way it was really comfy and warm to wear!)

New Website

It was a fitting occasion to launch the brand-new website created by Oliver Stephenson. This will help spread the message near and far about Pastor Daniel’s work and keep us updated with news and stories. Please take a look at:

www.careforelderlymaasai.org

There are links for donations on the website where people can choose to donate through Burnside Family Church, or Healthserve Australia for tax deductible gifts.

Going forward

Please pray for the miraculous provision of the $140,000 we need for the building of this medical centre/pharmacy. Also pray about how you might be able to be involved in support prayerfully and practically.

There are many creative possibilities but unless the Lord directs it, our labours may be in vain. Psalm 127:1

It was one of those rare phases I sometimes have where I actually manage to spend some time out in the garden. I couldn’t look at the size of those weeds anymore. Some of them were growing to a height of half my body! Well, no more! It was time to get rid of them. And not a moment too soon. (Although perhaps a few moments (months) too late!)

I came across one particular weed that was standing tall and proud, looking out over the rest of the garden like it owned the place. Its stem had to be a good centimetre in diameter. Its broad leaves luscious, thick and thriving. With my gardening-gloved hand, I reached in, low to the ground, around its stem. One gentle tug, and I felt not even an inkling of a movement. Most weeds in my garden, if the soil’s soft, tend to wriggle and lift when I apply the gentle tug, albeit reluctantly. But not this one. This little blighter was firmly cemented into the ground. It was part of the ground. It had built its house there and was set for a long happy life. It did own the place.

But I knew. I knew it had no place in my garden. So I did not give up. I wriggled and tugged a little more, gently heaving at different angles and of course bits of the soil around its stem had to move aside while I did so. (It has to be gentle, you see, because if you yank too hard and too fast, the stem will snap and then you have no hope of removal from pulling, since there’s now no longer anything above the surface to grab hold of.)

Anyway, this leafy invader was still not budging. It was time to involve some tools. I left and came back with my small garden fork. I proceeded to poke and prod at the surrounding ground near the base of the stem to break it up, expose a little more of the thick stem of the weed. Then I grabbed the stem again, gave a gentle wriggle and a tug. Still zero movement. And I mean zero. Not even the hint of a suggestion of a remote sense of movement.

I had to dig more. And more and more, until I had made a bit of a crater in the ground around the stem of the weed. Ahh… now some movement! But I could feel the stubborn grip the roots still had in the ground. I left, and came back with my trowel and dug more. Actual full digging this time, not just a little poking and prodding. I dug boldly into the soil, scooping great chunks of ground away from the site.

I tried pulling the weed with one hand, while prodding and digging with the other to release a few roots at a time. I scooped and scraped the loose soil away from the hole and tried pulling again. The weed was still hanging on. Still had a firm clutch on the depths of the soil. I dug more. And more and more until I had a huge ugly pit in my front garden. With a tall, strong, menacing weed standing tall in the centre of it.

I went in, both hands, clasped around the stem tightly, my feet and legs pushing against the earth, my arms fighting against these roots’ wicked hold they had on the ground. I could feel it, giving – slightly, let go, dug some more. More and more until part of the big bulk of the root system was exposed – out in the open air. It must have known now, that it was done for. I grabbed hold again and pulled and pulled. And pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled, and all of a sudden, I felt it give, my body fell backwards.

I’m lying on my back in the garden with the humungous monster of a weed in my hands. Grains of dirt sprinkling over me.  

I’m exhausted. My muscles are hurting. But I look at the weed in my hands, and I have it! Roots and all. I look at the place in the ground where it used to be. And there’s a huge ugly hole there. A giant cavity left open, gaping. If the ground was a living thing itself, it would surely be screaming in pain. I can’t help but think of that hole as a wound. A deep, nasty, painful wound. And all because I allowed that weed to grow so big.

I thought of wounds if our lives, and I thought of the weed as sin, growing and taking root in our lives. Taking over. Acting as though it owns the place. But while it’s there, there’s no visible wound yet. There is no pain just yet. No pulling, no tugging, no gaping holes… everything seems fine!

A weed is green. It’s leafy, it’s luscious. Can’t it just stay in the garden? What harm’s it actually doing? Well, it does four main things to harm your garden.

1. Weeds steel. They rob the nutrients and water from the ground that your desired plants need to grow to their full flourishing potential.
2. Weeds are a favoured home for garden pests. Nice little bug-sized Airbnb locations and your plants are the local ‘restaurants and cafes’!
3. Weeds take up space. They crowd out the healthy plants and so again, they can’t flourish to their full potential. They’re like an annoying houseguest who doesn’t have regular hygiene habits, as some weeds even secrete harmful chemicals!
4. Lastly, if weeds are allowed to grow big enough, they create shade for surrounding parts of the garden, and hog the sunlight.

So they may be green and leafy, giving off the impression of a garden-like environment. But they must go. Sin might give the impression of being okay, being good, being harmless. But if you want a flourishing, healthy, productive and fruitful life, it must go.

But who is the gardener? Who is the one with the fork and trowel? Digging away, scooping, scraping… Well, it’s God, to be frank. Only God can do that. Only an outside intervention can get rid of this weed. In the same way, only God can come and deal with your sin. Especially if it has been allowed to grow and take hold of the inner depths of the soil of your life.

Without a gardener, weeds will grow, spread, become more and more powerful. Without God, sin will run rampant. We may be able to make good decisions in certain moments to stop a sin creeping in in the first place, but it is only through the power of Jesus and His dominion over sin that we can do that. If you find you have left sin unchecked for a while, you will need to ask the Great Gardener to come and help you get it out. But be ready. It may cause a big wound at first. Where sin has been allowed to grip different areas of your life, there may be some gouging required. And then a hole left afterwards. And what do we do with that ugly wound? We can allow the Gardener to heal us.

Naturally, after I had removed the weed from my garden, I replaced all the soil into the hole, flatted it out, and interestingly, the soil then felt softer in that spot, and it was now more aerated, ready for planting something new and healthy. (Although we might need to mix in a bit of fertiliser or something.)

Another important thing to note, is that a day or so later, the weed looked like this –

Without being connected to the life and nutrients of the soil, it dies and is powerless. Without sin being latched onto your life, similarly, it dies, shrivels up, has no power anymore.

So what is an area of your life where sin might be growing? Do a metaphorical ‘walk’ around your garden and check for weeds. Don’t let it get a stronger hold and position in your life. Pray what David prayed, “Keep your servant also from wilful sins; may they not rule over me.” Psalm 19:13

Unfortunately, it may cause some pain of a kind, but just like a gardener cares for and wants the best for the garden, God deeply cares for us and wants us to have a flourishing life!

In our desire to cut down the talking at Announcement Time on a Sunday, we can tend to miss out on informing the Assembly about the scope of activities that we are involved in as a church. We thought it might be worthwhile to remind us all of the many things that we do, apart from our main Sunday service. Let me list some of those activities, in no particular order.

Sunday Service involving a Prayer meeting, Musicians, Preachers, Children’s Church teachers, Creche, Welcomers, Data projector, Sound Desk, Kitchen Duty Team, Communion Preparation, Communion distributors, Lockup, Offering Counters, 10:40 teen teaching. Each of our Children’s workers is Police checked.

Elders, five brothers who meet usually the first Monday of each month. They pray, discuss Assembly matters, look to the future, and generally oversee our church health. Elders often visit our people in their homes or hospitals as needed.

Tuesday Prayers, 9am to 10am at which there are usually seven or eight, but sometimes more. We ask, what has the Lord been saying to you? We pray for our ministries, individuals in need, for other churches. We pray for the nation.

Talking Tuesday for ladies. Teaching with time for questions and discussion. Learn lots and ask lots. Then Morning Tea and fellowship.

Finance Team. We have a small dedicated and efficient finance team which keeps our finances up-to-date and in presentable form. Auditing is done by professional auditors external to our assembly.

Kids Club. Friday nights from 5:15-7pm. Around 12-15 kids attend, and our team consists of about 12 who teach, cook, lead activities and interact with parents

AMOS is a group which meets monthly on a Saturday afternoon especially designed to facilitate fellowship for our older members.

Kids Hope. A program whereby 7 of our people spend one-on-one time with an assigned student at Burnside Primary School mentoring them as they navigate life’s challenges. The kids get to realise that their mentor is there for them each week exclusively to listen and to encourage them with unconditional love.

Magill Retirement Village. On the first Wednesday of each month, Pastor Alf and Jeff Byerley lead a worship service at the Village. A lady from St Matt’s church plays piano for us. There are usually about 6 or 7 folks, sometimes more, from the village attend.

Norwood Pageant. Much of the drive for the Pageant stems from this assembly. There is a committee of 7, 4 of whom are from BFC. We plan the Pageant, distribute work responsibilities, liaise with other churches, work with Norwood Council, coordinate businesses who supply goods and services such as trucks, sound systems, flyers, websites.

Missions.   We are a very giving church. We support missions in lots of ways. Financially, by sending personnel, and spiritually with prayer. We support orphanages in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. We gave last year for the purchase of a 4-wheel drive in Africa. We give money and office space to Rahab. We send significant finances to support Chaplaincy. Last financial year we gave approximately 30% of our income to missions.

Burnside Interchurch Council meets 4 times per year to plan and execute combined activities such as Prayers, Chaplaincy support, and the annual fundraiser Quiz etc. Two from our church act on that body and are significant participators.

Teachers’ Appreciation Morning.

Each year, people from BFC provide a very lavish morning tea to teachers at Marryatville Primary School to say “thank you” for the teachers’ commitment to students. We get to give a short speech commending them and encouraging them to go on with their dedication.

Chaplaincy.  We have a major commitment to Chaplaincy. Andrew is an Area Manager. Sheila was, up until recently, a Chaplain at Burnside Primary School. We contribute significant finances to Chaplaincy each year.

Combined Churches monthly prayers Each month, we are the drivers of the Combined Churches Prayer Breakfasts which meet mostly in our building, but also moves around to other church venues. Here we pray for our churches, our area, our nation, and our ministers. This expression of unity flows over into many of our other combined activities.

Facilities Team The physical buildings are cared for by a team of practically minded, hands-on, people who have a good eye for the state of the buildings. They meet fairly regularly and commission work needing to be done. Sometimes by Working Bees, sometimes by specialized tradesmen.

Home Groups. Held in the evenings, fortnightly, and in various homes. Relaxed teaching, discussion, and questions. They usually include a shared supper.

Tamil Meetings. Our church facilities are loaned to a group of red hot Tamil Christians who meet here a couple of times a month for worship, prayer, and outreach.

All of us ought to thank the Lord for the wonderful way in which this body works together in unity and in harmony. Pray for our church that God’s blessings continue and increase as we seek Him.

Ted Lang spent a lot of time on the Eyre Peninsula and it became a favourite spot of his. When he returned from there, the Eyre Peninsula Local Government Association had a sesquicentenary celebration of Tumby Bay and opened up a song competition. Entrants were asked to compose a song about the West Coast of South Australia and Ted decided to enter this competition.

He wrote ‘a bit of a song’ (as he describes it), five verses long and poetically telling of the explorers and pioneers that discovered the West Coast. He had written four verses, but it didn’t seem complete. He felt the Lord say to him, “Where do I come in in this song?” So Ted knew he had to write a fifth verse, but he was stumped as to how to go about it.

At that time, he read Psalm 28.

Psalm 28 – Of David. 

1      To you, Lord, I call;

   you are my Rock,
   do not turn a deaf ear to me.

For if you remain silent,
   I will be like those who go down to the pit.

2         Hear my cry for mercy
   as I call to you for help,
   as I lift up my hands
   toward your Most Holy Place.

3         Do not drag me away with the   

   wicked, with those who do evil,
   who speak cordially with their neighbors
   but harbor malice in their hearts.

4         Repay them for their deeds
   and for their evil work;
   repay them for what their hands   

   have done and bring back on them   

   what they deserve.

5      Because they have no regard for the 

   deeds of the Lord and what his hands have done,
   he will tear them down
   and never build them up again.

6       Praise be to the Lord,
   for he has heard my cry for mercy.

7      The Lord is my strength and my shield;
   my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
   My heart leaps for joy,
   and with my song I praise him.

8      The Lord is the strength of his people,
   a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

9      Save your people and bless your inheritance;
   be their shepherd and carry them forever.

He came to verse seven (in bold above), and in particular the second part of that verse, With my song I praise Him, and he knew without a doubt that the whole song really ought to praise God. Ted says, “God said to me, ‘I want you to praise Me with that last verse of your song.’ So the last verse of my song, after all the others were in the minor key, the last verse finishes up in the major key.”

Verse 5

Thank God for the explorers; And thank God for pioneers,

For their courage, faith and vision which have triumphed down the years.

Let’s drink their spirit deeply. Could there be a better toast?

“To the ones who long before us saw the future of the Coast.”

“Well that was the last verse of the song and I put it in and blow me down, the song won the competition. And I’m only saying that because that’s the point of the story. That God honoured Himself and I honoured Him and that’s the way it should be.”

Now the song was complete, with God being the one honoured. A testimony to Ted’s faith and God’s faithfulness.

Song description (as stated for the competition entry):

The song is written to trace the history of the West Coast – more correctly Eyre Peninsula – and as a tribute to its discoveries and pioneers. As far as possible it is based on facts and is an endeavour to exhort us today to value the qualities of faith and courage they possessed. The first four verses are set to a folk-song type air and are mainly descriptive. The last verse is the climax expressing thanks to God for our heritage and encouraging us to follow their example.

The Song of the Coast

Ted Lang

In sixteen twenty-seven Nuyts was blown across the Bight;

He looked in vain for fertile plain but nothing could he sight.

“I’m turning back from here,” he said,

“To where the Trade Winds blow.”

And the land slept on in silence underneath the sunset’s glow.

From County Lincoln sailed a man who traced this Western shore,

And many of his homeland’s names surrounding landmarks bore;

The gesture of a gentleman who never once did boast;

Yet today the name of Flinders echoes all around the Coast.

When Eyre came round from Adelaide Town in eighteen forty-one,

He said, “This land is desolate, there’s nothing can be done.

‘Twill hardly carry livestock, or grow barley, wheat or rye”

While the lazy smoke from Native fires crept up the clear blue sky.

Today the Coast is thriving from the Cape to Nullarbor;

With wheat and wool and barley, gypsum, fish and iron ore.

We reap our million bushels where our fathers poured their sweat

As they cleared the stunted mallee for enough to meet the debt.

Thank God for the explorers; And thank God for pioneers,

For their courage, faith and vision which have triumphed down the years.

Let’s drink their spirit deeply. Could there be a better toast?

“To the ones who long before us saw the future of the Coast.”

One recent Sunday, whilst about to preach about the Apostle Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost, I lost my voice, totally! Fortunately for the world-wide Christian Church this didn’t happen to Peter, as 3,000 believers were added to the fledgling church in Jerusalem on that day, 2,000 years ago.

For me, I needed congregational assistance to complete the service. Prayer and testimony were spontaneously given by a number of people, providing a wonderful conclusion to the service. I limped off the platform trying to recover my voice, thankful that “togetherness” and “unity of mind and purpose” won the day, as is so often the case at Burnside Family Church. I had a few points to further make on that Sunday, which now, in this article, I will attempt to share.

In Acts 2, regarding the events which took place on the day of Pentecost, when the promised Holy Spirit was given to believers in Jesus Christ, I noted the following:

1.

All the believers were “together” in “one place”. Can we recognise God’s pattern of action?               He operates through the unity of believers. For us, unity might just mean being there, together, in one mind and one body. Today, we call this a church service, and indeed, all activities we undertake in church.

2.

“Suddenly” things happened. God’s pattern of action can often be “suddenly”. Waiting can be a tiresome, low-energy exercise, but if you know that something promised will happen, then expectancy can raise enthusiasm and energy. The disciples were told by Jesus to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, and “suddenly”, the waiting was over. Believing expectantly might be a good definition for faith.

3.

The coming of the Holy Spirit was a supernatural event (only God could do it). Tongues of fire dancing on the heads of 120 followers of Jesus, a rushing wind, and praise being proclaimed loudly in languages otherwise unknown all happened that day. Still today, the gift of the Holy Spirit is given when anyone believes in their hearts the message of the Gospel.

The Holy Spirit dwells within you and me to move, direct, protect and empower our lives as we live here on earth – an entirely supernatural event. Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in our lives involve both fruit and gifts, but not to be missed is “unity” as this is God’s pattern of behaviour.

4.

I have read the Acts 2 passage many times and have never lost the thrill and excitement of contemplating a living and powerful God who has come to dwell within each of us. Jesus came as a human being and there was a time 2,000 years ago, where we could find the physical footprint of God on earth. The Holy Spirit is the here-and-now for each believer.

5.

“Peter stood”…. but the scripture says he stood up with the eleven other disciples to preach that day.  I never saw that before. They stood together, they proclaimed together, and together, they all died preaching the Gospel, full of the Holy Spirit. God’s working pattern on earth is “unity”.