“For I am about to do something new.”

“For I am about to do something new.” Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)
Over the past several weeks now the church has been able to operate in absentia. The doors to the church building may have been closed for those Sundays, but the Church is far from being closed. What it has meant is that there have many “home” churches opened for worship instead. God has been doing a New Thing. Thank you to Pastor and the team who have worked so hard at printing, distributing, recording and posting on the website, the Sunday services and sermons for each Sunday. We haven’t as yet been able to organise the video side of the streaming from the church website.
A reminder that your offerings can be made via direct deposit to:
Account name: Elizabeth St Peters Lutheran
BSB# 704 942
Account# 100118763
Hopefully by July we may be able to meet together again in the church with up to 100 attending at a time. This gives us a glimmer of light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, but let’s wait to see how things pan out in the meantime.
Church Council has not been able to meet together, but I have been staying in touch with council members via e-mail. Here are a couple of matters of interest to everyone.

• We are eligible for the Government’s “Job Keeper Payment” to help us pay Pastor’s stipend. Treasurer Eric Turnwald has been arranging this via the Bishop’s Office.
•  Our AGM, which was scheduled for May 24th will not of course take place on that date. However the District Office has advised us that the Consumer and Business Services have granted an extension time of six months for all incorporated associations such as ours, which means that our AGM must now be conducted before November 30th, 2020.  The one approach to this (which is constitutional) that will best suit our congregation, is to hold a combined AGM and Half Yearly Meeting/Election of Church Officers in November. This will also give Eric more time to have the finances checked and included in The Book of Reports. I will let you know for certain later.
• An application is being made to the Federal Government for a grant of $10,000 to cover the cost of a security camera system. Let’s pray that we are successful in obtaining that grant.
• Please keep on saving those empty drink bottles for Peachy Place. You can save them up and have them ready to hand over to Ian Nitschke or Mick Artis for when we return to worship together again  – OR if they are getting in your way, you could cash them in yourself and put the money aside to hand over to Ian and Mick.

Thank you to everyone of you for your understanding over this time of separation, whilst being together in a very different way.  I hope that God has been “Doing a New Thing” with you in this time. Sometimes He has to take us out of our comfort zones to help us grow.
God’s blessings to you.
 
BC
 
Brenton Chomel
Church Chairman
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; there is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not. As thou has been Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!” - Thomas O. Chisholm
(Based on Lamentations 3:22-23)
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