February Church Family News

The Better Together Series

Throughout February our Newy am, Newy pm and LakeMac congregations have been looking at what the bible says about friendship, especially friendship in Church. There's been lots of great feedback, as well as lots of great questions.

To listen to the talks, go to our SoundCloud page.
https://soundcloud.com/hunterbiblechurch/sets/better-together

O-Week @ UoN

Last week, thousands of new students started university at Newcastle. Unichurch held a bunch of outreach events and activities during O-Week.

It was a great week where they were able to let new and current students know about Jesus and church. The Team had some awesome conversations and 50 new people came along to Unichurch for the O-Week BBQ. 

Pray for Unichurch as they continue to welcome and encourage new students both at church and through evangelistic conversations.

The Life Series

It’s been a cracker start to the year with the Life Series. There has been 19 people coming along to check out Jesus! 

Church is doing a stellar job of chatting to their friends about Jesus and inviting them along.

Pray that God would use his series to save many people for his glory. 

NextPhase 'Living with Dementia'

On the 3rd of February, NextPhase held a seminar on ways to love and dignify people with Dementia as well as care for them as our Christian family. It reminded us that Jesus offers hope beyond Dementia.

Please be praying that people over 55 would continue to be exposed and challenged with the Gospel regardless of their illness. And, that in spite of people’s debilitating illness, we are able to show them hope through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

LakeMac Men & Meat

The guys at our LakeMac congregation got to invite their mates along to a great night hearing from Liam Doyle, a butcher turned pastor.

These have been really well attended and the prayer is that it will lead to guys coming along to Life or Christianity Explored to keep checking out Jesus.

Cupacke Decorating Afternoon

Alongside the Men & Meat event, the LakeMac congregation held a cupcake decorating afternoon. A bunch of people's friends came along and met one another while having fun with icing and treats.

Again, please pray that these events would lead to more conversations and invitation to come and check out Jesus.

Mag team gathering

Magnification Team Gathering was an evening where members of the Mag Team cam together for a night of fellowship, praise and learning new skills.

This was an opportunity for the Mag Team to spend some time improving their communication and skill base. Pete Munday gave a compelling talk on prayer where the Team was challenged to change their attitude towards prayer and its place in our life.

Please pray that the Mag Team can continue to work together at growing in their love of talking to God, and sharing this with our church.

MaTURITY Team Training

The Unichurch Maturity Team met for training, planning and team building on Saturday, Feb 17.

This team of 50 or so guys and girls will be leading groups for the hopefully 300 people at Unichurch this year.

Pray for lots of sign ups and healthy and growing groups.

January Family News

WAVE Kids Club

In the third week of January, the WAVE Kids Club with Sideline Cafe kicked off. Over 600 kids came along throughout the week, with over 100 different adults sticking around at the coffee tent. All who came along got to hear and learn about how they could be friends with Jesus and what the gospel means. 

Thank God for the 200+ people who helped WAVE happen and pray for all those who heard the gospel.

Men & Meat Night

On the 25th, a stack men gathered at The Hub to hang out with friends, cut up and eat lamb and hear about Jesus.

Pray for the non-Christians who were invited along, and that they would continue to investigate who Jesus is.

Summer Nights

Over Summer, Newy:PM has been meeting on Tuesday at Summer Nights to hang out, let the kids play, eat together and listen to a story from the Bible, because it's easy to let God slip to the side when Growth Groups have come to an end. 

Pray that Newy:Pmers would practice and remember these Bible stories so they can lovingly share the Gospel, as well as think through what it means for their own lives.

Summer Sessions

Last Tuesday, Summer Sessions kicked off again for our Unichurch congregation. Summer Sessions is a great chance for Unichurch to continue to meet and study the Bible whilst on holidays. It will run every Tuesday until the 14th of Feb, at The Hub from 6pm-9pm. 

Pray that the Unichurchers would be challenged and equipped for another year of serving Jesus at uni.

Big Questions 

Over the Summer, all four congregations have been looking at four big questions about Christianity. These have been a big hit with non-Cristians thinking through the claims of Christianity as well as for Christians to consider how to answer wisely on their own.

We're planning to put these up online soon!

Growth Groups Kicking off

Over the past week or so, 100s of HBCers have been signing up for Growth Groups for the year. As a church, we're really keen on gathering around the bible in weekly groups to grow more like Christ together.

Please pray for our 70+ Growth Group leaders and their support teams. Please pray for our Newish Groups starting the Connect Series too! The hope is that those Newish Groups will become their own Growth Groups soon. 

Our Extended family

At HBC we partner with a bunch of people and organisations who we love, and are doing some ministry + evangelism that we can't do, but are really excited about. To keep things manageable, and to help deepen relationships between people in our church family here in Newcastle + Lake Mac and our family serving in other places, we divide them up amongst our 4 congregations.

HBC:NEWY MORNINGS
- Chris + Karen Webb | CMS Broome, WA. (visiting us in March!).
- Kingsley + Veronica Box | CMS, Slovenia.
- Stu + Isabella | CMS, South Asia.

HBC:NEWY ARVOS
- Rob + Jen Alley | AIM.
- Shem + Grace | HSJC
- Kelly Landrigan | CMS, France.

HBC:LAKE MAC
- Josh + Sarah Allen | Laneway Church, Footscray Vic.
- Lincoln + Leah Bill | HMP, Myanmar.
- Mike + Katie Taylor | CMS, Tanzania.

HBC:UNICHURCH
- Ross + Lyndal Webb | Wycliffe Bible Translators, Vanuatu.
- Dave Payne | Pioneers, Myanmar.
- Dene + Rachel Hughes | CMS, Japan.