CHURCH PLANTING

NEW CHURCHES REACH NEW PEOPLE!

In 2009, CoastEC was planted with 7 adults and 1 kid. The Lord has grown His Church in many ways since then!

In 2018, we launched the Hallidays 2pm service (and experienced some growth in numbers).

In 2020, we planted MBC in Taree, closed the 2pm service down, and Covid hit. That was a triple whammy!

Since then, we've been working hard at reconnecting and rebuilding.

But MBC has grown amazingly!

They have an average Sunday attendance of about 110; with 174 regulars all up.

They also have 7 bible study groups, with 84 regulars.

And get this: Only 1% of these people were previously attending another church in Taree!

They are also hoping to employ a Mission Director next year.

Praise God for growing His Church!

Pray that God would raise up the right person to join their staff team.

PLANTING NEW CHURCHES IS COSTLY! BUT SO WORTH IT!

CoastEC sacrificed a lot to plant MBC, and we are still feeling the impact of that in many ways.

But if you combine the stats for CoastEC and MBC, it's encouraging to see that it's so worth it!

MEGA WELCOMING!

We want to be a church that welcomes people like God has welcomed us!

Praise God that we have visitors come along to our Sunday gatherings almost every week from in and around our region. One of the recurring comments shared about people's first time experience at Coast is how welcomed they feel - what an awesome quality to be known by! A huge shout out to the Connect Team who so wonderfully serve each week in greeting and connecting newcomers into our fellowship.

We also try and help new people plug into our family by inviting them along to Newish BBQ lunches. Praise God for the hospitality of Chris and Sharon Ekins, Pete and Steph Flower, and Ally Hawkins as they've opened up their homes and hosted lunches over this year.

I've also been super encouraged to hear about people's generous hospitality - new people are being welcomed at church one week, and then invited over for a meal at someone's home the next. So beyond golden! Let's keep it up, learn from one another and pray that the Lord would amplify our hearts for hospitality.

How can we make our Sunday gatherings more welcoming?

Are you interested in opening up your home and hosting a lunch, or helping with catering?

FAMILY TIME!

We want to be a church that enjoys deep fellowship with one another.

One of the ways we have been trying to build relationships in our Sunday Gatherings is by sharing monthly meals together after our services. A special thank you to Heather and the catering team who have done a stellar job at organising and preparing pizza's and soup!

We've also had some other big fellowship events together this year that we would love to run again and refine for next year, like our 'Birthday Bash', Sunday Roast, and our Weekend Away up at Scott's Head.

Some new ideas we've had for 2023 include a 'Coast Group weekend away' and a Young Adult's Weekend Away.

How we can deepen our fellowship with one another and continue to build our family culture?

CARING ABOVE EXPECTATIONS

We want to be a church that cares for one another well!

I've been blown away as I've witnessed the sacrificial love that so many have extended over the past few months. Our people have organised home and hospital visits, provided ongoing meal deliveries, offered transportation, delivered covid care packages to their coast group members and gathered to pray with one another.

We've also started up a new ad hoc 'meals and wheels ministry'. The meals side of the ministry consists of a team of people ready to provide once-off and/or ongoing meals for those in need, and the transport is helping our people get to church on Sunday's who can't drive themselves.

How can we continue to grow and develop our pastoral care ministries to meet the needs of our church family?

Are there specific pastoral needs within our church community that we are not currently meeting, and what can we do to address this?

FAITHFUL SERVANTS!

It's been a big year of serving the saints of Coast so far! Thanks to all those who've gone hard on Sunday arvos as we gather together; it's beginning to feel like we are getting our rhythm going again now that the restrictions seem to be behind us.

Thanks also to those serving hard throughout the week! Many meals have been made and delivered, gardens weeded and watered, lifts given, patients visited, things built and repaired, places cleaned, and people and their stuff moved in. No one is on a formal team for this and yet it happens week in and week out. I love the heart of our church family - thanks for loving God and loving others with your time, energy, abilities and cash. Being a living sacrifice in honour to the King is a cracker way to live - so thanks for the encouragement and example you set.

6PM SERVICE

Our plan was to reboot the service on Sunday Nov 27. This date was chosen because it would give us time to prepare for the summer holidays and our 4pm service - which some Sundays is getting pretty big - will swell significantly.

However, after chatting through some logistics at our Staff Conference, and then bringing our concerns to the Ministry Team Leaders last Sunday, we are now considering a delay.

The 6pm service is very much needed; lots of our Kids Ministry Team miss out regularly in coming to a service, people who need to work later than 4pm often can't make it in time but can and do come with a later service, it's hard to invite friends to come along when you are out serving on other ministries, etc.

But, the reality is the summer holidays are notoriously hard for Team Leaders to roster as people are away or working extra shifts. We'll have a number of combined services (Carols, Christmas Eve, etc.) in December meaning no 6pm service on those dates regardless. Some of our Ministry Teams don't have the ideal numbers - and we are keen to start the new service strong.

Four key ministry teams for a 6pm service aren't currently strong enough (Band, Catering, Mac & Sound). Anyone got hidden talents in these areas that they would be up for sharing?

I would love to create and build a Video Production Team to produce films of testimonies, Word on the Streets, MAP/GAP videos, and more. Anyone keen to be a part of this next year and beyond?

THEOLOGICAL TOPICS?

One of the things I mentioned when preaching on Jesus' return a few Sundays ago was the need for us as a church to prepare for increasing hostility and pressure as we follow Jesus in Australia. The Andrew Thorburn (Essendon) saga has highlighted the need for us to deepen our discipleship and cling tightly to God's gift of fellowship.

When it comes to issues like sexuality and gender the Gospel causes chaos in our culture. As God's people we need to be robust in our knowledge of what He wants for us and so next year we will be spending some time in the first letter to the Corinthian church - here Paul deals with lots of these issues (sexuality, marriage, divorce, gender). We'll also look to run some complementary mid-week topical nights where we can really zero in on the nitty gritty.

What are the theological issues that you would like more teaching or equipping on?

I want to run a super helpful marriage course next year. There are 5 sessions running for 1.5 hours each. If married what would be the most helpful format? Over 5 weeks, one day, etc? What would you be able to commit to as a couple?

TEAM

I want to give a super big and well-deserved shout out to Jackie France, Yvonne Gunning and Deb Laurie for coming together and starting up a senior's ministry team this year! It's been a blessing to witness their passion for gathering people for fellowship and their desire for our older people to continue to be on mission and be growing.

EVENTS

The team have a few more outings in the works for the next few months including a Smith's Lake Bowling Club get together on the 12th November, and a potluck dinner on Friday 2nd December - stay tuned for more details to come!

In the years to come, we would love to grow our senior's ministry and continue to help the team plan purposeful events. One suggestion is partnering with other FIEC churches on the Mid-north Coast for fellowship and maturity events. It's been wonderful to see the fruit of us partnering with FIEC churches in developing the Mid-Coast Youth Conference (MCYC), and we'd love to grow the partnership in potentially start up something similar to MCYC - but a 60+ version!

MISSION

Seniors make up a significant chunk of the demographics in our region. In NSW, the mid coast has the highest proportion of over sixties living there. More than 1/3 of the 25,000 people living in our region are retired (36%). But only 15% of our church are retirees.

How can we more effectively connect with and share the gospel with the seniors in our region?

TEAM

It's been a great honour to plan and pray alongside Pam Kingston, Jill Hull, Amanda France, Celeste Suters and Aimee Lofberg for our women's ministry events this year! I praise God for them and their hearts to see our women grow in love for one another and our King.

EVENTS

We'd love you to be praying for us over the next few months as we look ahead to plan for 2023 in the hope that our women would continue to grow deeper in unity, be on mission together, and encourage each other to mature as we understand, rejoice in and embrace our God-given roles and responsibilities.

We would love to know if there are any women's connect gatherings you'd like to see happen in 2023 that you think could be particularly accessible for you to invite friends along to?

ONE LIFE AT A TIME

17 kids have come to Salt for the first time this year, including a girl called Haydn. Haydn has come every week since she got invited - which is a massive win.

With Kids Ministry our goal is to reach the 3,300 kids living in the 25 min radius. Currently at Kids Church we have on average 33 kids attending - so that’s 1%! Only 99 more to go.

NEXT YEAR

And so far for '23 we're looking to keep doing the same things, but would love your input in how to reach more of the 3,300 kids in our area.

GOD IS AT WORK

Our youth are keen for Mission and are good at inviting their friends to Riptide on Friday nights.

So far this year, 24 new teens have come along for the first time, including Lily & Ashlyn. These girls have also jumped into the girls Coast Group , and have also started coming to church regularly on Sundays. Please be praying for them to continue to have the desire to get to know God and make the commitment to follow Him.

And this is the whole point of Youth, isn't it? Our goal is to;

• Reach as many of the 1600 teens (12-19 years) in our region

• Equip them to head to Schoolies, Tafe, Uni, Work as missionaries

NEXT YEAR

And so for '23, one of the things we're looking to do is hold off Senior Youth. So the Year 11&12 will have their own Coast Group and will come back to Riptide.

Some save the dates - we've got conferences like Kyck (20-23/4), MCYC (TBD)

I'd love to hear your thoughts

Are there any ideas for your teens to feel like 'Riptide' is a more welcoming environment to invite their friends?

How can we partner with you to see your teens growing in their relationship with God?

How can we partner with you to get your teens to see gatherings (Youth & Church) as a priority?

Prayer

Pray for the teens as they continue to be bold by inviting / telling their mates about the Gospel.

Pray for the building - as the Guide Hall is great, but limits us with its size and it always feels loud. Prayer for wisdom in this.

Prayer that we find a Kids/Youth Pastor, that's the right fit for Coast - to continue growing this great ministry.