Below is an announcement from the PCQ Reflection and Meditation Team. Because we believe gathering as God’s people to pray and reflect is a good thing, we are planning to stream this online service here at the Creek Road Campus, and invite you all to join us. Please consider coming – if your Growth Group meets on Wednesday nights, it might be a lovely thing for you to come as a group.
We will provide more details as we get them.
Our denomination is in the middle of a difficult time. We’ve already felt the pain of selling denominational assets to negotiate our exit from the aged care industry, but despite our best efforts, the PCQ had no option but to go into receivership. We have yet to discover what the full impact of this will be across the Church. There is much uncertainty, and we all have many questions which will take time to be answered.
It is natural at a time like this that we would be experiencing a range of emotions, ranging from fear and anxiety to disappointment and mistrust. It is natural that as a church family we would be in grief, with all the emotions that come with that.
So, how can we respond to this as God’s family?
Our last Assembly expressed a desire for our church to be led in a time of reflection and meditation, where we ask God to reveal our sins and to humbly confess as a Church, and also to be led in a time of spiritual nurture. To complement the ongoing local initiatives, the Assembly appointed a Reflection and Meditation Team to assist us as a denomination to humble ourselves and cast our cares on to the Lord.
This Team is planning an online service to be broadcast to PCQ congregations across our state so we can reflect and pray as a whole denomination.
On Wednesday 16th June 2021 at 6:00 PM, PCQ congregations across our state are invited to gather to take part in this service of corporate and congregational prayer and lament. More details will follow.
In the lead up to this service, we will provide three (3) guided meditations for individuals or small groups to use for prayer and lament. Allow 20-30 minutes for each one. The first 2 of these meditations is attached and we ask that it be made available to all members of your congregation. Individuals are also invited to submit prayers prompted from these guided meditations to be used in our reflection and prayer service. These are to be submitted by 7th June. (Contact the Living Church office for details on how you can submit these prayers)
‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33)
Yours in Christ,
Reflection and Meditation Team
Rev Peter Evans, Dr Carolyn Russell, Rev Nathan Shannon.