Earth Hour

EARTH HOUR - 7.30pm to 8.30pm - Saturday March 31,2007

Earth Hour is a fabulous opportunity for you and your family to do something about climate change. On one night, in one hour, more will be done, more will be demonstrated, and more will be learned than through a hundred 'talk-fests'. And you can help make it happen.What is Earth Hour?It sounds simple, but it is very, very dramatic. At 7.30pm on March 31st 2007, we will be encouraging companies, government departments, individuals and families to turn off their lights for just one hour.If we meet our objectives during the first Earth Hour,the savings in green house gas emissions will be the equivalent of taking 75,000 medium sized cars off the road for one whole year! Now that's something worth doing. Why? The facts are alarmingly clear: The climate is changing!

• The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1990. In fact 2005 was the hottest year since record keeping began. (Australian Bureau of Meteorology)
• Almost 70% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions come from energy production. (ABS)
• More than 95% of the Great Barrier Reef will have been destroyed by 2050 if carbon dioxide emissions aren't reduced.(WWF-International)
• One million species worldwide are facing extinction due to climate change. (University of Leeds)

But not everybody listens to the facts. Earth Hour is your opportunity to demonstrate how a simple change in our way of life could change, and help save, our planet. The goals of Earth Hour:

Households: Most of us use unnecessary electricity. Appliances on standby, old style light bulbs, lights left on when we're not using them. Earth Hour will help us all to realise just how simply we can make a dramatic impact upon global warming (and our own powerbills). We will see it in action.

Companies: We want companies to be involved. If every company in Australia turned off its lights when the buildings weren't in use, and combined it with energy saving technology, we would save between 2 and 4 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses every year. EarthHour will show companies just how easy that is.

Power Companies: We will be asking power companies toprovide special deals for companies and households to switch to Green Power. To make it an annual event: Out of the 8,766 hours in a year, let's give one back to the earth.What you can do: Sign up to Earth Hour and Pledge to turn off your lights on March 31st from 7.30pm to 8.30pm by logging onto www.earthhour.org You will receive all the information you need to make Earth Hour a great success (and to cut your own energy bills in the long term).

How Fast Do You Follow?

We were asked the question today at church. Imagine you are standing by the Sea of Galilee, if you were one of the fishermen, when Jesus said to you, "Follow Me," what would you do?

Will I do what Simon Peter and Andrew did - immediately leave their nets and follow Jesus? (Matt 4:19-20). That is a tough question! But when Jesus called the disciples, they immediately left everything and followed Him. And that response was the beginning of a journey that ended up changing their lives....and the course of history.

I believe there is a valuable lesson in this story. That lesson is to learn to follow fast!

My Update Letter

Dear friend,

How are you? I trust that this letter finds you in peace, health, joy and happiness.

CCBC
I think most of you know that I will be finishing my service as the Creative Arts Coordinator in CCBC at the end of March and will focus on my mission endeavours in World Team and beyond afterwards.

During the CCBC Missionary Convention many years ago, God said to me, 'the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field?' (Matthew 9:37-38). During that time, I dedicated my life for God's service. I thank God for the opportunity to be serving in CCBC as the ministry staff for the last 3 years. It was through my serving Him that made me become more aware of my own responsibility in advancing God's Kingdom.

As I approach a new season in my life and ministry when I finish my contract with CCBC, my passion for the future is to focus on the participation in the sending process as one that challenges & encourages people into missionary service, whether it's through praying, supporting or actually going to the mission fields!

A New Season (Personal / Local Mission Outreach)
My desire is to have 'mustard seed faith' and I know that God is always with me, and has my best interests at heart, so I don't have to fear. As well as being a mission mobilizer with World Team, I will also continue to spend time with not-yet-Christian friends as a sent one, amongst my business and artist friends. Some of these friends are sceptical or even frightened of anything related to 'church', but thank God that He has really opened the door for me to build relationship with them and witness to them. Would you please lift me up as I seek to minister to these people in the marketplace, on their turf, beyond the four walls of the church building.

In my everyday life, I believe in the importance of enthusiasm, integrity and having a deep passion for everything I do. Treat people the way you expect to be treated and above all, have gratitude, faith and remember to "walk your talk". This is something I am committed to do, even though I have been feeling a bit anxious in approaching this new season of my life. However my weaknesses and frailties remind me how great our God is! I am convicted that God's grace is sufficient for me! :)

World Team
John Stott writes ...'Mission is integral to authentic Christianity; Christianity without mission is Christianity no longer."

Last week, I attended one of our interns Rachel Kerr's graduation ceremony at Bible College of Victoria, and felt very touched and proud of her. Seeing her heart for mission and the willingness to serve God wherever He calls her made my eyes go teary. Please pray for Rachel as she continues seeking God's will in her life.

Our missionary apprentices Joel & Elly Henson have been accepted as World Team Australia missionaries and will be seconded to Helimission, who work closely with World Team in church planting among tribal groups. We are organising a Focus Mission Night for Joel & Elly soon. Please pray for them as they continue to seek prayer and practical support for their ministry in Papua, Indonesia.

Deb & Luke Muir went to France in February. They have had a great time of exploring future ministry opportunities in Paris. Pray that the Lord will help them to process all that they have learned and experienced, and that they will know and follow His direction for future ministry.

World Team is also going to facilitate the comprehensive mission nurture course "CLIMAT" (Church Linked Mission Awareness Training) in a church in Footscray at the end of March, and in the next few months, we will be facilitating the training in various other churches & small groups as well.

In April, World Team will be participating in and serving through Explore Mission Network and Explore Mission Mentors Conference. The Explore Mission Network is an initiative of AFES Victoria as they seek to mobilize, raise up, equip and send out a new generation for all kinds of mission. I would like to encourage you to attend this year's Conference (13-15 April) in Melbourne. Please feel free to contact me if you require any further information (plus please email me your postal address if you would like me to post out a copy of the conference brochure to you).

I appreciate each of you and your support & prayers as I continue on my journey. I feel so privileged to serve the LORD in these days, and I praise Him for His grace and blessings in my life.

Love,
Kitty
World Team Australia: www.worldteam.org.au
World Team: www.worldteam.org

Grace

The followings are some of the quotes that I found on grace.

Wikipedia states that 'divine grace' refers to the sovereign favour of God for humankind — especially in regard to salvation — irrespective of actions ("deeds"), earned worth, or proven goodness.

More broadly, divine grace refers to God's gifts to humankind, including life, creation, and salvation. More narrowly but more commonly, grace describes the means by which humans are saved from original sin and granted salvation. This latter concept of grace is of central importance in the theology of Christianity, as well as one of the most contentious issues in Christian sectarianism.

Eugene O'Neill says, "Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue."

U2's song "Grace":

What left a mark
no longer stains

Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds goodness
In everything

Philip Yancey in his book "What's so amazing about grace?", says that the proof of spiritual maturity is not how "pure" you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.

What does grace mean to you? Have you had any personal stories about grace?

You Are The Mission!

I am a person who constantly grapples with the idea of mission. Recently God gave me a revelation that in order to change our world, we need God's help to change ourselves first. Therefore I see that I have a mission in life and that is me! My mission is not only my life story, though that is part of it, it is me, because Christ is in me.

We were made in God's image, we are His conduits and vessels to reflect Him through our lives as Jesus lives His life through ours. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of the Almighty. We are a carrier of the gospel and Christ Himself. We are the Ambassador's for Christ.

Of course we are not perfect. We are all work in progress, under construction and in process. And this is OK. Praise God that our failures and sins don't negate the presence of Christ in our lives. They show why we need Him, because we cannot do it ourselves. He is the vine and we are the branches, without Him we can do nothing. God is perfectly capable of being all these things in us, in spite of us. That's why we are the mission!

I Love Life

I love life! I appreciate the opportunity to experience it. Surely it has its challenges, difficulties, disappointments and heartaches. I have experienced my share of these. Nonetheless, what an incredible journey life is.

I have been reminded lately that no matter what the circumstances are in our world, we need to give thanks to God, count our blessings and be content. No matter how negative things seem at the moment, there is always good to be found in any situation. Those who can balance the bad with the good are the ones that find peace of mind and love of life. And finding that balance often takes a purposeful effort! I am committed to making an effort daily to see good (God) in every circumstance and seeing good (God) will help me appreciate this wonderful opportunity we call life. Let's do that together my friend!