Pop Up Church in Norlane
April began with 70 people attending our outdoor Pop Up Church where different speakers gave testimony of God’s powerful love for those who hunger and thirst for Jesus. I think the Word of God was received powerfully because we have been fasting for conversions and the people who speak are hungry to share Jesus with marginalised non-Christians. We gave away 25 hand knitted beanies and crosses and easter eggs. A few weeks later we visited some of the folks there and are talking about baptism for one young fellow. In the photo, you can see the corrugated iron tank we brought to get them ready for baptism.
Help for the Homeless?
Some trusted friends from Pop Up Church told me the housing crisis is hurting them and their friends. Housing prices are skyrocketing in 3214 and the long-term renters are being pushed out. The Lord has put on my heart to take some steps to address the housing crisis locally and help the homeless. This starts with prayer, learning and conversations with council.
Easter Tree-Planting Day in Corio Park
Council Mates
Council Mates My mates from Maintenance & the Tree Unit helped prepare the park.
Preparing to Plant
Preparing to Plant Drawing on the tree guards together before planting is so much fun.
Easter Message
Easter Message About 35 people learned more about the real meaning of Easter.
Important Leaders’ Meetings
Apart from some significant seed-sowing ministry meetings, we had four leaders’ meetings in April.
1. Our first ever Board Meeting where we agreed to incorporate, get a bank account, get a proper logo and better website, get an ABN, registration with the ACNC and loads of insurance etc. We are now officially incorporated!
2. Leaders from CCCVaT who want to sponsor us and some of our board got to know each other better over lunch in Corio.
3. We had a strategic prayer meeting involving intercessors (who have prayed over the area and the building for decades) to launch this new season of Little Miracles in Corio Christian Centre. This included the main prayer leader from CCCVaT. It was great having her along too, as we are now a CCCVaT ministry.
4. Bus Stop Ministry Explorers’ Day – 9 people came to get a taste of the vision to reach out to the folks who gather daily at the Bus Stop outside Corio Christian Centre.
I’m sorry I don’t have photos of any of this. I was too carried away in the moment to take any!
Bus Stop Ministry Explorers’ Day
A group of evangelists got together at the end of Term 1 to see all the action at the bus stop at Corio Christian Centre. It’s a bit like a party already! Every school day about 40 people gather at the church building so we’ve decided to serve them with friendship, games and hospitality. This idea marries with the idea to create a community centre in the building. Then prophetic people came and said it was time to return the building to the original purpose for which it was created. I was told the generation before us had created a room with vinyl floor and sliding glass doors to be a cafe to engage the local people. Then we were given a coffee machine so we’ve decided to get it all going to serve the locals. We begin our Term 2 pilot project next Tuesday 2 May! Every second Tuesday in Term 2 from 2-4pm we’ll gather to give the locals coffee and engage them in fun in Jesus’ name. We see this as the first step in building creating a community centre.
Games for Families
Games for Families After school, we’ll welcome families and engage them with friendship, hospitality & games in the church building.
Spinny Wheel
Spinny Wheel We’ll use this as a game to generate conversation. We’re going to reuse these things from the church shed.
Coffee Machine
We were given this coffee machine by Danni Synot, a ministry leader in the area. She said, “You’ll need this for the community centre”. We want to emphasise social connections and hospitality first with a hearty welcome and lots of fun to be had.
There’s the Bus Stop
Just outside the window you can see the bus stop! Here we go! Christine and I used to own and run a cafe in Carlton. This will be so much better! We see this is the beginning of what could become a seriour mission hub where people are discipled, trained, healed, challenged and fall in love with Jesus and grow to become warriors for Christ.
A Migrant Sewing Team?
Rahima was in my Level 0 English class about 5 years ago. Despite having no previous education (she grew up in a mud hut tending goats), she made terrific progress in my class. You can imagine how pleased I was to bump into her at Corio Village recently. She’s now working at Subway and as we talked, I remembered my experience that Afghan women like sewing. I’ve seen their intricate needlework. So I asked her if she thought a sewing group for Afghan women might work, to make some money, maybe? She thought deeply for a few seconds, then replied, “When is this on?”. I explained it was just a dream at this stage. But why not? We have the building. We have the people. Why not facilitate something wonderful for the poor in Corio?
Afghan refugees like Rahima are doing their best in 3214 to raise their families and make ends meet. Why not give them a hand?
Financial Needs Right Now
In this season we are incurring lots of costs without any income as I’ve finished with the Bethel Christian Fellowship. I’ve stepped out in faith knowing this is God’s will and it is important to keep going with new investments. I have been invited to apply for funding from CCCVaT in June. Until then I have no income coming in for ministry so I’m asking if you would like to contribute now to make up this shortfall. We don’t have a Little Miracles bank account yet so please use our personal account.
Angus & Christine Giles. BSB: 013259 ACC: 248826009
Thank you!
Prayer Support
A big thank you to everyone who supports our work in prayer. Asking God to bless the work of our hands, to direct our paths and to prosper the Kingdom of God through our endeavours is a great way to pray. We need the power, wisdom and love of God to keep us from just doing good works and to keep us doing God’s work. When we walk in the stream of God’s work, we see great fruitfulness. So thank you for being part of this crazy good adventure. Drop me a line sometime and come and visit us here!