Christian greetings from the Woombye Church, Queensland. I can only praise God for how wonderfully He has blessed our church this year. When we are few in number, we depend on the Lord to make something big of our small endeavours. Every Sabbath is a miracle as we do not know whether we will be meeting with just a few or whether God will send the visitors that day! We look forward to Sabbath School and the Divine Service every week and our busier Sabbaths when everyone comes from Clayfield church, Pimpama and Wide Bay groups. We also put out the word to our local friends that we have, made and our numbers swell for the day.
On 21 February 2014 we had a total of 83 people attend for the combined day, which culminated in the baptism of Br Etienne Decuyper. On 17 May 2014 we were blessed with another special day for the dedication of baby Lucas De Souza, with over 60 people attending and our visiting Minister, Br Matthias Thiel. We were happy to have over 50 people attend the Sabbath of 14 June 2014 when Br Peter and Sr Susan Lausevic visited our church while having a holiday in the area.
From the 5 to 7 July 2014 we held a Winter Outreach. This was the second year that this kind of outreach had been held. It commenced with Sabbath, and Sunday and Monday were outreach days. The programme started off at the church with morning devotion. From there we went out letterboxing until lunch time, when we met in a park to eat together. After lunch we had a social outing together and then returned to the church to prepare the evening meal, have our evening devotion and then eat the meal together. This event was a great encouragement to all who participated, and we were truly blessed by working, socialising and worshipping together. At the end of this special spiritual time, it is always echoed, “Let’s do it again next year.” So, keep your ear to the ground and plan to join in the Outreach for Winter 2015.
For nearly six months God has sent us regular visitors to share our faith with and encourage us with our Sabbath meetings. We have been able to increase our Sabbath afternoon meetings and combined lunches from monthly to fortnightly, and we are praising God for the work He has given us to do.
We have just had the special privilege of having Br Hayden Wiseman visit with us, as he had agreed to present a violin concert on the afternoon of 29 November 2014. Only those from the local area and Wide Bay Group were able to attend; so we invited many friends, and we had a wonderful day with almost 50 people present. Hayden played heavenly music, and the concert finished at the close of the Sabbath. We were then able to share a beautiful evening meal together. It was lovely to see everyone enjoying the fellowship, and it seemed no one wanted it to come to an end.
Hayden also gave a public concert at Woombye the next day, when he presented some of his classical pieces he has learnt this year and also the well-known hymn transcriptions which he plays so well. Hayden gave God the glory for his talent and shared stories of the composers of the hymns, which were well received. Daniela and Elisabeth Balarezo were also guest performers, presenting a classical piece each from their repertoire studied this year. It was a wonderful experience to perform in a public concert and accompany Hayden and Elisabeth on the piano for the classical performances.
We are now enjoying special Sabbaths at church with the Week of Prayer readings. We pray God will bless us as we witness for Him at Woombye Church and hope 2015 will bring us even greater blessings.
God bless.
~ Report by Sr Sandra Barnett
