Dear Border Church Family,
This week we will be having Church in our regular venue at the QCWA Hall at 169 Griffith Street, Coolangatta. Parking can be found on Griffith and Boundary Streets as well as on Marine Parade. For shaded parking you can park under Twin Towns. We will be meeting at 9:30am QLD/10:30am NSW and look forward to spending time with you.
Border Church this Week
This week in my re-examination of things I have been taught I may make a lot of people very unhappy. I tackle one of the "sacred cows" of institutionalised religion - Tithing. We want to explore what is Biblical and what is not Biblical when it comes to the Tithe. We will explore whether Tithe is applicable after the Cross, what it entails. What even is Tithe?
We always have a healthy vegetarian fellowship lunch after Church. We will be having nachos/haystacks! We would love you to join us for this time of fellowship. Our lunch schedule can be found here - https://border.church/pages/church-luncheons-roster
This Weekend
This week Epic Youth is back on at 5:30-7:30pm NSW time at the Tweed Presbyterian Church Hall, the Corner of Wharf and Florence streets, Tweed Heads. This week it is Round Robin! The program for the remainder of our term is below:
The next combined Churches service will be hosted by Tweed Presbyterian Church this Sunday November 12 at 10:45am NSW Time. Pastor Willy Dumas from Gunggalah Church will be leading out and Pastor David Stojcic from The Vine will be taking Communion.
Remembering Gi (1952-2023)
It is with some sadness that I bring news that one of our regular attendees when we first began Border Church, Gillian "Gi" Linda Norman (nee Brown) went to sleep in Jesus this Tuesday November 11. While we will miss her for a time, we look forward to the resurrection when we will all be united "together" with the Lord in the air. This does take much of the sting out of our current sorrow.
A fighter until the end, Gi lived an amazing life and loved Jesus and the Bible. Gi was an award winning documentary film producer and an investigative reporter who braved dangerous places in Central America to shine light on some of the dark actions of humanity and corrupt governments. In the 1990s, Gi shifted from political and social reporting to producing films on the Creation-Evolution debate. Some of the videos she is credited with producing can be found below. After moving to Australia in 1994 Gi worked in Christian and Community radio on the Sunshine Coast such as Rhema as a presenter. Moving to the Northern Rivers area in the 2010s, Gi returned to social justice issues informed by her faith in Jesus.
Gi's time with us at Border Church was characterised by generosity and warm affection. During the COVID lockdowns she had been searching for a fellowship that resisted the authoritarianism imposed by the Government. Gi and her four-legged companion Amber, who passed away from a snake bite last year, were frequent visitors to Border Church while we were in the park and after we had moved to the QCWA hall until the tragedy of the floods diverted her journey. I remained in regular contact with her, encouraging her in her journey and updating her on goings on at Border Church. We talked through theological differences and remained friends even when there were impasses reached. She always knew she was welcome at Border Church and that she had a hug waiting for her from me and Victor. Victor will always remember her by the bongo drum gifted him by Gi.
We see God's hand at work in how Rhonda was around when Gi first collapsed leading to her terminal diagnosis. I continued to keep contact with Gi throughout her illness. For a long time she was not ready to talk about the finality and I sat or conversed over the phone with her as a friend often with many prayers. At the end, when she was ready to talk about things, it was my honour to encourage her with the hope we have in Jesus and the assurance of her salvation through the precious blood of the Lamb.
To learn more about Gi's amazing life, you can see her profile page here - https://gilindanorman.blogspot.com/2020/04/gi-linda-filmography.html
Here are some documentaries Gi produced defending the special creation of this world and distributed through Answers in Genesis.
We are in the process of organising a memorial for Gi and will update as soon as this is arranged.
News
Last month we held our first Taboo Talk. We recorded that video but unfortunately there was some corruption to the video file. It has taken me a month but I was able to retrieve the video and fix the audio to be able to upload this online. You can watch this video now on Youtube below
Next Tuesday November 14 at 7pm Qld time Christian musician Jeremy Camp will be having a concert at Newlife Robina. This is part of the Jeremy's "I Still Believe" Tour. Jeremy's life has been made into a movie of the same name and tells his inspirational journey. General Admission tickets are still available and cost $44.80 - https://www.itickets.com/register/new/474708
This Wednesday November 15 at 7:30pm QLD time, there is a prayer and praise time being held at Robina Anglican Church, at 186 Robina Town Centre Drive. This is to sow prayer and begin networking prayer warriors ahead of next year's Will Graham Lookup Celebration.
Saturday afternoon December 2 we will join other Churches in the park at Jack Evans for a Combined Churches Family Fun day. Please mark it in your calendars and start sharing with people you know!
My last two programs in the series on lessons from Church History have aired. We covered the period of the Great Awakening (1800-1914) and then the modern period, 1914-2000 with lessons for the Gold Coast-Tweed in 2023. Past shows can be found on the links below:
Church History 1914-2000: Lessons from the last 100 years for 2023
Church History 1800-1914: Great Awakening to War and lessons for 2023
Church History 1500-1800: Reformation and Revolution and lessons for 2023
Church History 1000-1500AD: Dark Ages and lessons for 2023
Church History up to 1000AD and Lessons for 2023
Early Church History and Lessons for 2023
What does the Bible Say About Food?
Denominational Differences and Sheep Stealing
Give
You can contribute towards our community outreach in our tithes and offerings box or online through various options on our website at https://border.church/give
Weekly meetings
Wednesday Prayer Meeting
Prayer meetings are on Wednesdays at 3pm NSW time at 179 Botanical Circuit, Banora Point. Please message me or speak to Lorraine if you have any prayer requests we can add to our list. All are welcome to join as we pray for our community and upcoming projects.
Wednesday Night Bible Study
A few weeks ago we finished season one of Sealed & Revealed and will resume with Season 2 in 2024. However, to fill in the gap before Christmas, we will begin again this Wednesday night at 6:30pm QLD/7:30pm NSW time looking at questions you have suggested. The first few weeks will look at the Creation of this world and look at some answers to the Evolutionary process in the light of the Bible and Science.
The Zoom link for this is below - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Sealed & Revealed - Heralds of the Messiah
Our first series on Messianic Prophecies is now finished and in 2024 we will resume a new series looking at the New Testament view of prophecy (minus Revelation which will be dealt with in a future season). If you would like to catch up on studies in this series, recorded sessions can be found on the secret YouTube playlist here:
Other worship opportunities
If you or anyone you know would like to start a Discovery Bible Reading group, we would be happy to equip and support you in this. We will be teaching how to do these from this week. It really is very simple.
We run Alpha small groups on a regular basis and if you would like help hosting one for your friends or loved ones to discover Jesus and the basics of the Bible, please let us know.
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday at 9:30am QLD/10:30am NSW.
Blessings
love
Brendan, Alina, Victor and Erina