This week we are setting aside three days to fast and pray. It’s an opportunity to pause, seek God with intention, and to realign our hearts with His. Whether this kind of rhythm is familiar or something entirely new, there is space for everyone to lean in, as we pray for breakthrough and ask the Holy Spirit to open the way for the more he made us for.

In the lead-up to this time of prayer, there’s been something beautiful unfolding across our community. A quiet reminder of how God works through everyday faithfulness. Women from the Creative Crafters group have been busy creating puppets to support the Payne Road primary school chaplaincy program, sowing seeds of joy and creativity into young lives. Others have been donating food items to fill hampers, which are then given to families in need, through our local school chaplains. 

This kind of ministry often goes unnoticed but is deeply significant. It reminds us that ministry is not confined to Sundays or church roles. It’s happening every day in workplaces, schools, homes, and neighbourhoods. Ministry travels with us, woven into the way we listen, care, respond, and live. Wherever we are, the presence of Christ goes with us, and in many quiet, unseen ways, the church goes too.

This is both a sacred invitation and a humbling responsibility. There’s a moment in Exodus 4:2 where God asks Moses, “What is that in your hand?”. It’s a simple question that opened the door to miraculous purpose. Moses held only a staff, yet God used it powerfully. The same question is being asked of each of us: What has been placed in our hands? It might be a skill, a vocation, a relationship, a gift, or even a quiet burden for someone or something. Whatever has been entrusted to us, it can be used to reveal God’s love and hope in the world.

Ultimately, the mission of the church has never been about buildings or events, it’s always been about people. It’s about becoming a living, breathing testament to the relational, hopeful, and transforming power of Jesus. It takes shape in shared conversations, acts of kindness and lives quietly laid down in service to others.

It’s so important that we keep telling the stories of grace unfolding in the ordinary. Of moments when God’s presence is glimpsed in a conversation, a decision, a quiet act of courage or compassion. These stories remind us that God is always at work, sometimes visibly, often quietly and that we are part of a much bigger story than we often realise.

As we enter this new week, I pray this would be a time to listen, reflect on what

has been placed in our hands, notice where God is already at work around us, 

and to ask how we might faithfully join in.

May the journey ahead be shaped by learning, prayer, and a deep awareness

that we are the church, wherever we go, and wherever God leads.

God bless, Mel