April 2023 Australia Pub Churches and Conference
AUSTRALIA SATURDAY 15th APRIL:
CARELINKS CONFERENCE The theatre at Riverbanks College, 1 Harvest Bvd, Angle Vale SA 5117 Coffee from 10:30 for an 11 AM start.
For more details please contact brother Mark Hawkins mark.ppah@gmail.com Tel. 0400 772 190
We'll also be holding a more informal get together at the home of brother John Mazlin in Toowoomba QLD on the late afternoon of Sunday 9th April God willing, and looking forward to some baptisms that day at his home. Let us know if you'd like to come along. You can email John direct at johnpmazlin@hotmail.com
This week the Lord worked very powerfully in the two "
Church in a Pub" meetings held in the city of Perth and the small rural settlement of Kellerberrin WA [population 800], about 3 hours drive inland from Perth where sister Jocelyn lives.
There had been various campaigns advertising the events on Google Ads and Facebook. Response was not only very large, but very positive. On the Perth "
Church in a Pub Western Australia" Facebook page alone, there were over 650 positive "Like", around 40,000 people were reached, and a massive 91 people shared the page with their friends. And the 220 comments and discussions on the page were very positive. Clearly people in Australia really, really like the idea. You can read all the comments yourselves on the page but a few are below. So many believe in some way, but are for whatever reason put off church. And they are looking for exactly something like this.
How this succeeded in human terms was in responding quickly to all the many private and public messages that people sent in response. Mark Hawkins was on the phone all the time fielding enquiries, and spending time chit chatting in order to build relationships. This was utterly critical. You can see video of Mark answering his phone and chatting with people, along with Mark and Lisa discussing the great success, at
https://youtu.be/lmrtec5R_6w This would be helpful to watch for anyone looking to replicate this "
Church in a pub" idea.
But of course it was all the many prayers and the Lord's hand that brought a total of 48 people to attend the first "
Church in a Pub" meeting. Yes we offered and provided free food- but people stayed a long time chatting and weren't overly interested in that. They didn't come for the food, that was clear. They stayed chatting for so long. Many had tales of woe from previous church experience. All said they loved it and it was what they really wanted. Naturally they asked "And is this going to continue?". Brothers Brian Hurn and Paul Smith wore visibility vests and were the "go to" points of contact for people to leave their name and phone numbers. Mark is now setting up regular meetings at the Gosnells Hotel ["the pub"] for every Sunday.... do pray for these dear people and this amazing response to continue and gell into a solid church. People are tired of pastors manipulating for power and money, they want Bible teaching, they want transparency and integrity. And we can definitely give that. The video of the sermon, on Luke 15 the parables of the lost and why the Lord ate with sinners, is at
https://youtu.be/4sP59kN4mq0 
By the end of it, we had to drag sister Lisa away from chatting with a group of other women who ended up laughing with each other like they were old friends:
We had to draw proceedings to a close to drive 3 hours to the small town of Kellerberrin [population 800] where Lisa's mum, sister Jocelyn, lives. We had likewise advertised the meeting with Facebook and Google ads. Given the small population of the town and surrounding rural area, we were also blown away by the response and level of interest expressed online. We had 15 of us in the Kellerberrin Motel ["pub"], where we did a church meeting for an hour and then shouted them a meal. There aren't many people let alone serious Christians in these distant rural areas. One young married couple came with their children, and said they drive an hour just to meet up with any other Christians for Bible study. Again, folks really liked it.
And the highlight was the baptism of GOLA, a worker temporarily working on installing a huge solar panel farm. We did this in the bath tub at sister Jocelyn's home, warmly greeted by our sisters Jocelyn and Lisa as you can see in the photo; you can see the video of the service and baptism at
https://youtu.be/Nu20Mar4Tcs Our new brother is so lovely and wants to give out tracts and Bibles. Whenever Mark & Lisa go up to visit "mum", they'll be able to meet up with the group, and going forward they were keen to attend our meetings on Zoom.
So we give all thanks to the Father and His Son, to achieve whose glory we sincerely set our hands to this work.
Saturday 15 April at the
Carelinks Conference in Adelaide, God willing, we want to talk more about this whole idea and to invite brethren and sisters there and indeed throughout Australia and elsewhere to understand the template that can be worked to, in order to achieve these results elsewhere. It's a template the Lord has chosen to bless in South London UK, and now in both rural and urban Australia. Brother Mark is open to direct contact about it all- Tel. 0400772190 email mark.ppah@gmail.com . He could also do with a lot of help on the ground in taking forward this great work that he is now suddenly but eagerly saddled with. Please do contact him- and at least, we can all pray for him, and for the work to go onwards from this undoubtedly great start.
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks