A Minute with Tim
Pastor for 60+
Thursday 2 April, 2026
Remembering
How good are you at remembering details such as someone’s name? How do you go with remembering items to buy on a quick trip to the supermarket?
When my wife, Sonya, asks me to drop into the shops on my way home from work to buy 3 or 4 items I ask her to text the list through with photos!
Medical research indicates that memory is highly fallible, with significant percentages of information forgotten quickly. As we get older it seems for many the long term remembering is okay but the short term...is not quite as good.
In April, time will be taken on Anzac Day (25th) to remember and pay our respects to those who served and sacrificed in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
For followers of Jesus, the season of Lent and Easter weekend hold a similar but different significance - as we remember the sacrifice and rising from death of our sinless Saviour - the greatest peacemaker. It is the most powerful story and a life-changing event as Jesus triumphed over sin and death.
Jesus never asked us to remember his ‘top ten’ miracles or parables but it was his death that he calls for us to never forget because of all it means and signifies for each of us each day.
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ (Luke 22:19 NIVUK)
A friend of mine told me once that the reason Jesus gave us communion was because we are not very good at remembering and need this sort of constant reminder of the significance of his dying in our place so we can ‘live’.
I am not so sure about that reason for communion but may you and I continually remind ourselves and give thanks with a grateful heart for what we focus on at Easter, the saving grace of Jesus, the one who gave his life for us on the cross and overcame death so that we might truly live.
Pastor Tim
News this Month
Easter - some things to know!
As we prepare for our Easter events this weekend on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, there are a few things we wanted to communicate to help everyone have a smooth and enjoyable experience.
Plan to arrive early.
This will be particularly important on Good Friday as the service starts at 9am sharp with a beautiful and moving retelling of the events of Good Friday that you won't want to miss.Consider carpooling and park off site if possible
We know parking at SBC is difficult at these events, and so we want to create space in our car parks for first time visitors, people with mobility issues and those with small children.Remember daylight savings!
Daylight savings ends this weekend so clocks will be going back an hour on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Keep this in mind so you arrive at the right time to Sunday services!Crossover offering on Good Friday
We invite SBC people to consider giving to a special offering that goes towards the work of Crossover Australia on Good Friday. We won't collect the offering during our service but you can give online at any time via the link below or our Connect Link, or make a cash donation in a labelled envelope in our Locked Box in the lobby.Good Friday Kids Program
A reminder that there will be a program downstairs for children Preschool aged to Grade 3. The Good Friday service is quite dimly lit and sombre in tone and young kids might struggle with this.
Event details
Crossover Offering
Alpha
We have another Alpha course starting this month on April 28th at 7.00pm in the Cafe space.
After Easter, we or the people we know may have questions about Jesus, about Christianity or about life in general. Alpha is an excellent place to take those questions.
The first night of Alpha (April 28) is an 'Alpha Party', which is a chance for people to come and 'try out' Alpha and get a feel for what it's like before committing to the whole course. Finger food, music and previous Alpha participants will share their experiences.
For all the details about the upcoming course and to register, click below.
Visit Alpha Page
What's coming up?
The Marriage Course (Online)
Seven meaningful date nights to strengthen your relationship
Join Bill and Julia Brown for a relaxed and practical online course for couples. Whether your relationship is thriving or facing challenges, this course offers space to reconnect and grow together.
Wednesdays, April 29 – June 10
7:30–9:15pm (via Zoom)
Topics include:Connection • Communication • Conflict • Forgiveness • Family • Intimacy • Love in Action
What to expect:
Private conversations—no group sharing
Practical tools for everyday relationship life
Participate from the comfort of your home
Who is it for?Any couple—together one year or fifty. Open to all, regardless of background or beliefs.
Cost: Free(Optional journals available—downloadable or ~$23 each)
Register:Emailbill.brown@buv.com.auor call on 0407821784 (You’ll receive Zoom details and course materials)
Find Out More
Office closed
Just a reminder that the church office is closed on Friday 3rd April and Monday 6th April due to Easter public holidays. It will reopen on Tuesday 7th April.
Find Out More
Next Cafe Lunch
Our next lunch available at the Cafe will be on 12th April, from 12pm. We look forward to serving you then!
Baptism Opportunities
We have some more opportunities for baptisms in MAY. We now have the new baptistry in the West Auditorium as well which is making the process of baptism easier.
If you're interested in getting baptised, you can apply via the button below.
Apply Now
Next Sermon Series
After the events of Easter, God’s people entered a new chapter of the story God was writing. But what was surprising was the role they were to play in the story.
God used ordinary people and everyday moments to do extraordinary things.
In this seven-week series in Acts we will take a look at some of the people God worked through and the ways he transformed ordinary moments into supernaturally significant ones.
This series starts on Sunday, 12th of April in all English congregations.
Congregation Spotlight
Cantonese Congregation
With Maranda Ng, Pastor for Cantonese Congregation
WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN YOUR CONGREGATION RECENTLY?The highlight of March in the Cantonese congregation was the visit from the SON Music ministry. On 21 March, we partnered with them to host a musician training session covering band leading, musicianship, and vocal techniques. It was a rich time of learning, encouragement, and practical equipping for everyone involved. In the afternoon of 22 March, we held a SON Music testimony gathering focused on God’s promise of perfect timing. We are deeply grateful to witness God at work—many were encouraged and moved to renew their commitment to him.
CAN YOU SHARE A STORY ABOUT WHERE YOU'VE SEEN GOD AT WORK?After the meeting, a woman came to the pastors in tears, asking for prayer. She shared that due to a long-term illness, she had drifted away from God for many years and felt as though he had left her. Through the message shared, she sensed God calling her back and expressed her desire to return to church and follow him again.
WHAT HAVE YOU GOT COMING UP IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS?Like other congregations, we are preparing for the Sunday services and Palm Sunday week leading up to Easter Sunday, so that our members can experience a deeper, more intimate walk with God and have a special spiritual encounter. For Easter Sunday, we are preparing special fellowship meals to celebrate, making it a festive occasion for everyone, especially for friends, family members, and unbelievers who have not yet come to church.
HOW CAN PEOPLE CAN BE PRAYING FOR YOUR CONGREGATION?We thank God for the spiritual renewal taking place among us. Please pray that the work he began during the SON Music gatherings will continue—rekindled passion, softened hearts, and a deepened openness to God’s ongoing work.
Right Relationships
As you settle in for future Sunday services, you may notice a new slide in the rotation before our services start. This is an 'Acknowlegement of Country', and in this month's newsletter, Andy Mitchell (Head of our Right Relationships Group) is helping us better understand what it is and why it's a significant thing for us to do as a church.
What’s an Acknowledgement of Country and why are we doing it?At Syndal Baptist Church, we’re committed to being Inclusive and Caring. Our values in these areas include the statements that:
We choose to invest in initiatives and opportunities that will help us become more inclusive.
We commit to helping individuals grow in their capacity and willingness to care for others.
With these commitments in mind, you’ll begin to see a slide with an Acknowledgement of Country appearing on screens before our services - a practice that is already happening in our church meetings.
Acknowledging country is an ancient practice, which is about honouring the care that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples provide to the country God has given them to steward. For us at Syndal, the practice of an Acknowledgement of Country is about showing respect to the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which we now worship, the Wurundjeri woiwurrung people.
As we seek to be an Inclusive and Caring community, we’re taking this first step toward right-relationship with the local Aboriginal community, by regularly acknowledging country in our services through a pre-service slide and thanking God for the ongoing care of this land by the Wurundjeri woiwurrung for the benefit of us all.
Ministry Spotlight
Fuel Youth
With Way Lim
The aim of Fuel Friday nights is to create a fun, safe and welcoming space for teenagers where they can build relationships with others and grow and explore a relationship with Jesus. Infuse on Sunday Morning is a program that aims to help teenagers transition from Tribe to Sunday services and be engaged at church on Sundays.
What has been happening in Fuel Youth recently?
It's been a great Term 1 so far and we've seen our Year 7's join in well with the rest of our group at Fuel. Fuel Camp was amazing with 90 teens attending for a great time of fellowship, fun and growing together in faith. We've spoken about mission and generosity this term and for their final Dteams night, all the groups will be practicing generosity in some form. Some groups baked goods to give away, others wrote letters and some cleaned the church. We also had two Year 11 boys get baptised on Sunday 29 March at the 5 pm service.
How have you seen God at work?
We had many young people come to Fuel Camp for the first time this year and it was great seeing them being welcomed by regular youth and making new friends. On Saturday night, some of our Year 7 girls took the initiative to pray for each other without any prompting from their leaders which was amazing to see.
What challenges have you been facing or what needs do you currently have?
We are continuing to see high numbers of youth attend Friday nights (average of 90 this term) which is great but means do need continued support on Fridays through people coming along to help with sign in or making hot chocolates.
PRAY
Prayer for the youth to keep growing and taking steps in their discipleship with Jesus outside of Fuel and during the school holidays. Prayer for God's provision for the Fuel and Infuse leaders as they continue to balance leading alongside study, work and life.
CONNECT
You can find out more by contacting Way at wlim@sb.org.au or our website fuel.org.au.
Green Tip of the Month
This month's Green Tip comes from AGL Energy Insights:
Stop standby power waste. Appliances like TVs, computers and phone chargers left on standby can make up 10% of your power bill. Turn them off at the power point when you're not using them.
Member in Service Spotlight
Alan and Lucy Rogers
North Australia
Alan - Translation & Media - AuSIL.
Lucy - EthnoArts Consultant SIL Asia Pacific
Alan is working on the revision of the Garrwa Bible and Dictionary and liaising with others to update the media resources. Lucy is working with SIL teams in the Asia Pacific region to encourage and train in the use of local arts in bible translation and Scripture Engagement.
What has been happening in your ministry recently?
Alan is progressing solidly with the Garrwa Bible revision with Garrwa lady, Daphne. Updating the Bible has meant that there have been at least another 4,000 entries in the Garrwa dicionary. Lucy is delighted to have been able to hand over the EthnoArts Coordinator role for Asia Pacific to Filipino colleague, Anne Esteban. Lucy will continue to mentor Anne in this role as well as develop new EthnoArt training resources for the AsiaPacific region.
How have you seen God at work recently?
October 2025 saw Lucy go to Davao in the Philippines to work with the EthnoArts team there to deliver a course "Foundational Principles in Culture and Arts Ministry". This was such a privilege to work with the 17 participants and 4 colleagues, mostly Filipino with one African, one Indonesian and one Brazilian. This is just an introductory course to assist those working cross culturally to stop, look, observe and have the same attitude of Jesus (Phil 2) of humility as we go to another culture. There were two days of lectures and discussions and then a visit to a village to put into practice what has been learnt. What a trip, up a mountain on the back of motor bikes, across a suspension bridge all on dirt roads. Praise God for safety in all this and for the lessons learnt. Day 4 we then did a debrief of the village visit. Dennis Ang, translation advisor for the Umajamnon OBT says “I’ve come to see the greatness of God’s love for people from every culture. I’ve realized that we can worship God through any art form, reflecting each unique culture or tradition as long as God is at the heart of it all.” It was interesting to see these city living Filipinos struggle with some of the aspects of rural Filipinos and to try to understand this culture that was new to them.
What's coming up in your ministry?We are currently on home assignment - visiting supporting churches, family and friends. On our return to the NT Alan will continue with Garrwa Bible translation revision and Dictionary. Lucy will continue to support Anne in her new role as EthnoArts coordinator for AsiaPacific as well as working with others on developing further training resources to bridge the gap between the basic introductory courses and the advanced courses - more practical for the nationals to be able to implement suggestions.
What are your greatest needs at the moment?
Safety in travel and sufficient fuel to do our home assignment - which includes going to Tasmania for 6 weeks from April 14 - May 28, time in Melbourne and then travelling back to the NT in June.
How does your financial support work, and how is it going?We have a few churches including Syndal that support us and we now also receive the age pension. We praise God that he always provides what we need.
PRAY
We would really like to be able to excite people about God's work, what He is doing, and how they can be a part of it wherever they are.
GIVE
You can support through Syndal or find out more via the button.
CONNECT
We do send out fortnightly short email updates as well as quarterly newsletters. If you want to receive either of these email Lucy lucyrogers776@gmail.com
Want to get to know our other Members in Service?
Visit our missions page via the link below.
Giving this week
Week ending: 30/3/2026
Weekly target: $51,000
This week actual: $41,956 (82% of budget)
Year to date actual: $636,840 (96% of budget)
Sunday Service Information
Good Friday
Series: Easter at Syndal
Sermon: Hope Has a Name
Preacher: Chris Danes
Join us for our Good Friday service as we remember and reflect on Jesus' sacrifice in our place and the impact it can still have on a life today.
Easter Sunday
Series: Easter at Syndal
Sermon: Hope Has a Name
Preacher: Chris Danes
Join us as we celebrate Jesus' resurrection from death to life, and consider what it means for us to life in light of the resurrection.
Coming Up
Sunday 12th April
Series: Extra Ordinary
Sermon: Extra-Ordinary Interruptions
Preacher: Micah Evans (AM) Liv Grandin (PM)
In the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit interrupts all sorts of ordinary moments and the lives of ordinary people because he wants to do something extraordinary. Are we still willing to be interrupted by God like that? Join us as Micah (AM services) and Liv (PM service) explore one example of a God-interruption and what we might learn from it today.
Sunday 19th April
Series: Extra Ordinary
Sermon: Extra-Ordinary People
Preacher: Way Lim
Sometimes it’s hard to believe we might have anything special to offer in God’s plans for the world and people around us. Maybe being special isn’t the point?
In the Book of Acts, God does some pretty extraordinary things through some pretty ordinary people. Join us as Way Lim takes a look at one example of what God can do with people who may not be special, but are willing.
Sunday 26th April
Series: Extra-Ordinary
Sermon: Extra-Ordinary Community
Preacher: Chris Danes
Groups of people, working together, can have a huge impact. Sometimes for good, and sometimes for bad.
But what about a group of ordinary people filled with the Spirit of an extraordinary God? What might that look like?
Join us as Chris Danes unpacks one account of a Spirit-filled community in the Book of Acts and asks whether that is still possible today.
Calendar
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
29
30
31
1
Apr
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
1
May
2
{
"guid": "177cc56f-6833-4000-8718-64299e8c9000",
"operator": "and",
"filters": [
{
"operator": "and",
"guid": "177cc570-ccfb-4000-875c-de6cefe3f000",
"filters": [
{
"comparator": "in",
"guid": "177cc570-cda0-4000-8155-be24bb899000",
"title": "Tags",
"key": "tags",
"value": null,
"value2": null,
"values": [
"602cc3d14809fd4fc600e9a2"
],
"dataType": "reference"
}
]
}
]
}