Community Care
Care
The love and care of members of the St Matthews church family is a vital part of how we reflect the generosity of Christ within our church community. Whether it be through our Connect Groups, Lay Pastor Programme, prayer support, providing meals, home and hospital visits, assistance with transportation or a timely phone call, the people of St Matthews are always willing to help each other and newcomers.
Equally, our members are actively and generously involved in extending and reflecting the love of Christ to many in our local community and beyond. Whether we are fundraising at times of crucial need, teaching English, supporting young mums or advocating and caring for struggling refugees, if we can help, we will.
The people of St Matthews are committed to loving people impartially. Everything we do at St Matt’s is motivated by the compassion and graciousness God showed us in Christ. We love because he first loved us.
If you would like to know more about how you can help others or we can help you, contact the church office email
Hesed
Hesed is a special caring fellowship showing compassion, and loving kindness to people suffering chronic illness and pain. The name ‘Hesed’ is a Hebrew word used in the Bible, to describe God’s loving kindness and mercy towards all people.
The group meets every month.
The time together provides an opportunity to share over lunch, read a passage from the Bible and pray for one another. There is no pressure put upon anyone to share or pray, and anything that is discussed is done in strict confidence. The longevity of this ministry speaks powerfully of its effectiveness.
For more details contact the church office email
Helping Hands
Helping Hands is a network of St Matt's people who are committed to reaching out to asylum seekers, refugees and new migrant arrivals. We do this by establishing friendships and helping in practical ways. We are inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus. We take seriously the ancient biblical traditions as expressed by: "The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself..." (Leviticus 19:33-34).
Whether we take our new friends to explore Sydney or assist an asylum-seeker to shop for food and clothes or explain "Aussie culture", we respect their dignity and value their friendship. We seek to learn from our new friends' culture and try to understand their needs regardless of their political adherence, social background, religious beliefs, or the way in which they travelled to Australia.
Conscious of our privileged position as citizens of an affluent country we extend the compassion and grace of Christ to those who have escaped desperate circumstances. These people often have no advocates and have a feeling of helplessness. We strive to enable improvement in their lives to sustain a sense of belonging and see a transformation from a hopelessness to a conviction that there is a worthwhile future.
Activities are varied. We have found and delivered furniture and white goods, visited babies of asylum-seekers in hospital, helped with translation of government web-sites, acted as a "go-between" with case-workers, helped obtain physio and medical services, taught conversational English, obtained legal representation, helped find work and write resumes and made representations to government ministers. We welcome assistance.
For more details contact the church office email
Pot luck lunch
If you would normally eat lunch alone, then come along and join us for our pot luck lunch. Bring some food to contribute and take pot luck in what you get!
The group meets on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 12.30pm in New Line Cottage, 1 New Line Rd. (Next to the church car park)
Enjoy the company of others and make new friends.
For more details please contact the church office email