Sunday 29 March 2026
Dear Church,
It was wonderful to hear from Mike and Lauren of the work that God is doing through ES in partnership with local churches. I really appreciated the clarity of Mike’s encouragement from Colossians 4.
– Devote yourselves to prayer and pray for opportunities to speak of Jesus.
– Make the most of every opportunity God gives.
– Speak with clarity and grace when you do.
So let’s ask God to make us wise in the way we act towards others as Easter approaches. Perhaps a conversation about plans for the long weekend becomes an easy opportunity to talk about why you go to church twice in a weekend. Or maybe a conversation about the uncertain impact of global conflict on our economy becomes a context to talk about why you’re so confident that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection are the source of your hope. Of course it’ll take wisdom to navigate how to do this in a way that is kind and genuine so we’re not just lobbing God-talk into the middle of an otherwise unrelated conversation. But surely that’s why we ought to pray and ask God for both opportunity and wisdom! From a human perspective, it’s also helpful to know that there is recent research that indicates that around 1 in 3 Australians who don’t attend church would be open to accepting an invitation, especially if it came from someone they know. As much as it can feel like a hostile environment to talk about God, roughly half report being ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ open to a conversation about God, particularly among younger generations.
I particularly appreciated the simplicity of Mike’s encouragement to Pray 2for2: Think of two people in your life that you’d love to have the opportunity to invite to church and get into the habit of praying for them for two minutes each day. As with any new habit, it’s helpful to stack it onto something you already do. Maybe it’s something you pray about on your morning commute or as you brush your teeth in the evening, allowing the common patterns of your day to act as a reminder.
Maybe this could be a simple, concrete step to take in devoting ourselves to prayer, asking God to open doors for the good news of Jesus, granting us wisdom in the way we take them, that others might also know of the great hope we have in Jesus.
Cheers,
Simon
