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A way forward
2011-04-23 08:56:00
Last Sunday we met as a church to discuss how we should move forward. It was decided that while our Friday night meetings serve a useful purpose, they do not meet the needs of all involved. This is because there are two different groups of people – the church members and the non-believers. Each group is there for different purposes. The non-believers (or not-yet-believers) mostly seem to come for some companionship, the meal, and something to occupy some of their too abundant free time. Note, this is not a description of all non-believers who attend church meetings, just the majority who come to our Friday night meeting. Those who live alone enjoy belonging to a welcoming community. The believers and church members, while enjoying the company and the meal, want to be able to more intentionally worship God, learn from his word, receive and give grace gifts to each other, and be encouraged and trained in their walk as disciples. It is very difficult, in a fairly small group, ...

This is the new Beth Tephillah website
2011-03-23 12:30:00
The conversion of the Beth Tephillah website, using WordPress as a content management system is finally complete. Now the content itself needs to be edited and updated.
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Vale Jim and Mavis Dow
2010-04-10 13:48:00
Jim and Mavis Dow have been synonymous with Williamstown Baptist since 1968. Their daughter, Pam, married Denis Merrett, the church organist,  in the old building in Cecil Street on 24th December 1966. Denis and Pam were youth leaders and Malcolm Dow succeeded them as youth leader as well as organist. He was secretary at one stage too, and since 1998 he and I have been pastors. Mavis died on 20th January 2009, aged 88 years, and Jim on 23rd March 2010, aged 91 years. Jim had retired as church secretary in 1988 and they had enjoyed many trips through the Outback and around Australia. In 1990 they came out of retirement to live in the house we use for ministry and meating (Wolfgang Simson’s spelling of a meeting around food) now, “Beth Tephillah”. Friendships made at that time with our neighbours have grown and developed. Jim was the speaker at the monthly Sunday Singalong which began at Wintringham Hostel in January 1994 until his first cancer treatment in Septem...
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More about Ray’s journey
2010-04-10 12:38:00
After many months of problems it is great to be able to post some news from Beth Tephillah. In March 2009 we shared the great news that Ray had accepted Jesus. We had the great joy of witnessing his baptism at Beth Tephillah on 4th December. He and Heather had been adjusting to life in a nursing home together, which was not without its challenges. When speaking about Ray’s desire to be baptised, the Director of Nursing said, “Ray isn’t the same man who moved in here last year.” What a difference Jesus makes when he is invited to share our lives. Ray’s physical health was a daily challenge, but he participated each Friday with us, endearing himself to all. Ray and Heather were able to join our Christmas dinner with another 10 friends. On the 10th January 2010, Ray died with the assurance that Jesus had accepted him. He had told the caring staff that he was going to be with Jesus. As we sang at his baptism, and again at his funeral on 14th Jan, “Ama...
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Beth Tephillah News has moved to WordPress
2010-04-09 19:49:00
Because Blogger will no longer support FTP blogs from May 1st I have moved Beth Tephillah News to WordPress. This default theme will be replaced with a new one once it is developed.
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Tassie trip
2009-06-08 02:28:00
We have just returned from a 9-day trip to Tasmania with Funtastic Christian Tours. A really well organised tour, taking in sights from Launceston to Freycinet National Park, Richmond, Bothwell, Mt Field National Park and Hobart. Kerry, the coach captain, drove well and entertained us with background to all the places along the routes we travelled, including some gravel roads through wonderfully green hills and valleys. We had a great lunch prepared by Geeveston Community Church and enjoyed singing in their picturesque church. There has been a worshipping community there since the 1880s. Travelling with a bunch of believers from a number of different traditions made for a stimulating time with lots of laughter. The accommodation was first rate and the the tour well paced so we returned home refreshed. Well done Kevin and Judy. We completed the Baptist World Aid Australia five week 5050 program looking at poverty alleviation, and our role in bringing justice in the world. It was chal...
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News for rejoicing
2009-03-09 11:25:00
Our KYB study of Psalms of mercy and hope reminds us, “It is good to praise the LORD” (Psalm 92:1) and, “declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples.” (Psalm 95:3). There are some good things happening at Beth Tephillah which are worth sharing: When we returned to the KYB group in January, Heather did just that. She had been bursting to share with the ladies the good news, that just before Christmas her husband, Ray, had accepted Jesus. It encouraged other wives to continue praying that their husbands might too come to know the love of God for themselves. We have been happy to welcome Ray to the gatherings on Friday evenings and he is obviously taking in a great deal as he makes comments and asks questions. This Friday we will celebrate his 78th birthday with him. Speaking of birthdays, we celebrated 100 years on 31st January – not the church (we’re 140 now) – but Mal was 60 and Kev 40 in January, so they had ...
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Keeping Christ Out of the Market Place
2008-11-21 03:42:00
Earlier today I wrote a post about Hiding Christ from new Agers, intended for here. But, because I have too many blogs, as I discuss at MalcolmDow .com, it was posted to A Reasonable Mystic by mistake. I'm interested to see what my readers there make of it. Anyway, here's what should have appeared here: This morning I was reading "My Prayer Journal" in the Victorian Baptist Witness. Part of the diary for Wednesday and Thursday went as follows:Something interesting happened today. Saw Greg put 'religion' and 'new age'books together (in the 'new age' section). He even put the Bibles there! Itreally upset me and I was surprised at the intensity of my feelings. ......Well I spoke to Greg and thank you God, he was really cool about it. Itactually opened up some discussion about my faith. And it felt so naturaltalking about it. ... he was relieved that I could advise him on what should goin the 'religion' section and what should go in the 'new age' section (he didn'tmind at a...
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Christmas and New Year at Beth Tephillah
2007-12-25 23:24:00
We had a great celebration on Christmas Day, worshipping the King. The birth of Jesus was both a beginning and an end. Then 13 gathered for Christmas lunch. We will continue on Friday evening with the usual 6 pm meal followed by some more carol singing and the Bible Study. Leading up to Christmas we had looked at the eight I AM statements Jesus made which are recorded in John’s Gospel. On Friday we will discuss I AM the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus’ statement in Revelation. When we gather on New Year ’s Eve at 7.30 pm that theme will continue as we end one year and begin 2008. We’ll have a video, nibbles and share communion before watching fireworks at midnight on the television. Friday evening gatherings will continue through January as normal, just as most other churches continue Sunday services even in holiday times.

KYB in 2007
2007-12-25 22:58:00
Twenty-five ladies from seventeen different churches spent a great year in the Know Your Bible study in Williamstown. For some, the first study of the year – The Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testament – brought them a deeper understanding of Who the Holy Spirit is, and how involved He was with the Father and the Son as the Godhead worked out our wonderful plan of salvation after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. He is the means by which we live our lives as followers of Jesus, just as Jesus, the Man filled with the Spirit, was able to obey His Father and fulfill the plan. Then we considered More of God’s Women – Rebekah, Rahab, Abigail, Jehosheba, Lydia and Priscilla. Each in their different way taught us, some how ‘not’ to behave! How important each individual is, responding to the challenges of life and trusting God. He has a place for us all in His kingdom’s work. Our final study, October – December, was of Psalms 73-89, ...

Gods and men with three sides
2007-12-20 15:52:00
In his opening chapter of Adams vs. God - the Rematch, Phillip Adams quotes Charles de Montesquieu as saying,If a triangle made a god, it would give him three sides.This is true, as evidenced by the many god's that humans, religious and otherwise, have created after their own likeness.However, if the three-sided God pre-existed the creatures (John 1:1-3), and made creatures in his own image (Genesis 1:26), wouldn't they still have three sides?
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Adams vs God - the rematch
2007-12-12 06:20:00
I've long enjoyed listening to Phillip Adams interview interesting people on his Australian ABC's Late Night Live program. Given that Adams is an avowed and somewhat evangelical atheist, this may seem strange. However, it is not, and I challenge any Christian with a truly open mind and a love for human kind to read or listen to him and not find something to enjoy or even love.Yes, he will call you a 'God botherer', but I've been called far worse and lived! However, unlike his firend Richard Dawkins, he will treat you with respect, especially if you are as equally genuine in your beliefs as he is in his.I've just read the introduction to his new edition of Adams vs God. This is a collection of essays from more than two decades of Adam's jounalism. From my reading I gain the distinct impression that the sort of religion Adams is so appalled by, any genuine follower of Jesus would also reject, as I do. Let me indulge myself by quoting one passage, from pages xxiv and xxv:One of ...

Preparing for the Dissociation Seminar
2007-11-21 03:45:00
This Saturday Di and I are running our first day seminar on ministry to people with dissociation. By dissociation we do not just mean Dissociative identity Disorder (DID, or what used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder - MPD). Nor do we mean specifically victims of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA), which seems to be a bit of a focus of some Christian counsellors workingin this area.Rather, we have learned from our training with Anazao Counselling, and from subsequent experience ministering to others, that almost everybody dissociates to some degree. Not just daydreaming or zoning out, which are actually not varieties of dissociation, but protecting themselves from many difficult childhood experiences by creating alternate parts in their minds.While preparing the lessons and resource sheets for Saturday's seminar we have been going over case notes about sessions with people we have counselled in this way, and I am once again amazed at what Jesus will do with you when you are willi...
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Prayer Ministry FAQ
2007-10-21 07:00:00
Because of our involvement in the teaching and practice of prayer ministry or prayer counselling, we recieve questions from many people.For example, prospective clients want to know what prayer ministry is, why we use it, and how it differs from counselling or other forms of ministry. In particular we are often asked whether we are a 'deliverance ministry'.Other questions relate to specific practices. Some accuse us of using New Age techniques, or claim that prayer ministry is not needed because it was "all done at the Cross".Yet others are interested enough to want to know how they too might become trained and get involved in prayer ministry.To help out we have produced some Frequently Asked Questions pages over at the Prayer Ministries Network website. This is a prelude to a more extensive prayer counselling website we are building, which we will post details about when it is complete.Why not hop over to the PMN site now and have a look?
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Casey Stoner Wins MotoGP World Championship[
2007-09-23 02:44:00
Well done Casey on winning the MotoGP World Championship at Motegi, Japan! Mick Doohan will be proud to see it come back to Australia.Congratualtions to you and Adriana and the Stoner and Tuchyna families and all of the Ducati team.Have fun at Philip Island.
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Reverend Fun - Ever Wonder if God Ever Had Second Thoughts?
2007-09-09 05:56:00
(Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc - www.reverendfun.com)
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Generational Healing Seminar
2007-09-08 02:33:00
A full day, in more senses than one, with 41 people at Beth Tephillah today for our Generational Healing seminar. Our publicity says “places are limited”, so the 5 who left it to this morning were fortunate that 4 who had booked were late cancellations. It was cosy, but the buzz developing through the day indicated the good atmosphere we enjoyed together. Lots of interesting comments and questions as we explored our part in bringing healing to the unresolved sin issues in our family history. The use of genograms as a tool to identify patterns through the generations was new to some, and for some, just looking at their family tree brought understanding of issues they face, and why their life has not gone well. In preparing the teaching, I was again struck by the immensity of God’s grace that the blessings of obedience to His ways is to a thousand generations of those who love Him, while the consequence of disobedience is generally limited to the third and fourth gen...
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How many blogging pastors are there?
2007-08-30 06:04:00
Darren Rowse, the Problogger, has written an interesting post about how to keep blogging when it feels like nobody is reading your blog. Darren speaks of his time as a pastor learning to preach by speaking to a room full of empty pews.As a fellow pastor I know that feeling well, and as an aspiring problogger I'm feeling it even more often. However, for me the eye openner came when I started to read the comments to Daren's post. There just seemed to be so many pastors and other church leaders there.Of course, I know a lot of pastors are now using a blog as part of their ministry, as I do. They post sermons and church news for the benefit of their congregation and others. However, these were not just pastors posting on church themes. No, these were pastors and ex-pastors who now post for many other reasons.I often attend the ordination services for new pastors in my denomination, and am always interested to discover just how many become pastors out of a professional science backgrou...
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Are you in a Christendom political party?
2007-08-18 06:03:00
Sad as it may seem, I believe that most Christians are told by their leaders which part of the theological spectrum they are part of, and generally they don't understand what it means, nor do they often care very much. Theology has been made to appear to them like an obscure, esoteric branch of philosophy that is beyond their reach and not very relevant to their lives anyway. As long as they dutifully subscribe to the party line then all will be well with their world. If they should question it too persistently then the accusations of backsliding will flow quickly and frighten them back into the loyal fold.This is not unlike voting for a particular political party for the important reasons that your parents always did so, or 'everyone' in your town does, or your favourite TV commentator's disparaging comments about the other parties are the funniest or wittiest.It also reminds me of the Middle Ages when, as long as the priest said the magic words of the Mass at one end of the pa...
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Reverend Fun - I'm Telecommuting Today
2007-07-28 00:51:00
(Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc - www.reverendfun.com)
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Recent Beth Tephillah Ministries Seminars
2007-07-27 23:49:00
The Hearing God's Voice seminar we ran last weekend at Warrnambool was a great time. About 40 turned up for the Friday Night and all day Saturday sessions, where we taught about what it means to hear God's voice, some of the obstacles to hearing and how to overcome them, ways to begin to hear God, dreams and visions, creative imagination, and the nature of prophecy and prophets.Everyone engaged in the practical exercises, which for some were their first experience at actually recognising that God does speak to them. For others it was reinforcement and the discovery of further ways to hear, and what to do with it when we do.About half have already indicated their interest in having us return to Warrnambool to do our Intimacy with God seminar later in the year, and we will also repeat Hearing God's Voice for them before their next Restoration course begins in 2008. The material is available online at listening2god.com for anyone to use.The weekend before this we ran the first Intim...
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Is Richard Dawkins a Level Five Atheist?
2007-07-10 23:41:00
Perhaps Richard Dawkins is at least a level five atheist (see previous post - Level Five Agnostic). This quote from a book review by Fr Frank Brenan SJ would seem to indicate this:Dawkins claims that moderation in faith fosters fanaticism: “even mild andmoderate religion helps to provide the climate of faith in which extremismnaturally flourishes”. Dawkins’ “take home message is that we should blamereligion itself, not religious extremism – as though that were some kind ofperversion of real, decent religion”. The same argument would not be put forscientific inquiry. Imagine a call to ban all scientific inquiry because thosewho engage in responsible scientific inquiry may be providing the opportunityfor fanatics to harness science for their own purposes. Dawkins and his ilkthink religious belief of any kind is meaningless, infantile and demeaning, sonothing is lost by agitating in the most illiberal way for the suppressionof all religion and not just religious extremism w...
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Reverend Fun - Level Five Agnostic
2007-07-10 18:47:00
(Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc - www.reverendfun.com)
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Now let us turn on our phones and browse to John chapter 3
2007-06-08 00:50:00
How many times have you heard a mobile phone ring during a church meeting and wished that people would show a bit more courtesy about turning them off? Well, all of that is about to change.No, not because someone has invented an effective phone blocker, or that everyone in church has been struck by an attack of consideration for others. No! Now we'll be asked to keep our phones on, because we need them to participate in the service!I was alerted to this revelation (or is that 'revelution'?) by a post on Dean Peters' Heal Your Church Web Site - Pastors preach: turn on & tune in … to your Blackberry. Apparently a pastor informed his congregation:‘“Please bring your cell phone with you to the service this Sunday. Yes, youread that right. I, the President of the ‘I hate cell phones going off in churchclub,’ am inviting you to bring that blasted thing to church thisSunday. At the end of the teaching on prayer this weekend I am going todevote about 7 minutes to answering...
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Casey Stoner takes pole in Italian MotoGP on his Ducati
2007-06-02 15:50:00
Congratulation to young Australian Casey Stoner for his first pole position in the MotoGP Motorcycle World Championship. Casey has qualified first ahead of fellow Aussie Chris Vermeulen and Casey's main rival, the Yamaha rider with the home track advantage, Italian Valentino Rossi.While the fact that Casey's 800cc Ducati Desmosedici is by far the fastest bike on the track, what is really impressive about his performance, which has him leading the World Championship by a healthy margin, is that Casey does so well in heavy rain against much older and more experienced riders. The calmness, coolness and maturity displayed by this young Christian man does all of us, but especially his family and new wife Adriana, proud.We'll be watching the race with fascination tonight Casey. Well done!
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Brian McLaren Trilogy - A Real Bargain
2007-05-10 06:48:00
I've been wanting to buy emerging church author Brian McLaren's classic trilogy A New Kind of Christian, The Story We Find Ourselves In, and The Last Word and the Word After That, for some time. Apart from it being difficult to get them all in Australia, they are expensive at $32.95 each from Koorong.Amazon.com have all three books in a boxed set for US$19.75. Check it out here:McLaren Boxed Set (A New Kind of Christian; The Story We Find Ourselves In; The Last Word and the Word After That) (Hardcover).The great thing about this, apart from the US$46.09 saving, is that it ships as one item instead of three, so you save another US$9.98 on postage. With the Aussie dollar over US$0.83 at present this works out pretty reasonable.
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Poems of Cameron M. Semmens
2007-05-08 17:25:00
How’s this for a briliant commentary?a current-er prayer Our media,whose art is manipulationhollow be thy game.Thy cameras come, it will be doneon Nine as it is on Seven.Give us this day our daily sensation,and feed us our fearsas we feed the fear of others.Lead us on with misinformationand deliver us from thinking.For thine is the king-makerwith the power of the story,forever and ever,amoral.If you want to see more of poet and performer Cameron Semmens’ writings, or Cameron himself, then check out his website.
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Blogging for God
2007-04-26 00:48:00
In the Decature Daily is an interesting article, Plugged into Culture,  about a blogging pastor, Rev. Dave Anderson, alias ‘moviepastor. As pastor of Crosspoint Community Church in Decatur, Alabama, he is passionate about the gospel message impacting the young online culture.“I think the church should do everything it can to engage people long enough to present the gospel message.” Melanie Smith, the article’s author says, “He called himself  ‘moviepastor’ because he loves movies and views them as windows into today’s culture. He also figured the name would help drive Web users to his site. “He said it’s one thing to write a blog, but if it’s not genuine, readers will fast turn critical and stop reading. He said people are looking for authenticity, so he doesn’t shy away from putting his pain and shortcomings in his writing. He regularly uses words like ‘freaking’ and ‘crappy’.&...
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The Spiritual Armour of Ephesians 6
2007-04-22 03:19:00
Our involvement in healing prayer ministry and intercession has brought us into contact with a number of different ideas about the meaning of Paul’s injunction to put on the full armour of God.During our early training we were encouraged to go through the daily motions of putting on the armour, while visualising a Roman soldier with all of his equipment. We understood it then as a mnemonic device to help us remember the equipment needed, and each piece was generally explained in terms of its function. However, as with any such approach, it easily degenerates into a ritual, perhaps with magical overtones. The implication is that if the armour is not put on religiously each morning then the person is at risk.Such a ritualistic approach to life is common in religious people, but is a far cry from the way Jesus and his early followers lived. It betrays a lack of trust in God.So, what was Paul intending when he outlined each piece of the Christian’s equipment in thi...
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Seminars for 2007
2007-04-15 21:17:00
The topics and dates for our 2007 seminars at Beth Tephillah have been set. This year there will be four, with each one held on a Saturday. The first seminar for the year is:Hearing God’s VoiceSaturday 12th May, 10 am to 4 pmatBeth Tephillah Ministry Centre,55 Park Crescent, Williamstown (Mel 55 J7)"Hear the Word of the Lord" has been a common instruction to God’s people through the centuries. Jesus, who IS that Word, told us that sheep listen for their shepherd’s voice and follow him because they know his voice, and He expects His sheep to respond to His voice.This seminar aims to help participants hear, identify, understand and obey the voice of Father God.Cost: $25.00. There will be practical sessions. Refreshments will be provided. BYO lunch.Please advise Malcolm or Diana Dow you are coming as places are limited.Contact Beth Tephillah Ministry Centre, PO Box 138 Williamstown, 3016. Phone: 9397 2430, Fax: 9397 2430, or Email to pastors@bethtephillah.com.Download a brochure ...
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