Penny Coase Reflects

I came to St Matts in August 1998. In theory I had been a Christian since my teens, but at that point in my life I was a very long way from God, so far that I recognised that unless I got back to church then, I might never do so. I was amazed by the sermons - they were like Bible Studies, at other churches I had attended they had been calls to social action or reflections on current social or moral issues, with a passing reference to what the Bible said. And I met people who didn't just say hello, they invited me to their homes, out for coffee or to other church events. I met people, most significantly Sally Stark, who neither condemned nor condoned where I was in my life, they just offered me friendship and discussed my issues in the light of what the Bible said - not what they thought, or what society might say, but what God said.

If I hadn't unwittingly come to an evangelical church, I would probably be put off by the image portrayed by the media. But I found an integrity, intellectually in holding to Biblical truths without picking and choosing those which seemed to make sense or 'fit' into the 21st century; and in the way people lived their lives. I realised that I had always picked and choosed what I thought was still relevant, replacing God's sovereign word with my own preferences, made acceptable by being deemed 'common sense'. In His great kindness, the Lord has helped me to understand His great gift of Grace, and to love Him more as a result...although both my understanding and my love still have a lot more growing and deepening to do. I know now with complete certainty, that I will always be the Lords and will never wander off again, and I am so grateful to Him for the work He is doing at St Matts through the preaching and the community of believers there. It has literally brought me 'from darkness into His glorious light'.



love to you all
Penny

The Youngest Members of St. Matt's

Name: Jessica Elizabeth McGill
Gender: Girl 3.8kg (8.38 lbs)
15 September 2008

Tobias Sebastian Attwood

arrived Tuesday 26 August 2008

at 1630 hours, 3.8 kg (8 pounds 7)

and 53 cm long.

Greetings from the Rogersons

Happy 100th Birthday St Matt’s!!
We unfortunately cannot be in Perth this weekend to celebrate this great occasion, but we pray that it would be an immensely encouraging time of fellowship and thanksgiving for all who attend. We have especially warm memories of our time as members of St Matthew’s and look back on the years we spent with great fondness. Eventhough we have moved around with Army to several places and churches since we lived in Perth, we still often think of our true “home church” as being St. Matt’s. We remember a place in which we felt welcome and at home, especially when Geoff Dixon remembered our names the second week we attended the 630pm service at Keightley Rd! We were most impressed!

We had two Army postings in Perth over a 7 year period 1997-2003, and loved being part of such a fantastic church, first led by Andrew and then Kanishka. We were blessed to live in Shenton Park and were quickly, and graciously, embraced into a loving community. We loved Sunday services, Bible Study Groups, Kids church, Blokes World, Play Group, camps and all the other activities of St Matt’s.
It’s hard not to feel very emotional (of course I am crying as I type this!) as we remember the significant life events which took place for us during that time- some of them joyous and some very difficult. Deep and abiding friendships were made in that time and have continued to grow despite the distance which now separates us from Perth. Through everything we were blessed to be part of a caring church in which the saving message of the Lord Jesus was faithfully preached week after week. Our faith and the faith of our children, Grace and James, was challenged, strengthened and enriched. We felt, and still feel, deeply loved by our brothers and sisters at St.Matthew’s. We praise God for His amazing work there- for the transforming power of His word as it is read and preached, for the family of believers as they meet in His name and for the proclamation of the Gospel to the people of Perth in so many different ways.
We shall forever be grateful and humbled to have been part of a church which aims to faithfully follow the Lord Jesus and to speak His Name so that all who hear may come to Him and be saved.

Sending you all our love, always,
Steph, Matt, Gracie and James Rogerson

The story of Judy Kay

Praise God for St Matts as it is where I became a Christian some 24 years ago in November 1984.

My husband, Jerry and I decided, for family traditional reasons, to have our first son Scott baptised. We tried one church with family links but not in our area, which suggested we go to a church close to home. Although St Matts wasn’t our closest church, as we lived in Leura St Nedlands, we did have some family links through my grandmother so booked an appointment to see David Seccombe. David warmly welcomed us and happily agreed to do the baptism. We were given a leaflet about the process of bringing a child for baptism. The leaflet explained that during the lead up to the baptism, it was expected that the parents attend church. The date that the church then gave us for the baptism was 3 months away. So, I attended church for 3 months. I can still remember being sought out and welcomed by Margo and Betty (McSkimming) most weeks.

The gospel of Jesus Christ was faithfully proclaimed by David and others each week and I was captivated. I had grown up without much Christian influence though I had walked to Sunday School as a young child and loved it. Then at 14 I joined confirmation classes and was confirmed. I remember loving to hear about Jesus but I don’t remember that anyone ever told me that I could or should have a personal relationship with him.

A number of things happened during the 3 months leading up to the baptism which drew me to Jesus. I can still remember Alice reading the passage about Jesus turning the other cheek and it was as if a key opened my heart.

On another occasion, I was sitting in the pew with just one other young woman up the other end of the pew. The pew bible was in front of me. I remember panicking about the upcoming need to find the bible passage which would be read out so that I could then share the single pew bible, opened at the correct passage, with this other person. There were 2 readings that day as normal. The first reading was from John and I breathed a sigh of relief because I knew where to find John in the bible (from my confirmation classes of years earlier). I found the passage and gestured towards to the other lady with the open bible indicating that we could view the passage together. That all went very well but I knew I wasn’t yet ‘out of the woods’ because there was undoubtedly another bible passage to go. My heard sank when the second passage was ready out. ‘2 Thessalonians 1’. The thought ran through my head that my cover was blown. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find this passage and I was worried that the lady sitting next to me would know that I wasn’t a bone fide church goer. I picked up the bible and was ready to make some pathetic attempt. I opened the bible and the page it opened on was 2 Thessalonians 1. I couldn’t believe it. I proudly pointed the open bible in the direction of the other lady and we again shared the bible to silently read the passage together. When the reading of the passage was complete, the sermon began. I didn’t hear a word of the sermon on this particular day because I spent the next 30 minutes opening and closing the bible at random to see if it would again open at 2 Thessalonians. I thought that perhaps it was a much-read passage and that the book was conditioned to always fall open at this page. But in 30 minutes of trying, it didn’t ever open at that page again. I suspected the hand of God.

Geoff and Cynthia Dixon were appointed to sponsor us during the baptism proceedings. They showed us lovely hospitality and went through the wording of the baptism service with us. I learned that I had to make vows during the service and knew that I needed to make a choice about my heart attitude to these vows. The vows were....I renounce the devil and I will follow Christ.

As the baptism drew nearer I contemplated the choices in regard to the vows that I needed to proclaim during the baptism service. I could choose one of 3 different courses of action. I could either stand up the front of the church and say the vows and perjure myself, or I could say the vows and mean them or I could cancel the baptism. The way my thinking went was that the last option wasn’t possible because I had 30 family members coming to the service and lunch afterwards so cancelling the baptism was out. It seemed down to the first two options.

I did think about whether I should wait for my husband Jerry to come to the same conclusion as me....that Jesus needed to be acknowledged and followed. But in the end I decided to go ahead without him and chose the path of saying the vows and meaning them. Looking back, I believe that this was the point of my conversion.

My life with Jesus since then has been full of much joy and delight and of course the normal dose of refining-type difficulties as well. But I am so thankful that Jesus drew me to himself and used many at St Matts in that process. Thank you so much. Bless you as you celebrate this milestone.

JUDY KAY
Now living in Sydney

The Original Rev. Barnacle

From Lindsay and Nancy Scott

Thank you for taking the time and effort to track us down and send us an invitation for this weekend.

For anyone interested here is a brief resume

We attended St Matthews quite a few years ago when it was still in Hensman Rd and David Seccombe was the rector and we lived just a few houses away in Hensman Rd. There is no doubt that St Matthews played a large part in my Christian development and it was no also a large part of Nancy’s spiritual development.
Around 1990 Nancy finally answer the call to ministry and was ordained in 1994 becoming assistant chaplain to Rev Joyce Polson at St Mary’s in Karrinyup, then Chaplain at St Marks in Hillarys before taking over in the Anglican Parish of Swan in 1996 where she continued her ministry as rector until her accident in December 2002. Nancy has quite severe hypoxic brain injury as a result of the accident and now lives at home with me in Dianella. We have a wonderful team of carer’s that help look after her when I am at work or away overseas with work.

Our three sons, Andrew, Douglas and Robert, who all attended St Matthews are now all married and spread around the globe. Andrew lives in Melbourne with his wife Kate and are expecting their first child any day. Douglas is married to Mitsuyo and they live in New York with their two girls Hannah (5) and Rosie (3). The youngest one, Robert, lives here in Perth with his wife Donna and their son Tyler (7 months).

Unfortunately I don’t think that both of us will be able to make the picnic on Saturday due to other commitments and the activity limitations imposed by Nancy’s accident.
There is a chance that I may be able to come for a short time as I would love to catch up with some of the folk I have not seen for such a long time.

We will however try to attend the Sunday morning service at 10:00am.


Kind regards

Lindsay and Nancy Scott

Trust me I am the Rector

Back to St. Matts

Dear friends,
We're looking forward to our celebration of Back to St Matt's this weekend. About 100 people have already booked in to our Saturday night get together with lots of food, friends and a few surprises. If you are planning to come along on Saturday night and haven't been able to buy your ticket, you will be able to do so on the night - but we need to know now that you are coming so we can advise the caterer of final numbers by Wednesday. We'd love to have your company - please let us know if you are planning to come.

And don't forget the BYO picnic at Shenton Park Lake on Saturday from 11am.
in Christ

Kanishka

Christian love from the Couche family

Dear friends

Congratulations on a century of sharing the Good News in such a beautiful way

We would love to be able to share with you but because of a bus accident last September when Liz broke her neck recovery is slow and outings (and work) stil very restricted.

Ray, Michael, Suzanne and I loved our time with you all in the 1980s and early 1990s. Davids great teaching and Christian example gave us opportunity to grow spiritually and express the gifts God had given us in so many ways including many committees, Bible studies, weekends away, prayer groups, teaching opportunities and most of all to receive and be able to give love and support to others. With David's encouragement I was deaconed and on staff until called to another church as Rector. We thank God for St Matts and wish you every blessing in the future

Elizabeth Couche

A word from mexico

I was first introduced to St Matts when I was 18, by my friend Roslyn James, Curtin Christian Fellowship companion and fellow bus tripper from 1988. In between making me listen to Keith Green's "The Sheep and the Goats" and "So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt" on her Datsun's cassette player, she told me all about something known as "outpost groups" with her leader, Tim Chappell; and about the evening services at her church where the series of sermons was on Hell. Especially memorable was on one stormy night when the sermon reached a peak of hellfire and brimstone, and at that very moment the wind broke open the church doors, banging them shut and open again, making the entire church shake in their seats ... and take judgement a little more seriously perhaps!

I remember the first time I went to St Matts. It was the evening service, we sang songs I had learned from AFES, and the sermon series had moved onto Heaven. But the thing I remember most about that night is that after the service the first person who came up and introduced himself to me was Allan McLean. He asked me thoughtful questions, and later offered to pray for me, right then and there. I had no experience of this sort of "welcome" in a church before, and it impacted me greatly. In fact the whole evening service with its largely unorganized, quirky program and tough, uncompromising sermons
- migrating from Keightley Road to Hollywood High and then over to the QEII lecture theatre - changed many of my previous conceptions of God, church, community, prayer and Bible reading.

Congratulations St Matthew's on reaching your centenary. May you continue to make an impact on lives, both young and old, through the love and grace and strength of the Lord Jesus.

Shelley Chapman