Boldly proclaiming Christ to a lost world

Director: Pastor Ben Torr (2024)/Pastor Iggy Wong (2025)

• Team Members

It’s been so encouraging to work with our team of enthusiastic prayers, evangelists and organisers! In 2024, we farewelled Mel Tham and Ray Lowe after many years of faithful service on the Mission Team. In 2025, we welcome Rainbow Lai back to the team and are excited to have Jessie Wong joining us too.

Jessie is also CPE’s newest Missionary Partner as she commences a two year Ministry Traineeship with City Bible Forum working with New Grads and Young Workers in their Headstart Ministry.

Highlights

• In 2024, through Evangelistic Services, Life Explored and Follow-up Courses (18 participants), one-to-one Bible Reading (approx 6 participants) and the regular ministries of our church, we saw God work to bring 12 people to trust in Jesus - Praise the Lord! We also celebrated 14 baptisms including 6 members of our Youth and Young Adults who completed the Youth Considering Baptism Course with their peers (photos below).
• We are always so encouraged to hear stories of people sharing Jesus with their friends and inviting them to church and Evangelistic events! Every week we have an average of 10 new visitors and guests at our Sunday services and many of these people are interesting in finding out more about Jesus and Christianity. Our church staff, Membership and Mission Teams are trying to work better together to ensure we have effective pathways and clear next steps. We can all play a part in helping visitors and guests feel welcome and encouraged to keep finding out more about Jesus.
• Late last year CP and Christine ran a Training Workshop to equip us to read the Bible with our non-Christian Friends. We had 20 people attend the course and a number of us have already started to catch up and read Uncover John (John’s Gospel) with them. Please pray that they meet Jesus and decide to trust in Him!
• Risen Church (Salisbury) invited us to join them and several other local churches for the Salisbury Community Carols. A team of us hosted several craft, Lego and activity stalls for children and teens, Ling and Adeline led the actions for a kids item and Avi served as a musician in the band. It was great to meet so many families from our local community and serve with other churches in a practical way.

Mission Survey Results

• Late last year, we conducted a church-wide Mission Survey and there was so much to celebrate! So many of you have been inviting your Gospel friends to church, loving and caring for them as you share life and praying as you seek to have conversations about faith, worldviews and Christianity with them.
• The Survey also revealed that our church members experience some common challenges as they seek to share Jesus with their friends including not feeling confident or equipped to engage in controversial topics with your non-Christian friends or answer questions about the Bible or Christianity. Some shared their experience of busyness and competing priorities and evangelism feeling like one more thing that they know they should be doing, but struggle to make time for. Many of you asked for more encouragement, support and prayer in all of this.
• Our Staff and Council Retreat which included focused reflection on Mission at CPE also identified the huge opportunity that our Kids, Youth and Young Adults ministries present for reach non-Christian young people and their families. Children, youth and students have large relational networks, are typically great inviters and are seriously considering questions of identity, meaning and purpose and belonging in this foundational life stage. Recent stats from [Youthworks](https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/78-of-people-turn-to-faith-before-eighteen/48960#:~:text=Youthworks has issued a renewed,become Christians before turning 20.) confirm that 78% of people come to faith in their teen years.

Challenges

• Our Mission Survey identified that while we have some intentional strategies and resources for evangelism, many of you only have limited awareness of the mission pathway and next steps available for your Gospel Friends and church visitors (including the Building Gospel Friends steps and the content of our evangelistic Explored Courses). In 2025, we hope to present a clearer vision for the part we can all play in someone’s story of salvation and expose everyone to the evangelistic courses and resources which might benefit those you know and support you to share Jesus with them.
• While there is a significant opportunity in the Next Generation space, we recognise that more thought and intentionality is required for the evangelism and discipleship pathway for children, teens and young adults. We will be working closely with these Ministries to help them develop clear and effective strategies.
• We have been challenged by how little we pray intentionally and consistently for God to save our non-Christian friends, family, colleagues and neighbours, and more broadly to save the nations. We have started a prayer rotation in our Sunday Services, made prayer for Gospel Friends a regular part of our Life Group triplets and will explore other ways to regularly express our humble dependence on our God who alone is mighty to save.
• A lot of work was needed to develop our Missionary Partnerships. In 2024, we have worked to provide greater clarity of commitments and expectations with our Missionary Partners and express these in Partnership Plans (including regular prayer, adopted by Life Groups and financial commitments). Those I have spoken to have been very appreciative of this!