maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

Becoming a Teacher!!

My studies with Ridley College, along with my University Degree, have helped me to attain a full-time teaching job in 2017, teaching Biblical studies, English and HSIE at Australian Christian College. This may not have been a possibility without the knowledge and skills attained whilst working towards a Diploma in Ministry with Ridley! 

I will be starting this job in January of 2017, and am excited for what this opportunity will bring, with the prospect of future personal and professional development in either a Chaplaincy position, or other subject areas.

I would love prayer for this new, exciting position as a High School teacher! It is daunting and exciting all at once. I would love prayer that amidst the wedding planning and normal day-to-day life tasks, that I’d be able to maintain professionalism, efficiency and preparedness in this new position! I would also love prayer that I would be able to do all this, whilst looking after my health and not ‘burning out’. It’s a lot to ask for, but I know that God is powerful enough to do all things. Please pray that I would lean into Him and rely on Him for my strength etc as He guides me through the new year!

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

End of the Internship

It’s coming to the end of my two years interning at St Paul’s Castle Hill.  It’s been such an incredible experience, in which I have learned so much! Through this internship and the opportunities it has provided me with, I’ve been able to experience such a range of ministries, and have been given such a range of responsibilities and challenges. 

This internship has actually aided me in attaining a full-time teaching job for 2017, where I will be using my partial Diploma in Ministry to teaching Biblical Studies (as well as using my University degree to teach English and HSIE). 

I want to say a huge thank you to you, my supporters, for enabling me to experience, learn, grow and stretch myself over these last two years! I could not have had this unique experience if it wasn’t for your prayers and financial support, which have helped to sustain me. I am so very grateful for your faith in the mission I was called to some 24 months ago, and for your continued support this whole time. Though my ministry wasn’t in some foreign country doing hands-on mission type work, you still viewed my local mission as just as beneficial and important enough to support me through it - and for that I am SO thankful!

I have absolutely no doubt that God was using these last two years to equip me for the formal and informal ministry that I’ll be a part of in the future, and am so grateful to Him for giving me this opportunity to grow and learn. 

This has been an unforgettable, valuable and significant two years, and I want to thank you for sharing in this journey with me, and for supporting me along the way. 

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

EXCITING NEWS!

Last month, Tim and I got engaged!  We will be getting married on September 16th 2017! 

I would love your prayers for this next season of our lives:

- That Wedding Preparation would be as stress-free as possible!

- That God would be at the centre of our relationship the whole time.

- That we would continue to rely on Him for providence, protection and all other things as we plan to spend the rest of our lives together! 

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

COMING UP

With your support and prayers I’ve been able to work on planning our annual Young Adult’s conference - The Big Weekend. 

This weekend conference is aimed at refreshing, rebuilding, challenging and growing our Young Adult’s at St Paul’s, and building community in and amongst the many groups that exist within the one big family of YAs.  The topic this weekend is ~ CREATION ~ and we will be learning all about God’s creativity and the way He expresses this creativity through US, His creation! 

My Role:

I’ve been lucky enough to actually oversee the whole structure, program and detail of this weekend. I’ve been able to help shape and plan the topic, the sessions, the program and every thing in between! It has been a big responsibility, but a huge blessing!

Prayer:

Would you please join with me in prayer for this weekend?

Please prayer for safety. Pray that God would have His way in our community and be building up His people in knowledge and understanding of Him. Would it be a time of great fellowship, and may the Young Adult community come away from it, passionate for ministry, both official, organised ministry within the church/community, and their own personal ministry to those they meet, love and spend time with!

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

The Big Thing 15/07/16

Our Panel consisted of three people:  - A member of our congregation - Michael Brierley. A physio, dad of twins, and YA small group leader.

- Claudine - Red Frogs leader, passionate about showing Jesus’ love to the teenagers, youth and young adults of Australia.

- Kevin Naiqama - West Tigers Rugby League player. Passionate follower of Jesus, making a difference in the world of professional rugby league. 

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

The promotion that I worked on for Nights:Teaching

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

~~~Update~~~

It’s been a while since I’ve given you an update on the work I’ve been doing during my internship at St Paul’s! 

Nights: Teaching

Our YA community had one of the ministers from Anchor Church in Marrickville come and share with us about ‘The True Story of the World’.  Arnaldo shared with us, God’s story of wanting to be near and with and amongst His people, throughout the history of the world. He was so intelligent and biblically literate, and his wisdom and knowledge of God and the Bible was so sharp, he gave us A LOT to think about and to be challenged by! 

The Big Thing

For the Big Thing in July, we had a panel of people from in and around our community, come and share about their mission to make God known through their work place and within their friends and family groups! 

Thank you for your continued prayer about these events. Through your faithfulness and support, these events have been effective in ministering to those in and around our Church community!!!! 

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

2016:

W O W. This year has been insane so far. So busy, so fruitful, so encouraging and so much learning and growth already!!

Interning this year has been full on as I am learning to balance an online Bible college degree, full time University, two days interning, serving in various other ministries around church, and participating in club soccer each week!  

Over the past two months I have been on prac placement at Cherrybrook Technology High School, teaching English to years 7-11! It has been such a hectic season, however I have loved letting God guide me through the situations I’ve been placed in, and allowing Him to grow and change me, teach me and mould me.

Teaching in a high school for the past two months has helped me to reflect on my heart for ministry, and think about what capacity I want to serve the Church and the community in when I have finished my teaching degree. I’m still unsure whether I should go straight into teaching, or if full-time ministry is where I am being called. There is potential opportunity to be a school chaplain, however all these things are still far off future possibilities. 

I would love prayer for guidance and provision in these matters!

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

Recently:

As of last week, I have completed my 30 day prac block at school, and am back at Interning, ready to continue building teams and encouraging our YA volunteers to keep serving God with all they have! We have a few big events coming up that

I’d love prayer for:

Nights: Teaching on the 29th June. This is a brand new event designed to provide the Young Adults of our church with some biblical, theological ‘meat’ to chew on, to encourage, grow, challenge, teach and rebuke them. We have a guest speaker coming and I’d love prayer that through this night, our YAs would be challenged and encouraged to continue to know God more intimately each day.

The Big Thing (Mid-year edition) on the 15th July. Prayer that this would continue to be an effective outreach event and that people who don’t know Jesus would come and be welcomed into our community and come to know Him!

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

What have I been up to?

So far this year I have been involved in organising or overseeing a few huge events which have been aimed at continued growth in community within the St Paul’s Young Adults, and continued growth in love for Jesus.

The events are listed below!

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

The Heartbeat :

Young Adult’s vision night!

This was our first official event of the year, where Josh and I set a vision for our Young Adult’s community for 2016. 

The night’s focus was on encouragement and vision. Josh set the vision for the Young Adult’s in 2016, and shared that he wanted us to be a community which has humility in the way we serve the church and those who aren’t part of the church yet. He also shared that he wanted us to be a community marked by our encouragement of one another - challenging us to speak words of life into those around us. The night ended in a really practical way, where we each wrote little encouragements to those around us on pieces of paper that were handed around.  

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

THE BIG THING: EASTER EDITION

The Big Thing is our biannual Young Adult’s outreach event, which we ran over the Easter Long Weekend! 

This night included our previous Young Adult’s minister, Shane Dirks, preaching to us about the Easter message, Krispy Kremes, an adult jumping castle/obstacle course, LOTS of dancing and around 250 young adults from St Paul’s and around the Hills community!

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

As well as House Parties this year, Josh and I have worked at creating two new ministry events to build community, encouragement and love amongst our Young Adult’s of St Paul’s. 

We created and launched our very own ‘Jimmy Fallon-esque’ St Paul’s talk show. The night was set up and executed like a regular talk show, involving a host, live band and guests who were interviewed. The vision for this night was to learn more about the Young Adult’s in our community, through interviews; learning about their lives, their gifts, and the ways they live out their faith and use their gifts to glorify God in everyday life.

The debut of this event went so excellently, people were asking why we’d only scheduled two per year! It was an encouraging night where we were able to laugh, be entertained, and built up through and by those from our YA community who shared about how they live out their faith in their everyday lives.

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

Each week had a different theme, and each week was designed to create a place where people from outside our church could come and feel comfortable, meet new people from within our church community, and have a fun time! 

Much like last year, we saw SO much fruit come from these parties! They became an ‘ice-breaker’ for people to bring their friends who potentially would never come to church if invited, but would of course come to a party! Once at the party, they were able to experience Jesus’ love without even knowing it, through the community of believers who were focussed and intent on welcoming everyone and loving those people with the love of Jesus!!

I was in charge of all things promotion (like this flier posted above), planning out HOW the nights would look and what they would involve, and building a team around me to execute and produce these parties!

Unfortunately due to prac during the week and soccer on a Sunday arvo, I was unable to help out with the actual execution of these parties, but LOVED watching the Young Adult’s team take ownership of these events and run them with passion and eagerness, expectant to see people come and find community and love.

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

In the month of May at St Paul’s we have an explicit and intentional focus on ‘mission’ and outreach. As a part of this vision, the Young Adult ministry runs House parties each week after our 5pm and 7pm services. These parties are themed and provide music, comfort, food, drinks and fun for members of the Young Adult community at our church and within our community. 

[maddy-shirley-internlyf-blog]

Verse of the Year.

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”