GOOD SHEPHERD LADIES FELLOWSHIP

Annual Social Morning Tea Fund Raiser – July 17^th 2024

Good Shepherd Ladies Fellowship Toowoomba have once again held a very successful Morning Tea Fund Raiser with the theme of ‘HOPE’. On a cold, bleak morning with the maximum temperature only around 7.0° a large crowd of around 100 gathered for our annual fund raiser and to celebrate 60 years of service.

The Guild as it was then known was founded, following the formation of the Good Shepherd congregation within the Redeemer Parish in February 1964. 16 ladies were present at that first meeting. The membership fee was 2 shillings. One remaining active Foundation member, Roma Klingberg was unfortunately not able to be present with us today. The main format of our meetings was and still is first and foremost Bible Study, a chat over morning tea, the business meeting and a talk from a member about her life. Visiting the shut ins, catering for funerals, and helping where needed in the congregation are our main activities. Due to covid and an aging congregation not as much visiting is done now but individual ladies take on a member to phone regularly, visit or send a Tract to her. Cards are sent to any congregation member who turns 80 and then in their following years. 83 have been sent so far this year. As in many congregations, we are an aging congregation.  The average attendance at our monthly meetings is around 23 – 24. A number of our members have served on Zone, State and National Executives.

The Social morning began with morning tea, purchasing  from the sale table to stock their freezers plus other items as well, and fellowship over a cuppa. Cynthia from Esk had a table of beautiful craft items from a U3A sewing group which she belongs to. The proceeds from this table plus the door entry fee went to the ‘The Hope Horizons  Jenny Black Wellness Centre’ whose passion it is to support people through their cancer journey. This amounted to $821. $1,232.40 was taken from the sale table and this goes towards Zone, State and National projects.

An arrangement of 60 patty cakes was displayed with a prayer on a small blackboard for the Ladies Fellowship. Pastor Mark Blackwell and Ivy Dionysius  represented the Fellowship at the table for a photo. Thank you to Bev Pile and Janelle Turner  for supplying  the cakes.

We then moved into the church for the programme. President Margaret Schelberg  gave a welcome to the gathering on this cold winter’s day. She read a brief history of the fellowship. An inspirational reading ‘Let’s be Coffee’ gave us plenty to think  about. When adversity strikes, there’s always the ‘Hopefulness’ of Jesus.

Pastor Mark Blackwell based his Devotion on a number of Bible texts with the word ‘Hope’. What does hope mean to us. Pastor reminded us that it’s the ‘sure expectation’ of Jesus. Nothing can separate us from him. He said after 60  years of blessings, God still needs us to continue  in his service.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12. He then prayed. ‘Freely, Freely’ was sung.

Margaret introduced the Guest Speaker, Jo Capp from ‘The Hope Horizons Jenny Black Wellness Centre’. She spoke of the cancer journey with her son and how difficult that was. Over 1,000 have been helped since it’s inception.  There is so much community support. At the moment there are 84 volunteers supporting this centre.

Hope Horizons Cancer Wellness Centre opened its doors in Toowoomba, Southeast Queensland in 2017. Born from a desire to see free allied health services provided for those living with cancer in the region, while ever cancer remains, our mission is to diminish its impact. ‘Our services are provided with no out-of-pocket expense to our clients, with the gap costs covered wholly by our fundraising efforts. We now have a brand new home, the Jenny Black Cancer Wellness Centre which has been built through the generosity of the Black family and the entire Toowoomba community. We invite you to visit us and be part of the exciting future of Hope Horizons.’

The ‘Hope on a Hanger’ Popup Shop is going so well! We have some amazing clothes and accessories for sale and more donations arriving every day. Thank you  Jo.

Janelle Turner reviewed a lovely children’s  book ’A Little Town Called Hope’ by Emma Allan, a Christian lady from the UK. It talks about emotions and how to deal with them. Join Anger, Sadness, Joy and Fear on a colourful adventure as they move into this magical place and learn how Hope can bring the best out of them and how Jesus built this town especially for us.

We sang ‘Nothing Can Separate Us’. A number of lucky door prizes were drawn. Song ‘One More Step Along The Way’ was sung.

Margaret closed the morning feeling very thankful for an enjoyable time together and  thanked everyone from coming, including a visitor from  Perth and a couple from Yeppoon.

A reading ended the morning.

HOPE

When we use the word ‘hope’ we say things like, ‘I hope we win!’ It’s like wishing for something we’re not sure will happen.

But in the Bible, hope means being absolutely certain something will happen.

Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, said there are three things we can hope in if we belong to Jesus.

1. God will turn even the bad things around for your good in the end.
2. Your good things can’t ever be taken away from you.
3. The best things are yet to come.

“The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope….”

Romans 15: 13 (NIV)

With Christian Greetings

Lois Schultz