Not at all. You’ll see our Partners serving at NewLife and proudly wearing their blue NewLife shirts.

In Philippians 1 Paul the Apostle makes the following comment about the church there:

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6 NIV11)

Whilst the concept of having a course for people to serve within the church isn’t found within the New Testament, our partnership structure at NewLife is the way we are formally expressing a common commitment that is seen throughout the epistles. As such, we are seeking godly men and women who will put their shoulder to the wheel with us in the task of giving and living the message of new life in Jesus throughout Oran Park and beyond. The Partnership course is simply an organised process by which we seek to answer your questions, inform and equip you for this next level of involvement, service, and fellowship.

Our Partnership process at NewLife is designed to produce two key outcomes:

1. Confidence that we’re rowing in the same direction Once you’ve done the Partnership course we’ll be confident that you’ve understood what we’re on about at NewLife, that you’ve had enough information and discussion to be in agreement with our vision and values, that you’re ready to work with the leadership of the church, and that you are a committed follower of Jesus. With this foundation well laid we feel you’ll be able to whole-heartedly serve within our NewLife community.
2. Confidence in the care of our children At NewLife we believe kids are precious. At NewLife we have kids at almost every event or activity no matter how big or small. We want our kids to be cared for to the highest possible standards and for that reason we ask everyone who serves to have done our Anglican Safe Ministry training course. This course will teach you safe practice and procedure and what to look out for to keep kids safe in our midst. In addition to this course each prospective Partner will be asked to pass on their Working With Children Check Number (WWCCN) which will be obtained following a Police check.

Obtaining a WWCCN shouldn’t be understood to be scary – it’s a straight forward process that’s free and involves filling in some details online and then going in to the local RMS (formerly RTA) office with your ID. By asking everyone to do this before they serve we can be assured that there are no former offenders responsible for children and everyone has ‘educated eyes’ to make sure our environment is as safe for kids as can be.

Come long tlong over four weeks to our LifeTogether Course. On top of this, unless impractical, we like to visit every prospective Partner in their home. When we visit it’s a great chance for us to get to know you personally and to hear some of your story as to how you came to trust in Jesus. Having done those things we’ll also need to have received your WWCCN from the RMS – so forward that on once you’ve had it sent to you. At this point we’ll invite those we feel are ready to join us as Partners to do so.

If along the way we feel that it might be beneficial to take some more time we might encourage you to join us for our Jesus for the Curious Course to give you confidence that you’ve got the foundations of the faith right before we invite you to teach others.

I hope that it’s become clear along the way that to be a Partner at NewLife we’re looking for committed followers of Jesus who are eager to make serving within the church a key component of their worship. This will mean that a lifestyle lived at odds with Jesus’ standards won’t be compatible with this next step. Of course there may be other issues surrounding personal illness, an unsupportive partner, or a pressured family situation, that may mean that now isn’t the right time to be pursuing a deeper level of involvement. We can totally respect that and you are of course welcome to continue at NewLife until you feel circumstances are more favourable.

We endeavour to run a LifeTogether Course each term so there should be one coming up soon. Just ask or check the NewLife newsletter for details.

Keep coming along! Please be assured that you are a valued part of our church and you’re welcome to join in a LifeGroup and fellowship with us on Sundays. Similarly you’re welcome at every NewLife event, and totally ok to bring a friend, or a family member to any event we advertise. When you feel that you’d like to make a deeper contribution to the wider life of the church we’d be delighted to have you join us on our next course.

If you have further questions or if any of this isn’t clear then please feel free to ask me in person or drop me an email – [email protected] or on our Contact Page.