St John’s Weekly Bulletin – Sunday 12 November 2017

Please be careful around the church and the churchgrounds. After church last Sunday, someone who had been to worship had their bag snatched in Centennial Park. Please take care of your belongings around the church and be aware of who might be around you when you are in and around St John’s. If you have children, please be aware of where they are when you are at church.

A couple of times this week, I have been aware of different scams that try to take advantage of us to steal information and money. My wife and I were both telephoned by a strange telephone number that hung up after one ring on our mobile phones. A bit of research revealed that some international numbers are charged at an extraordinary cost per minute and that the recipients of these telephone numbers in foreign countries can be paid if people call these numbers. They try to get people to return these calls and then try to keep the caller on the line as long as possible, often costing hundreds of dollars on a telephone bill.

I also received an SMS message from a telephone number that said it was my bank. It instructed me to update my security details by entering them on a website with a name very similar to my bank’s name. Often these websites are designed to look exactly like a bank’s website and it it easy to be taken in by these deceptive techniques.

Please be aware of the ways that people may try to take advantage of you. If you have elderly relatives, this might be a good time to make sure that they are aware of the risks and what to be aware of. Jesus sent his disciples out into the world and cautioned them to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10.16) This might be a good time to heed his warning!

Blessings, Murray

This bulletin was emailed to members of the parish on Friday 10 November 2017 – if you would like to join the Weekly Bulletin email list, please call the church office on 02 4927 5399 and we will happily arrange this.

One way that we can be generous is supporting the work of the Samaritans organisation. Some people like to do this through bringing gifts to the Samaritans Christmas Tree, which we will have in our church in December.

Some like to donate directly to the Samaritans Christmas Appeal, so that funds can be used in other ways as the Samaritans see fit. If you would like to support the Appeal this year, please head to: http://www.samaritans.org.au/donate

BSB: 705-077
A/C: 00040401
Name: St John’s Anglican Church Newcastle

Thank you to all members of our parish who are able to support ministry in this way.