Rose City Presbyterian Church

08/06/2026

On Sunday we heard Elder David Hannah teach us from Jesus’ words in His Sermon on the Mount about Pride. Our Sunday Property Deacon, Jackson Pitstock, also gave us an update on our Property Ministry.

Jackson Pitstock led us in her prepared prayers — here they are!

PRAYER OF PRAISE AND CONFESSION

Heavenly Father, We praise you that we can come together and worship at your feet, Lord. That you provide for our church, including our finances, our understanding and our time for one another.

How great it is to worship you; the one who lays himself out for us, even though we’ve rebelled against you.

You, who sent his only Son, who is perfect. You sent Him to the world to die and rise again out of love for us, so that we can have what is truly good, forever.

You, Lord are truly good! But Lord, we are sorry that we often follow the ways of the world and constantly choose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil over you.

Please guide us along the right path towards your will. In Jesus name, Amen

PRAYER OF THANKS AND REQUEST

Lord, We thank you for our church family and for all those who serve us in many different ways.

Today we’d like to thank especially David Hannah, who has served our church family as an elder since 2020 and is now going on leave for a year. Please grant him rest and refreshment over this time.

We thank you for the gift of marriage and the newlyweds, Matt and Sarah who both said their vows yesterday.

Please be with them and guide their marriage down your path, Lord. We ask Lord, that we can listen and understand as David Hannah brings us his sermon today on ‘Learning to Live Without Pride’. And we also thank you for our elders as they meet tonight to oversee our church family.

We ask that you can give them wisdom and protection as they serve our church and you, our Lord. In Jesus name, Amen

05/06/2026

On Sunday we heard Elder Carl Dittman teach us from Jesus’ words in His Sermon on the Mount about vengeance. Our Sunday serving Deacon, Dominika Goulter, also gave us an update on our Sunday serving hospitality ministry.

We prayed for our sister church at South Burnett Kingaroy Presbyterian Church, and Jill Goulter led us in her prepared prayers — here they are!

PRAYER OF PRAISE AND CONFESSION

Our Father in Heaven.

Father we praise and thank You for You are our God, a fountain of mercy and grace. Holy is your name. It is truly right to praise You, love You and worship You with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. You are our sovereign Lord, the great I AM. You are the all powerful, Supreme Ruler over all creation. We see the glorious work of your hands all around us. You set everything in its place and saw that it was all very good. Your hands fearfully and wonderfully made us in your image, giving us worth and dignity. Even though we became your enemies when the original, intimate relationship with You was severed by the fall, you loved us. Lord we praise You for the wonderful things you planned long ago. Full of ‘hesed’ compassion and loving-kindness for us You relentlessly pursued us down through the ages. Because of Your plans to come to our rescue we have hope and a future. It is in You alone in whom we can put our trust. We praise You Lord, for You are a God who saves; a gentle, loving Father who loves us beyond measure.

But Father, we come before You humbly confessing that we have been profoundly affected, burdened and enslaved by our sinful nature. Sin is still in us and with us in whatever we do. We confess that our hearts are shaped and influenced by the ways of this world. Attitudes towards anger, bitterness, wrath, clamour, slander and malice all reside within us. In this day of entitlement, self promotion and impersonal, virtual relationships we have forgotten what it means to be kind to one another. We do not make allowances for other peoples’ faults. We are blind to our own failures. We miss opportunities to show acts of kindness, compassion and humility that would repair broken relationships. Merciful Lord, our sins are many and we deserve Your wrath. We are sorry, Lord. Please forgive us. Renew our minds and cleanse our hearts from all unrighteousness, we pray.

Father we praise and thank you for Your Son, Jesus, who full to overflowing with your ‘hesed’ came into this world, so that we might be saved. His shed blood brought healing, forgiveness and restoration into this broken world. Thank You Father for your amazing acts of ‘hesed’ in your divine plan for the salvation of many.

In Jesus name and by His Spirit we pray.
Amen

PRAYER OF THANKS AND REQUEST

Our Father in Heaven

We thank You that we can come before You and bring everything to You in prayer. Lord we thank You that You are ever present with us. You never change. You are the same, yesterday, today and forever. Secure in this knowledge we know that we can totally depend on You all of the time. We thank You for your great love and care, mercy and grace.
Most of all Father, we thank You for your ‘hesed’ love for us manifested in your only son Jesus. Gentle and lowly of heart, full to overflowing with your ‘hesed’, He took the crushing burdens of our sins upon His shoulders to the Cross. Thank You O mighty God.

Father we thank You for this term’s study from Matthew’s Gospel of ‘Learning to live Without’. We thank You for Carl’s leading and preaching on this week’s big idea, Jesus’ object lesson how to live without vengeance. May we listen well with our ears and most importantly, our hearts.

Lord, we pray for Pastor Dave who is enjoying some annual leave. We ask that You will bless him with rest, refreshment and renewal. We also lift up the Bailey family to You as they prepare for the imminent wedding of their son Matthew. We pray they will adapt well to the changes in all their relationships. We ask for Your richest blessings for Matthew and his bride, Sarah, as they leave their parents and cleave to each other as husband and wife.

Father, we thank You for the happy news of engagements from Hannah and Amy, both past members of our Church. We ask that your blessings rain over Hannah and Nathan and Amy and Joseph during this engagement period as they prepare for marriage.

Lord we pray for our sister church in Kingaroy. We thank You for your faithfulness to our brothers and sisters in the appointment of Rev Greg Cooney as assessor Elder. We ask that You will strengthen and grow the congregation as they seek to serve each other and the wider community.

We praise You Lord for our Growth Groups. We thank You for the enjoyment we have in meeting with our group members to build each other up in faith. We thank You that we can freely meet to discuss, share and study your word. We have a welcome problem Lord in that we now need to plant another morning group. Please bless us with wisdom and patience as we go through the process of change to formulate the new group.

Father, we thank You for our newly elected Deacons. We thank You for raising up Dominika to lead our Sunday Serving Ministry. We thank You for her serving heart and for the experience in hospitality that she brings to this role. We ask that You would guide her and bless her with wisdom and grace as she organises and oversees this ministry.

Lord You are the most generous Father and we ask You to give us what we need and hope for, according to Your perfect will and as it pleases You.

In Jesus name, Amen

29/05/2026

Today our ministry apprentice, Daniel Goulding, sent out another ministry update sharing some of what God has been teaching him, opportunities he has had in ministry, and ways you can be praying for him and Dominique.

It has been really encouraging to see Daniel growing through the apprenticeship, preaching God’s Word, serving within the life of the church, and learning alongside experienced ministers as he prepares for long-term gospel ministry.

If you would like to read the update, you can find it here:
https://mailchi.mp/2a57f032e12d/an-update-on-my-apprenticeship-18050546

If you would like to receive future updates and prayer points, you are very welcome to sign up here:
https://forms.office.com/r/kEarUHLLVB

We thank God for the ways he continues to raise up and train workers for gospel ministry, and we are thankful for your prayers and encouragement.

29/05/2026

21/05/2026

We know just how much Mums need fellowship and the refreshing Word of God, so we do everything to accommodate bubs at GROW! 👶🏼

Our venue has ample parking, a private room for feeding, a spacious Mums' lounge, pram parking, and change room facilities.

We encourage Mums to join us in the Auditorium if bub is content, otherwise we will stream the conference into the Mums' rooms so you won't miss out!

Why not invite a Mum along to GROW, or better yet, gift her a ticket so that she has one less thing to remember to do 🤍

18/05/2026

Yesterday we heard Daniel Goulding teach us from Jesus' words in his Sermon on the Mount, about lust. Our mercy deacon, Jill Goulter gave us an update on our ministry of mercy. We prayed for our sister church at Goondiwindi Presbyterian Church. And Jo Mackay led us in her prepared prayers - here they are!

PRAYER OF PRAISE AND CONFESSION

Gracious Father, you are the God who sees us fully and loves us still.
Like the woman at the well, you meet us in the ordinary places of our lives, in our routines, our weariness, our quiet searching, and You speak truth with both honesty and kindness. You are the giver of living water, the One who alone satisfies the deep thirst of our souls. You do not offer shallow comfort or passing pleasure, but fullness of life, true intimacy, and worship in spirit and in truth. And so we praise You— for Your patience, for Your holiness, for Your relentless love that constantly seeks us and draws us near.

Yet Lord, as we come before You, we confess: we are a people who thirst for many things that are not of You. We have created images in our hearts: false promises of satisfaction, things we look to for comfort, worth, escape, or control. We chase after what cannot truly fill us. We confess the ways we have lusted, not only with our eyes, but with our desires, our thoughts, our longings. We have wanted what is not ours to take. We have exchanged what is holy for what is fleeting, chasing earthly desires that draw us away from You and leave us… empty. We have traded living water for broken vessels. Forgive us, Lord. As Jesus teaches us, this is not just a matter of outward action, but of the heart, and our hearts need Your cleansing. So search us, God, and know us. Gently uncover what we have hidden in the dark, and lead us back into the light of what is true.

Turn our eyes away from what is empty. Re-shape our desires. Teach us to hunger for righteousness, to thirst for You above all else. And we praise You for drawing us back, not in shame, but in grace into real intimacy with You. We come to You Father, empty-handed but hopeful, trusting that in Christ we are forgiven, restored, and invited to drink deeply once more.
Amen.

PRAYER OF THANKS AND REQUEST

Gracious Father, we thank You that You are not distant from us,
but near; a God who speaks, who leads, and who invites us to walk in Your ways. Thank You for the words of Jesus, for His gentle rhythms of grace that teach us how to live - not striving to fill ourselves, but learning to rest in You. Thank You that You do not leave us to chase what is empty, but call us again and again, to what is lasting, to what is true, to life with You.

And so we bring before You our church family.

We thank You for this training term, for the ways You are shaping us through Your Word, and we pray for Daniel as he preaches today. We pray he would speak with clarity and faithfulness, and that our hearts would be open to hear, soft to respond, and ready to be changed.

We thank You for our sister church in Goondiwindi. Strengthen and encourage them, Lord. Grow them in unity and love, and sustain their leaders as they serve Your people.

We thank You for the gift of service within our church, and we pray for Jill Goulter as she leads the mercy ministry. Give her compassion, wisdom, and endurance to serve as You have called her. And may we support her well, as she reflects the mercy You have shown to us, that we too might show that same mercy to others. Shape us as a people who care deeply for one another, who reflect Your kindness in practical ways, and who do not turn away from those in need.

We pray for Dave and Daniel this week as they gather at Lake Moogerah with the ministry team to plan for Revelation. Grant them wisdom and discernment. Give them humility before Your Word, clarity in understanding, and unity in purpose, as they prepare to teach what is deep and difficult.

We thank You for the faithful service of our elder Jeff Mackay, and we ask now that You would give him true rest. Restore his strength, refresh his spirit, and grant both him and the Session clarity and compassion as they seek Your wisdom for what lies ahead. We thank you that David Hanna has also taken this opportunity to be restored and refreshed. May his time in rest be fulfilling and nourishing.

We also pray for Dave Bailey as he prepares for annual leave, that it would be a time of attention on his own family and time of joyous celebration... that their family may continue to grow in their faith and relationship with You. And Father, in all of these things we bring before you today, keep drawing us back to what is true. Guard us from chasing what cannot satisfy. Teach us to seek first Your kingdom. Shape us as a people who find our deepest need met in You, and who live together as Your church - not reaching for lesser things, but holding fast to Christ.

We ask all this in Your name, Amen.

10/05/2026

Yesterday we heard from Ben Vickers as he preached his very first sermon: 'Learning to Live Without Anger' from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount'.

Yoliza van Dyk, our Treasury Deacon, also gave us an update on her ministry among us and how we can financially support our ministry as a church.

Daniel Goulding, our Ministry Apprentice, went to preach at Goondiwindi Presbyterian Church with his wife, Dom.

Jeff Mackay led us in his prepared prayers, with Jo Mackay leading us in readings and Mother's Day morning tea!
Here are Jeff's prayers:

PRAYER OF PRAISE AND CONFESSION

Wonderful Heavenly Father, meeting here this morning, we firstly give You all praise for your presence, Your Love and Your desire for relationship with us. We praise You that we can indeed come to You by way of our faith in Your Son Jesus.

Our gracious Lord, we thank you for the privilege of being able to gather here today, belonging to You. We praise You that we can now be considered sons and daughters of the living, eternal God. We are blessed that we live in a place where Your people can freely meet together throughout this country, and we give You praise for being consistent and relevant even amidst our secular society.

We praise You Lord that You are a merciful and gracious God. And we confess to You our bentness toward sin and of ourselves. Very regularly we stray from You and seek our own path. We look toward our own desires and get quite attached to the ways of the world. We use busyness as some kind of screen to distract us from spending time with You. We confess our waywardness and our apathy.

For all our failures and weaknesses and sin, we ask for Your forgiveness.

Thankyou Lord that You are indeed a forgiving God, a God who releases us from disgrace. We pray that You will help us again, to walk with You rather than against You.

And we pray though Your Son…
Our Saviour, Jesus
Amen.

PRAYER OF THANKS AND REQUEST

Lord, we come again in prayer this morning and we want to thank you that we are able to gather here today as Your people. And as we do so Lord, we thank you that as we look to each other, we see You working amongst us.

We thank you for the tradition of honouring mothers and may you help us to do this by our action and words - everyday. We pray for mothers, for upcoming mothers to be and for those women who care well for us through their mothering.

We pray for wisdom in dealing with the need for a potential new bible study group and for the upcoming Dinners for 8.

We thank you for our sister church at Millmerran and pray for each person, the teaching they enjoy, for those who are unwell and for those ministering at Millmerran regularly. We pray for rain in the district and through many parts of QLD currently and for Presbytery in their guidance concerning the Millmerran future.

Lord, we bring before you Yoliza our Treasurer and thank you for her diligence. We pray for Yoliza and her family. We ask that we would continue to trust You and look to You for the finances here.

Lord we pray for Ben as he opens Your Word to us this morning,

In Jesus Name, Amen.

07/05/2026

Last Sunday we enjoyed Jesus' beautitudes, from Matthew 5. We also held another lunch after church, for those looking to belong with us in membership of our church family.
Annelie Laing led us in her prepared prayers, and here they are:

PRAYER OF PRAISE AND CONFESSION

Heavenly Father, we praise You as our gracious and loving God who welcomes the weary and heavy burdened into Your presence. Thank You that true flourishing in Your kingdom is not found in status, power, or worldly success, but in learning your unforced rhythms of grace. Thank You that Your kingdom is for the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Lord, as we come before You, we confess that too often our hearts are shaped more by the ways of this world than by the ways of Your kingdom. Forgive us for chasing comfort, success, recognition and control rather than humbly depending on You. Lord, we confess that we can be proud instead of poor in spirit, relying on our own strength and forgetting our deep need for Your grace each day. Where You call us to love, serve, and care for others, we often fall short through selfishness, business, or indifference. Lord, please soften our hearts, humble us, and shape us to reflect Your compassion, mercy and righteousness.

We thank you that through the death of Christ we can find your forgiveness, grace, and restoration. And we thank you that because of His resurrection from the dead, You continue to transform us into the people You have called us to be. Help us please this term Lord, to learn how to live without our heavy burdens, by exchanging them for the easy and light yoke of Jesus.
In His name we pray, Amen.

PRAYER OF THANKS AND REQUEST

Lord, we thank You for the many ways You continue to work in and through our church family. Thank You for the blessing of growth groups starting again this term and for the opportunity to gather in Your Word, encourage one another, and grow deeper in faith. We pray that these groups would be places of genuine fellowship, encouragement, and spiritual growth, where we build one another up and point each other to Christ.

We also thank You for the upcoming Belonging Membership Lunch and for the encouragement of already having eight people signed up. Thank You for stirring hearts to learn more about our church family and what it means to belong as members of Your body. We also thank You for the training feasts this term, especially the prayer leaders training breakfast coming up next week. We ask that You would use these opportunities to equip, encourage, and strengthen those serving among us.

Lord, we also lift up our sister church family in Miles and Roma. Thank You for Your faithfulness in sustaining their ministry and for the encouragement of the Clifton congregation joining their Sunday services remotely. Thank You for the ways this partnership is opening doors as they seek to establish satellite congregations across South-West Queensland. We pray that You would continue to guide this vision and use it to extend the hope of the gospel to many more people. We also ask that You would raise up faithful leaders, especially elders, to shepherd and strengthen the Roma congregation.

Lord, as we come now to hear Your Word, shape us to be people who reflect the beauty of Your kingdom. Help us to live the flourishing life You call us into. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

01/05/2026

True belonging is the promise of people, place and purpose. Last Sunday, after hearing each share some of God's work in their life, we baptised Peyton and Maple - and welcomed Samuel - as new members of our church family!

Here is how we welcome new members, after Pastor Dave does some brief teaching (this time from Romans 12):
1) Hear their story: 'Why I am being baptised into God's family'
2) Ask them and the congregation our promises (Asked by the most recent new members!)
3) Members of their Growth Group lead us in prayer, while members lay hands on them.
4) Baptising by pouring (Maple) or immersion (Peyton).
5) All members of our whole church family each extending the 'right hand of fellowship' or giving a 'holy kiss' - some form of appropriate touch, to symbolise their inclusion in the church.
6) Giving of a helpful book by our Elders, symbolising their commitment to keep teaching them faithfully.

Here is Maple's story, shared with permission of her family:
"I am getting baptised today. For me, getting baptised means I am officially in God's family and planted in his love. Being in God's family makes me feel happy because I know that I am safe with Jesus by my side. I want to live like this forever.

In my life I have learned about God by going to church with my mum and my brothers and reading the Bible a lot with my mum too. One thing I have learned is the story of when Jesus was crucified. He died so that I can live with him and so that I can be forgiven when I sin! I want to live in a family like that."

20/04/2026

Yesterday Hannah Weir led us in her prepared prayers, and here they are:

PRAYER OF PRAISE AND CONFESSION

Our Heavenly Father,
You are enthroned as the Holy One, the one we praise. You are our strength, our rescuer, our rock and our redeemer. We will declare your name because you are worthy of all honour and glory. We praise you.

We confess that despite your abounding goodness, we forsake you. For control, for pleasure, for independence; for things that are specs of dust in the light of you. We confess that we are so easy to stop trusting you. Sometimes you can feel so far away, like our cries are heard by no one. In our attempts to keep up with demands of our world, it can feel like we have been poured out, melted, emptied.

But you are faithful and close.

Help us in our restlessness to be still with you. In all seasons, you are there. Unlike us, you do not wander and stray. You are trustworthy and dependable. Your mercy and love are endless. You do not despise or scorn those suffering and afflicted. You show us your face and listen to our cries for help. Instead of forsaking us to our own sin, you gave up your Son to pay the cost of the sin he never committed. Who is like you, God? We are sorry for turning our face from you, for choosing to crouch in the darkness instead of walking in the light.

Thank you for your Son, Jesus. We will tell this wondrous story of your great rescue. We proclaim your righteousness! We declare it to our colleagues, and families, friends, and neighbours. To the children in our church, and the children who will be added.

We declare the truth of your Good News – Jesus Christ has done it!

In His mighty name we pray,
Amen.

PRAYER OF THANKS AND REQUEST

Our Heavenly Father,
Thank you that we who trust in you will not be put to shame.
You are an attentive father – concerned with our big things and our small things.

Thank you for the joyful decision of Peyton and Maple to be baptised, and along with Samuel, become members of this church. We pray for them, that you would be ever increasing their faith and delight in you.

We pray for all those considering membership and a commitment to belonging at Rose City. Please given them wisdom and courage to place down roots and freely give and receive in your family.
Thank you for the training opportunities coming up this term. We ask for energy for those leading the training, especially Pastor Dave. Thank you for the many gifts you’ve bestowed upon your people in this church. We ask that through formal and informal training, you would use your people to grow one another and spur each other on in loving and serving you.

We pray for Warwick and the Southern Downs. Please bring rain to a dry land. We pray not only for the physical dryness of the earth, but also spiritual thirst. We pray that many in Warwick would come to know you and taste the living water, that they would know how to never be thirsty again.

Father, we are faced each day with so much news of the troubles at home and around the world. We know that dominion belongs to you, and you rule over the nations. We ask that in your mercy, you would bring peace to our world and home. Please give leaders wisdom and humility to come to agreements that bring life, not death. We pray especially for our Christian brothers and sisters in war-torn places, please help they fix their eyes on you and look to you for their every need. May you use these times of destruction to bring many people to reconciliation with you through your Son. Help us trust you in the times now, and look forward to when Jesus will return and bring peace to the nations.

We pray now for clarity and conviction for Nathan as he opens us Psalm 22 for us, and we ask for safety for Daniel as he travels to preach at sister churches in North Toowoomba this morning and Millmerran this afternoon.

In all these things, we thank you that you are our God and we are your people. In Jesus’s name,
Amen.