Cross posted from Bondia Timor Leste.
It should be noted that without the work of Rob Duncanson that it is inconceivable that this wonderful event would be taking place, either at this time, or with the warmth of relationship which exists between our two denominations.
A formal partnership between the Australian Presbyterian World Mission on behalf of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Igreja Presbyteriana Evangelica iha Timor Leste will be signed on Friday 20th July, 2012.
The partnership is now made possible because the IEPTL has formally adopted its constitution and subordinate standards (Westminster Confession).
In most ways this formal step will not make any difference to our relationship with them. However, it does spell out clearly that our relationship is not one of parent/child or colonialist/colonialised, but it is a partnership of brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are working together as one united body for the sake of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. They must pray for us and seek to encourage us in our work for the gospel in Australia, and we must pray for them and encourage them in the work that they seek to do for the gospel in Timor Leste.
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. Php 1:3–6
… you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Eph 2:19–22
Robert Benn and Rob Duncanson will travel to Timor Leste tomorrow (Thursday 19th July) to formalise this partnership with the TL Synod Executive. Please pray that this will the setting down of a historical marker post which will be a blessing to the churches of Timor Leste and Australia.
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