Had our meeting with the Department of Housing (Western Sydney) today. Thanks for all of your prayers, it went well! The staff were really open to hearing about us and were more than a little confused about our particular model. They were also a little suspicious about another church group wanting to come into the area, which is understandable. From here we have to build trust with them. They were impressed that we asked them questions and were open to hearing answers, as opposed to just stating “our agenda”.

Something interesting arose in the meeting: they suggested that the neighbouring suburb of Shalvey (which is 500 metres away) has more problems and fewer services available. So, we are going to leave no stone unturned to find where God wants us. Shalvey is still part of the Mt. Druitt area (there are 11 suburbs in total) and is all public housing.

So from now on we are going to refer to our ministry as being in Mt. Druitt to avoid all confusion if the particular suburb changes. Who knows where God wants us, we may still end up in Bidwill! We are putting in an application for a public house and we will see where that goes, keep praying!