As a teenager, Jenna Allen set herself some very high goals.
Top of her list was to own her own home before she turned 22. She also planned to be well on her way to a high-flying legal career.
As a hard-working legal secretary, Jenna studied at night with dreams of becoming a licensed conveyancer. Her own life expectations were starting to become overwhelming.
"Working full-time and studying in the night can be quite demanding," she explained. "But my main stresses came from worrying too much" I was very determined to own my own home and all that went with it."
Then about four years ago, after an evening lecture, she was handed a small green Bible completely out of the blue.
"That night I read a passage from the Bible on the train home," she says. "I was inspired and encouraged… After that, on nights I lay awake worrying, I would open the Bible and read random passages. As I applied what I had read to the stresses in my life I found comfort and relief."
As Jenna read the Bible alone, lots of questions began to form in her mind.
"I read The Da Vinci Code and because of my interest in history" I was becoming a little confused about some of the issues around the historical reliability of the Bible's account of Jesus."
Jenna began to question work colleagues who were Christians.
Finally one Sunday morning she plucked up the courage to go back to St Andrew's, Cronulla for the first time since she was a little girl, when her parents had sent her to Sunday School.
"I was really nervous, so I sat up the back and I was reluctant to talk to anyone" but I had heaps of questions.
"It was the [student] minister Bernard and his wife Anita" who began to clear up some of my confusion."
The ministry staff gave her material that explained the historical facts.
"When I made an appointment to discuss Christianity and The Da Vinci Code with [rector] the Rev Richard Humphrey I was directed to the website challenging The Da Vinci Code."
She was welcomed by other members of the congregation and encouraged to go to the evening congregation. She also joined a Bible study.
Making a commitment
"After I studied the Bible for a while, I began to see that all the stupid little things I stressed about didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
"It took a long while for me to accept that God is control" and that we should place our trust in him. It took a while, but I now understand we have been forgiven and that is why Christ died for us."
Friends and family noticed that Jenna had changed, becoming more relaxed and carefree. Last year, Jenna decided she wanted to get confirmed.
Richard Humphrey warned her to expect a spiritual battle: that life may become tougher, which it did.
But Jenna says the confirmation service turned out to be one of the best days of her life.
"Despite the hard times I was going through" when Bishop Alan [Stewart] asked who was there supporting me, the whole church stood up" it was emotionally overwhelming.
"It was so lovely" I now realise I have a whole Christian network of people who are caring for me."
Coming to Christ in Cronulla
Mr Humphrey says Jenna's story is fairly typical for his parish. "We are excited that God is calling people into his kingdom here."
Like Jenna's, the stories of many of the converts he has seen at Cronulla start with an initial contact through Sunday School, baptism or a wedding service.
In the Sutherland Shire, St Andrew's is a well-known public landmark and has become the region's de facto "cathedral'. It has the most high-profile location and is colloquially known as "The Elephant House' because its unique Byzantine architecture mirrors the old elephant enclosure at Taronga Zoo.
"We are the place people think of when they want a church," explains Mr Humphrey.
As a result the entire parish " which also includes St James' in the close-knit village of Kurnell " already has very strong community links.
This year Mr Humphrey will conduct up to 40 weddings and over 100 baptisms. All of these contacts receive a personal explanation of the gospel as well as a copy of the Campus Crusade for Christ version of The Jesus Video. If anyone shows interest, Mr Humphrey follows up with Rico Tice's Christianity Explored course.
This year alone has seen one wedding couple and one baptism couple converted.
"Our real problem is sheer weight of numbers," says Mr Humphrey. "As part of Connect09 we need to think about being more intentional in following up our many community contacts."
“Connecting hit a chord with me”
Retired teacher Margaret Spring is so passionate about the Archbishop's outreach strategy that she has volunteered to be Cronulla's Connect09 coordinator.
Margaret Spring got a huge shock when she turned up at the Connect09 information day at St Andrew's Cathedral earlier this year.
"I looked around and it was all men" I soon realised the day was meant for rectors and not lay people," she says.
However Margaret is now so fired up after hearing the Archbishop speak about Connect09 that the retired school teacher has taken on a "lay coordinator' role at St Andrew's, Cronulla, encouraging her congregation to get on board.
"The idea of connecting has really hit a chord with me," she says. "It's great that we have the fellowship and caring that we share amongst ourselves at church. It's so great that we sometimes forget that the wider community doesn't have that as well… Sharing the message about God's love and inviting people to enjoy the fellowship of his church are wonderful free gifts we can offer."
Margaret, who has been volunteering for over three years in pastoral care ministry, is studying the new Diploma of Bible and Ministry course at Moore College part-time, in order to better care for seniors.
She also plans to be involved in running evangelism courses: "training and empowering people at Cronulla in how to share their faith'.
She sees her church in an information and preparation stage for next year.
"Most people lack confidence," she says. "They want to share their faith but don't know how" we need to help people gain confidence so they can overcome that fear of reaching out to people they don't know."
It is for this reason that Margaret is so enthusiastic about ministries that "warm up' people's community connections.
"The connecting part of the campaign is fantastic for the people in my church" the idea of sharing their faith is a lot less frightening if we have a connection to that person already."
The Rev Richard Humphrey, rector of St Andrew's, says "community connection' activities rather than doorknocking will be key to the parish's "Word of God' distribution for logistical reasons as well. The parish of Cronulla has over 26,000 people, the bulk of whom live in apartments.
"The suburban doorknocking model isn't going to work well here," says Mr Humphrey. "You can't even get past the security door in most buildings."
Mr Humphrey says the parish is still exploring alternative ways to distribute the word of God next year.
"We are still trying to work out what will be best, but I'd be surprised if we don't set up a stall in the mall. We have done that in the past in conjunction with Anglicare's [food collection] program, "Your Money or Your Can', and we found we got a double whammy, with people coming back to donate."
