As 2009 begins, Jenna Allen is excited about the Connect09 campaign and the opportunity it provides to tell others about the way Jesus has changed her life.
"I'm really excited about the possibilities," she says, explaining she has already watched the Just Start Talking DVD released to church members in conjunction with the campaign. "I've been actively thinking about how I may bring Jesus into conversation."
She has had a number of positive conversations at work after displaying a Christian decoration she was given as a gift.
"We are only drops of water assisting growth but it is God who makes it grow. When I was handed the Bible there was no Connect09. Think of the possibilities now. I would love to do for someone what was done for me."
Earlier this year, soon after her "confirmation' when she first made a public declaration she would follow Christ, regular readers of sydneyanglicans.net met Jenna. Her life was changed simply when she was handed a Bible by a stranger from volunteer Scripture distribution organisation Gideon's International.
Connect09 is not just about encouraging Christians to connect with their community " it is also about helping the people of Sydney and the Illawarra to connect with Jesus, who has the power to transform their lives.
As a result, at the centre of Connect09 is a plan to give The Essential Jesus " the biography of Jesus written by one of his followers, a doctor called Luke " to over a million people.
It was the transforming power of this word that Jenna Allen discovered when she was given the teaching of Jesus to read for herself.
"I've experienced significant changes in my life which have been a big challenge," she says. "But with the knowledge I've gained through Bible study, church and my Christian friends, I know I stand on solid ground."
Asked how she has been travelling spiritually since sydneyanglicans.net last spoke to her, she adds: "When I'm standing with Jesus, he guides me one step at a time. It's not always easy to realise but there is rest, hope and happiness to be found in faith."
Where Jenna’s journey began
Four years ago, Jenna was weighed down by the high goals she had set herself. 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.
Then 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, she took great comfort in Jesus' teaching, especially that you should deal with stress "by putting your trust in God'.
But she began to have questions about the historical accuracy of the Bible's account of Jesus' life.
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.
There she met people who became her friends, answered her questions about the historical Jesus, and helped her understand the Bible's deeper message.
"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."
