Hillston is a wonderful town with a close community of vibrant people. At the beginning of October, a team from the St Matts 7pm service was able to meet and hang out with the kids of this town, plus a number of adults from the various churches in Hillston.
Hillston Central School has just over 170 students from K-12. We held a seminar for the 45 or so middle school students. The fact that many of them have never heard a clear gospel message before didn’t seem to matter, as they were extremely well behaved and listened intently as we spent time with them and shared the gospel through testimony, a bible talk, and games. We were bombarded with insightful and serious questions following the talk, as the kids were challenged to consider who Jesus is. We were also able to hang out with the kids in the playground at lunchtime, playing cricket and just chatting. God continued to be faithful as nine kids (somewhat anxiously tardy) arrived for the youth event we organised the following night. We had a great night of fun, games, singing and a bible talk. It was such a blessing and a privilege to be able to mix with these kids while teaching them about Jesus – an event practically unheard of in Hillston. We are so thankful to God for stirring the hearts of so many lost teenagers during our time there, and it continues to be our hope and prayer that God will provide these precious students with Christian teaching and support.
In addition to spending time with the high school kids, we also ran a dialogue evangelism night at the local RSL, and spent time with people from the four churches in Hillston – including a scenic bushwalk, a parish dinner, and a combined church service on Sunday morning that the St Matt’s team ran.
The time we spent in Hillston made us very aware of the difficulties facing Christians in small towns – and also gave us the desire to return and make this an annual event. Please continue to pray for Hillston – especially for Lyn and Lindsay Whybrow and the Christians in all the churches as they seek to reach out to the people in their town.
© 2026 St Matthews Church. All rights reserved.
