Dear John,

I just want to say thank you for the incredible impact Growthworks has had on my life. More than anything I want to have a Christlike character and make godly choices, so I am putting into practice the things you taught us. Simple things like saying "Good morning Lord" first thing in the morning. This helps me to focus on God up front. Another thing I love doing now is journaling. I find as I journal, I am remembering truths from scripture and am acting on those truths. God is transforming my mind, Praise God! I find as He transforms my mind, my love for Him grows and I want to serve Him faithfully by making the right choices in my life.

The other area I was challenged in was sin and to be reminded how much the person I love the most (God) is deeply hurt when I constantly do my thing instead of God's thing.

As I talk to the people that did the course, they too have been greatly impacted and we can't wait till the course comes out on DVD or Video so we can absorb the great teaching again. We will certainly use Growthworks in our church and look forward to seeing people's lives change as they encounter God afresh.

Once again John, thanks heaps!

Yours in Christ
Bev Menzies, Evangelism Coordinator, Northmead Anglican Church, Sydney

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Having been enthusiastic users and promoters of Lifeworks since 2000, we eagerly awaited the next work from John North, and we have not been disappointed.

We invited 16 people to GrowthWorks, whose Christian experience and maturity varied, aged from early 20’s to mid 50’s. Everyone knew someone, but most didn’t know everyone. All were willing/keen to embark on a journey of spiritual growth and stayed throughout the course.

Growthworks has given us all a better understanding of how spiritual growth occurs and given us the tools to support the process, all the while remembering that a closer relationship with Jesus is the motivation and reason for even being concerned about growth.

John’s diagrammatic tree illustration is memorable as a reminder to ourselves and reproducible to share with others who we might want to encourage in their walk with God. His talks each week were on ideas and issues that are rarely dealt with explicitly in Bible talks or in Bible study.

Mark brought an energetic contrast to John’s reflective style, as he walked us through the ‘tools’ available to us for growth such as how we pray, memorising scripture, journaling, and more!

Bev and I were both greatly encouraged and challenged and have implemented change in our lives as a result of what we heard. Everyone found the course stimulating and challenging, but some were quite surprising in their response.

For example, at the end of the course, John asked any who would, to speak about their experience on video. After the usual suspects had their go, some of the quietest waited around so that they too could encourage others by what they had learned in the course. One of these people has a profoundly deaf wife, and is keen to see the DVD come out with sub-titles for her.

The main way we see Growthworks being used within our church is in small groups meeting in homes, but it would just as well lend itself to 2 or 3 friends meeting or to a large group coming together for the purpose in a church hall.

Unlike Lifeworks, it isn’t a meal-based programme and there aren’t discussion groups of that kind, so organisationally, it’s a breeze. We just provided water on the tables (some lollies might have been good) and a simple supper between the two talks each week.

We have not had any negative reports from anyone in the course and look forward to the finished product becoming available to share it with others and to hear it again ourselves.

Jann van’t Spyker
Northmead Anglican