I don’t know about you but I love Wimbledon each year. As a family we spend whatever time we can, watching matches together and playing our own mini version in the back garden. It’s a small court!
Wimbledon for me, also marks the summer and a different pace of holiday, New Wine and catching up with friends we see less often.
As we head into our summer term please remember that our 10am Sunday morning celebrations from 27 July until 31 August will be Summer Sundays without children and youth ministry groups. We’ll be all in together for a shorter 1hr celebration.
If you’ve not yet picked up the exciting news, from September we will have 2 Sunday celebrations: 10am and 6pm.
One of the scriptures the Lord has repeatedly given us over the last 2yrs has been from Isaiah 54:2-3
“Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense! For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities.” Isaiah 54:2-3
In part this scripture has spoken to us as we’ve embarked on our necessary building work. It’s a reminder to us that the building project is for the purpose of making more suitable space for people to ‘come to faith and grow in their faith in Jesus’.
Starting a weekly evening celebration in addition to the morning, is also about making space for people too. As we grow we want to give room for more people to discover the good news of Jesus.
Of course we can only step out with an additional celebration if we all play our part. You can play your part by inviting someone to church. Such as a friend, colleague, neighbour, family member or even a random person you meet in the week as Jesus is at work through you.
We can all play our part by serving too. Maybe you already serve on a team, thank you, thank you! Perhaps you can also serve on another team or start serving on a team for the first time. Sunday’s only happen when we each play our part.
So might you also serve at one of our new 6pm evening celebrations? Please contact us and Abs will point you towards the right team leader.
Finally, as you know, we’ve been journeying with a little financial lumpiness over the last few months due to increased energy costs over the winter and loss of room hire income due to necessary building work. Thank you to everyone who has responded by either increasing your giving or by starting to give. We’re slowly getting there, so thank you and we will of course continue to monitor all our expenditure.
As we enjoy the summer together over the next few months, I pray that the Lord Jesus will renew us and unite us as a church family for all that he has in store for us in the Autumn.
With God’s love and blessing,
Gareth
