This weekend sees a change to our service times with our morning service moving to 10:45am. Sadly, Judy and I will be away for the next 2 Sundays, but we will be praying for you as you enjoy a lie-in and gather at the later time.
The main reason for the change is, of course, to prepare for our move into the Leys School when the revitalisation project begins, but our hope and prayer is that a slightly later start time may encourage more people to come along. As a church our focus needs to be very much on reaching the lost. The church exists to worship God and to make, strengthen, and encourage disciples of Jesus. But we must never lose sight of the need to make new disciples of all nations and to baptise them, teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught us. (Matthew 28:19-20)
Greater boldness in witnessing was one of the two challenges I gave in my Rector’s Report at the APCM last Sunday. The full report will go out with the emailed notice sheet and a few copies will be available in church.
But both success in our building project, and numerical growth through people hearing and believing the gospel, all begin with prayer. Most of you will spend time praying each day on your own, but there is something special about praying together for God to work through us and through his church. Our next Church Prayer Gathering is on Wednesday night at 7:45pm, so please do make it a priority if you possibly can. You won’t be forced to pray, but just being present while other people pray out loud is hugely encouraging.
As God’s beloved children we have the huge privilege of knowing that our heavenly father loves to hear us pray, and that he is far more willing to hear and answer our prayers than we are to ask. So let’s be bold and let’s cry out to our God for our church and for the lost of our town and in our own families.