Pray, Give, Go
Sunday, 2 October 2011
It was exciting to see that 80 people were registered for the
Crown Financial half-day seminar held yesterday. Special thanks to
Trevor Owens and the team of people assisting him, who worked so
hard to organise this event. I know many will have been blessed by
the biblical input and practical principles shared on what is such
an important topic for us, both spiritually, and in our every day
living.
I also want to remind you of some of the great courses starting
next Sunday designed to help you on your journey with Christ, and
also to equip you to help others on their faith journey. They
include Experiencing the Father's Embrace and the
Mentoring Seminar. All the details are on page 11 of your
Newsletter today. The Pre-marriage Course also starts
today and it's not too late to put your name down if you are
interested.
We are also looking forward to Engage now
just 2 weeks away. This is our BridgeWorld missions conference for
2011 with guest speaker Simon Longden from Pioneers. The theme for
the weekend is "Pray, Give, Go". It will be an inspiring time
together, hearing stories of how God is at work right across the
world, as well as finding out some ways in which you can play a
part in reaching out to the ends of the earth. Make sure you
register for the Saturday Conference and dinner today.
Developments at The House are continuing to happen quickly at the
moment. New carpet was installed this last week, as well as some
extra lighting to help facilitate the future use of The House for
courses, connect groups and our children's and youth
ministries. Thanks again to the team of volunteers investing much
of their spare time to help make this all happen. The vision
continues to take shape and we can't wait to use The House to its
full capacity in the near future.
Tonight is a Switch Service where our high school ministry will be
leading the worship and we look forward to sharing with Perry who
is being baptised. Praise God that He continues to work in the
lives of so many! Being holiday time, tonight is a great
opportunity to come out and share in the blessing of this service
and encourage the young people. You would be so welcome to join
us.
In my readings this week in Acts, a verse that stood out for me was
Acts 11:21 which says... "The Lord's hand was with them and a
great number believed and turned to the Lord." We are very
aware of the Lord's hand being with us as His people, changing
people's lives and drawing people to Himself and we want to give
Him all the thanks and praise. The passage continues in verse 23
saying when Barnabas "arrived and saw this evidence of God's
blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers
to stay true to the Lord." That's what we long to do as His
people in the midst of His blessing... stay true to the calling on
us as His church and relying on His strength and power as we
continue to serve Him, and share with many the good news of the
gospel. As we do this I know He will continue to pour out His
blessing in even greater measure for the rest of this year and
beyond.
Nathan