|
What a month October has been. For us at Lowestoft Community church we started two Sunday morning services after many months of planning. |
  |
This fresh structure to our Sunday mornings has got off to a very encouraging start. We have seen new people at both and an even spread of numbers across both the 9 and 11am meetings. We have multiplied meetings to multiply available space, trying to use what we have at present at ‘the Depot’ to its best abilities. We believe God has promised us a bigger more visible location in the future but for now building up resources of people and therefore more ‘clout’ when something does open up in God’s timing seems sensible. |
| Copenhagen October also once again saw our leadership conference at Copenhagen. This time amongst the 80 or so folk attending, some eleven nations were represented, including some new faces and connections. It was an outstanding time together and the sense of God promising advance and urging us on towards exploits together was truly memorable. Such deep relationships and purpose together coming more and more into view. I was greatly encouraged to see some of the guys working into European settings anchoring the meetings and preaching. I feel to raise such men up to enable us to take more and more ground is the way ahead. We were also blessed once again to have Ellen Adolfsson from the Klippan church in Rocknby East Sweden leading worship for many of the sessions. The worship team and admin team from Copenhagen Community Church were also such a blessing to us in making the conference so special. CCC are in the process of taking on the building we met in as their new venue. This bold and exciting move means they will be able to use the facility for all kinds of conferencing in the city for the city and also have more room as a church for the growing momentum they have. Regional Conference Finally our second Together at the East of England weekend has just taken place with some 1200 people mostly from our UK churches gathering at Pontin’s Pakefield. One of the most memorable features of the weekend was our short 5 minute ‘on the sofa with Maurice’ interviews. We focused on 5 church plants we are working with at present as part of our newly launched ‘relational mission’ initiative: Latvia, Poland, Canada, Turkey and Norfolk UK. This then led to an offering in the last session which achieved our target, topping the 50K mark. So praise God, once and as long as all the IOU’s and tax reclaim comes in, we shall be able to support all five churches to get them to the next level. Terry & Wendy Virgo This year we were blessed to have Terry and Wendy Virgo with us. Terry served us in his preaching so well and encouraged us at what he saw emerging in the sphere of churches God we are serving as a team. Our time together was rich in worship and the sense of God’s presence. A strong mission emphasis seems to be predominating all we are doing at present. This is a time for expansion and multiplying what God has entrusted to us. Terry once again stirred us on the vital place of prayer. I feel more and more the need of prioritising this most crucial aspect of life. ‘What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer’ as the old Hymn says. We have found fresh life in our Friday morning prayer breakfasts at LCC and my desire would be to see a multiplication of pray so we are not a church with a prayer meeting but a praying church. In the midst of the business of Kingdom work we can all find the daily concerns and practical matters of life a whole other world requiring our time and attention. Like many of you in busy jobs and ministry commitments we face lots of personal matters to attend to such as rebuilding a conservatory, a new kitchen floor, dismantling a garage, repairs to a flat roof, some fresh rendering, a new boiler and a re-mortgage! In the midst of this I also want to be a blessing as a husband to my lovely wife and a good father to my dear son. I mention all of this to encourage you! For I am sure that like me, you find balancing all of life’s issues a challenge and an increasing one in the environment we live in of an ever expanding kingdom. Sue and I on our day off try to read as a regular habit Spurgeon’s ‘Cheque book at the bank of faith’. Our reading yesterday was ‘Seek first the Kingdom and all these things will be added to you’. Spurgeon made a great observation; ‘Look after his business and he will look after yours’. I am encouraged that God knows our capacities and pressures and when we feel inadequate for it all, if we will do what we can for his kingdom in how we live as people and what we give our energies to in obedience to his leading, he will wonderfully make all the other things of life work out in ways all our efforts could not. So let us keep on with the Lord’s business! In seeking to live right and build right as he leads. We have gone up a gear it would seem. Lord thank you for all you kindness, we look to you for all that is ahead. |
|
No Responses to “Up a gear”
Care to comment?