Pastor’s Thoughts – November 2014

Dear friends,

These are exciting times in the life of the fellowship. God is blessing us with many new people, many new contacts and by His presence with us. This year we have seen the purchase of new land and the prospect of new staff. Both of these things have been needs that we brought to the Lord in prayer many times and He has not let us down.

As you will know we identified the need for a Centre Manager who would take on responsibility for the Church Centre and the activities which take place here. After a long process and much prayer I am delighted to announce that we have invited Tim Kingston Hepner to take up this position. Tim has come to us from a background in the law and in banking, and will be taking up his post in the middle of this month. Please pray for Tim as he gets to grips with the way that things work around here. Whilst we have been awaiting this appointment, Mark Rayfield has served us in a temporary capacity and has done a great job in standing in. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for all he has given to us in these months.

As part of the changes that are happening here Sarah and Nicola both felt it was time to move on from their positions working with Garry and I. We felt that it was right that they should be succeeded by one person that would do both jobs, and I am very pleased to say that Jo Moore has agreed to take this on. Jo and her husband Rupert have recently moved here with their children Zoe and Joshua from Texas. Jo has been working there as an assistant to a minister at the church that they attended. Jo starts at the beginning of the month.

This means, of course, that we will be losing two members of staff who are very much valued for all that they have given in serving the church. Sarah has worked in the church office for something like 14 years. In that time she has helped Paul and Katie, Patrick and Garry with the demands of the youth administration. She has held the fort on numerous occasions, provided wise advice and demonstrated a caring and compassionate nature that has taken her beyond an administrative role into a pastoral one. Sarah will be leaving us at the end of this month.

Nicola has been working with me for over 6 years. In that time she has demonstrated ability to understand what I wanted even before I was able to express it, and has demonstrated both an organisational ability and a heart for people that has enabled us to grow and to keep on track towards our goals. I am grateful to her beyond words.

One of the things I’ve always loved about animations like Wallace and Grommit that use modelling clay, is that occasionally you see the fingerprints of the maker on the figures. As we move forward it is true to say that Sarah and Nicola’s fingerprints are all over the work that we are building here. Thank you to you both for all your service.

One of the great blessings that God has given us recently is the purchase of the completed site. I hope that you have been praying about what we do with that. Slowly the Lord is revealing to us his purpose for that and we will be coming together on Saturday 29th November for a Church Conference to speak about this. There will be two sessions 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm. In this time we will be sharing some ideas for the use of the site and the Elders will share their vision for how we proceed. Everyone will then have an opportunity to contribute their own ideas. This will be preceded by a Week of Prayer involving daily opportunities to meet together and materials to pray through. You might want to include a period of fasting as well. God is doing great things amongst us. Let’s rejoice in him.

Yours in Christ
John