Looking further ahead…

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

On Monday I posted an update about Clock Change Sunday on March 29th, where the clocks go forward but our meetings go back! Do have a read if you missed it.

We are hoping that changing our meeting times will help to spread our attendance across two meetings more evenly, and provide more space for us to grow during 2026.

However, we are also looking further ahead and planning a bigger change for 2027. As an Eldership team we have been thinking and praying about this for the past couple of years, and now feel a sense of conviction and clarity about the way forward. 

The obvious reality is that we need more seats than we currently have, but there is more than one way to create space on a Sunday. We’ve explored building a mezzanine in our chapel, redeveloping the front building, or the possibility of launching another site and becoming a multi-site church. Having explored all of these options in detail, and having spent lots of time in prayer over it, it seems best to us to create more capacity by launching a third Sunday meeting. 

Therefore, we are now actively planning to launch a third Sunday meeting in early 2027

However, even this decision presents us with several different options! What time will that meeting be? Where will it be held? How long will it be, and will our current meetings stay the same length? The answers to these questions are really important because they need to be shaped by our vision, values and culture. 

Following much discussion, debate and prayer as an Eldership team, we feel strongly that:

  • It should be another Sunday morning meeting, rather than on a Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, or on a Saturday night or midweek. 
  • Our meetings should not get shorter, including our ‘turnaround time’ of 30 minutes, which allows us to safely collect kids and catch up with friends over coffee.
  • Adding these two values together means that this third meeting cannot be held on our current site. 

Therefore, our intention is to launch a brand new Sunday meeting at 10.30am, and we are now actively looking for a satellite venue within which to launch it, a venue that is as close to Welcome Church as possible, that can offer a parallel experience on a Sunday morning, and that can seat at least 300 people. We’ve appointed a task team to get working on identifying this venue, headed up by Richard Field, and we are in faith that God is going to open up the right venue for us to launch this meeting in. 

There is good local precedent for us thriving in a second venue. Our friends at Hope Church in Guildford meet in a school venue and are growing, our friends at Beacon Church in Camberley meet in a hotel venue and are growing, our friends at Ascot Life Church meet in the Racecourse and are growing – we believe God has the right venue for us. Our experience has been that every time we step out in faith by creating more space, God moves. 

So in 2027, our intention is to have Sunday meetings at 9.30am, 10.30am, and 11.30am 

If you’re interested: Some people might call what we’re doing a ‘multi-venue church’ model, in that we are not multiplying churches, or even sites, but simply multiplying our Sunday venues from 1 to 2. Everyone who attends the new 10.30am meeting will belong to Welcome Church, be part of Welcome Church, give to Welcome Church, serve as Welcome Church and be served by the same Welcome Church eldership, staff and trustee team. Everything else that happens in our church from Monday-Saturday will likely happen on our Welcome Church site – we’re simply adding another Sunday venue to create more space for growth. 

So in 2027, we will have a third meeting, in a second venue, but remain one church

There’s lots to plan, lots to discuss and lots to pray for. We will share more as we go through 2026, and I know that Steve Petch is so looking forward to getting back and leading us into this exciting next adventure.

As we pray, let’s remember that we are not building our own kingdom, but we are building the kingdom of God, ruled over by King Jesus – a kingdom that will never end – and we’re doing it all in faith, believing that “unless the Lord build the house, the builders labour in vain”. 

Grace to you!

Christopher

Teaching Pastor

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Clock Change Sunday

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

Hi!

As Steve continues to recover from his cancer operation, I wanted to post a couple of key updates to this blog in his absence. Steve has led us through these changes with vision and clarity, and would be communicating them himself were he not away! 

Whether you’ve been part of Welcome Church for many years or a couple of months, you’ll have realised that we are rapidly running out of space in our meetings: it is quite normal for us to gather over 1100 people on a Sunday. We are particularly squeezed at our 11am meeting which is roughly 150 people bigger than our 9am meeting, and on ‘special Sundays’ like baptisms and Easter Sunday, it is often standing room only! This should cause us to do two things:

  1. The first thing is to Worship our amazing God. We love what God is doing in and through our church, saving and adding people to us, and we give him all the glory. We may have worked hard planting and watering, but it is God who makes things grow, it’s God who saves, who changes lives, who is building his church. 
  1. The second thing is to think about Stewardship. We are called to steward that growth as best as we can, and stewardship doesn’t look like pulling up the drawbridge and saying ‘we’re full, there’s no room here, you’ll have to go somewhere else’. We do not exist for ourselves, we are a family on a mission. Jesus has given us the gospel and commanded us to go and make disciples, and to do that we need space. When a group of friends or a family of 5 walks in and can’t sit together, we’ve got a problem! 

And so for the last couple of years as an Eldership team we have been wrestling with the question ‘how do we create more space in our Sunday meetings for the growth God is giving us?’. And we’ve done various things towards that:

  1. We’ve maximised our seating. We’ve worked hard to get as many chairs out as is safe to do so. On our ‘big’ Sundays, we relocate refreshments so that we can set out more seats. On our Baptism Sundays our kids now enjoy the baptisms in their rooms via the livestream, because we know that we need the extra 50 chairs behind the baptism pool. 
  1. ‘Go 9’. Last year we ran a ‘Go 9’ campaign where we aimed to encourage 150 people to move from 11am to 9am, to help balance out the two morning meetings, and to provide space at 11am where we most feel the pinch.

If you were someone who moved from 11am to 9am, thank you. Thank you for your faith, thank you for being willing to respond to a missional need in our church, thank you for changing your Sunday routine and habits for the sake of others that you may never meet. We were really encouraged by those who said Yes to Going 9. 

However, the reality is that not enough people felt they could commit to that change to make a material difference to our Sunday numbers. 11am remains about 150 people bigger than 9am. And that’s ok! We’re not grumpy about it and we’re not here to guilt-trip anyone. But it did give us a vital piece of feedback: our current meeting times do not enable you to easily move from one meeting to another. 

This feedback has helped us to recognise that if we want our meetings to be more balanced to make space for everyone who comes through our doors, we will need to change our meeting times, to make it easier for people to opt in to the earlier meeting. 

Therefore, from March 29th, our meetings will start half an hour later, with the 9am becoming our 9.30am meeting, and our 11am becoming our 11.30am meeting. 

Now some of you will already know that March 29th is the day when the clocks go forward and we move into British Summer Time, and so we are calling this ‘Clock Change Sunday’, where ‘the clocks go forward, but the meetings go back!’ So when you think about it, you will actually only lose half an hour’s sleep on that particular day – a Spring gift from us – you’re welcome. And, hey, if you get it wrong and come at the old timings, you’ll either arrive half an hour early, or depending on your punctuality, you may simply arrive on time! 

If you are someone who faithfully attends the 9am meeting, from March 29th you’ll need to come for 9.30am. Let this change raise your faith for making invites and bringing guests: it’s a far easier invitation to say to a friend “come with me at 9.30”. Our hope is that this time change will tip the balance and allow many more people to join this earlier meeting, freeing up space that will see us through until the end of 2026.   

If you’re someone who faithfully attends the 11am meeting, from March 29th it will begin at 11.30am and end at 1pm. For many of you that will be fine, God bless you – 11.30am will continue to be a great meeting! But there will be a good number of you who are thinking that a 9.30am start and 11am finish will suit you much better – our hope is that 100-150 of you will probably want to move over to the 9.30am meeting. To be clear – we’re not doing a ‘Go 9.30’ campaign, we’re not putting a card in your hand, or asking you to sign anything, we’re changing the times to create two great options for you, and we’re simply inviting you to opt in to 9.30am on March 29th if that works for you. 

So that’s Clock Change Sunday on March 29th. And it’s not just Clock Change, it’s all change, because this is also the Sunday that we are planning to open up Church Gate for our kids and youth groups!! Watch this space for more updates about that in the coming weeks. 

And that’s the end of part 1! I’ll be posting part 2 on Wednesday. 

Grace to you!

Christopher, Teaching Pastor

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Trusting God Despite A Difficult Diagnosis

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

If you missed the news I shared during my talk on Sunday at Welcome Church, I wanted to take a moment to explain a little more fully what we are currently walking through as a family.

I have cancer

That’s not a sentence I expected to be writing in a church blog. The good news — and there really is good news here — is that this is a very low-grade form of cancer and it is not considered life-threatening. Even so, it does mean surgery, and it does mean a season that will require prayer, patience, and trust.

Here’s what’s going on

Back in September, I found a lump under my right arm, on the side of my chest. It was painful, and after seeing my GP I was sent for an ultrasound scan and then an MRI. In November, the consultant in Guildford referred me to the Sarcoma Team at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

On December 16th, I had a biopsy to determine whether the lump was benign or a type of low-grade cancer called an ALT (Atypical Lipomatous Tumour). I received the results on January 22nd, and it has been confirmed as an ALT.

This was not the outcome Jo and I had hoped or prayed for. That said, there is genuine reassurance in the diagnosis. The tumour is well-differentiated, which means it is slow-growing and very unlikely to spread elsewhere in the body, unless left untreated long term. This is not the kind of cancer that normally shortens life expectancy — something we are deeply grateful for, especially after walking through a lot of uncertainty during the autumn and the run up to Christmas.

The challenge is that, left untreated, the tumour will simply continue to grow — and it’s already quite large. Because of its location, that growth would cause increasing physical problems over time — and it’s already painful. Also if left long term it could spread, so for these reasons, surgery is necessary.

What happens next?

I’m scheduled for surgery at The Royal Marsden in early March. The aim is to remove the tumour completely.

I’ve been warned that the surgery may not be straightforward.

The lump I can feel is only part of it. The tumour extends into my shoulder and has grown around the brachial artery (the main artery supplying the arm), as well as several important nerves that affect movement and sensation. Because of that, the surgeon has been very open that this is very risky surgery, with a possibility of lasting weakness, numbness, or restricted movement in my arm or shoulder.

Even so, it does need to come out, and they need to make sure they get all of it.

The surgery will be done under general anaesthetic, I’ll be in hospital for several days, and there will be a period of recovery afterwards. This isn’t how we imagined the start of this year — but we remain thankful that the situation is not far more serious. It’s low-grade. It hasn’t spread. And we’re receiving excellent care.

Please Pray

We would really value your prayers in the weeks ahead:

  • For us and our family, as we navigate what has been an emotionally demanding season
  • For wisdom and skill for the surgeons and medical team
  • For no delays in treatment
  • For a successful operation with no lasting damage

And yes — please also pray boldly. Pray for God’s healing. Pray for his intervention. We believe God is able, and we are asking him to do what only He can do, even as we place our trust in the care we’ve been given.

Walking this road with faith

I committed my life to Jesus as a child more than forty years ago. That commitment hasn’t insulated us from difficult situations, but it does mean we don’t walk through it alone.

As I shared on Sunday, while preaching from Genesis 39, faithfulness is often forged in disappointment. We don’t yet know exactly how this will unfold, but we do know who holds us — and that is enough for today.

In case you missed the talk, here’s a link: https://www.welcomechurch.uk/sermons/genesis-39-disappointment-god-meant-it-for-good

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21 Days Of Prayer – Starting 2026 Together

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

As we step into a brand new year, we believe there is no better way to begin than by seeking God together.

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be kicking off 2026 as a church family with 21 Days of Prayer. This is an invitation to pause, refocus, and intentionally devote ourselves — and the year ahead — to Jesus.

For 21 days, we’ll gather in person to seek the presence of God, call on His name, and create space for Him to move in our lives, our church, our town and our nation. We believe prayer changes things, and we’re expectant for all that God will do as we come before Him together.

This will be an all-in church family moment, so we won’t be running Life Groups or any other competing events during this time. Our heart is to journey through these days as a united church family, making prayer our shared priority as we begin the year.

All meetings will take place at Welcome Church, with the following schedule:

Dates:

  • Monday 5th January – Sunday 25th January 2026

Times:

  • Monday to Thursday: 7pm to 8pm
  • Fridays: 7am to 8am
  • Saturdays: 9am to 10am
  • Sundays: 6pm to 7pm

Whether you can make it to every session or just a few, you are so welcome. Come as you are, bring your faith, your hopes, and your prayers — and let’s start 2026 together centred on Jesus.

We can’t wait to see you there.

And don’t forget, you can see in the New Year with us too at our Crossover service on New Years Eve. It’s not too late to book your tickets by clicking on the image below:

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Welcome Church Carol Services — A Truly Historic Sunday

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

What a Sunday! What a celebration! What a moment in the life of our church!

I hope you loved the Carol Services as much as I did. It was an unforgettable day, filled with joy, worship, generosity, and the unmistakable sense that God was at work among us.

Our best estimate is that 2,762 people joined us across both the adult Carol Services and the children’s Christmas parties that ran alongside them. That makes this the largest single Sunday in Welcome Church’s 146-year history — something truly worth celebrating and thanking God for.

The 11am, 4:30pm, and 7pm services were completely full, with only the 2pm service having any remaining space. We’re already praying, dreaming, and planning about how we can increase our capacity for next year 🙂

Thank You

Moments like this don’t happen by accident — they happen because of people.

A huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who served so generously to make the day possible: the band and singers, meeting hosts, readers, production team, brew crew, welcome team, busking band, caterers, kids teams, tots teams, decorations teams, set-up and clear-up teams, car park team, and everyone involved in planning and preparing.

There are so many moving parts to an event like this, and while listing roles always risks missing someone, please know this: if you served in any way, your contribution mattered, and we are deeply grateful. Thank you for giving your time, energy, and hearts so freely.

Well done, church!

We are especially proud of how our church family stepped out boldly to invite others. So many friends, neighbours, colleagues, and family members joined us — and we were also honoured to welcome special guests including the Mayor of Woking, several local councillors, and representatives from organisations we are privileged to partner with.

This is what church looks like: open doors, open hearts, and a shared desire to help people encounter the hope of Jesus. I’m especially proud of the way our church stepped out en masse to invite so many people to join us this year. In addition to the many friends, neighbours, colleagues and family members who attended, our special guests also included the Mayor of Woking and several local councillors, along with other guests from some of the various organisations who we partner with.

IIf you missed the Carol Services, you can catch up by clicking this link here, and don’t forget to join us on Christmas Day at 10am for Welcome Church Online too.

Below are a few photos capturing some of the joy and fun from the weekend — a small glimpse of a very big day:

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December 2025 – Updates & Prayer Requests

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

Here are a few Welcome Church updates and Prayer Requests for December 2025 – enjoy!

Belong Believe Become

In November and December we ran our latest Belong Believe Become course, known as BBB. BBB is a three-week course, and we love everyone who is new to us as a church to do it if they can. It’s a great way for people to get to know who we are as a church, and for us to get to know them.

At the end of the latest course, 67 people made the decision to say that Welcome Church is their church, which is a wonderful sign of the growth God is continuing to give us.

Prayer: Let’s give thanks to God for the last course, and let’s pray for everyone who’s new to really find their place. Let’s also pray for God to continue growing us as a church so that more lives can be transformed through Jesus.

The next BBB course starts on Thursday 5th March, for three consecutive Thursdays. You’ll get a great meal each week and a chance to connect well to the church. If you’re connecting to Welcome Church and you’ve not yet done this course, it’s for you! You can sign up already using this link.

Open Doors

We loved having Howard S from Open Doors with us back in November. You can hear the talk he gave on this link here. Following Howard’s visit we made a gift of £5000 to Open Doors as a church and they sent us this reply:

“Thank you so much for your kind gift of £5,000 to strengthen your persecuted church family around the world who are risking it all to follow Jesus. Thanks to your prayers and support, our brothers and sisters know they are not alone and can stand strong in their faith.“

9.5 million persecuted believers were helped through Open Doors last year, and millions more were prayed for. Here’s a link to a 3-minute video for more information on the impact that’s being achieved – please do give it a watch.

Howard also asked for as many of us as were willing, to sign the Arise Africa Petition, through which The African Church is calling upon the global community to ensure that Christians and other vulnerable individuals in sub-Saharan Africa are treated with dignity in the face of huge persecution. It asks for:

  • Provision of robust protection from violent militant attacks
  • Justice through fair prosecutions of the attackers
  • Healing and restoration to be brought to all affected communities

The petition is intended to be presented to the African Union, United Nations, EU and local governments around the world in 2026. If you want to sign the petition or read more about it, please follow this link.

Prayer: Please be praying for the persecuted church around the world, and if you need resources to do that more effectively, here’s a link to Open Doors website – it’s full of inspiration for your prayers.

Hardship Fund

Our Hardship Fund has been a blessing to a number of people in our church who needed a little help at this time of year. Gifts totalling £12,750 were given to people this December, and I want to thank our Life Group leaders, Pastoral Team and various ministry leads for helping us identify where the biggest needs were.

Don’t forget, you can always give to the hardship fund. Just make a gift to Welcome Church as normal but let us know that it’s intended for this fund.

Prayer: Let’s give thanks to God for the generous giving of so many people in our church, and let’s be praying for Him to continue to meet all of our needs as a church.

Compassion UK

We love our partnership with Compassion UK, sponsoring children in Togo in Africa. If you want to know a bit more this link will help

Compassion have now created a dedicated webpage for our church! It shows the very real impact that we’re having as a church through our combined child sponsorships: do check it out here – it’s very encouraging!

Prayer: if you sponsor a child, please pray for them, and write to them too. (BTW – if you’re not sure what to write then ChatGPT can really help…)

And if you don’t yet sponsor a child and you’d like to, please just ask us how.

Christmas

Last Sunday afternoon I had the joy of speaking at Hope Church Guildford’s Carol Service. It was a lovely occasion, and I’m told that 14 people completed a form to say that they prayed with me to commit their life to Jesus. It was also the largest event they’ve ever held as a church, with hundreds in attendance, so a real privilege for me to be there.

Prayer: Please be praying for this lovely and fast-growing church

Our own Carol Service For Woking events are being held this Sunday – 14th December. As it stands today roughly 2,600 people have booked to attend, and we expect this to grow again in the coming week (please click here to book your free place)

Details for our full Christmas programme at Welcome Church can be found in a previous blog post: Christmas At Welcome Church – I’m especially looking forward to our all-age services on Sunday 21st, which Stephen D and Cassie S will be running. Get ready for a treat!

Prayer: Please be praying for God to meet with people at our Carol Services this weekend

Job Vacancies

Please don’t forget that Welcome Church is recruiting at the moment. For information on the jobs that are available and how to apply please click here

Prayer: Please be praying for the right person to fill each role

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Four Amazing Job Opportunities At Welcome Church

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

In June and July, I preached a series at Welcome Church called “The Generous Life”. Together we explored how we can steward our finances with faith, grow in generosity, and reflect the generosity God has shown to us.

During that series, we shared that although our church has doubled in size over the last five years, our staff team had actually shrunk—a significant challenge for a growing church.

We asked you to step out in faith with your giving, and you did. The number of people giving regularly has grown by 27%, and for us that is a game changer.

Please remember: Welcome Church is a charity. Everything we do—both for those who are part of our church and for those who are not—is funded by your generosity. There’s nowhere better to invest your money than into God’s church!

A Huge “Thank You”

Some of you…

  • Increased your giving – thank you
  • Are new and jumped straight into giving – thank you
  • Moved from giving occasionally to giving regularly – thank you

Between April and October this year, our giving increased by 18% compared to the same period last year. Praise God for His provision, and thank you for standing with us in faith.

Because of your generosity, we are now able to move ahead with expanding our staff team, and are delighted to announce four new employed roles:

1. Operations Manager — 3 days per week

This key role supports the full range of our operational activities, with overall responsibility for the management and support of all food-related ministries—especially our Community Grocery and our kitchens.

Closing date: 4th January 2026

2. Finance Manager — 3 days per week

This role ensures the accurate, transparent, and compliant management of our finances. You’ll help our leadership steward our resources wisely, meet charity regulations, and provide clear reporting to the Senior Leadership Team and Trustees.

Closing date: 4th January 2026

3. Children’s Ministry Lead— 3 days per week

This role leads our Children’s Ministry across all age groups from birth to Year 6. We’re looking for someone who can shape excellent children’s ministry, build strong teams, create safe and welcoming environments, and help our children to encounter Jesus, grow in their faith, and feel at home in church. This is a role for a leader of leaders.

Closing date: 5th December 2026 (Please note the earlier date)

Youth and Young Adults Pastor — Full Time

This role carries responsibility for the leadership and discipleship of our youth and our fast-growing 18–30s community. We’re looking for a strong, dynamic leader to help shape how we engage, pastor, and disciple the next generation. This will be a significant leadership role for our church.

Closing date: 4th January 2026

How do I apply?

Please click this link for full details on each role and how to apply. You’re also welcome to get in touch for an informal chat, or to come and visit the church if you’d like to find out more.

A Few Encouragements for Those in Welcome Church

There are four things I’d love us all to do:

1. Continue stepping out in faith in your giving
Your generosity makes all of this possible.

2. Share these opportunities
Spread the word to anyone you think would be a great fit, and share the roles on your social media.

3. If you apply, hold it lightly
There may be many applicants but only one position for each role. If you’re not successful, please don’t allow that to affect how you feel about your church or cause you to withdraw.

4. Pray with us
Ask God to bring the right people into each of these roles.

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        Welcome Church Community Grocery – Latest News!

        / Steve Petch / 3 Comments

        Hi, I’m Dub Everitt, Outreach Pastor at Welcome Church, guest-writing Steve’s blog this week to share an exciting update on a project that’s very close to our hearts: the opening of the Woking Community Grocery — a social supermarket designed to serve and strengthen some of the most vulnerable families in our town.

        This will be a place where hungry families find food, dignity, and hope. That’s the vision behind Welcome Church’s upcoming Community Grocery, and we believe it will genuinely change lives.

        The Community Grocery – a Big Vision with a Big Impact

        We are launching the Woking Community Grocery in partnership with The Message Trust, an incredible, passionate Christian organisation based in Manchester. Across the UK, they have already opened 33 Community Groceries, serving over 70,000 members with low-cost, reliable food and wrap-around support.

        Our Grocery will be open to everyone in Woking — of all faiths and none. Membership will be just £5 per year, and families can choose a weekly shop costing between £5 and £12.50, saving up to £50 per week (that’s £2,500 a year!) on their shopping bills.

        We forecast that 1,000 families from across Woking will use the Grocery in the first year alone. Every member will also be able to access our Welcome Works services—debt support, money coaching, mental health & wellbeing help, job clubs and more. It’s a powerful, dignifying “hand up, not handout” model that helps people take real steps forward in life.

        Building Work Update

        Following our purchase of Church Gate, the office block next door to our church, renovation work is now full steam ahead. The scaffolding is up, the roof is repaired, the rooms have been stripped back, and we’re on track for completion in March 2026.

        After a meeting with our architect yesterday, I came away buzzing. The designs for the Grocery, the community spaces, and the upstairs rooms are looking amazing, and here are a couple of images to whet your appetite at this stage.

        First an aerial view of the grocery lay out:

        Second, a view of the Meet & Greet area:

        The doorway shown is the new entrance we are adding to Church Gate, which will open onto our front area, linking it all our buildings as one campus. Please continue to pray for the renovation and planning work over the coming months!

        And now for the date we’ve all been waiting for… (drumroll please!):

        Our planned launch date is: Thursday 16th April 2026!

        We’ll share more details closer to the time, but it’s going to be a huge celebration as we cut the ribbon and welcome our first customers.

        And Now, Introducing Our Grocery Manager: Darren Green

        On Sunday 16th November, we were thrilled to announce Darren Green as our new Community Grocery Manager — and the church’s response said it all.

        The cheering, the applause, the warmth… it was a beautiful moment that showed how much this project means to our church family.

        We also loved officially giving Darren his new double-barrelled surname: 

        Darren Green-Grocer (A prophetic sign? We think so!)

        Darren will begin his role on 1st February 2026, giving plenty of time to prepare for the launch.

        Over 250 People Saying, “Count Me In!”

        Over two Sundays, we invited people to fill in a “Count me in!” card to get involved in all things Grocery and Welcome Works. We were hoping for 75 sign-ups… instead, we’ve seen over 250 people step forward!

        We’re genuinely blown away! God is clearly stirring us as a church not only to give sacrificially – over £2 million so far – but also to give our time, skills, and hearts to serve our town. What a response. What a church. What a God.

        Workshops for everyone who signed up will be held across five different days over the next few weeks to help each person find the right place to serve. If you signed up, we will be in touch with you about that soon.

        Do You Want Us to “Count You In” Too?

        I know many people at Welcome Church may still want to get involved but, for various reasons, haven’t yet filled out a “Count me in” card.

        It’s not too late! Here’s how you can register your interest:

        1. Fill in the digital “Count me in” card via this link: Count Me In
        2. Or if you prefer you can E-mail Helen, our Grocery Project Manager

        Through our powerful autumn preaching series, “True Religion,” we’ve been stirred by God’s heart for the poor — and by His call for His people to step into the gap with hope, compassion, and practical love. That’s exactly what the Community Grocery is all about.

        What a calling!
        What a privilege!
        And what a joy to step into it together        !

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        Christmas At Welcome Church

        / Steve Petch / 1 Comment

        Christmas is just over a month away now, and bookings for our “Carol Service For Woking” opened last Sunday morning. The tickets (which are free!) are going very fast— even faster than last year—so please don’t leave it too long to book, or you may miss out on your first choice of when to attend.

        Here’s a summary of our plans as a church over Christmas and New Year 2025/26:

        Sundays 23rd & 30th November and 7th December: Our Christmas Preaching Series

        Our Christmas Preaching Series starts this Sunday at our 9am and 11am meetings. I’ll be kicking the series off myself. I won’t be giving any spoilers here, but we’re going to have some fun together, so make sure you don’t miss what will be this year’s number-one series!

        Sunday 14th December: A Carol Service For Woking

        We’re holding four services across the day at 11am, 2pm, 4.30pm, and 7pm. Come and enjoy singing your favourite carols, followed by free mulled wine and mince pies.

        Children up to school year 4 are invited to join our free Kids’ Christmas Parties, which will run alongside the 11am, 2pm, and 4.30pm services.

        Booking is essential for all adults’ and children’s tickets, and be warned that we are likely to be sold out again this year. Don’t delay— – Click here to book

        Remember: this is a great opportunity to invite your friends, family, neighbours, and colleagues—there is no easier invitation to church than to our Carol Services.

        Sunday 21st December: An All Age Christmas Celebration

        We’ll be meeting at 9am and 11am for an all-age celebration of Christmas. Instead of our usual Welcome Kids and Welcome Youth groups, we’ll all be meeting together for a whole lot of noisy fun and games as we celebrate Christmas as a church family and worship Jesus together.

        Each meeting will be roughly one hour long, and we’ll start and finish with refreshments as usual.

        Thursday 25th December: Christmas Day Online

        This year, to make sure there’s room for everyone who wants to attend, we’ll be taking Christmas Day online. (Don’t forget, the 21st December is our in person all age celebration)

        Join us on Christmas Day at 10am, at WelcomeChurch.Online, for a short time together with Christmas carols and an accessible Christmas message. It will be a great way to mark Jesus’ birthday together as a church, and we’ll all be able to join in and connect via the online chat feature.

        Sunday 28th December: No Meeting!

        There is no meeting planned for Sunday 28th December, but instead…

        Wednesday 31st December: Crossover ’26

        After an amazing Crossover Night from 2024 into 2025, we are coming together again on 31st December to celebrate all that God has done and all He’s going to do in 2026.

        Join us as we celebrate God’s faithfulness over the last year and ask for God’s favour as we Crossover into 2026! Together we will praise, pray, and party! It’s a lot of fun—so don’t miss it.

        We’ll be joined by a brilliant guest speaker this year, Pastor Chris Kimbangi from Hope Church, Guildford. (I knew him back when he was just a student in Chichester…)

        This event is likely to fill up fast, so please book your FREE ticket to reserve your place, and let’s welcome in the New Year in faith and in style! Click here to book

        Anything Else?

        A few other things you may want to be aware of:

        • The church offices will be closed from Wednesday 24th December through to Thursday 1st January
        • Welcome Youth have their final meeting before Christmas on Friday 12th December, returning on Friday 16th January
        • Our Welcome Tots groups finish on Wednesday 10th and Friday 12th December, returning on 7th and 9th January respectively
        • Welcome Café will open for the last time this year on Monday 15th December, returning on Monday 5th January
        • Our Sunday meetings will return to their usual pattern from Sunday 4th January, and we have a great new series lined up for the New Year too
        • 21 Days of Prayer kicks off on Monday 5th January—more details will follow in a separate blog nearer the time

        Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox

        Church Gate: News About Our Grant Applications

        / Steve Petch / Leave a comment

        The redevelopment work on Church Gate continues day by day with roofers and electricians making great progress. I’ve found myself singing along to their radio a few times in the office!

        We wanted to share an update on some of our grant applications, much of which Dub shared in his talk last Sunday called, “Why Love Must Fight For Justice” – if you missed it, do have a listen.

        To date we’ve received the following grants:

        • Benefact Trust: £80,000
        • Garfield Weston: £30,000
        • Laing Family Trust: £20,000
        • Woking Healthy Communities Board: £8,000

        Total: £138,000

        We’ve been so blessed by each of these grants, and we’re deeply thankful — both to our incredible grants team, and to the organisations who have believed in this vision.

        £138,000 is a remarkable provision!

        Our Application to Your Fund Surrey

        Many of you will know that we also applied to Your Fund Surrey (YFS) for support towards the Community Grocery, which will serve families in need across Woking. Our team worked incredibly hard with the YFS grants team and submitted a truly excellent application — originally for £497,000, later revised to £350,000 at their request.

        The application met all the criteria, and the YFS grant team themselves recommended it for approval. However, despite that, the advisory panel — made up of nine Surrey County Councillors — decided not to award us the grant.

        Their reason? 

        On a video call with Dub and Mike D (our Chair of Trustees) on Monday 6th October, a senior employee of Surrey County Council told us that the panel felt that the giving of Welcome Church — £2 million raised in just ten months for this project — was raised “too easily” and that we could therefore raise the rest ourselves.

        That was hard to hear! Not because we doubt God’s ability to provide — we’ve seen Him do amazing things — but because this project is forecast to directly help around 1,000 local families struggling to afford food. We had hoped Your Fund Surrey would chip in towards helping us meet that need.

        We also know that the £2 million given by our church family was raised quickly, but it was not raised easily. It came through deeply sacrificial giving — every pound representing someone’s personal generosity and faith.

        We’re left to ask: Has justice been served here? 

        Our response: Faith and Resolve

        Whilst the decision is disappointing, our response is simple: when others step back, we will step forward. We are a people of faith, and we serve a God who provides. Our confidence isn’t in any council or grant provider, but in Him — the One who never fails.

        So we’re going to do what we’ve always done: trust God, give generously, and continue to serve our town. We’ll fund this project ourselves, because it’s what we’re called to do. Families will be helped, lives will be transformed, and Jesus will be glorified.

        So, let’s continue to give faithfully and generously to the church and to the Church Gate project. Please don’t wait for a special Gift Day — let’s keep being generous all the time, just as God is generous towards us.

        By the way, if you’d like to share your thoughts about the decision you can contact your Surrey County Councillor – but please do so graciously. (And please note: this is nothing to do with Woking Borough Council , or our local MP who has actually been very supportive)

        Our Motivation

        Ultimately, this project isn’t about funding or fairness, it’s about Jesus’ call to love and serve those in need.

        And when the Community Grocery opens, when families are fed, and when lives are changed, the glory won’t go to us – and it certainly won’t go to YFS or the council – it will go to Jesus, the One who is worthy of it all.

        Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox