We’re enjoying living in Woking, and not only because of starting at The Coign Church. Of course there are lots of challenges moving somewhere new, though most of mine appear to be food related – for example:
It’s all a bit alien to me!
- Finding my way round a new supermarket (harder work than it should be)
- Deciding where to go out for a meal (Pizza Express – it’s literally next door to the Coign building)
- Deciding where to buy a sandwich (had a calzone from a street vendor in Market Walk – nice!!!)
- Understanding the food waste recycling system (a new concept for us)
- Almost creating an ‘international incident’ when trying to buy goat (yes, really) for some Indian visitors after Westpoint (we ended up with lamb and we liked it)
- And finally (non-food related) trying to find a post office … and then trying to negotiate the queue …
It feels odd not knowing where everything is, especially when the road layout seems to change almost daily!
So praise God for the church!
Let the preaching commence!
We’re absolutely loving getting to know The Coign and, although we’re new, so many things already feel very familiar to us.
I’ve enjoyed starting our new preaching series: “Why I Love The Church”. Do get the free download of week 1 if you missed it; part 2 this Sunday.
I’ve enjoyed seeing ‘normal church life’ taking place all around me: worship, community groups, prayer meetings, pastoral care, youth work, kids work, team meetings, elders meetings, planning for alpha and so much more.
I even enjoyed getting my car washed as part of a fund raiser for three young people setting off to do year teams, although I think the cars weren’t the only thing that got soaked …
And talking of getting soaked …
What a joy to see people being baptised on Sunday evening
Sharon, Marcus, Clara and Karam each made the step of being baptised. The testimonies were great, with Karam’s even reducing grown men to tears. Dub then preached excellently and we ended up praying for lots of people too. Apologies for the quality of the photos:
Baptisms are a sign that God has been at work in our church, and I believe he will carry on blessing us as we go into the future too.
Steve Petch's Blog 
Now I could talk rubbish all day but Woking is one of the best authorities in the country 🤣🤣
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Loving it so far Beryl!
Hi Steve, Welcome to the Coign, A little bit of history for you. The Coign was built by Wimpeys, a swop keys arrangement ..we never did pay money for it. The architect employed by Wimpeys was a C of E man, had never seen a baptism so came to the last baptism in the old Woking Baptist Church in Percy street. Baptism pool behind the pulpit, about six feet square , bright blue tiles. When the design of the Coign were presented the new pool was brown with steps either end. Some of the folk said ..we always have blue tiles. The architects reply was…you said it was the river Jordon and it would have been muddy. Lots of blessings for you. David Dennington Snr.
Thank you! Great story!
I’ll probably end up quoting you along the way.
🙂
So blessed to have you and your family we have had so many men of God to lead us starting with Harold Owen, all have inspired me as they brought their unique way of communicating God’s word, everyone a blessing. Should you be interested in brass bands there’s one which some of our members belong to and they do a fantastic proms night which is on 23rd September. Should you get stuck for eating out the White house does a good meal! 22 Tracious Close, look us up in the Coign directory.
Welcome to you all.
Sandra White