Month: June 2023

Some Suggested Summer Reading – 2023

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Summer is here and the weather’s been amazing – long may it last 😎

If you’re anything like me, some of your summer break will be spent with your nose in a book so, alongside all the fun novels, I wanted to recommend some books that will do you good. Why not find space for one of them in your suitcase and give it a go?

Deeper by Dane Ortlund

This book answers the question: “How do Christians grow in their faith?”

We all know it’s meant to happen but we can be confused about HOW it’s meant to happen. Dane doesn’t give us a formula or technique, and he’s not calling us to “try harder and do more”. Instead, drawing from both the Bible and from some of the great examples set by believers from church history (with some great CS Lewis quotes 🙂) he points us back to Jesus and to the deep truths of the Christian faith,

If you only read one of my suggestions, read this one.

I recommended another book by Dane Ortlund on a past occasion, and you can read about that one here.

Gender Quality by Stefan Liston

What did God intend when he created both ‘male’ and ‘female’? What does the Bible teach us about the value and purpose of both men and women? What does God’s creation intention mean for us as Christians, as we try to faithfully live out God’s plan at home and in the church?

Stefan is an elder at Revelation Church in London, and a great preacher and communicator. This well researched and easy to read book explores two very different perspectives, and challenges us to think and act Biblically, seeking out the unity and the diversity that God intended for us.

Finding Your Best Identity by Andrew Bunt

At one point in Andrew’s childhood he thought he might be a girl in a boy’s body. As he grew older he discovered he was same-sex attracted. For many years he believed he was a freak and a weirdo. In this short book Andrew explores the different ways that we can seek our identity, blending his own story with cultural awareness and careful Bible teaching.

Andrew will be speaking on this theme at Commission Festival this year, both in the youth meeting and in a seminar open to all of us. It’s an issue we see being discussed in the media every day, so let’s make sure we understand it well and know God’s heart.

The Reason For God by Tim Keller

I was saddened to hear the news of Tim Keller’s death this year. I’ve always loved and appreciated his books so, in light of his death, I wanted to recommend a personal favourite. This is a book that you can share with anyone who’s interested in faith, whether they’re a Christian or not.

Tim addresses some big questions such as:

  • Why does God allow suffering?
  • How can a loving God send people to hell?
  • How can one religion be ‘right’ and the others ‘wrong’?
  • Hasn’t science disproved Christianity?

It was first published in 2008, so it’s not new but it’s still a great read.

Remember, you can stay up to date with what’s happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.

An interview with Koffi Ahonon

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I recently spent time with Koffi Ahonon, country director for Compassion Togo. He’s an impressive guy, and deeply passionate about Jesus and the gospel. It turns out he knows personally one of the main projects where we’ve sponsored children, and it was great to hear about it first hand.

I spent some of our time together interviewing him about life in Togo and the impact of our child sponsorships, so if you’ve ever wondered …

  • What difference does my sponsorship make?
  • What is the real impact of sending a letter?
  • What are the challenges of poverty the children face day by day?

… check out this video for the answers to these questions and a whole lot more

Updates: Italy, Newcomers Lunch and Training

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Thanks to all who prayed about the various things I highlighted in my last blog post. Here are a few updates:

Insieme

Insieme (Italian for ‘together’) was the Commission Italy conference I spoke at last weekend, along with Chris Kilby from Life Church Southampton. We were connecting with two churches in Ladispoli, near Rome, who are looking into Commission.

It was a joy to connect with these Italian Churches and spend time with them in worship, prayer and teaching, and also to get time to talk with the Italian leaders about the future. Our teaching on the grace of God was well received and impacted people’s lives and faith. Thankfully there were good people on hand to translate as we went along. We also got the chance for a (brief) visit to Rome on one day to take some selfies and also to enjoy some great food.

Some of the Italian leaders are now hoping to join us at Commission Festival this summer as a next step in our developing relationships.

Newcomers Lunch

Our Newcomers Lunch on Sunday went really well. It was attended by 63 adult guests (!) in addition to the table hosts and a number of children. Like Woking as a town, the guests represented a wide variety of nationalities and backgrounds, which we always love to see.

Dub led the event through brilliantly and the majority of those who attended will now come to our Belong, Believe, Become course too. It’s good to see new people joining us each week, so please be on the front foot to befriend them. Why not make it a personal goal to meet at least one new person at church every Sunday morning?

Training Scholarships

Recently we promoted the Commission training courses, which enrol each September and are a superb way to grow in your faith, and connect more widely with our Commission family of churches. Lots of people have expressed interest, however we’re aware that, for a few, the course fees might be a barrier, so we’re delighted to launch our Welcome Church training scholarships 😀

We’re offering a limited number of scholarships for those who otherwise would not be able to participate in a Commission training course for financial reasons. Most of the scholarships will cover 50% of the course fees, although there may be exceptions where we can offer a larger scholarship. Sadly, it’s unlikely that we will be able to fund every application.

To be eligible for a scholarship you must:

  • Belong to Welcome Church
  • Be serving in one of our teams
  • Be in need of financial support to attend the training course
  • Commit to attending all the training sessions for the course you’re applying for and to submitting all assignments as required

If you’d like to put yourself forward for a scholarship, please apply here.

Applications will be reviewed on a ‘rolling’ basis, and decisions will be made by a panel. If you have any questions regarding scholarships or training, Christopher Hawes would be happy to chat to you.

We hope this means that everyone who wants to, has the opportunity to participate in these excellent courses. 

And finally …

I know that parking on a Sunday can sometimes be tight, but let’s at least try not to imitate this unfortunate driver who accidentally left their vehicle at Welcome Church over the weekend 😃.

Apparently no one was hurt, but sadly we do have a bit of a repair job to do now! Police are aware and the vehicle should be recovered soon.

Remember, you can stay up to date with what’s happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.

Things To Pray About – June 2023

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Here are some important items of Welcome Church news that we’d love you to know and to pray about – including a trip to Italy 🇮🇹.

Alpha

We currently have 30 guests attending Alpha on Wednesday evenings, and a further 6 guests attending a daytime Welcome Tots mums’ Alpha course. The topic this week is “How Can I Have Faith?”

The Holy Spirit Day, which we run as part of the Alpha course, will take place on Saturday 1st July. Please pray for every guest to encounter Jesus and start a journey of faith

Newcomers Lunch

Our Newcomers Lunch is on this Sunday, and currently more than 40 guests have signed up to attend. Big thanks go to Hazel and her team who will be cooking the meal. Please pray for Dub as he leads this event and for our guests to grow in their sense of connection to Welcome Church and to start to feel like ‘Welcome Church is their church’.

The Big Summer Picnic

Plans for the Welcome Church Big Summer Picnic on Sunday 9th July are coming together well (click here to sign up). Please pray for good weather on the day and that we have a lot of fun. Everyone is welcome to attend, but do please sign up on the link above so we know you’re coming.

Welcome Works

Welcome Works are the various ministries that we run as a church, to help people in need in all sorts of different ways. Three of these to particularly pray for this month are:

  1. JOB CLUB: Our Job Club team is led by Neil Willis. Those in attendance are taught the key skills they need to handle job interviews and job applications so they can find and keep employment, often for the first time. The current course has 16 guests
  2. FRESH START: Our Fresh Start team is led by Dawn Wallace. It helps people overcome low level addiction and make a fresh start. The current course has 4 guests
  3. GET ONLINE: This is a brand new service for us, and starts this month. The team will be led by Steve Barter. Get Online helps people to learn basic computer skills, and learn how to access the internet safely, including such things as shopping and paying bills online – something many of us take for granted and rely on every day

Please pray for each of these courses, including all those who are in attendance and the teams who are running them. The goal of all of our Welcome Works is not only to help people in need – which is a great reflection of Jesus’ heart as revealed to us in Luke 4v16-21 – but also for them to encounter Jesus through us.

Office Team Wellbeing

We have had a couple of challenging incidents over recent weeks with members of the public acting in unhelpful ways towards our office team. I won’t go into details, and we do have sensible procedures in place, but please do pray for God’s loving protection over our office team day by day.

Italy: Insieme 2023

On Thursday this week (the day this blog comes out) I will be flying off to Ladispoli in Italy to speak at a conference called ‘Insieme’ (which is Italian for ‘Together’). The conference is for some Italian churches who are in the process of getting to know and perhaps join our Commission family of churches.

The theme of the conference is ‘Enjoying The Grace Of God’. I will also get to enjoy the company of Norman and Jane Bave, formerly of Welcome Church, who now live in Italy and will be in attendance at Insieme.

Please pray for me while I’m away, and also for Jo who is speaking at a Conference at Kings Church Epsom on Saturday. Please pray for Chris Kilby from Life Church Southampton who is leading the Insieme conference, and also pray that we would all be able to discern together what the future might look like in terms of these churches and their growing link to Commission.

I’ll be flying back on Monday, and remember, you can stay up to date with what’s happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog to get it straight to your inbox each week.