Month: December 2023

Merry Christmas, and a Prayerful New Year

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and He shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9v6)

Christmas is a wonderful time of year to remember the amazing news that Jesus came into the world to be ‘God with us’ and open the way for us to know God. I’m looking forward to being together on Sunday morning as a church family to celebrate this awesome truth.

Church Office Team

On Tuesday we had Christmas Lunch with (most of) the Welcome Church Office Team to mark the end of another busy year. Please be aware that the church offices are now closed until Tuesday 2nd January, and the team are enjoying some much needed time off.

Week Of Prayer

In case you missed it, here’s a reminder that we’re starting 2024 with a week of prayer, running from Tuesday 2nd to Sunday 7th January.

Details for the various meetings during the week are in the following pic:

Our prayer week will be a great start to the New Year so please put the dates in your diary and please prioritise being with us to pray both on Zoom and in person across the week. Why not also give some time to fasting?

The Bible says: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5v16-18) – let’s make this a priority as we start the New Year.

Merry Christmas

Finally, I want to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas. Thanks for reading my blog. I’ll be back with more news, updates, information and encouragements from Welcome Church in the New Year.

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.

Carol Services and Christmas Plans

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

I hope you enjoyed our Carol Services as much as I did. I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped them go so well!

Here are a few pics to give a feel for what went on:

The following is just a sample of all that I’m grateful for:

  • Both buildings were beautifully decorated inside and out
  • The ‘busking’ band who entertained us outside as we arrived did an awesome job
  • The Welcome Team were on the ball and looked after everyone well
  • Our worship band sounded the best I’ve ever heard them – they were SERIOUSLY good
  • We had a great range of people involved with the Bible readings, including a reading in BSL (British Sign Language) at each service. Each service also had live BSL signing that was appreciated by the deaf community
  • The sound and lighting team were in great form and served us superbly with sound, videos, visuals and a surprise ‘firework’ display for the finale
  • The Brew Crew delivered top notch refreshments flawlessly, on time, every time
  • The Welcome Kids and Tots teams went above and beyond the call of duty and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves
  • We were able to raise money for a local charity, Your Sanctuary, who work with victims of domestic violence ( I haven’t heard a total yet, but it’s not too late for you to give to that offering)
  • As a church, between us we invited hundreds of friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to attend

Roughly 2000 people attended in total, adding together the three services and the children’s parties. The Mayor of Woking joined us at 2pm, and we had the Leader or the Council with us at 4.30pm. Those who are especially eagle eyed may have spotted our local MP in attendance too. In addition to these we were joined by representatives of the York Road Project (a local homelessness charity), Woking Borough Council Family Services and the CEO of Your Sanctuary. It really was A CAROL SERVICE FOR WOKING.

If you missed the services or you just want to experience it again, you can follow this link to watch what went on for yourself. I’m looking forward to next year already 🙂

Welcome Church Christmas Plans

Now that the Carol Services are done, I also want to let you know about our plans for the following Sundays, which are as follows:

Sunday 17th December: we will meet as normal at 9am and 11am. This will be the last week of our ‘Faithful’ preaching series. We will also take communion together

Sunday 24th December: we will meet at 9am and 11am for a short, all age, family service to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas together. Welcome Tots will be running as usual for the smallest children

Monday 25th December, Christmas Day: we will not be meeting on Christmas Day this year as we are focusing us on Sunday 24th instead (next year may be different)

Sunday 31st December: we will meet at 9am and 11am and will hear from people sharing testimonies of what God has done in their lives over the last year. Come expectant to be blessed and encouraged, and let’s also be ready to support and cheer people on

Sunday 7th January: we will meet at 9am and 11am and kick off our new year preaching series, ‘Reset Your Life’. This is a four week series to start the New Year, and we’re encouraging you to invite people along to hear it.

We will also kick off 2024 with a week of prayer, starting on Tuesday 2nd Jan. I’ll post details about that next week.

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.

So Many Reasons To Celebrate 🙂

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

We have a lot to be thankful to God for as a church right now! I want to highlight two things in particular: our Gift Days and our Carol Services.

1. Gift Days

Over three Sundays in November we held Gift Days towards buying Church Gate, the three storey building next door to us (click here for info).

Church Gate will be key to the work we want to do to serve the poor, including starting a community grocery to bridge the gap between the FoodBank and a supermarket for the most needy in our town. It will also provide extra space we need for our children’s work and youth work, which are both essential ingredients for our church’s future.

The owners of Church Gate agreed to sell it to us for £3m, which is a fair price. I’ve discussed the size of the financial challenge in a previous blog post (click here), but in summary we plan to buy Church Gate with a mixture of both cash and a mortgage. We needed to raise the first £1m as soon as possible – ideally in this first set of Gift Days.

It’s worth bearing in mind that we faced a BIG challenge going into these Gift Days:

  • We only had 5 weeks notice before the first Gift Sunday
  • The UK is in a cost of living crisis
  • Our town has been declared ‘bankrupt’ (section 114 notice)
  • We are in the run up to Christmas
  • As a church, we already gave sacrificially in 2019 to build our current building.

We knew we were up against a big challenge!

The result

After the three Sundays, adding together the money received, some outstanding pledges and the gift aid on that giving, together we have given just over …

… £1.25 million!

That’s an incredible result and one we should celebrate. We have so much to be thankful to God for in the way this has come together.

On behalf of the whole team I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who’s given sacrificially to make this happen. It’s a joy to be a part of such a generous church.

It’s still not too late to give to these Gift Days, remembering that it’s not the amount that matters, but the heart of worship it’s given with. If you want to do that you can visit our giving page by clicking here.

2. Carol Services

This Sunday, 10th December, we are holding our “Carol Service For Woking” at 2pm, 4.30pm and 7pm (NB: there are no morning meetings that day!)

More than 1900 people have now booked to attend on Sunday, and those numbers are growing every day. That figure doesn’t include the many people who are serving in various ways at each service and who don’t need a seat.

It’s still not too late to book a seat for yourself and your friends, and you can do that by using this link. Remember, this is the easiest church invitation you get to make all year; people love to come and sing Christmas carols.

Please do pray for this Sunday’s Carol Services. We want to see many people encounter Jesus and start their journey towards a relationship with Him. Your prayers really do matter!

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday but, if you’re ill or housebound, or you live too far away and just can’t make it to a service in person, the 7pm Carol Service will also be live streamed at welcomechurch.online. I hope you can join us.

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.