We’re looking forward to a big Sunday this weekend at Welcome Church. It’s Mother’s Day, and we’re going to be giving thanks for LOTS of new babies who’ve been born into our church over the last year or so.

Baby Thanksgiving

A baby thanksgiving, sometimes referred to as a dedication, is a great opportunity for us to give thanks to God. It’s not a Christening or a baptism, but it is an act of worship to God, as parents make promises before God, and we as a church stand with them and pray for them. It also follows the example of Jesus, who was presented to God as an infant at the Temple.

On the day we’ll also ‘lay hands’ on these children as we pray for them and bless them in the name of Jesus, using some very well known words from Numbers 6v24-26:

“May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.”

According to Hebrews 11v20-21, blessing someone is something we can do by faith, so we really can and should expect God to hear us, and to bring great blessings into the lives of these children and their families. Let’s go for this in faith together!

At our 9am meeting we currently have 10 babies lined up to be prayed for, including one set of twins, and at our 11am meeting we have 14 babies ready to be prayed for. It’s not too late to join them if you didn’t realise this was going on, or if you just forgot to sign up. Do get in touch with the church office and let us know.

Marking Mother’s Day

In addition to praying for the babies and their families, we’ll also be marking Mother’s Day with special refreshments: there will be pancakes available for all on arrival, in addition to our usual coffee, tea and pastries.

We’ll also be giving a chocolate gift to every woman who is with is on the day – young or old, whether you’re a mum or not –  because you all bring so much to our church family!

Below is a photo of a painting that Sabrina did to mark the occasion for us this year; you’ll be able to view the original on Sunday.

Invitations

This Sunday could also be a great opportunity for you to invite someone to church. Why not invite mum, grandma or great grandma if they are still with you? If you have grown up kids, why not invite them? If none these apply to you, invite a friend anyway.

We’ll have a great meeting with excellent free refreshments, lively worship, a poignant video and a clear message about Jesus, to accompany giving thanks to God for all the new life He has given us. And you could even go out for lunch together afterwards.

I look forward to seeing you at the weekend

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As a church, our vision is to see Life Transformed Through Jesus, and our Sunday meetings play a vital role in that.

Both of our meetings are growing, but the 11am meeting is now reaching capacity on some weeks, and this is the meeting where we see the most first-time guests and have the greatest potential for numerical growth as a church.

When the meeting gets full it can be hard for visitors to find a seat—especially families or groups arriving together. If people feel there’s no room, they may not come back.

With this in mind we’re launching a new initiative called Go Nine

What is Go Nine?

Go Nine is very simple: to create space for more people to encounter Jesus at Welcome Church, we’re asking for 150 committed, pioneering individuals  – including children and youth – to move from the 11am meeting to the 9am meeting on a long-term basis.

We know this is a big ask for those who move, but our church has always been willing to be flexible and make sacrifices for the sake of the gospel—it’s in our DNA. We are people who take the gospel seriously, so I know this will be taken seriously too.

What do you want me to do?

If you’re already committed to the 9am meeting, we’re not asking you to do anything other than to pray for this initiative, and get ready to welcome some more new people.

If you attend the 11am meeting, we’d love you to take some time to pray and reflect on whether this is the right move for you to make. Please discuss it with others you know and love in the church—and don’t forget to factor in the impact on any children you have and on there friendships too. Let’s do this in community and not just make solo decisions. LifeGroup leaders: you might even decide to move as a whole group.

If you do decide to move then we don’t want you to do it straight away – we’ve set aside Sunday 11th May as ‘Moving Day’.

Why 150 people?

We don’t want everyone, or even most people, to move – only 150.

Here’s the big picture:

• The 11am meeting is about 110 adults larger than 9am
• On any given Sunday, up to ⅓ of the church is absent for various reasons
• Roughly 25% of attendees are in the children’s and youth work each week

Adding these facts together, if 150 people (including children and youth) move to 9am, this will free up some helpful space for more people at the 11am meeting each week, whilst keeping that meeting strong and also not overcrowding the 9am meeting.

Next Steps

On Sundays at the 11am meeting we’ll be giving out response cards for you to take away, pray through, and discuss with others. We’re not looking for a quick decision—we want this to be a faith-filled, prayerful step.

If you feel called to move, then you can then return your card to a dedicated Go Nine response box on a Sunday morning, or you can drop it into the church offices.

The deadline to let us know is Easter Sunday (April 20th).

That gives us three weeks before ‘Moving Day’ to work through any implications for our serving teams and to be ready. By the way, we’re assuming that people’s current Sunday serving roles will move meeting with them; this is not a time to stop serving, though it could be a time for some to step up!

When do we want people to move?

We’re not asking anyone to move immediately. Remember we’ve set aside a specific date:

The 11th May is Moving Day!

Do I have to move if I don’t want to?

Not at all! We don’t want everyone to move from 11am to 9am – only enough to create some extra space. If you’ve prayed about it and feel that staying at 11am is right for you, there’s no pressure to move. We’re also aware that many people, for a whole host of reasons, regularly vary which meeting they attend, and that’s fine – we have room for flexibility. The Go Nine initiative won’t be for everyone.

Got More Questions?

If you have questions then please head over to our dedicated Go Nine webpage. You can access that by clicking here. It has lots more information and answers to some common questions.

Let’s remember why we’re doing this:

Back in 2017 (Yes! It was almost eight years ago!) we asked for some people to move from the 9am to the 11am meeting because it was struggling. That decision helped 11am grow well, just as we’d hoped, and it’s now our biggest meeting! Now, to keep reaching new people, we need to take action again. Go Nine is simply the next step in creating a healthy culture for growth.

Thanks in advance for taking this seriously and thanks for all your prayers

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