Prayer

Some Things To Pray About – March 2023

/ Steve Petch / 2 Comments

There’s always a lot going on at Welcome Church, and we wanted to bring a few things to your attention for prayer. We believe God calls us to pray, that He hears us when we pray and that He answers our prayers … so please pray, and if you feel stirred with anything prophetic, please share it with us.

On The Radio Again

I’ll be doing the ’60 second sermon’ on BBC Radio Surrey and Sussex on Sunday morning again, at around 7.45am. If you’re up and awake, do feel free to tune in, and please pray that I can make a positive difference with this short but valued opportunity to speak about Jesus so openly.

New People

It was a real joy to be at our Newcomers Lunch on Sunday. We hold one of these each term and I continue to be amazed by how many people are there each time. In addition to our excellent table hosts and kitchen team (a big thank you to you all!) we had over 60 adult guests again this time (plus a number of their children) who came along to find out more about us and how to connect. Please pray that these new people will connect well to Welcome Church and quickly become part of the family.

We’ll be running our next Belong Believe Become course, starting on April 19th. This is mainly aimed at people who are new to us, so please also pray that many will come to the course and choose to make Welcome Church their church, and that they will go on to grow in their walk with Jesus.

New Babies

This Sunday is Mother’s Day and during our meeting we’ll be giving thanks for some of the new babies that have been born to people in our church over the last year or so. This can be a great occasion for guests to join us so please pray that guests will encounter Jesus whilst they are with us. Parenting small children can be very hard work too, so please also pray for the families with their new babies.

Buildings

Following our growth since Covid, Mike Deavin (our chair of Trustees) and myself met this week with the architect from our building project to ask the question: “What can we do to create more space for people on this site on a Sunday?” especially with regards to children’s work.

For reasons of space Welcome Kids Seniors and Welcome Youth now meet over the road in “The Cube” (above Useful Wood) on a Sunday morning. This is okay for now, but that site is earmarked for redevelopment in the next couple of years.

Please pray that we get clear answers from the architect about what is realistically possible and that we would have wisdom to know what we should actually do (if anything). It may be that in time we will be looking to go again with fundraising for buildings, but we’ll let you know in good time if that’s going to happen, or maybe God has a totally different solution for us.

Leadership and Vision

I’ll be in Peterborough with some of our team for a couple of days next week at an event called ‘Growing To The Next Level’. We’ve been engaging with this ‘Learning Community’ for a while now and it’s helped to shape and to focus some of what we do as a church. This time the focus is on “Missional Expansion”.

At this event we receive input from a range of speakers and leadership coaches from around the world, this time including Darlene Zschech from Hillsong Australia, and Josh Howard who comes from India and launched a movement that’s started over 16,000 churches in the last 8 years, along with many others.

Please pray that this time is useful and shaping for us as a team and as a church

Pastoral News

Barney Green and Adora Hutchins-Daff get married this Saturday. Please pray that they have a wonderful day and a great start to married life.

Please also pray for Richard, Vanessa and Arielle after the sad loss of 9 year old Callum last Saturday.

Thanks in advance. Your prayers are valued and appreciated.

Encountering God Together

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Preaching through 1 Corinthians as a church this year was a great reminder that we all need to pursue the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and that we should expect to encounter His presence and His gifts in our lives and in our worship together. Human effort will only get us so far!

At our last ‘Encounter’ worship evening (on July 3rd) we were really blessed by the sense of God’s presence and power, and provoked to pursue more of Him. It was a joy to see people encountering God so deeply, including some from our children’s and youth work. With this in mind, as a team, we feel it’s right to make a priority of this through the Autumn, and to that end we’ve made a small adjustment to our Sunday evening diary.

All the info you need about dates is in the picture (and please do cancel any other Sunday evening dates we may have previously given out). Let’s make these times a priority, young and old, and let’s be ready to encounter God together. Let’s be full of faith and open to all that God has in store for us.

Welcome Church, The Future – Part 5: Playing Our Part

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On Sunday (May 8th) we had our Welcome Church Vision Evening. This week I’ll be blogging about some of the key items we covered. This is part 5 of 5. (You can find Part 1 by clicking here)

Playing Our Part

Our new vision/purpose statement of Life Transformed Through Jesus, our autumn Hop, Skip and Jump plans, and our release of two new Leadership Teams, will hopefully leave us in a great place to move forward together as a church, but there’s still a huge part for everyone to play. The Bible tells us that the church is Jesus’ body and each one of us is a part of it. Every part of a body is needed for that body to be healthy and to function well; we all have a part to play.

So, as well as serving, giving, worshipping, inviting, sharing your faith, showing hospitality and all the usual things Christians are called to do, here are three other specific things you might want to consider to help us build this church together for the future:

It takes a team …

1. Pray About Some Specific Questions

We want all our plans to be covered with prayer, so please pray for all that’s ahead and be listening to God, however one significant area we are wondering about is this:

Should we be looking to send out a church plant? Should we be looking to launch a second site of Welcome Church as a multisite? Should we do both? Or neither?

Potentially we have the resources and experience to do either, but we do need to hear from God and not just do our own thing. Please pray and ask God to speak to you about these questions, and share what you hear with us. We would love to discern what God is saying to us together.

2. Lead a Life Group

Life Groups are a vital and Biblical part of church life. Following the pandemic we found that some people stepped back from their previous roles, including some Life Group leaders. With the number of new people joining us now we’re at risk of having more people who want to be in a Life Group than the spaces available to accommodate them. Additionally some of the groups we have are now growing very large!

This challenge could actually prevent people from finding their place with us as a church, so more Life Group leaders are going to be needed. Is God prompting you to step into (or step back into) this role? Obviously there are a few requirements to be a group leader, but if you think it might be you please do speak to Dean Guy or Robin Willison.

3. Book In To The Weekend Away

Our Big Weekend Away at the end of August is going to a lot of fun, and will provide a great chance for us to hang out, have fun and get to know each other better. Deep relationships with one another will be key as we move into the future, and what better opportunity is there than our church weekend away to connect together more deeply in an unhurried way?

Bookings are looking good right now and the event is getting pretty full, but there is space for a few more, so please book now and don’t miss out.

Finally … Thanks

On behalf of the Eldership team let me say a big THANK YOU to everyone who gives, serves, prays and plays their part week by week. Remember: you ARE the church! It’s not just that we couldn’t do what we do without you, it’s that we wouldn’t even exist without you all.

Thanks for reading along this week. Be blessed 🙂

Some Plans For Good Friday

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This Friday (2nd April) is Good Friday, when Christians from around then world remember the crucifixion of Jesus.

On Good Friday last year we held our very first ‘online communion’, and we were joined by Rahul who leads one of the Commission churches in Mumbai, India. Rahul talked about the challenges they were facing in India due to the way Lockdown was imposed and about the work being done to feed people, especially from the rural churches, who were facing starvation.

In response we had the opportunity to give to this, and Welcome Church people contributed £19,000. This was added to money given from some other UK Commission churches and was used to literally save lives during the pandemic.

This year we have a ‘return visit’ from India to bless us

As a church we’ve recently been seeing a lot of people dealing with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. With this in mind, on Good Friday this year we’re being joined by Vinu, who leads the Commission Church family in India.

The plan is for Vinu – hopefully with some others from India too – to pray for those amongst us who are affected in this way. They already have a list of names and have started to pray. As a church let’s gather together on Good Friday, online, and ask for Jesus to pour out his healing power on those who need it.

We will gather from 10am, and all the details are in the picture. Don’t forget you’ll need your own bread and wine/ribena/grape juice/whatever for the communion part of the meeting.

See you on Friday.

Part Of A Bigger Picture

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Welcome Church has been meeting online for a year now, and this week I’m publishing some blog posts to talk about where we’ve been and our thoughts for our future. The first one can be found by clicking here. This is part 5, the last part.

We’ve talked about the challenge of the complexity we face, we’ve considered the place of online church for us going forwards and we’ve talked about the need for us to count the cost of returning to in person meetings. Today I want to point us to the bigger picture we’re part of.

As we restart in person meetings, let’s remember that our meetings are not an end in and of themselves; they serve a wider purpose. When we consider the effort involved in meeting in person again, and we ask ourselves how we feel about it all, let’s remember one thing:

It’s really not about you!

We are part of Jesus’ church; we belong to Him. When we gather it’s for His glory and not our own convenience or comfort. If we were only concerned about ourselves we might feel less motivated to make the effort, but God has a bigger role for us to play in the wider world as individuals and as a church.

Let me highlight the bigger picture in three ways:

1. We are part of a local community

It’s been said the church is the only organisation on the planet that exists mainly for the benefit of it’s non-members. Whether that’s accurate or not is a matter for debate, but it’s certainly true that our church is not just about us; we have a mission both to the town we live in and further afield. Jesus loves Woking, and so should we; His mission should be our mission.

As we start to gather in person again, our meetings are not just about being together and worshipping – although that is important – God actually has a role for us to play as a church in Woking, and a role for each individual to play in the places where they live and work; a role that goes way beyond our meetings. A key part of gathering together is about equipping people for the wider calling they have – the call to ‘love your neighbour’.

The last year has been challenging for our nation and people have been impacted in a lot of different ways. Challenges to health, finance, emotional wellbeing and more won’t disappear overnight and we may find that all sorts of situations of need are brought to our attention; let’s be ready to respond in faith and to help people across our community.

I’m especially looking forward to seeing each of our Welcome Works up and running again, remembering that we’re here to do good and to bring the kingdom of God to people. I’m also looking forward to seeing new people making a commitment to follow Jesus and getting baptised. I’m looking forward to seeing our children being taught and having fun together at church again. I’m looking forward to seeing more leaders raised up and released to serve our church and further afield.

2. We are part of the UK

One thing we need to do as we come back together is pray for our nation. Let’s pray for God to move in renewal and draw many people from across our nation into His Kingdom. We don’t know what God might do in the months ahead, but let’s pray for Him to use what’s happened with the pandemic for His purposes. Let’s pray for him to build his church in every town, city and village in the UK.

I have the joy of meeting (currently online) with leaders from our wider family of churches across the UK, as well as with church leaders from across our town. Every church is now considering how they unlock and at what pace, so it’s a journey we’re all on together, supporting and encouraging one another along the way.

Let’s pray for the church in our nation to stand on it’s feet again and find its voice again. Our nation needs the gospel right now more than ever, so let’s be praying that every church will play its part, whatever the cost, remembering that we’re all on the same team. Let’s pray for a revival.

3. We are part of an international family of churches

We belong to a family of churches called Commission, with churches in 14 different nations including the UK, Europe, South Asia, USA, South America, Africa, East Asia and the Middle East. Let’s remember that we have a part to play in that as well.

To highlight our belonging to an International family of churches there’s a one hour event this Sunday evening (28th March) at 7.30pm called Commission Global. I want to encourage as many of us as possible to join in.

You can register for this event using the link above, or it can be accessed via this video link:

Enjoy!

A Call To Pray

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

The Prime Minister described the Covid pandemic as the greatest challenge our nation has faced since the Second World War. It has affected every area of our lives: separation from friends and family, schools closed, shops closed, holidays and events cancelled, working from home, job losses, furlough, daily death statistics, sickness, the loss of loved ones, restrictions on travel and activities, online church, social distancing, face masks, Christmas plans curtailed, the vaccine rollout, the NHS under pressure, stress, anxiety, mental health challenges, loneliness, isolation, boredom … all these impacts and more have taken their toll.

As a nation we are now starting the process of unlocking, with children and young people going back to school this week.

Spring is on its way, this winter is passing and with it come signs of promise.

At this time we need to pray for God to move in power and heal our nation, so this Wednesday evening (10th March), from 7.30pm to 8.30pm, we will be joining with many Commission Churches from across the UK to pray for the UK. We will gather together and pray for God to heal our nation, restore our churches and move in power in our land. You may even see some Welcome Church faces leading parts of the evening.

For information about how to take part, please follow this link here and sign up. Let’s join together and pray for God to bring refreshing, renewal and even revival to the UK.

Guy Miller, who leads the Commission group of churches, has also sent us a short (50 second) video about the event to encourage us to join in:

Urgent: Let’s Gather To Pray

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This Sunday evening (7th Feb) we have our next Welcome Church online communion. There are some key things we need to bring before God as a church right now, including some people who are very sick, so it’s going to be a bit different this time.

Please log on from 6.20pm to stay hello, and then from 6.30pm to 7pm I’ll lead us through a short message or encouragement from the Bible and into a time of celebrating communion. After this we will move into a one hour time of prayer together (7pm – 8pm) for some of these important issues.

Prayer is part of our Christian faith

Prayer is a privilege

Prayer is a joy

Prayer works

Make sure you don’t miss it!

Don’t forget we also pray online every Tuesday and Friday morning from 8.15am to 9am on the same Zoom code. You are very welcome join us.

Compassion in Togo: Coronavirus update

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Christians are called to care for the poor, and one of the ways we do that at Welcome Church is by encouraging people to sponsor children through Compassion UK, specifically in the African country of Togo. As a church we currently sponsor 141 children in one particular area of that country, and there is always room for that to increase – just ask me how. You can read more about it here.

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What is happening in Togo with coronavirus?

The government of Togo has taken preventative measures against the spread of Coronavirus in their country. Gatherings of more than 15 people are banned, travel is limited, borders are closed, and schools have been closed. The major cities are in lockdown, and a nationwide curfew is in effect from 8pm to 6am.

Although official figures for infection rates in the country are not high, there is very little testing going on in most developing countries. In reality the virus is spreading across Africa at an alarming rate, especially in the cities where many people live in poor and cramped conditions.

What about the Compassion project we support?

Across Togo, Compassion staff and local church partners are working hard to provide support to children and families wherever possible.  While many Compassion projects are temporarily closed to group activities, that doesn’t mean all the activities have stopped.

At the project where most of the children we support are based, the group activities are currently on hold, and our letters and gifts may take longer than usual to be delivered.

In the mean time staff and volunteers are providing much needed information to children and their families about hygiene and disease prevention as well as distributing food packages to the most vulnerable.

Individual home visits are also continuing for Child Survival Programmes, helping pregnant  mothers and their babies. 

One of the strengths of the way Compassion work, and one of the reasons I appreciate them so much, is that  the local church directly implements  the programme in their own community; it is not a programme run by ‘experts’ or ‘saviours’ coming in from outside.

Because it is all delivered by the local church, they are uniquely positioned to provide support, and don’t depend on an ability to travel in order to ensure children and their families receive the love and care they need. Many churches in Togo are also providing hand-washing facilities to serve their community.

Should I still write letters?

During this time communication will inevitably take longer, but please keep on writing.

If you’re struggling to know what to write, Compassion have put together a few tips, including how to ask appropriate questions about COVID-19, how to be sensitive to the situation, how to encourage your sponsored child and how to pray. You can read that by clicking here.

How can I best pray for my sponsored child?

  • Pray for protection from the virus for all the children registered with Compassion and for their families, especially the child(ren) you sponsor
  • Pray for the church (Lumière Espérance), and for their staff and volunteers
  • Pray for the health and safety of all of the staff in the Togo office
  • Pray for children still longing for a sponsor to be encouraged, loved and cared for during this long wait
  • Pray for sponsors and their families who have been impacted by the virus

If you want more information, click here for some frequently ask questions

Finally: A Big Thank You

Here is a short video from Justin Dowds, the CEO of Compassion UK, specifically thanking us at Welcome Church for what we do:

Sundays: a whole new plan

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

Our first Sunday Experience as a church online went really well; I hope you enjoyed it.

Some highlights following last Sunday are these:

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He’s got the whole world …

  • As a very conservative estimate, well over a thousand people around the world have seen our Sunday message or heard the podcast.
  • We’ve had great feedback from people in Brazil, India, South Africa and many other places in the UK including Northern Ireland. These are not people who we would normally have expected to connect with us, so our footprint has grown overnight
  • Numbers of people from our church started their own watch parties on Facebook (some by design and some by accident 🙂) and found that their friends who would not normally be with them on a Sunday at church joined in and watched too
  • The daily encouragement videos have been shared by many of us, and are also now being viewed by a wide range of people. Prayer requests are starting to arrive from both overseas and closer to home. Do watch these daily videos at 4pm, and share them with anyone who you think would be helped or blessed by them

NEW PLANS for this Sunday

The lockdown that we are currently living under means that the recording for this Sunday will probably all need to be done at home. We will do our level best to make it as high quality as possible! We are also trying to incorporate some worship content, so watch this space.

The specific plan for Sunday has changed and is now as follows:

  • Our Sunday experience will go live on both our Welcome Church website and our Welcome Church Facebook Page at about 9am
  • After that you can watch it at any time that suits you. Please share the link to your own social media accounts and directly with other people too
  • We will host watch parties as a church on our Welcome Church Facebook Page at 9am, 11am and 4pm each Sunday
  • If you want to watch in community with other people – which we hope you will -you can join in with any of our watch parties, or you could just start one of your own. These are a great way to interact with people along the way
  • The kids work will go live on both our website and our Facebook page at about 10am, so do make use of that too – it will bless your kids

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Prayer

Prayer is absolutely crucial at this challenging time.

Don’t forget that we are now praying online as a church twice a day via Zoom. All the details you need to join in, including the specific code to join the meetings, can be found here. Anyone is welcome to join us. I hope we will see you online to pray with us soon.

In case you missed it, here is a link to yesterday’s encouragement video:

The next episode will be out at 4pm today

Staying Connected

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During this unusual time when we can’t meet together in person, there are a number of ways we plan to stay connected with each other as a church. I want to encourage you to make the most of these opportunities, so no one ends up feeling lonely or cut off. Let’s also be on the front foot to invite other’s to connect with us too.

For some people this may mean learning to use technology that’s completely new to you, but go for it anyway! 🙂

Daily Encouragement

Every day at 4pm (Mon to Sat) we are posting a video to help encourage us all during this crisis. It can be found on our church website, and will also be posted to our Welcome Church Facebook page (not the group!) I may blog some of these posts as well, but it would be best not to rely on that. Please be proactive and look on line at 4pm each day, and do let us know of it’s helpful to you.

Life Groups

Over the next few weeks we were due to refresh our Life Groups, with the chance to start new groups or sign up again for existing ones. In order to provide the best connection and care for us all during this crisis, that process has been postponed and current groups will continue for the time being. We’re encouraging people who are not already in a group to connect to one, and if you need help to do that, please contact Dean Guy.

We’re also encouraging all Life Groups to set up a What’s App group chat so people can easily keep in touch. We know that some groups have also started having virtual meetings using Zoom too – what a great idea (more info on that below).

Welcome Youth

Welcome Youth had their first online experience yesterday evening. Despite one or two technical glitches games were played and encouragement was given. Look out for more on that as the weeks progress.

Alpha

Alpha will be going on line via Zoom. They already had a planning meeting online this week. More details will follow in the days ahead.

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The Alpha Planning Meeting on Zoom

Sundays

Sunday meetings cannot take place in the usual way at the moment. This Sunday at 10am there will be a Sunday preach available on the church website, and also on our Facebook page (not the group!) It will also be available as a podcast.

To make this more interactive I will set up a WATCH PARTY starting a few moments after 10am that anyone can join. To access this on the day, be on the Facebook page and ready to go at 10am! The beauty of a watch party is that people can comment and interact together as we go along. (Can I hear an Amen?) I hope lots of us will join in.

Welcome Kids

This Sunday at 9am our first Welcome Kids online experience will be available on the Welcome Church website for you to enjoy with them at home. They have a great plan including craft, worship, games and teaching. This will also be accessible through the Facebook page.

Prayer

As of Monday morning we will be hosting prayer meetings online through Zoom. The plan is to pray from 7.30am – 8.00am, and then again from 1pm -1.45pm. For each prayer meeting we will post an access code in the Facebook group (not the page!)

Please use these codes to join us and pray. We did one on Friday as an experiment and it went really well.

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Pastoral Care

If you have a pastoral need during this time, please do communicate with your Life Group. We also want to pray for people as a whole church when needs come up, so please use the email care@allwelcome.uk to keep us informed. These needs will be prayed for during the Zoom prayer meetings, so get your requests in.

In terms of practical care for those required to stay at home (shopping, getting a prescription, walking a dog etc) we need to use real wisdom! Life Groups and other contacts across the church can do a certain amount, but as this crisis grows we are unlikely to be able to meet every need. Additionally this is a moment to connect well with our community. On this basis there are some things to consider:

  1. Let’s remember to connect well with our own families and neighbours; they may also need our help.
  2. Let’s get involved with the many local volunteer groups that are springing up. Jo and I are involved with our local one in Send, which is being expertly organised by a woman called Ruth. I am now a ‘volunteer coordinator’, and leaflets are going out across our area today. This creates a great opportunity to meet new people and show them love and care.
  3. Practically speaking, most help given in this season is going to need to be done locally, especially as travel becomes restricted. 

An increasing number of Welcome Church people, of all ages, are being confined at home. We now have confirmed cases of Coronavirus amongst the church, and we have others who have symptoms that are as yet unconfirmed. Our first serious hospitalised case is in a relatively young person with young children and no pre-existing conditions.

If you’re helping someone else, or you’re receiving help, please don’t take unnecessary risks or ignore the need for social distancing. To use an  example, this would mean leaving shopping on the door step and not going inside.

Using technology

Technology is a wonderful gift from God. Let’s be grateful for it and embrace it at this time. You may have noticed that there are some specific technologies we are using at this time to help people connect, so please let’s all consider doing the following:

  1. Sign up for our regular emails – you can do that by clicking this link.
  2. Keep an eye on our website. Information and updates will be posted there
  3. Install What’s App on your mobile phone. This is a free messaging service that allows you to set up group chats with people. It also allows you to make totally free audio or video calls to friends who have the app, even to people in other nations.
  4. Sign up to Facebook (Yes! Seriously!) Even if you’ve never done this before and swore you never would, now is the time. Once you’ve joined send me a friend request. Also like & follow our Welcome Church page, and join our Welcome Church group. You may have resisted doing this all your life, or you may just prefer Instagram or Twitter or other social media. In simple practical terms, Facebook offers the level of flexibility and interaction that we need right now, so our focus will be there. You can always quit when this crisis is over.
  5. Sign up to Zoom. This is a free app that you install on your laptop, phone or tablet. Sign up for a free account and you can join in everything we do on Zoom. A free account lets you set up meetings of up to 40 minutes length (though you can join ones that last any length of time). If you want to set up long meetings of your own, you can upgrade to a paid account as I’ve done. Zoom offer lots of online videos and tutorials to teach you how to use it, so why not use some of your time to learn? We used it for our elders and admin meetings this week and it was great.
  6. Follow this blog. This is your one stop shop for staying up to date with the church during this crisis. You can click a button to subscribe to it.

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Staying together as a church

Please be encouraged to embrace these specific technologies to help you stay part of the church community during this time. They are a gift from God for us right now and I thank God for them all.

Even if these things are new to you, or you’re someone who thinks “Facebook is so last year”, please join in. Simply put: let’s all be in the same place.

Including everyone

There are always a few people who are unable to connect in the ways I describe above. Perhaps they have no laptop, email or internet (there are a few people in this position), or the internet where they live is just too slow to stream things.

If you have friends in this position, please do phone them and check in with them regularly. In fact, why not do that with lots of people regularly? If we all made just 1 or 2 phone calls a day just to check in with how people are, what a blessing that could be.