Welcome Church

Church Gate Gift Day Results

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

On Sunday we announced the results of our latest Gift Days for our Church Gate project. It was an incredible result, and in case you missed it here’s the figure as it stood on Sunday morning:

Since Sunday morning I believe it has gone up a little higher, but I’m still waiting for the full details on that.

Thanks

The main thing I want to do in this blog is say a very big THANK YOU, on behalf of the whole Eldership Team, to everyone who gave a gift, large or small. It was a joy to see people of all ages taking part, from across the many different nationalities that make up our church. I also loved seeing people who’ve been part of the church for many years joyfully giving alongside others who’ve only just joined us. Wow!

100% of the money given will go towards the purchase (now completed) and the delivery of Church Gate, and when we add this to the money raised during the Gift Days that we held in November, it means that what has been given and pledged now reaches our initial target: to raise £2m in 2 years – except we’ve done it in just 8 months 😮

Moving forward

On Sunday September 15th we will hold a Prayer and Vision evening to kick off the new term (details to follow). We’ll give a full update on that evening about where we’ve got to and how we plan to go forward. For now though, let’s give glory to God for all He’s done for us. It’s a joy to be part of such a generous church and to be on this great mission together.

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.

Some Items For Prayer – July 2024

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

We would love you all to be praying for our church in the weeks ahead. Here are a few key items to pray for this summer:

Church Gate

The Gift Sundays have been great and it was wonderful to celebrate together in worship last week as we drew them to a close. It was a joy to see so many people taking part: people of all ages, and from so many of the different nationalities that make up our church; people who’ve been with us for many years and others who have just arrived. I loved it!

This Sunday we’ll announce the Gift Day results and, without saying too much, they are excellent once again. Don’t forget that it’s not too late to add your gift if you haven’t given yet – you can do that here. Why not step out in faith?

Please pray:

  • For great results from our Gift Days and for all the finance we need to deliver this project well to be released
  • For wisdom and insight during our meetings with the architect as he draws up the plans and helps to bring life and vision to the eventual layout of Church Gate, both inside and out. We’re working with the same company who designed the chapel – Plan A UK – and we’re excited to work with them once again.
  • For the grocery team as they look at the various requirements to fully deliver the Community Grocery and the new Welcome Cafe. There is a lot to consider, including legal issues, charity issues, finance issues and more, including some grant applications that we would love to come through

Welcome Youth

Welcome Youth will be off to the New Day Festival on July 29th, and this year they are taking around 90 young people with them. This is always a great event where our youth can connect with God and grow in their faith.

Please Pray:

  • For our youth team: they will be working very hard and usually come back both encouraged and exhausted
  • For the serving teams: they will be cooking food and helping with various practical issues to help free up the youth team to lead well
  • For the youth: that they meet with God and find a fresh sense of calling and that they grow in their identity in Christ
  • For the event itself: they have great speakers lined up this year and the worship is always high quality, but there’s lots more at Newday besides the main meetings. Please pray for the whole event to be safe, for the sun to shine and for the young people to meet with Jesus

Commission Festival

We’ll be off to the Commission Festival as a church over the bank Holiday weekend at the end of August (so no Sunday meetings at Welcome Church on August 25th!) If you haven’t booked in yet it’s not too late and you can do that here. Day tickets will also be available so do check them out if you can’t make the whole thing.

We’re taking a big group from Welcome Church again this year, and we’ll be camping together, eating together (food provided) and no doubt having a lot of fun in our marquee in the evenings (please bring ear plugs if like to go to bed early 🙂)

Please Pray

  • For Dub: he’s running a stream of seminars this year and will be speaking twice, with Christopher covering one of the slots too
  • For Jo: not only does she lead our worship team here, she’s leading the worship for the whole event. Reuben, Owen, Sophie and Paul from our team are also involved in worship this year, alongside people from various other Commission churches
  • For me: I’ll be anchoring all of the main meetings which is all about getting the right people in the right place at the right time and making sure they know what they are doing and stick to the programme! It’s an ‘invisible job’ so you won’t see me. If I get it right no one will notice anything I do; if I get wrong everyone will!
  • For Darren: he’s helping to organise the whole Festival, supporting Tom who is the Ops Manager for Commission. It’s a big responsibility and another invisible job.
  • For our team of chefs who are sorting out the food (too many names to mention)
  • For the weather: sunshine please
  • For each of us to encounter Jesus and grow in our faith
  • For our church to grow deeper in love and friendship with one another
  • For our children and young people to encounter Jesus
  • For all who are serving in various ways (another list too long to mention)
  • For the whole event to be fun, safe and successful

Thanks

Thanks in advance for your prayers. Don’t forget that Welcome Church is meeting every Sunday across the summer at 9am and 11am, except for the 25th August. This Sunday we’ll be back to our series on Exodus. Christopher is speaking and I’m looking forward to it.

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.

Church Gate: A Big Encouragement

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

The Sunday will be the second of two Gift Sundays towards our Church Gate building project. I wrote in a blog that I posted last week about our goal for all of us to participate; please do read it if you missed it. This week I want to share an encouragement:

Whilst preparing for last Sunday’s meetings I was searching for a certain document on my desktop. As I was searching I came across a forgotten document that I’d saved at some point in the past. It wasn’t what I was looking for and the title – ‘151017.doc’ – gave little away as to what it actually contained. I opened it to see what it was and it stopped me in my tracks.

The document contained the transcript of a prophetic word given to our church by Guy Miller (the leader of our Commission family of churches) on Sunday 15th October 2017, the day I was appointed as Lead Elder at Welcome Church. Viewing it now in light of our plans for Church Gate, a building to the east side of our current site where we will open the community grocery, the Welcome Cafe and more, I can only say “WOW!” This is what it said …

“I saw a house, a big old house. Some of the windows had been blocked in. Some of the rooms had not been used for a while.  The kitchen table had been covered over…

“I saw the builders coming and some of the old doors being knocked down. I could see … a sledge hammer knocking out a few doors. Suddenly light is pouring in, people are pouring in … around the kitchen table there weren’t 5 people, there was something like 100 around the kitchen table. I think food is going to be a big thing for the Church, feeding people, whether that is the word of God or actual physical food, I don’t know.

“I see a great big conservatory being built on the East side. It is where the sun is going to shine. It’s where it is going to bring people in and they are going to enjoy the sunshine of this group of people, knowing the love of God.

“The basement needs to be opened up. It’s all full of cobwebs and dusty things. There are things that are in your history and heritage that need to be brought into the light … things that God has spoken; promises; things you have seen before. God says, ‘I want you to bring them up and start using them for this day’.  

“There are many rooms. There are many people God is going to save; the poor, the needy, the nations are going to come. God says this house will be full. At the moment, you don’t have a full house … there are many, many people; well over a 1000 people; this church is going to grow to.

“This is just as a starter and you need to be reaching out saying its faith, not our effort. It’s not ‘our best shot’, its grace.“

I hope that like me you’re encouraged! I believe it confirms again that God is at work through this project and will provide all we need; He knew about it long before we did, and the timing is all in His hands – even the ‘completely by chance’ timing of me finding the document again. Be blessed!

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.

Church Gate: Gift Days

/ Steve Petch / 2 Comments

This Sunday will be the first of two Gift Sundays for Church Gate, our new building. Church Gate is an amazing resource we’ve been entrusted with by God, and now we need to step up and fulfil our responsibility: we need to get it ready to serve our children, our youth and the many people who are in need across our town.

We talked all about this last Sunday, so if you missed what was said (or want to hear it again 🙂) please click below to listen:

I won’t talk in this blog about numbers and how much we’re looking to raise this time, instead I simply want to encourage participation by us all. Let’s each take some time to pray and ask God what he wants us to do, and then let’s step out in FAITH, HOPE and LOVE.

A Hand Up

By the way, if you don’t yet understand why the Foodbank in Woking is so busy and why what we are doing with Church Gate is so necessary for people in our town, check out this BBC news article. This is Woking. This is part of our town, and it’s not the only area with problems.

Let’s get the grocery and cafe done and let’s crack on with all the social action we’ll be building around them. God’s heart is for the poor, and I believe Jesus has lots of people he wants to reach through us as we give them “a hand up, not a hand out”.

Of course Church Gate is also going to be key for our children and our young people too. Let’s go for this together. When we look back in years to come it will be so good to be able to say, “I played my part in making that happen”. What a great investment in God’s kingdom!

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.

It’s Election Time: Help Needed Please!

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

On Thursday July 4th the UK General Election is being held. We are a polling station for our local area, which means no one is allowed to enter the chapel that day except to vote. (We will be running week 2 of our scheduled “Belong, Believe, Become” course that evening as normal, and will talk to attendees about arrangements)

Help Needed!

The polling station is open from 7am ’til 10pm, and lots of people will come through our doors that day, many for the first time. These people are also our closest neighbours. We would love to live up to our name, Welcome Church, so we’d like to serve free tea, coffee and cakes in the front hall for anyone who turns up to vote.

This means we’re looking for some friendly, chatty, welcoming people, who have time available that day, to help us serve people and chat to them – what a great chance to connect with our neighbours! If you have a free hour or two and are happy to help, you can sign up for one hour time slots using this link here – and do feel free to sign up for more than one slot if that works for you. It would be great if we could cover the whole day between us 🙂

(One small point of clarity: we are not political as a church, and this is not a chance to lobby people on how they vote. This is about making friends and showing a true Welcome Church welcome)

Three Useful Election Resources

I mentioned the engaGE24 website a few weeks ago, a Christian website which has information about policies, video interviews with Christian MPs and more. They even have an ‘election quiz’, where you can find out which party’s policies you most align with by answering a series of questions.

If you’re still unsure who to vote for, here are links to two more great Christian resources. Like us, none of these resources will tell you which way to vote, but they are designed to help you think.

Firstly: in May, Jubilee Plus launched “Voting Like Jesus”. Jubilee Plus approach this from the point of view of caring for the poor, and base what they say around the call of Micah 6v8 to, “Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly” before God. The link above will take you to their website, where you can read it all through online or download a copy. We have a few hard copies available, but only a few, so do start with the website.

Secondly: the Christian Institute have launched Election Briefing 2024. This is an interactive website where you can view information by party or by issue, and see where the parties stand on whatever matters most to you. The Christian Institute’s focus is almost entirely on ethical and moral issues, viewed from a Biblical perspective. We have a few copies of their booklet available too, but you can download a PDF copy here.

Enjoy!

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.

Your Last Chance To View Church Gate

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

The tours of our new building, Church Gate, have been very popular this last week, and it’s been great hearing all the feedback. Here’s a tiny selection of just a few of the comments made so far (we’ve been giving out feedback forms):

“The building is so much bigger than I expected – it just keeps on going!”

“I feel a real sense of peace looking round Church Gate, despite the work that now needs to be done. Having more room for age appropriate activities is something my kids will really enjoy.”

“It really is right next to our current church building! I feel like it’s an extension of our church. Parents can feel safe to drop the kids next door. All the plans are good but my favourite part is the Grocery and Welcome Cafe for the poor. We have God’s blessings and we know what to do. Church Gate will be a hope for many people!”

“As part of Welcome Youth the fact there will be loads of space for us is so great”

“I’m excited by the opportunity to really grow the social action aspect of what we do as a church – to go to the next level of caring for our community”

“As a parent I’m excited at the potential of a custom space for our children’s work”

“It excites me that there is such a clear, big vision for Church Gate.”

“The outdoor space will be a blessing for our youth“

“This is a key enabler for our growth as a church“

“I feel deeply emotional because I know that I will not be alive to see all that comes from this; future generations will be blessed and I get to sow into them today as others in the past have done for us. It does my heart and soul good.”

“The vision for this is great; a lot of lives will be blessed”

Wow! And that’s just a tiny selection of the comments made so far. If you haven’t booked a tour yet please be aware that this Saturday (15th) is your last chance because work will start as soon as possible. You can book onto a tour by clicking here.

By the way, we now have power inside Church Gate and the lights are on!

A Very Special Guest

I’m delighted that our friend Vinu Paul is over from India this coming week. Vinu leads the team that oversees the Commission Churches in India, and he also gives input to our team here at Welcome Church. He won’t be speaking for us on a Sunday during this trip because he’s mainly here for meetings with the Commission UK Team and will be needed elsewhere.

Whilst he’s here though, he will be meeting with our eldership team and will also be joining us for the 12pm Church Gate tour on Saturday. I reckon he’ll have travelled further than anyone else to see the new building … 🙂

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.

I’m Hosting A Book Launch!

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

No, I haven’t written a book myself (as if I have the time!) but my friend Jenny Sanders is a Christian author and her latest book, Polished Arrows, has just been published.

I had the privilege of writing the forward for this book (check out the pic below 😃) and, on Wednesday evening from 7pm to 8pm, I’ll be hosting an online book launch where we’ll hear from the author and find out a whole lot more about it.

Polished Arrows is about how God works in us to shape our lives to fulfil His calling, shaping us from rough and ready material into His ‘Polished Arrows’, ready to be fired wherever He sends us. Ultimately this is a book about God’s discipleship of us, a process that is often surprising and sometimes painful.

Each chapter of the book is rooted in the experience of a character from the Bible, and this is then set alongside the reality or our lives today. At the end of each chapter there are questions that could work really well in a Life Group or other small group setting. So, if you long to have greater Kingdom impact and you’re up for God’s shaping process, then this could be a great book for you, but be warned – it touches on some pretty big issues!

If you fancy joining the online book launch, let me know and I’ll make the Zoom link available for you, and if you want to check out the book for yourself you can do that on this link here or you can buy it using this link. (It’s also on Amazon)

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.

Church Gate Open Days – why bother?

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

I’m looking forward to our first Church Gate open day this Saturday (8th June). This will be a great opportunity for Welcome Church people to look around our new building and see the size of the challenge that we’ve taken on – before it becomes a building site!

If you haven’t booked a slot yet, you can do so on this link here. There are further opportunities on the evening of Monday 10th June (click here) and the morning of Saturday 15th June (click here).

Why should I bother to come to an open day?

Although it might be tempting to sit back and wait for the work to be done (as someone said, “I’ll see it when it’s finished” …) I would love as many of us as possible to make the effort to see the new building as it is right now.

Despite all of us having busy diaries, there are several reasons for this:

1. Ownership: we need to own this project together as a church, and to do that we do need to actually come and see what’s going on – it’s OUR building.

2. Prayer: we all need to be praying for this project and for those leading it, and a visit will help to inform our prayers.

3. Insight: we would love to hear from you after you’ve visited. What is important to you about this project? What is God saying to you prophetically? Do you have any wisdom to impart to the team? (“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” – Proverbs 15v22)

4. Inspiration: we would love people to get inspired for what we’re doing together. Let’s get inspired about our social action, inspired about our kids work and inspired about our youth work. Perhaps God may even have a role for you to play that you don’t yet know about!

Gift Days

Lastly, let me please remind you that we have our next two Gift Days for Church Gate scheduled for Sunday 30th June and Sunday 7th July.

Our goal is two raise at least £2m over 2 years. We’re well on the way towards that target (£1.3m pledged/given so far) but let’s all be praying about what God is calling us to give this time round. We don’t want anyone to give more than God is calling them to, but we don’t want anyone to give less than He’s asking them to either.

Let’s all get involved in this Church Gate adventure that God is leading us into as a church.

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.

Election Hustings for Woking Churches

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

With the General Election coming up, you might like a chance to hear directly from the people who would like us to vote for them. With this in mind an Election Hustings for Woking has been organised for all the churches in town. In case anyone is unsure, a ‘hustings’ is defined as ‘a meeting at which candidates in an election can address potential voters’, and it’s usually done as a question and answer session.

The hustings will take place at Woking United Reform Church, at 7.30pm on Friday 14th June, and we’ve been told that candidates for all of the main parties will be there.

If you would like to ask the candidates a question, it should be emailed in advance, and the details to do this are in the image below – make sure it’s a good one! Our special thanks go to Lucy and the team at the URC for organising this for us all.

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.

It’s Election Time!

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

We knew it was coming in the near future but, like most people, I was surprised this week when the Prime Minister revealed the date of the next UK General Election as Thursday 4th July. Here are a few thoughts and pointers for us as a church:

1. Welcome Church Will Be A Polling Station

I’m delighted that Welcome Church will be used as a polling station for this election; it means that lots of local people who have not yet been into our building will see it for the first time. (It also means there will be no entry at all to the chapel that day, except for those designated to vote there!) Let’s pray that, as well as voting in our building, some will feel inspired to come back and join us on a Sunday.

2. Unity Is Key

Unity is key for any church; disunity, gossip and division do profound damage. If we disagree with someone’s political viewpoint we are still allowed to love them. We don’t have to win every argument and we don’t always have to tell people when we disagree with them.

Ephesians 4v2-3 says,

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

With this in mind:

3. We Are Politically Neutral As A Church

Although there are issues we may speak about or take action on, both through what we say and through our social action ministries, we are not allied to any one political party, either nationally or locally, nor will we tell people how they should vote, though we encourage everyone who is allowed to vote to do so. I’ll be voting myself, but I won’t be telling you who for.

People from our church have stood for election to local government, at both town and county level, for all three of the main political parties, and also as independent candidates. Others have been engaged with various political parties or campaigned on other social issues. To me that’s a good sign that we can have a range of views amongst us, and still walk in unity together.

Let’s make sure that we all act in love towards one another over these coming weeks, including on social media. That’s not to say no one should ever express an opinion but, as it says in 1 Thess 4v11, “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life” – I think that’s a great verse for Christians to apply to their social media accounts!

And be warned: if anything political appears in any of our Welcome Church Facebook groups, or in the comments on our other social media posts, it will be deleted and the poster may get blocked.

4. A Helpful Resource

Today CARE UK have launched an excellent website for Christians, to help us consider all the issues in the run up to the general election – it’s called engaGE24.

It has information about policies, video interviews with Christian MPs, a blog, a podcast and a 40-day prayer resource. One fun feature is their election quiz, where you can find out which party’s policies you most align with by answering a list of questions – I tried it out this morning 😃.

CARE, who are strictly politically neutral say:

“Our aim is to equip the UK Church to engage effectively with this election. Research tells us that Christians will vote. The question before all of us is who will we vote for? I pray our resources will help you as you come to your decision. I think this election is a golden opportunity for the Church to engage and make our voice heard.“

To take the survey, click here.

5. Finally, Let’s Pray

We are told in 1 Timothy 2v1-3,

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour …”

The outcome of this election will shape our lives and our country in all sorts of ways for years to come. Let’s pray for God’s will to be done and for our country to increasingly be a place where Christian truth can be proclaimed, and we can worship freely and share the gospel without fear of repercussions.

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.