Going Into Prison

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As a church, for over 15 years now, we’ve had a team going into Coldingley Men’s Prison. Coldingley is a men’s “category C training and resettlement prison”, holding mostly long-term prisoners, including some with life sentences.

The team, led by Neil Willis, hold Sunday morning services in the prison several times a year. This ministry is one of our ‘Welcome Works’ (the various social action ministries we do to serve people in need, both within and beyond our own church family).

As Jesus said in Matthew 25v36, “I was in prison and you came to visit me”

Another World

Neil says: “Coldingley Prison is like another world just up the road in Bisley, requiring rigorous security to get in (and out!) We go through an ‘airlock’ and multiple locked gates before we arrive in the chapel with its decorative bars at the windows. Usually around 30 prisoners attend, and often a couple of them will join the band that we take in ourselves, playing on the violin and guitar. We praise God with what sounds a bit like a Welsh male voice choir of baritones and basses, and we always feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in that place; it’s very special!

“As a church we’ve been going in for over 15 years, and sadly some of the regular attendees have been coming to our services all of that time; it’s hard to imagine what it must be like to be in there for so long. We do not discuss people’s offences, and do not judge in any way. Many are there because of a combination of appalling circumstances, and let’s be reminded that many of the Apostles knew what it was like to be imprisoned.

“Recently we’ve felt challenged to better serve the residents, to build on relationships, and to see more of God at work in the prison. We are having more requests for prayer after the service, and the men are really opening up to us in different ways. I recently prayed with a guy who was wracked with guilt at having let his mother down. Another very young man had just arrived too, and was obviously struggling, but he agreed to attend the Alpha Course that they run.

“The 30 or so men that come to the chapel each Sunday are God’s church in that place of over 500 men, and we try to encourage them to be a light to the others, which is no mean task as you might imagine. The prison Chaplin and his team seem to love it when we come in and we’re now talking about increasing our visit frequency to 8 or more times a year.

Running the prison services is both a privilege and a great opportunity, and it also blesses us as a team, although there’s always a sense of relief when we get out into the fresh air again – we appreciate our freedom that little bit more. It’s great to be doing God’s work in such a place, and it is very real!“

Why not get involved?

Beyond the Sunday Prison Services, there are several other aspects to what we do with our prisons work, and you can read about that on our Welcome Works web page by clicking here. If you want to get involved in these, or any of our other Welcome Works, do please let us know. You can do that by dropping us an email our by speaking to Neil or to Dub or to any of us in the offices. And, if it’s not for you, please pray for the work that’s going on, and please encourage the teams that go in.

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95 Days ‘Til Christmas

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If you’re reading this on the day it comes out, it’s only 95 days ’til Christmas … and I’ve already seen Christmas decorations in the shops 🎅🏼!

Even more importantly it’s now only 80 days until our Carol Services. The reason I see that as ‘even more important’ is that they are the best and easiest event in the year for us to invite people to, since nearly everyone says yes to a Carol Service invitation!

Anyone who comes to our Carol Services will hear the good news of Jesus, and that’s the most important message they’ll ever get to hear; it’s a message that can change our eternal destiny. With this in mind, we want you to start thinking about the Carol Services NOW.

“A Carol Service For Woking”

Our Carol services this year are on Sunday 10th December, at 2pm, 4.30pm and 7pm, and they’re not just for our church, they’re for the whole town, and for all of the people we know. The first two services (at 2pm and 4.30pm) will include a kids party for younger children so you can drop them off and enjoy the service in peace with your friends.

Just like last year, these will be ticketed events. Tickets will be free for you and your friends to book, and we’ll let you know when the booking opens, but we want you to start thinking TODAY about WHO you’re going to invite, and also to tell you about a way to help make those invitations well.

Building Up To An Invitation

Last autumn we did a series of invitational events for people to invite their friends to in the run up to Christmas. We called it the ‘Hop, Skip, (Sing) and Jump’, naming it after the Olympic Event also known as the Triple Jump, which is a type of jump that enables athletes to jump further than they otherwise would:

  • The HOP was our September Fun Day
  • The SKIP was our November Fireworks event
  • The (SING) was our December Carol Services
  • The JUMP was our January Welcome Stories series

As people were invited to each successive event, and as relational links were formed, the numbers of guests grew and grew. In the end we were able to share Jesus with hundreds of people at each Carol Service – the largest Carol Services our church has ever seen. As a result, lots of new people joined us in January for our Welcome Stories series. Thanks to all who stepped up and invited people.

This autumn we want to encourage you to take part in …

… Your Own Personal Hop, Skip and Jump

We won’t be running the Fun Day or the Fireworks this year as a church, but we still believe in the power of relational momentum to help people connect with us as a church, and then go on to connect with Jesus. Introducing the people you know to other Christians from our church, builds a relational momentum that helps open the door for them to find Jesus for themselves.

So this year we want to encourage YOU to run a couple of ‘social events’ of your own – a HOP and a SKIP. Maybe you could do one in October and one in November, leading up to an invitation to the Carol Service (the JUMP). At the Carol Service we’ll talk about the amazing good news we have in Jesus, and we’ll invite people to connect with us in the New Year and even to join our next Alpha Course.

There are lots of Hop and Skip events you could do: a quiz night, a cheese and wine evening, a meal, a BBQ (weather permitting), a board games night, a pub night, an afternoon tea, a walk, a sporting event, a shared fireworks night and more. The key thing is that you don’t do it alone! Invite your friends who you’d like to see at the Carol Service to each event you do, and use it as a chance to introduce them to some of your friends from church.

There are lots of contexts you could do this in: you could do it as Life Group, or with just a few people from your Life Group, or with a group of friends from church, or as a couple of families together – whatever works for you and your friends at the life stage you’re currently in.

We’d love you to go for one event in October, and one in November, and then to invite those same people to a Carol Service on Sunday 10th December. And don’t just invite them to the service, why not also open your home? “All round ours for mulled wine and Christmas cake afterwards” or “Come for lunch with the kids and then we’ll all go on to the Carol Service together” – whatever works best for you.

The Greatest Christmas Gift Ever

The greatest gift God ever gave us is Jesus. This Christmas is your best opportunity to share that gift with the people in your life who don’t yet know Him. Let’s go for it together!

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Commission UK: Changing My Role

/ Steve Petch / 4 Comments

As a church we’re part of an international family of churches called Commission, and it’s a good family to belong to. 

We’ve been blessed at Welcome Church over the last year by some excellent visiting speakers from various parts of our Commission family, including Simon Argent, John Groves, and Tim Blaber (all from the UK), and Sydney Nevis, Vinu Paul and Wellington Gomes (all from India). 

A good number of people from Welcome Church are booked into various Commission training programmes that are running this year too, and I know they’ll be great (I’m even speaking on one of them myself 😉)

This summer we were blessed by the Commission Festival, and lots of us were involved in helping to make that event happen. The bookings for next year’s festival are open and a good number have booked in already – don’t miss it!

What’s Changing?

Most of you will know that, for several years, I’ve been part of the Commission UK Leadership Team. I’ve had a range of responsibilities and have taken the lead on several events and initiatives, as well as helping to give oversight to other churches. The role has taken a growing portion of my time and focus, and it’s been a joy to do, not least anchoring the adult meetings at the recent Festival and preaching in one too (what a huge privilege that was!)

At Welcome Church we’ve also been increasingly busy over the last couple of years, and we’ve seen significant growth in numbers. We’re praying this continues.

I’m very excited about what’s ahead for us as a church, and there are a number of new opportunities and initiatives on the horizon that will require my energy and commitment for us to continue to thrive and to flourish.

With this in mind I wanted to let you know that, in July this year, I made a decision to step aside from the Commission UK Leadership Team for the next season of life and ministry. This will free up some much needed time to prioritise Welcome Church, and my family. 

I chose not to say anything publicly about this decision before the Commission Festival, in order to avoid any confusion around the role I was playing there, and also to allow some clear space to reflect on the decision and discuss it with the right people, and for God to speak into the decision too, which He has most definitely done (and that’s another story!)

The future

As a church we remain part of Commission, and are committed to the vision of seeing 1000’s of lives transformed through 100’s of churches in 10’s of nations. We will continue to build our connections with India – we’re really excited about those and have been connecting well with the Commission India team 🇮🇳. We will still be involved in many Commission events and activities going forwards. We will still be going to the Festival in the summer. Jo is still part of the leadership of the Commission Collective who lead worship at the Festival. There may also be some areas where I continue to serve our wider church family too.

I do feel some sadness about my decision to step aside from the team, but I also feel a deep sense of peace that it’s the right call to make, as well as a growing excitement about our future together at Welcome Church.

Hopefully I’ll see you on Sunday morning for the launch of our brand new Autumn Preaching Series, and then again at 7pm for our Prayer and Vision evening where we’ll be reflecting on the last year together and talking about the year ahead.

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.

Welcome Back!

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It’s September, the sun is out at last and kids are back to school, which means it’s also the start of another church year. I’m excited for everything God has in store for us as at Welcome Church in the year ahead – bring it on!

I hope you had a good summer and, whether you got to go away and enjoy some sunshine or were stuck in the UK with the cold and rain, I hope you at least got some time to relax.

One of the highlights for us as a church this year was of course …

The Commission Festival

Over 400 from Welcome Church attended the Festival this year, along with thousands from other Commission churches across the UK and further afield. We had a lot of fun and were well looked after, as well as enjoying some great teaching and ministry.

Huge thanks are due to a lot of people who served, cooked, cleaned, entertained us and set up and set set down, but a special mention goes to Richard and Audrey, Hannah, Crispy, Mark, Uti and Christopher who all went the extra mile to make our church site safe, welcoming, fun and a great place to be. Big thanks also go to all of Richard’s set up and clear up teams – you know who you are!

Here are some photos to show just a little of the fun we had:

There were same great talks and seminars at the Festival, and we’ll publicise links to those as soon as they are available (early next week I’ve been told). Don’t forget we’ll be going again as a church next year, and the sooner you book the cheaper it is. At the moment you can even sign up to pay monthly and spread the cost. Here’s a link to the booking page.

The Year Ahead

There’s a lot to look forward to as a church in the year ahead, starting with Terry Virgo, the founder of Newfrontiers, preaching for us this Sunday (10th September).

On Sunday 17th September we’ll have a Prayer and Vision Evening at 7pm at our building to talk about what’s coming up and the plans we have. Please put it in your diary now – you won’t want to miss 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.

Thankful For Another Year Of God’s Blessings

/ Steve Petch / 2 Comments

Most of the local schools finish on Thursday or Friday this week and the Summer Holidays begin. For those who are going away over the summer, I hope you have a great time and get to enjoy some sunshine and relaxation.

Church life seems to follow the school calendar, so in many ways July marks the end of the church year for us, although we do have both Newday and Commission Festival to come in August 🙂

We have so much to be grateful to God for as a church over the last year; so many reasons to be thankful. We also have a lot to look forward to in September and the year to come.

A Date For Your Diary

On Sunday 17th September at 7pm, we will have a ‘Prayer and Vision’ evening to kick off the new church year. This should help to bring everyone up to speed with what’s ahead as we share the plans, dreams and aspirations we have for the coming year, including any building news there is to share by then. Please put the date in your diary now, so you can be there.

Some thanks and some changes

You may have been with us recently when we marked changes in the leadership of some of our ministries. In case you missed it:

  • Nigel and Bren have finished leading our Sunday Welcome Teams, and Tony L has taken on the role going forwards
  • Marcus and Sharon have finished leading Brew Crew, which will now be led by Tarn and Cindy
  • Tanya E has finished leading Welcome Kids Juniors, with Jo M now taking on the mantle
  • Darren has now handed the leadership of Welcome Kids over to Harriet
  • Ben and Becca C have finished a very faithful season leading Welcome Youth into incredible growth and fruitfulness over several years. A new team has emerged for the future of Welcome Youth, with James H, Noah and Lucy, Ben and Lila, Lauren and Crispy all taking it forward together.

There are some changes in our Church Office team too:

  • Bruno (originally from Brazil) is about to finish his internship year and is off to university (in Oxford)
  • Juliet B (who used to live in Oxford) has finished her role as Comms Manager and is off to join Luke at Casa Cruzeira (in Brazil)

To all of these people we want to say a huge THANK YOU. All of them are greatly appreciated.

Life moves in seasons so it really is okay to change the areas we serve or lead in when the right time comes along, and don’t forget we’re looking to recruit for the vacant ‘comms’ position, so please feel free to get in touch about that.

Summer Socials

I enjoyed our Welcome Church summer social recently, with over 600 of us gathering for the summer picnic at West End. The sun shine and the ice cream van was certainly kept busy. Personally I enjoyed chatting with a number of people I haven’t had a chance to chat with before.

Additionally, on Tuesday evening this week, we gathered with our Eldership Team, Office Team (staff and volunteers), Strategic Leadership Team and Trustee Team for a Summer Social to say thanks for all they’ve done over the last year. James and Helen Heather hosted us really well, and it was great to be in a room of such faithful people (and for those who couldn’t make it, we missed you)

I hope you would want to join me in saying a big thank you to them all as well.

Summer Blogging

Thanks to all who take the time to read my blog week by week; I hope you find it helpful and informative about life in Welcome Church. Please do keep on praying for all we do as a church and for those who lead.

I’ll take a break from blogging over the summer now until Commission Festival at the end of August. Hope to see you there.

Important and Urgent! PLEASE PRAY!

/ Steve Petch / 6 Comments

Hello Welcome Church. We have a very important prayer request and would ask you ALL to please pray, pray and pray again.

Yesterday Mike Deavin and myself, along with Darren Forsdyke and Dub Everitt, met with the representative of the owner of a significant building near to us in Woking. We had a look around the building and discussed how we might be able to get use of it for us as a church, perhaps by buying it.

After viewing the building I explained all that we do to serve our community and to help those in need around us. I explained how the church exists to bring hope to people. I explained how we need more space for all that God is doing through us. I explained our calling to be good news to our town and to serve the poor. I explained that we wanted this building to enable us to continue what we do and to enable us to do even more.

If we were able to take ownership, it would be a significant game changer for us as a church, enabling so many things we want to do to serve the poor and carry out our social action programme, including space for some new initiatives we are thinking of such as a community grocery. It might also release space for our children’s and youth work, preparing us for the day that the Annex (The Cube) is redeveloped.

It would not be right at this stage to say what or where this building is (so please don’t even ask) but all four of us all came away feeling that this could be something God is leading us into. The representative we met with is now going away to speak to the owner to see if there is a way forward, and if so at what cost.

Please pray:

  • That God would give us favour with the owner and his representative
  • That God would open this door to us so that we can bring even more salt and light to this town, and serve our community well, especially at this time of growing need
  • That we can take ownership of this building for a fair price
  • That finance would be released to make this possible

I will tell you more when I’m able to, but as you pray please be open to what God might say to you and please share that with us.

At this time of need I believe God has a big calling on us as a church to bring the good news of the Kingdom of God in all we do. Why not stop what you’re doing and pray right now?

Thank you in advance

Some Important Things To Pray About – July 2023

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Hello lovely Welcome Church people! We would value your prayers this month for the following key things:

1. Buildings

We’re keen to work out how to create more space for our growing kids and youth work. On Sunday mornings we’re currently relying on The Annex (THE CUBE!) for extra space. The Annex is great, but we don’t own it and it will be redeveloped at some point, so we need to either build or buy a more permanent solution.

Mike Deavin and I met with the architect of our current building recently, and he’s looking at what’s possible on our site. We want to find a solution that will serve the needs of our young people, and also serve the church and the wider community all week long.

We love and value our young people and want to serve them well, so please be praying for wisdom and a clear way forward. I’m excited to see what doors God will open for us.

2. Newday

At the end of July our youth will be heading off to the annual ‘Newday Youth Festival’ at the Norfolk Showground in Norwich 🎪. This year it runs from Monday 31st July to Friday 4th August. So far we have around 80 young people booked to attend. Each year Newday helps our youth to grow in their faith, building solid foundations for the future.

Please pray:

  • That our youth stay safe and have a great time
  • That they encounter God and grow in their faith
  • For the leaders and the many helpers who are taking them and serving them during the event (they need our prayers! 🙂)
  • For the practical arrangements (For example, just this week the coach company we booked announced that they’ve gone bankrupt … 🚌 … we’ve got time to solve that problem, but we’d love to avoid any more last minute headaches or unforeseen problems)

3. Commission Festival

Commission Festival is on the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of August ⛺️⛺️⛺️

We’ll be joining with Commission churches from around the UK for times of worship and teaching, and a whole lot of other fun and games too. This event helps build our togetherness as a church and as family of churches. It connects us to our Apostolic mission around the world, and it also serves our children and young people well.

We currently have around 370 people from Welcome Church booked in, which is more than we’ve ever taken to an event like this before. For us it’s a bit like we’re running a festival within the festival!

It’s still not too late to book in and join us (click here for details) and don’t forget you can get a 40% discount if you sign up to serve.

A LOT of people from Welcome Church are either serving at the Festival, or serving our church site at the Festival in a range of different ways. I can’t possibly name them all, but each one is greatly appreciated.

Please pray:

  • For the event to go really well and for God to move powerfully
  • For the weather – we’d like lots of sunshine please ☀️
  • For Darren, our Ops Director, who is leading the delivery of this brand new Festival for Commission, working with their staff team and an event management company. It’s been a massive undertaking and he’s gone above and beyond to get this done
  • For Richard who, along with an awesome team from our church, is leading the operational delivery of our Welcome Church site at the Festival
  • For Jo, who leads four worship team and is also leading the worship for the event (alongside Sean from City Gate Church, Bournemouth)
  • For Harriet who is co-leading ‘Unique’, a ministry for children at the Festival who have additional needs
  • For Dub, Meg, and Robin and Anna who are all responsible for various seminars
  • For myself – I’m responsible for anchoring the adult meetings and I’m also preaching on the Saturday evening

If you have any questions about the festival, please do ask. One more thing:

Do you want to go to the Festival for free?

If so, Compassion UK are looking for some outgoing, faith filled and friendly volunteers to help on the Compassion stand at the Festival. In return they will provide a free ticket for the event along with your food and any travel expenses. All you need to bring is yourself, your camping equipment, and faith in what God can do.

If you want to know more about this opportunity please let us know in the church office and we will put you in touch, but please don’t leave it too late!

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 Suggested Summer Reading – 2023

/ Steve Petch / 4 Comments

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.