Commission Festival

Welcome Back

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

September is here and a new church year has begun – WELCOME BACK!

Despite it being a quieter time overall, lots of fun things happened over the summer including Newday (for the youth) and Commission Festival (for us all), and of course the final parts of our preaching series on the book of Exodus. I also heard about Life Groups having fun with BBQ’s and various trip to beaches and parks. Whatever you got up to I hope you had some time to relax.

Most of what’s coming up at church this term can be found in the new purple book that you can pick up on a Sunday morning, and it’s also all in the online diary on the website and in the ChurchSuite app, but I wanted to highlight three things as the new term begins:

1. Commission Festival

We had a fantastic time as a church this summer at Commission Festival. The weather was kind to us overall, and it was great chance to hang out together and spend time with people we often only see in passing on a Sunday. We cooked and ate together as a church this year, and the food was truly amazing, so I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who helped to make it happen. I loved the Karaoke and the Silent Disco and, although my team didn’t win this year, the Quiz Night was a lot of fun too.

On the more ‘spiritual’ side of things there were several helpful messages preached at the Festival, most especially by Ranjit from India, but for me the outstanding element of it all was the worship times, led in large part by our very own Jo and featuring a few other familiar faces too.

I want to say thank you to everyone who was there and, for those who couldn’t attend in person, I hope the live stream was useful.

At the end of the Festival we discovered that it won’t now be back until 2026 so, with that in mind, in 2025 we will be holding our very own…

… Welcome Church Big Weekend Away!

It will be held over the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of August so do put that weekend in your diary now. We’ve already booked a venue for this event, in The New Forest, and details on how to book your place will follow soon – watch this space.

2. Prayer Week

Next week will be our prayer week to kick off the new term, and all the details for getting involved with that are in the pictures below. Do join us for as much as you can – there’s no better way to start the new church year.

The week will culminate in a Prayer and Vision evening at 7pm next Sunday (15th September) so do join us if you can. We’ll be talking about all that’s coming up in the year ahead and sharing our hopes and aspirations for Welcome Church, all in a context of worship and prayer.

3. Loving People Towards Jesus

Our new preaching series is now also underway, and I’m looking forward to preaching part 2 this coming Sunday. To tie in with our prayer week I’ll be talking about The Power Of Prayer – so make sure you don’t miss it.

Outreach and evangelism is going to be a focus this term as we run up towards our Carol Services on Dec 15th. Let’s all get on board with what God is doing at Welcome Church – I’m looking forward to another great year 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.

Welcome Back!

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

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.

Some Important Things To Pray About – July 2023

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

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.

Commission Festival – LATEST UPDATE

/ Steve Petch / 1 Comment

I’m looking forward to Commission Festival this year more than ever. It will be FOUR YEARS since we’ve been able to go away as a family of churches together like this – the last time was summer 2019.

In case you don’t know already, Commission Festival is our annual camping event, taking place over the August Bank Holiday weekend, where we gather with churches from across our Commission UK family. We will get to enjoy all the fun of last year’s Welcome Church Big Weekend Away, camping together as a church, but we’ll also get access to a whole lot more in terms of fun, games, events, inter-church sports competitions, teaching, worship, kids work, youth work and more. The dates for this year are 24th to 28th August at the Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. If you hate camping you can always arrange a caravan (as Jo and I have done) or stay offsite in a local B&B or Hotel.

As a church we have more people booked in than we’ve ever had before, so don’t miss out. Prices go up after 10th April, and if you book before the end of February you can opt to pay in instalments. If you sign up to serve you’ll get a 40% discount too, and this year we will also cater for everyone who books in from Welcome Church … for free.

Alongside the usual range of excellent speakers including Guy Miller, Vinu Paul, Chris Kilby, Tim Blaber and more, there are a few specific things happening that I wanted to mention to whet your appetite for the event (and these are just a taster of what to expect):

Kemi Koleoso from Jubilee Church London will be speaking in one of the main morning sessions. Kemi is an incredibly gifted preacher and she will help build our faith to new levels.

Andrew Bunt will be speaking in two seminars and also in one of the youth meetings. Andrew is the author of ‘Finding Your Best Identity: A Short Christian Introduction to Identity, Sexuality and Gender’. Andrew will be helping us understand and find a Biblical approach to these challenging topics both as churches, and also as parents and families. This is a topic that many have been concerned about, so make sure you’re there to get informed and equipped.

Natalie Brand, author of ‘Priscilla, where are you?’ and ‘Prone to Wander’ (as well as a number of other books) will be speaking in two seminars, one on ‘raising female theologians’ and one on ‘struggling when God seems distant’.

Additionally some people from our Welcome Church family will be contributing too. Our very own Jo is working with Sean (from Citygate Church in Bournemouth) to organise and deliver the worship for the event; the ‘Commission Collective’ have even been song writing. Meg is leading a seminar. I understand that Robin and Anna may be on the seminar list too and I’m sure other familiar faces will appear along the way.

I’m going to be preaching one of the main evening sessions myself, probably on the Saturday evening. It would be great to have a crowd from Welcome Church there to encourage me with your smiles and to pray that I don’t mess it up 🙂

As a church (and knowing the British weather) we’ve booked the biggest marquee we’ve ever had. It’s been described as “so big that our church will go home thinking that Commission Festival was an indoor event” 😂. On top of all this I hear rumours that we’re due to see the return of the Welcome Church silent disco, and a whole range of other fun events in our own marquee too.

We don’t want anyone to miss out on Commission Festival, so if you have any questions or concerns please ask. And please don’t delay booking as prices will go up nearer to the event.