The new term is well under way, our prayer week is almost over and the summer holidays are starting to feel like a distant memory, especially with this recent cold snap. Before I forget I wanted to mention three books I read this summer that I would recommend to us all:
1. “Jesus Through The Eyes of Women” by Rebecca McLaughlin
In this book Rebecca explores some of the life-changing accounts of women in the Bible who met Jesus, and what we can learn about Jesus from them. It’s easy to read, very encouraging and the chapters have great discussion questions at the end. This could actually work well for a Life Group to read chapter by chapter and discuss the questions together, or just read it yourself like I did.
2. “Tis Mercy All” by Natalie Williams
Natalie runs Jubilee Plus and is based in Hastings UK. She is well known to some of us at Welcome Church. Her latest book is on the topic of God’s outrageous mercy and what it means for us to love mercy and to be mercy bringers in a world that lacks it. It’s thoughtful, practical and very applicable to our daily lives and our work places. When I’d finished this one, Jo read it too and she also loved it. I’m hoping Natalie will come and preach for us at some point in 2025.
3. “Born Again This Way” by Rachel Gilson
In this powerful and personal book, Rachel describes her own unexpected journey of first ‘coming out’ and of then coming to faith in Jesus, and what came next. She addresses the questions this raises for every Christian, but most especially for Christians who live with same sex attraction. Christopher and I heard Rachel speak recently at an event we attended and, to be honest, her session was the highlight for us both.
Don’t forget you can get all of these from Origin Books in Woking.
Happy reading!
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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.
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On Sundays June 9th and 16th we will be having the final Gift Days for our New Building Project. We are going to give away a tithe (10%) of what we collect to a project working with the poorest of the poor … and the good news is that every gift we give to them on this occasion can be doubled!
Child Survival
As a church we are already sponsoring many children in Togo through Compassion UK, and it’s a country with a lot of needs. One of the big challenges is around infant mortality and health in pregnancy.
At present in Togo:
1 in 20 babies die before their first birthday … and most of these are from preventable causes
1 in 58 women also die
These are shocking statistics, and Compassion are working to change this though their Child Survival Projects (CSP). These CSP’s are run by local churches in Togo. They work with mothers throughout their pregnancy and for the first year of the child’s life to provide:
Medical support
Vaccinations
Basic provisions – including safe water, hygiene kits and nutritious food
Education – on how to care for a child – remembering that many of the mothers are little more than children themselves
Skills training – to teach work skills that can help them earn a living
Spiritual support and mentoring
These projects are so important that for a short while they are receiving matched funding from our UK Government.
Our donations to this vital work (before Gift Aid) will be matched, pound for pound, by the UK government
So what we give to them will be doubled
This means that if we hit our target of £300,000, and we pass £30,000 on to Compassion, it will be doubled to £60,000 – enough to fund a project for several years.
Jesus told us that he was sent to bring good news to the poor. Let’s join him in that mission as we come to our Gift Days.
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