Welcome Church

It’s A Big Week At Welcome Church

/ Steve Petch / Leave a comment

This Sunday (12th Nov) is a big one for Welcome Church for two reasons:

1. It’s a Gift Day

This will be the first of three Gift Sundays for us to buy Church Gate (the building next door to us). You can find out more about why we want to buy Church Gate by clicking here, and the details of what it will cost by clicking here.

This week I was at “Commission Prayer and Fasting”, an event that pretty much does what it says on the tin: we get together as teams from our UK churches to seek God and pray. At the event I was lovingly ‘pounced on’ by a leader from another church who felt God wanted him to share something with me:

“I see a brick wall in front of you, filling your vision. God says not to worry about it. He’ll get you past the wall. He has it all in hand …”

I always find these sorts of moments encouraging, but this one really made me smile because here’s the view from my office window, a view of Church Gate:

“I see a brick wall in front of you”

Ahead of Sunday please be praying about what God is calling you to give personally. We have a big challenge in front of us, but we have an even bigger God who is our provider. Let’s be in faith for what He will do through us over the next three weeks as obstacle after obstacle is cleared out of the way.

“Lift up your heads, you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty – he is the King of glory”
(Psalm 24v9-10)

2. On Sunday we have our next Encounter Evening

We’ve done several of these now, but this one is a bit different; it’s a big one! On the evening we will be served by a guest band from Kings Church Epsom. Jo and Meg recently spoke at a women’s conference at Kings Church. They were really impressed by the whole worship experience, and wanted us to experience it too.

Kings Church is unusual amongst our Commission family at the moment: it’s our only majority black church in the UK so far. They have a different style of worship than we’re used to, and I know we’re going to be blessed. Please come ready and expectant to encounter God, and please feel free to invite people from other churches to join us too, or anyone else you think will be blessed.

All welcome. Come as you are!

A Big Goodbye ☹️

This week we also said a sad goodbye to Kimberley and Luqman who fly back to India tomorrow (Friday 10th). They have been a real gift to us this year and we will miss them a lot.

The office team had a shared lunch with them on their last day with us (and 1 or 2 others popped in to join us too). We took time on the day to talk about what we love and appreciate about them both, and to share some memories and pray for them. There were tears, but I think that this mix of joy and sadness is all part of being part of the family of God.

I had my final goodbye with them both in the office today (Thursday). They even returned some of my missing books 😃. Do pray for them as they head home, not least because, at the last check, their luggage was 13kg overweight …

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.

Prayer Requests – Nov 2023

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Here are some things we would love you to be praying about this month:

Gift Sundays

Our Gift Days to raise the finance we need for Church Gate are on Sundays 12th, 19th and 26th November. We would love everyone to be praying for this – for God to supply all we need as a church, and for Him to speak to each of us personally about what He is calling us to give.

A booklet is available with all the info you need to know, so do pick one up on Sunday morning or get in touch with the office to ask for a copy. It will tell you WHAT we are doing, WHY we are doing it, why we are doing it NOW (which is key to the whole thing), HOW MUCH it will cost and what we are asking YOU to do.

Baptisms

This Sunday we have baptisms at both morning meetings. Please pray for all those getting baptised.

There is a special need for prayer for 2 of those being baptised at 9am. They have come to us from a nation where to convert to Christianity could cost them their liberty and perhaps their life. Both came to faith in their own country. Both are fleeing persecution.

For this reason these two baptisms and testimonies, will not be live-streamed – we will switch the live-stream off at this point. We are also asking that no photos are taken or posted anywhere. The testimonies are well worth hearing, but you will have to be there in person at the 9am meeting to hear them.

If you are planning to be at the 11am meeting that day there might be room for some to stand at the back from about 10.15am if you want to arrive early and catch this part of the 9am meeting.

CST

CST is the “Commission Students to Thirties” event taking place on Saturday Nov 18th at Hope Church, Winchester. This year the theme of CST is about being ‘All In for Jesus‘. There will be great worship, great talks, time to connect with God and some good food too.

I would appreciate your prayers because I’m preaching the opening message at CST this year. Please pray that it connects well with people and helps to grow and stretch their faith.

If anyone isn’t booked in to CST and wants to know more, then do follow this link here for more information and a link to the booking page.

Luqman and Kimberley

Luqman and Kimberley, our two leadership trainees from India, finish their year with us next week, and will then head home to Goa. They are going to be greatly missed and will leave a hole in both our Office Team and our hearts ☹️. They have been a joy to have around and we’re sad to see them go.

Please pray for them as they return to India, that God will direct their steps into whatever He has next for them, and please do give them big hugs and lots of appreciation this weekend. Sunday 5th November will be their last Sunday with us.

Carol Services

Bookings for our Carol Services open this weekend. They will be held on Sunday 10th December this year, at 2pm, 4.30pm and 7pm. On Sunday we will give out all the information you need, and I’ll post it in my blog too, but please do be praying already about who you could be inviting and for all the preparations to go well. Please also pray for lots of people to sign up to attend.

A few other bits for prayer

In case that lot’s not enough to keep you busy praying, here are a few more things:

  • Reuben and Lucy get married this Saturday: pray for them as they start married life together
  • I’m leading the Commission ‘TLM’ training day on Saturday 11th Nov: the topic is ‘Grace for Ministry’
  • Our Alpha Course have their ‘Holy Spirit Day’ on Sat 25th Nov: pray for people to encounter the Holy Spirit and give their lives to Jesus

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: The Size Of The Challenge

/ Steve Petch / 6 Comments

Last week I blogged about Church Gate, the next big adventure we believe God has for us as a church (click here to read about it).

This is a big deal for us and, of course, we wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t think it was ‘mission critical’ for our calling as a church together:

  • Church Gate will be key for the work we want to do to serve the poor, including our desire to start a community grocery to bridge the gap between the FoodBank and a supermarket for the most needy in our town
  • Church Gate will provide the facilities and space we need to disciple our children and young people well. Remember, we are not baby sitting them week by week; we are equipping them to be the men and women of God He is calling them to be, so they can lead the way into the future in all areas of life and follow His call on their life.
  • Church Gate will also provide lots of space for our meetings and ministries all week long, and even has a few extra parking spaces, which is always handy to have.

Gift Days

Obviously we need to pay for Church Gate! As I said last week, we’ll be looking at mortgages, but we also all need to do our part individually so, in November, we will be holding some gift Sundays. I want to fill in a few details on that.

We will hold our gift Sundays over three weeks, on Sundays 12th, 19th and 26th of November. In case you’ve not been at Welcome Church when we’ve done this before (and the last time was a few years ago) it will be a normal Sunday meeting – with worship, kids work, teaching etc – but there’ll be a chance at the end of the morning to come forward and give, or pledge to give, to this big adventure. With that in mind we recognise that more information needs to be shared.

Next Sunday, and in the weeks to come, we’ll be giving out a printed booklet with all the information you need. It will explain:

  • WHAT we are doing
  • WHY we are doing it
  • Why we are doing it NOW (very important!)
  • HOW MUCH it will cost and
  • What we are asking YOU to do

The size of the financial challenge

People have been asking what Church Gate will cost, so here are the details:

The owners have agreed to sell Church Gate to us for three million pounds.

That may sound like a lot of money (and in many ways it is) but it’s a price our professional valuer agrees is fair for us to pay, and a lot less than where we started from. We also have to budget for additional fees and refurbishment costs, so the total cost for the project is likely be in the region of £3.5 million pounds – hopefully a bit less.

We anticipate that some of this cost will be funded through our existing savings as a church, and through a new mortgage. We’re also in faith to raise £2 million pounds over the next two years through our sacrificial giving as a church to this adventure.

The big challenge is that we need to raise the first £1 million in the next few months, in order to complete on Church Gate in early 2024, so we need to step out in big faith this November.

Time is tighter than we’d like for this project, but the opportunity really is now or never. The sellers of Church Gate have received Planning Permission to redevelop the site into flats. Were they to go ahead, the opportunity will be closed to us for good, so we need to go for it in faith now to invest in our future as a church.

What can I do today?

At this point we would ask you to do one thing: please pray. Pray that the sale moves ahead smoothly. Pray that finance comes together quickly.

Mainly though, please pray for God to speak to YOU about what he wants YOU to give.

We wouldn’t want anyone to give more than God is asking them to give, but we wouldn’t want anyone to give less than He is asking them to give either!

And remember: it’s not that we HAVE to give; it’s that we GET to give. It’s a privilege to invest in the Kingdom of God, knowing that we cannot out-give God.

Between us we have a significant amount of money to raise, but I believe we can do this as we step out in faith, so let’s go for it together. I’ll share more info in the weeks 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.

Church Gate – Our Next Big Adventure

/ Steve Petch / 7 Comments

Over the last few months we’ve prayed several times about Church Gate, which is the building next door to ours. I believe this is now our next big adventure as a church!

The Story So Far

In January 2020 we opened our brand new Chapel building and, at the same time, we redeveloped our old Church building (often now referred to as ‘the front building’) to serve our various ministries, including our children’s and youth work, and to provide new offices, kitchens and more.

Unforeseen Challenges

Coming out of the pandemic, Welcome Church has grown significantly – much faster than any of us anticipated. One unforeseen problem this has caused is that, as a church with many families in it, the number of children and youth who attend each Sunday are more than the front building can accommodate.

At the moment Welcome Kids Seniors and Welcome Youth cross the road each Sunday morning to meet in ‘The Cube’ (above Useful Wood). This is a good solution for now, but we do not own that space and in time it will be redeveloped for housing.

Alongside our growth in numbers, we also have a growing focus on social action in response to Jesus’ call on us to be “good news to the poor”. One ministry we would like to start is a community grocery, bridging the gap between the food bank and a supermarket for the poorest families in our town. For many this could be a lifeline and a great way for people to connect with our church and with Jesus.

In conversation with Woking Borough Council we’ve looked at various premises in Woking, but nothing has yet been found that provides the space we need, in a venue that works for us in terms of accessibility, cost and location.

The Church Gate Solution

Church Gate, a three storey open plan office building, is next door to us, and has been empty for more than 6 years. The owners have recently received planning permission to add two extra stories to it and to develop it as residential accommodation, but we decided to contact them anyway, and they agreed to meet with us and let us look around the building.

On viewing Church Gate it quickly became apparent that it could meet our needs as a church. It could provide us with:

  • Space to serve our children’s and youth work
  • Space for a community grocery and for other social action projects in the future
  • More space for meetings and ministries all week long – both for us as a church and as a facility to serve our town
  • A few more parking spaces (always handy to have!)

In short, we believe Church Gate offers the right space for our needs, so with this in mind we shared with the owners our heart and our vision to serve the community and do good for our town. We asked them not to develop it into flats but to sell it to us instead, and they agreed to come back to us with a price.

Negotiations

Negotiations started off with a gap of several million pounds but, following a professional valuation, lots of discussion and a whole lot of prayer, last week we were able to agree on a fair price in line with the valuation, so …

… WE ARE GOING TO BUY CHURCH GATE

What’s next?

In November we will hold Gift Days as a church, and we’ll all have a chance to give financially to this exciting new adventure. Next week I’ll share more information about that.

We recognise we’re on a short time scale, but we’re also aware that this is a unique opportunity and we need to respond to it in a timely way, whilst the door is open.

These Gift Days are our big opportunity to step up and give sacrificially. Let’s give as an act of worship. Let’s give to build a better future. Let’s give to take part in what God is doing with our church at this time.

Our giving to this adventure is a chance to invest in our church, our children, our youth, the gospel, our work among the poor in our town, and the Kingdom of God, and let’s not forget it’s also an investment in our future together. Generations of this church before us have given sacrificially to get us to where we are today; now it’s our turn to step out in faith and to sow financially into the future.

In the weeks ahead I’ll share more information about the price we’ve agreed, and about what we now need to do – and there are lots of practical steps we will need to take – but at this point we only want to ask you to do one thing: to pray.

Please pray that the sale moves ahead smoothly and that the finance comes together quickly. And please pray for God to speak to YOU about what he wants YOU to give. Between us we have a significant amount of money to raise, but I believe we can do this together.

Listening to God

During the negotiations, looking at Church Gate out of my office window and praying and dreaming about what God might do, I felt God remind me of a parable Jesus told:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13v45-46)

That parable is not really about buildings, but I felt a whisper in my heart that, to us, Church Gate would be like that pearl of great value. I believe this is a great opportunity that God has put in front of us, and that we need to be prepared to sacrifice to get in on this adventure; it will be costly but it’s worth it, so lets go for it together. More information will follow in the weeks 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.

October 2023 News Updates

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This week I want to share a few Welcome Church news updates, in case you missed them

A New Website

We’ve just launched our brand new Welcome Church website and we’re really pleased with it! You can find it at www.welcomechurch.uk. The website is not only new in terms of its content, it also has a brand new website address. If you do accidentally try to access the old website it will forward you to the new one automatically, at least for a while.

Our church email addresses have also changed, so if you previously e-mailed someone on name@allwelcome.uk, you now need to use name@welcomechurch.uk. Again, if you use the wrong e-mail address it will be forwarded for a short while, but not forever.

A lot of work went into getting the new website up and running, and we’re really pleased with the result. Huge thanks go to everyone involved. The site been checked quite extensively, but if you do find any errors, bad links, typos or other problems, please let us know – there are bound to be some!

Kids Work

From the end of Half Term (Sunday 29th October) Welcome Tots, Welcome Kids Juniors and Welcome Kids will be starting earlier each Sunday, so your kids can go there straight away if you want them to. You can drop them off from 10 minutes before each meeting starts (no earlier please!)

These changes will help us serve our kids well, and also allow more room for adults to join us without feeling that the meetings are full, especially at the 11am meeting. It will also allow the worship times to flow uninterrupted. Welcome Kids Seniors and Welcome Youth will be with us for the whole of the worship time for now, and will go out to their own meetings after that.

Because the kids will now be in their groups a bit longer each week, we want to encourage parents to collect them promptly when the meeting has finished. Thank you in advance for this, and also a very big thank you to all our kids and youth workers – you are fantastic and massively appreciated. 🙂

The Alpha Course

Our Alpha Course is now up and running with 28 guests in attendance on week one, and some others expected to join from week 2. Please pray for the success of the course and for people to grow in faith as they explore the big questions of life together.

Baptisms

On Sunday 5th November we’ll be baptising several people at each of our Sunday meetings. It’s still not too late to join them and be baptised if you’re a Christian and have not yet been baptised since you came to faith in Jesus – please just chat to us.

Please also pray for those who are being baptised on the 5th, and let’s be on the front foot to welcome the many guests who will be there and to serve them well.

Car Parking

You may have spotted that, due to new tenants moving in, Phillips Court is no longer available for us to use for parking on a Sunday morning. Instead the Red, Yellow and Blue shoppers car parks are available. These are just a short distance away, and the walk is largely under cover.

If you put your number plate into the relevant ‘pad’ in our building (the pads are very clearly marked) then you will get your parking for free 🙂. We recommend putting your number plate in on arrival rather than waiting until the meeting has ended.

Buildings

Thanks to all who have prayed about our plan to buy Church Gate, the building next door to us. We want to use it to create more space for kids and youth each Sunday, as well as to provide meeting rooms and office space to serve all that we do all week long. We would also like it as a space to start a community grocery that will serve those in need in our town, and it could perhaps house some of our other social action ministries too. The alternative is to extend on our own site, and we’ve been developing plans for this in case Church Gate doesn’t come our way.

Lots of people have been asking for updates on this issue, and this coming Sunday (15th Oct) at Welcome Church I will be sharing the latest news. Please make sure you’re there at our 9am or 11am meeting to hear what’s been happening!

God can do amazing things

Eph 3v20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Let’s be in faith for all God wants to do in and through us as a church, and let’s be praying for Jesus to be glorified in our town. He can do immeasurably more than all we can ask or even imagine.

Thanks for reading.

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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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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