As we step into a brand new year, we believe there is no better way to begin than by seeking God together.
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be kicking off 2026 as a church family with 21 Days of Prayer. This is an invitation to pause, refocus, and intentionally devote ourselves — and the year ahead — to Jesus.
For 21 days, we’ll gather in person to seek the presence of God, call on His name, and create space for Him to move in our lives, our church, our town and our nation. We believe prayer changes things, and we’re expectant for all that God will do as we come before Him together.
This will be an all-in church family moment, so we won’t be running Life Groups or any other competing events during this time. Our heart is to journey through these days as a united church family, making prayer our shared priority as we begin the year.
All meetings will take place at Welcome Church, with the following schedule:
Dates:
Monday 5th January – Sunday 25th January 2026
Times:
Monday to Thursday: 7pm to 8pm
Fridays: 7am to 8am
Saturdays: 9am to 10am
Sundays: 6pm to 7pm
Whether you can make it to every session or just a few, you are so welcome. Come as you are, bring your faith, your hopes, and your prayers — and let’s start 2026 together centred on Jesus.
We can’t wait to see you there.
And don’t forget, you can see in the New Year with us too at our Crossover service on New Years Eve. It’s not too late to book your tickets by clicking on the image below:
To stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church, subscribe to this blog for weekly updates delivered straight to your inbox
What a Sunday! What a celebration! What a moment in the life of our church!
I hope you loved the Carol Services as much as I did. It was an unforgettable day, filled with joy, worship, generosity, and the unmistakable sense that God was at work among us.
Our best estimate is that 2,762 people joined us across both the adult Carol Services and the children’s Christmas parties that ran alongside them. That makes this the largest single Sunday in Welcome Church’s 146-year history — something truly worth celebrating and thanking God for.
The 11am, 4:30pm, and 7pm services were completely full, with only the 2pm service having any remaining space. We’re already praying, dreaming, and planning about how we can increase our capacity for next year 🙂
Thank You
Moments like this don’t happen by accident — they happen because of people.
A huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who served so generously to make the day possible: the band and singers, meeting hosts, readers, production team, brew crew, welcome team, busking band, caterers, kids teams, tots teams, decorations teams, set-up and clear-up teams, car park team, and everyone involved in planning and preparing.
There are so many moving parts to an event like this, and while listing roles always risks missing someone, please know this: if you served in any way, your contribution mattered, and we are deeply grateful. Thank you for giving your time, energy, and hearts so freely.
Well done, church!
We are especially proud of how our church family stepped out boldly to invite others. So many friends, neighbours, colleagues, and family members joined us — and we were also honoured to welcome special guests including the Mayor of Woking, several local councillors, and representatives from organisations we are privileged to partner with.
This is what church looks like: open doors, open hearts, and a shared desire to help people encounter the hope of Jesus. I’m especially proud of the way our church stepped out en masse to invite so many people to join us this year. In addition to the many friends, neighbours, colleagues and family members who attended, our special guests also included the Mayor of Woking and several local councillors, along with other guests from some of the various organisations who we partner with.
Here are a few Welcome Church updates and Prayer Requests for December 2025 – enjoy!
Belong Believe Become
In November and December we ran our latest Belong Believe Become course, known as BBB. BBB is a three-week course, and we love everyone who is new to us as a church to do it if they can. It’s a great way for people to get to know who we are as a church, and for us to get to know them.
At the end of the latest course, 67 people made the decision to say that Welcome Church is their church, which is a wonderful sign of the growth God is continuing to give us.
Prayer: Let’s give thanks to God for the last course, and let’s pray for everyone who’s new to really find their place. Let’s also pray for God to continue growing us as a church so that more lives can be transformed through Jesus.
The next BBB course starts on Thursday 5th March, for three consecutive Thursdays. You’ll get a great meal each week and a chance to connect well to the church. If you’re connecting to Welcome Church and you’ve not yet done this course, it’s for you! You can sign up already using this link.
Open Doors
We loved having Howard S from Open Doors with us back in November. You can hear the talk he gave on this link here. Following Howard’s visit we made a gift of £5000 to Open Doors as a church and they sent us this reply:
“Thank you so much for your kind gift of £5,000 to strengthen your persecuted church family around the world who are risking it all to follow Jesus. Thanks to your prayers and support, our brothers and sisters know they are not alone and can stand strong in their faith.“
9.5 million persecuted believers were helped through Open Doors last year, and millions more were prayed for. Here’s a link to a 3-minute videofor more information on the impact that’s being achieved – please do give it a watch.
Howard also asked for as many of us as were willing, to sign the Arise Africa Petition, through which The African Church is calling upon the global community to ensure that Christians and other vulnerable individuals in sub-Saharan Africa are treated with dignity in the face of huge persecution. It asks for:
Provision of robust protection from violent militant attacks
Justice through fair prosecutions of the attackers
Healing and restoration to be brought to all affected communities
The petition is intended to be presented to the African Union, United Nations, EU and local governments around the world in 2026. If you want to sign the petition or read more about it, please follow this link.
Prayer: Please be praying for the persecuted church around the world, and if you need resources to do that more effectively, here’s a link to Open Doors website – it’s full of inspiration for your prayers.
Hardship Fund
Our Hardship Fund has been a blessing to a number of people in our church who needed a little help at this time of year. Gifts totalling £12,750 were given to people this December, and I want to thank our Life Group leaders, Pastoral Team and various ministry leads for helping us identify where the biggest needs were.
Don’t forget, you can always give to the hardship fund. Just make a gift to Welcome Church as normal but let us know that it’s intended for this fund.
Prayer: Let’s give thanks to God for the generous giving of so many people in our church, and let’s be praying for Him to continue to meet all of our needs as a church.
Compassion UK
We love our partnership with Compassion UK, sponsoring children in Togo in Africa. If you want to know a bit more this link will help
Compassion have now created a dedicated webpage for our church! It shows the very real impact that we’re having as a church through our combined child sponsorships: do check it out here – it’s very encouraging!
Prayer: if you sponsor a child, please pray for them, and write to them too. (BTW – if you’re not sure what to write then ChatGPT can really help…)
And if you don’t yet sponsor a child and you’d like to, please just ask us how.
Christmas
Last Sunday afternoon I had the joy of speaking at Hope Church Guildford’s Carol Service. It was a lovely occasion, and I’m told that 14 people completed a form to say that they prayed with me to commit their life to Jesus. It was also the largest event they’ve ever held as a church, with hundreds in attendance, so a real privilege for me to be there.
Prayer: Please be praying for this lovely and fast-growing church
Our own Carol Service For Woking events are being held this Sunday – 14th December. As it stands today roughly 2,600 people have booked to attend, and we expect this to grow again in the coming week (please click here to book your free place)
Details for our full Christmas programme at Welcome Church can be found in a previous blog post: Christmas At Welcome Church – I’m especially looking forward to our all-age services on Sunday 21st, which Stephen D and Cassie S will be running. Get ready for a treat!
Prayer: Please be praying for God to meet with people at our Carol Services this weekend
Job Vacancies
Please don’t forget that Welcome Church is recruiting at the moment. For information on the jobs that are available and how to apply please click here
Prayer: Please be praying for the right person to fill each role
Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox
In June and July, I preached a series at Welcome Church called “The Generous Life”. Together we explored how we can steward our finances with faith, grow in generosity, and reflect the generosity God has shown to us.
During that series, we shared that although our church has doubled in size over the last five years, our staff team had actually shrunk—a significant challenge for a growing church.
We asked you to step out in faith with your giving, and you did. The number of people giving regularly has grown by 27%, and for us that is a game changer.
Please remember: Welcome Church is a charity. Everything we do—both for those who are part of our church and for those who are not—is funded by your generosity. There’s nowhere better to invest your money than into God’s church!
A Huge “Thank You”
Some of you…
Increased your giving – thank you
Are new and jumped straight into giving – thank you
Moved from giving occasionally to giving regularly – thank you
Between April and October this year, our giving increased by 18% compared to the same period last year. Praise God for His provision, and thank you for standing with us in faith.
Because of your generosity, we are now able to move ahead with expanding our staff team, and are delighted to announce four new employed roles:
1. Operations Manager — 3 days per week
This key role supports the full range of our operational activities, with overall responsibility for the management and support of all food-related ministries—especially our Community Grocery and our kitchens.
Closing date: 4th January 2026
2. Finance Manager — 3 days per week
This role ensures the accurate, transparent, and compliant management of our finances. You’ll help our leadership steward our resources wisely, meet charity regulations, and provide clear reporting to the Senior Leadership Team and Trustees.
Closing date: 4th January 2026
3. Children’s Ministry Lead— 3 days per week
This role leads our Children’s Ministry across all age groups from birth to Year 6. We’re looking for someone who can shape excellent children’s ministry, build strong teams, create safe and welcoming environments, and help our children to encounter Jesus, grow in their faith, and feel at home in church. This is a role for a leader of leaders.
Closing date: 5th December 2026(Please note the earlier date)
Youth and Young Adults Pastor — Full Time
This role carries responsibility for the leadership and discipleship of our youth and our fast-growing 18–30s community. We’re looking for a strong, dynamic leader to help shape how we engage, pastor, and disciple the next generation. This will be a significant leadership role for our church.
Closing date: 4th January 2026
How do I apply?
Please click this link for full details on each role and how to apply. You’re also welcome to get in touch for an informal chat, or to come and visit the church if you’d like to find out more.
A Few Encouragements for Those in Welcome Church
There are four things I’d love us all to do:
1. Continue stepping out in faith in your giving Your generosity makes all of this possible.
2. Share these opportunities Spread the word to anyone you think would be a great fit, and share the roles on your social media.
3. If you apply, hold it lightly There may be many applicants but only one position for each role. If you’re not successful, please don’t allow that to affect how you feel about your church or cause you to withdraw.
4. Pray with us Ask God to bring the right people into each of these roles.
Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox
Hi, I’m Dub Everitt, Outreach Pastor at Welcome Church, guest-writing Steve’s blog this week to share an exciting update on a project that’s very close to our hearts: the opening of the Woking Community Grocery — a social supermarket designed to serve and strengthen some of the most vulnerable families in our town.
This will be a place where hungry families find food, dignity, and hope. That’s the vision behind Welcome Church’s upcoming Community Grocery, and we believe it will genuinely change lives.
The Community Grocery – a Big Vision with a Big Impact
We are launching the Woking Community Grocery in partnership with The Message Trust, an incredible, passionate Christian organisation based in Manchester. Across the UK, they have already opened 33 Community Groceries, serving over 70,000 members with low-cost, reliable food and wrap-around support.
Our Grocery will be open to everyone in Woking — of all faiths and none. Membership will be just £5 per year, and families can choose a weekly shop costing between £5 and £12.50, saving up to £50 per week (that’s £2,500 a year!) on their shopping bills.
We forecast that 1,000 families from across Woking will use the Grocery in the first year alone. Every member will also be able to access our Welcome Works services—debt support, money coaching, mental health & wellbeing help, job clubs and more. It’s a powerful, dignifying “hand up, not handout” model that helps people take real steps forward in life.
Building Work Update
Following our purchase of Church Gate, the office block next door to our church, renovation work is now full steam ahead. The scaffolding is up, the roof is repaired, the rooms have been stripped back, and we’re on track for completion in March 2026.
After a meeting with our architect yesterday, I came away buzzing. The designs for the Grocery, the community spaces, and the upstairs rooms are looking amazing, and here are a couple of images to whet your appetite at this stage.
First an aerial view of the grocery lay out:
Second, a view of the Meet & Greet area:
The doorway shown is the new entrance we are adding to Church Gate, which will open onto our front area, linking it all our buildings as one campus. Please continue to pray for the renovation and planning work over the coming months!
And now for the date we’ve all been waiting for… (drumroll please!):
Our planned launch date is: Thursday 16th April 2026!
We’ll share more details closer to the time, but it’s going to be a huge celebration as we cut the ribbon and welcome our first customers.
And Now, Introducing Our Grocery Manager: Darren Green
On Sunday 16th November, we were thrilled to announce Darren Green as our new Community Grocery Manager — and the church’s response said it all.
The cheering, the applause, the warmth… it was a beautiful moment that showed how much this project means to our church family.
We also loved officially giving Darren his new double-barrelled surname:
Darren Green-Grocer (A prophetic sign? We think so!)
Darren will begin his role on 1st February 2026, giving plenty of time to prepare for the launch.
Over 250 People Saying, “Count Me In!”
Over two Sundays, we invited people to fill in a “Count me in!” card to get involved in all things Grocery and Welcome Works. We were hoping for 75 sign-ups… instead, we’ve seen over 250 people step forward!
We’re genuinely blown away! God is clearly stirring us as a church not only to give sacrificially – over £2 million so far – but also to give our time, skills, and hearts to serve our town. What a response. What a church. What a God.
Workshops for everyone who signed up will be held across five different days over the next few weeks to help each person find the right place to serve. If you signed up, we will be in touch with you about that soon.
Do You Want Us to “Count You In” Too?
I know many people at Welcome Church may still want to get involved but, for various reasons, haven’t yet filled out a “Count me in” card.
It’s not too late! Here’s how you can register your interest:
Fill in the digital “Count me in” card via this link: Count Me In
Or if you prefer you canE-mail Helen, our Grocery Project Manager
Through our powerful autumn preaching series, “True Religion,” we’ve been stirred by God’s heart for the poor — and by His call for His people to step into the gap with hope, compassion, and practical love. That’s exactly what the Community Grocery is all about.
What a calling! What a privilege! And what a joy to step into it together!
Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox
Christmas is just over a month away now, and bookings for our “Carol Service For Woking” opened last Sunday morning. The tickets (which are free!) are going very fast— even faster than last year—so please don’t leave it too long to book, or you may miss out on your first choice of when to attend.
Here’s a summary of our plans as a church over Christmas and New Year 2025/26:
Sundays 23rd & 30th November and 7th December: Our Christmas Preaching Series
Our Christmas Preaching Series starts this Sunday at our 9am and 11am meetings. I’ll be kicking the series off myself. I won’t be giving any spoilers here, but we’re going to have some fun together, so make sure you don’t miss what will be this year’s number-one series!
Sunday 14th December: A Carol Service For Woking
We’re holding four services across the day at 11am, 2pm, 4.30pm, and 7pm. Come and enjoy singing your favourite carols, followed by free mulled wine and mince pies.
Children up to school year 4 are invited to join our free Kids’ Christmas Parties, which will run alongside the 11am, 2pm, and 4.30pm services.
Booking is essential for all adults’ and children’s tickets, and be warned that we are likely to besold out again this year. Don’t delay— – Click here to book
Remember: this is a great opportunity to invite your friends, family, neighbours, and colleagues—there is no easier invitation to church than to our Carol Services.
Sunday 21st December: An All Age Christmas Celebration
We’ll be meeting at 9am and 11am for an all-age celebration of Christmas. Instead of our usual Welcome Kids and Welcome Youth groups, we’ll all be meeting together for a whole lot of noisy fun and games as we celebrate Christmas as a church family and worship Jesus together.
Each meeting will be roughly one hour long, and we’ll start and finish with refreshments as usual.
Thursday 25th December: Christmas Day Online
This year, to make sure there’s room for everyone who wants to attend, we’ll be taking Christmas Day online.(Don’t forget, the 21st December is our in person all age celebration)
Join us on Christmas Day at 10am, at WelcomeChurch.Online, for a short time together with Christmas carols and an accessible Christmas message. It will be a great way to mark Jesus’ birthday together as a church, and we’ll all be able to join in and connect via the online chat feature.
Sunday 28th December: No Meeting!
There is no meeting planned for Sunday 28th December, but instead…
Wednesday 31st December: Crossover ’26
After an amazing Crossover Night from 2024 into 2025, we are coming together again on 31st December to celebrate all that God has done and all He’s going to do in 2026.
Join us as we celebrate God’s faithfulness over the last year and ask for God’s favour as we Crossover into 2026! Together we will praise, pray, and party! It’s a lot of fun—so don’t miss it.
We’ll be joined by a brilliant guest speaker this year, Pastor Chris Kimbangi from Hope Church, Guildford. (I knew him back when he was just a student in Chichester…)
This event is likely to fill up fast, so please book your FREE ticket to reserve your place, and let’s welcome in the New Year in faith and in style! Click here to book
Anything Else?
A few other things you may want to be aware of:
The church offices will be closed from Wednesday 24th December through to Thursday 1st January
Welcome Youth have their final meeting before Christmas on Friday 12th December, returning on Friday 16th January
Our Welcome Tots groups finish on Wednesday 10th and Friday 12th December, returning on 7th and 9th January respectively
Welcome Café will open for the last time this year on Monday 15th December, returning on Monday 5th January
Our Sunday meetings will return to their usual pattern from Sunday 4th January, and we have a great new series lined up for the New Year too
21 Days of Prayer kicks off on Monday 5th January—more details will follow in a separate blog nearer the time
Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox
The redevelopment work on Church Gate continues day by day with roofers and electricians making great progress. I’ve found myself singing along to their radio a few times in the office!
We wanted to share an update on some of our grant applications, much of which Dub shared in his talk last Sunday called, “Why Love Must Fight For Justice” – if you missed it, do have a listen.
To date we’ve received the following grants:
Benefact Trust: £80,000
Garfield Weston: £30,000
Laing Family Trust: £20,000
Woking Healthy Communities Board: £8,000
Total: £138,000
We’ve been so blessed by each of these grants, and we’re deeply thankful — both to our incredible grants team, and to the organisations who have believed in this vision.
£138,000 is a remarkable provision!
Our Application to Your Fund Surrey
Many of you will know that we also applied to Your Fund Surrey (YFS) for support towards the Community Grocery, which will serve families in need across Woking. Our team worked incredibly hard with the YFS grants team and submitted a truly excellent application — originally for £497,000, later revised to £350,000 at their request.
The application met all the criteria, and the YFS grant team themselves recommended it for approval. However, despite that, the advisory panel — made up of nine Surrey County Councillors — decided not to award us the grant.
Their reason?
On a video call with Dub and Mike D (our Chair of Trustees) on Monday 6th October, a senior employee of Surrey County Council told us that the panel felt that the giving of Welcome Church — £2 million raised in just ten months for this project — was raised “too easily” and that we could therefore raise the rest ourselves.
That was hard to hear! Not because we doubt God’s ability to provide — we’ve seen Him do amazing things — but because this project is forecast to directly help around 1,000 local families struggling to afford food. We had hoped Your Fund Surrey would chip in towards helping us meet that need.
We also know that the £2 million given by our church family was raised quickly, but it was not raised easily. It came through deeply sacrificial giving — every pound representing someone’s personal generosity and faith.
We’re left to ask: Has justice been served here?
Our response: Faith and Resolve
Whilst the decision is disappointing, our response is simple: when others step back, we will step forward. We are a people of faith, and we serve a God who provides. Our confidence isn’t in any council or grant provider, but in Him — the One who never fails.
So we’re going to do what we’ve always done: trust God, give generously, and continue to serve our town. We’ll fund this project ourselves, because it’s what we’re called to do. Families will be helped, lives will be transformed, and Jesus will be glorified.
So, let’s continue to give faithfully and generously to the church and to the Church Gate project. Please don’t wait for a special Gift Day — let’s keep being generous all the time, just as God is generous towards us.
By the way, if you’d like to share your thoughts about the decision you can contact your Surrey County Councillor – but please do so graciously. (And please note: this is nothing to do with Woking Borough Council , or our local MP who has actually been very supportive)
Our Motivation
Ultimately, this project isn’t about funding or fairness, it’s about Jesus’ call to love and serve those in need.
And when the Community Grocery opens, when families are fed, and when lives are changed, the glory won’t go to us – and it certainly won’t go to YFS or the council – it will go to Jesus, the One who is worthy of it all.
Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox
Here’s a brief update about our progress with the redevelopment of Church Gate.
The work has now begun, and we’re looking forward to seeing the Community Grocery take shape on the ground floor, alongside space for our Welcome Kids and Welcome Youth on the upper floors.
Progress report
At 9am on Monday, 8th September, we handed over the keys to Church Gate to O&D (the contractor undertaking the work, who also built The Chapel for us), and the refurbishment officially began. The building is now a construction site, and no one should attempt to enter it!
The first week was mainly taken up with site preparation, the most visible sign being the fencing that appeared around the site. We did have a memorable moment when someone (not from our church!) moved the fencing overnight to park their car… the builders were less than impressed! That won’t be happening again now that the fencing is fully secured.
Here’s a rough outline of the works timeline for the first few weeks:
w/c 8th September: Set up the site; secure the site with fencing and signage; decommission and make safe the existing external ‘condenser’ units (part of the old heating system)
w/c 15th September: Erect timber hoardings and gates at the front of the site; commence scaffolding works – you can see from the pic that this has now been done
w/c 22nd September: Complete scaffolding works up to roof level
w/c 29th September: Begin roofing works
w/c 13th October: Start internal strip out
w/c 28th November: Scaffolding comes down
Further updates will follow as we have them, but for now the planned completion date is Monday, 23rd February. This is, of course, subject to the usual range of potential complexities and delays—so watch this space for more news in the weeks ahead.
Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox
A while ago we began the search for a new ‘Pastoral Care Lead’ for Welcome Church, and I’m delighted to announce that we’ve filled the position… and then some!
We had a lot of interest, but in the end one person stood out from the others: Stephen Dawson.
Stephen has spent the last 17 years on staff at Emmanuel Church Brighton, who are part of our wider Newfrontiers family of churches. In his time at Emmanuel Church he’s led youth and kids work, planted and led different sites (they are a multi-site church), and has been part of their church eldership team. He also led the whole church for a season during a leadership transition.
Stephen is passionate about pastoral care, building authentic community, and equipping people to grow in their faith and calling. Until recently, he was part of the Newday Festival team, leading the 12-14’s age group for several years. Apparently he’s also a fan of motorcycles, honest conversation, and a good plate of chicken wings.
Emma is also going to be a huge blessing to our church – she has so many gifts of her own to contribute and I know we’ll be delighted to have her here. Among other things, Emma loves creating a home where people feel truly welcome and supported. She’s supported many mums through early parenting, and has been running groups, writing, and blogging at One Pink Toothbrush. She also helps run a family landscaping business, and is known for her colourful shoes, bold earrings, and generous heart.
Stephen and Emma have both lived in Brighton for 25 years. They got married 22 years ago and have six children: one got married last year, another is getting married soon, and a third is about to embark on a year elsewhere, so only three of the six children will be coming with them to Woking initially.
Stephen and Emma are a genuinely lovely couple, and I know they’ll bring us a lot of warmth and faith. They carry a deep love for people and have chosen to live missionally, in a council estate community in Brighton, impacting many lives there and elsewhere. They’re now very excited to be part of what God is doing here at Welcome Church as we move into the future.
What’s next?
Stephen and Emma, plus three kids, will be joining us for the Welcome Church Big Weekend Away at the end of August (do book in if you haven’t already). Stephen’s also going to be preaching for us on Sunday 27th July as part of our Romans series – don’t miss it!
Stephen will join our staff team from the start of September. He comes with a lot of skill and experience suited to a large, growing church, and his role here will be a lot more than just pastoral care. He’ll be leading the Pastoral Care Team, but he’ll also be picking up Life Groups, mid-week church life, and almost certainly the oversight of Welcome Kids and Welcome Youth at the right moment too – and maybe a whole lot more. We’ve decided on the job title of ‘Associate Pastor’ – for now – we may change that at some point down the line.
In the meantime they have a house for sale in Brighton and are looking to buy one here in Woking. Please pray this all moves forward quickly, and also that the relocation goes smoothly, and they find all the school places they need for September. And please pray for the whole family at this time of huge change and transition for them all.
Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox
The deadline for people to let us know they’ll be moving to the 9am service is Easter Sunday, 20th April. Remember: this is all about our mission to Woking, and about making room for future growth
Please be praying for God to speak to people clearly about this move, maybe even to yourself!
The deadline for applications was last Friday, and we’re now in a process of working through to the next stage. We’ll share more information when we’re ready to do that, but please be reassured that the process is ongoing.
Please be praying for wisdom and for God’s guidance for all who are involved in the process, and for all who have applied – we want to find God’s person for this role.
Church Gate
Our Church Gate project (click here for information) is continuing to move forward, and over the last two weeks a number of contractors have been on site as part of preparing their quotes for the work to be done. These quotes will be coming in over the month ahead.
Please be praying that we get some great quotes, and for wisdom to pick the best possible contractor so that the work is done well and delivered on/ahead of time and on/under budget.
Community Grocery Grants
The grant team are continuing to apply for various grants to help fund the Community Grocery set up, and also some to help with the ongoing running costs. There is a lot of excellent work being done by this team.
Please be praying for successful applications, and for the release of lots of finance.
Guest Speaker
This Sunday Natalie Williams, who leads Jubilee+, will be preaching for us. Jubilee+ is a UK-based Christian charity, dedicated to equipping churches to effectively support and transform the lives of those experiencing poverty in their local community. They provide resources and training to empower churches to integrate mercy, justice and community renewal into their outreach plans.
Natalie is a gifted speaker and author, and we’re blessed to have her with us – especially as we work towards the launch of our Community Grocery in the autumn.
Please be praying for a great meeting on Sunday and for God to speak to us powerfully as a church and as individuals, laying in a great foundation for the future of all we do.
Easter Services
We have two big moments over the Easter weekend:
Good Friday, 6pm to 7.30pm: We’ll have an evening of extended worship, with a short talk, and we’ll also take communion together. Kids are welcome, though please be aware that there won’t be any separate groups for them, so we’ll be worshipping together as families.
Easter Sunday, 9am and 11am: Easter is one of those great moments in the year: it’s joyful, meaningful, and accessible, and it’s a brilliant time to invite someone to church. I want to encourage you to think especially about people who perhaps used to be part of church life and have drifted away, although this is definitely an invitation suitable for everyone.
This coming week is a natural moment to extend that invitation – gently, thoughtfully – and we’ve got invitation cards available to help with that, if you’d like them – you can pick them up on Sunday.
Please be praying for many guests to join us on Easter Sunday and for God’s wisdom about who YOU could invite. Please also pray that the presence of God is all over everything we do.
Please Pray For All Of These Things!
We believe in a God who answers prayer, so please bring these requests before God. And lastly, here’s a quick reminder that we’ll be gathering in person to pray on Sunday 11th May at Welcome Church from 6pm to 7pm – please put that in your diary now.
Stay connected with everything happening at Welcome Church by subscribing to this blog for weekly updates sent straight to your inbox
Steve Petch's Blog 