A Letter to the Church Family
Dear Church Family,
We hope and pray that you are each knowing ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ with you each day. (2 Corinthians 13:14)
Our last three Sunday Bible talks from Pastor Matt have been challenging and helpful. These have been on some of the Ten Commandments that show God’s intentions for how human beings should live in the world. These directives are very brief in their wording, but contain vital patterns for how we should think and live. The fifth commandment shows that God intends parents to love, train and nurture their children, and that children will love and respect their parents. The sixth command tells us that God the Creator of all life expects us to value every person’s life. Jesus explained that this will even govern the words we speak to each other, which display our heart attitudes. Our Lord likewise showed that the total faithfulness and purity required by the seventh commandment requires constant thought and heart commitment to govern our behaviour. (see Matthew 5:21-26 and 27-30)
Though God has graciously given us these wonderful rules for living, our consciences so often point to our failure to live, speak and even think in the right way. Hence our minds and hearts are humbled to realise that we have a perfect Saviour in Jesus Christ, our Lord. “He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:24)
I welcome the brightness of a new spring! As we enjoy this season, we are no doubt conscious of the current restrictions on our movement and activities. Let’s continue to pray to God for all those in authority – to be given wisdom and strength to carry out their responsibilities to our community – and to make the best possible decisions about the way ahead. I also encourage you to keep your Church Contact List handy. As it says on the first page the information about our people is
- To encourage support and friendship
- To pray for each other
- To offer and ask for practical help
Thanks to Linda for keeping this information up to date for us. If you don’t have the latest update (in July), in an email or printed version, please let me know and we can get one to you.
We were planning for the Church Annual Meeting to be this month, on Sunday 19th. We will postpone that until an alternative feasible date can be set. The Annual Assembly of the Fellowship of Congregational Churches was also planned for this month, on Saturday 25th. The normal gathering of church delegates will be postponed, but a Celebration YouTube Meeting will be held on that day. We will notify the details to you all as soon as they are available.
The elders were yesterday chatting together about some verses from Colossians 1:9-12 … “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”
From Greg, on behalf of the elders.