Greetings from the manse in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the head of the Church, “and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). I want to wish us all a happy new year as we desire to know Christ and work on making Him known among the people we interact with in the communities in which we live, work, study and shop.
I want to take this opportunity to remind us of the importance of reaching out into the communities around us with the message that “God so loved the world that He gave His Son Jesus Christ that whosoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life”(John 3:6). This is our mission as Church. I would like us to pray for God to help us to seize every opportunity that comes our way to share the “Gospel” with the people we interact with as we do our day-to-day business. We are going to be focusing this year on making Jesus known.
One of the resources we have as Plume Avenue URC is the building and we need to pray and work on how we can maximise the use of the building effectively for Christ to be known as we open the building more to the community. We could do with opening the church more and inviting people in. I am aware that outreach is a priority to us as a local church according to feedback received from the away day we had. I pray that God will grant us the courage to avail ourselves to making things happen through our giftings and time availed to us by God. I am calling upon individuals to act upon what God is prompting us to do without worrying about what we don’t have or not able to do but focusing on what we are able to do. Let us dream big and trust the one “who is able to do immeasurably more that all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). I implore each one of us to deploy the gifts, time, energy and resources in having Jesus known through us.
The mission of God is not limited to the church building but extends to wherever we are, we are the Church and should grab every opportunity to make Jesus known.
We will, yes, seek to help each other grow in our knowledge of Christ so that we can effectively make Christ known through our lives and words where necessary.
Let us pray for each other for us “to know Christ by the power of His resurrection and participation in His suffering, becoming like Him in death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11).
You matter to God and the Church and God has deposited treasures in each and every one of us for Christ to be known through us.
Andrew
