It’s summer! The sun is shining, the days are warm, and we even had amazing weather at our Church Picnic too! For some schools the holidays are just days away, for students they have already begun, and for some pupils there are only three weeks left until the long summer holidays. This is a time of looking forward to holidays, time together and to the future.
For me its an interesting time of year this year, because only a week ago last year was the Induction service after I arrived in CBC. So, for me, this marks a year into God’s time for me in Cambray Baptist Church. And therefore, for me, it’s a time of looking back as well as forward.
In looking back I am drawn to Acts 20, where Paul was going on to Jerusalem from his ministry in Greece and Macedonia. He met with the Elders from Ephesus, and spoke to encourage them as they thanked him for his work amongst them. As Paul was so grateful for many dear brothers and sisters in Christ who he met and befriended in his time in the churches in that area, so I also am so grateful for having come to know and love men and women of God with a shared passion for the Lord and His Kingdom. There have been many times when I have missed dear friends in my previous church, but I am so grateful for the many friends in CBC and the shared vision for God’s work in CBC and Cheltenham.
I am also grateful for the work I can see God doing amongst us. This year has been very much a year of laying foundations. I am acutely aware that change both excites some and scares others. And so, together with the leaders, we have sought to lead carefully. We have laid the groundwork of leadership and admin structures, encouraged and built on the strength of our network of Small Groups. We are creating a framework for evangelism and Pastoral Care, planning simple ways of engaging with the church whether as a new-comer through our Welcome or a regular attendee through clear involvement routes (come to the Members meeting in July to hear more about these!). We have also spent time training and encouraging in gospel witness, and have seen that bear fruit in folk brought into church and along to the Life Explored course. And we have expanded our outreach with the Schools workshops and visits, Christmas and Easter outreach and our first attempts at Race Week outreach.
Looking ahead, in addition to continuing to see God lead in these areas, we will be seeking to provide more events and opportunities for evangelistic outreach, each with links into further opportunities to hear the gospel and engage with church life. The opening of John Lewis and the improvements to High Street and Cambray Place are already bringing potential opportunities which we are actively exploring. It will be exciting to see what God calls and enables us to do! In addition we are being clearly called to develop our children and youth work, whilst encouraging the work amongst adults and the elderly. These are challenges which we cannot yet see how God will provide for, but we know that He does not call us into situations that He has not provided for.
In Acts 16:6-10 Paul goes through a difficult time. Not persecution but, for him, the strange experience of knowing God’s call yet coming against difficulty and blockages. It took time, but God revealed His purposes and provided His means, and so the gospel came to Europe. Looking to the future is always a mixture of emotions – the excitement of what could be, together with a nervousness about the unknown … recall how you felt before going to a new school! Like Paul, we want to follow God’s lead only, not running ahead or lagging behind His call. And like Paul, we don’t see fully how it will work out at this point in time. But we can, like Paul, walk in confidence as God leads us, walking in the power of His Spirit (which raised Christ from the dead!), walking in the encouragement of the fellowship of God’s people around us, and the certainty that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me“. May the God of all encouragement encourage your hearts as we follow His leading.