Dear friends
Glorious Spring greetings to you all.
Thank you so much for your on-going prayers and support. We really couldn’t have survived 6 months of lockdown without the encouragement from the body of Christ. Our Pastoral letter covers a few important topics today, so please enjoy reading it and pass on this information to anyone concerned.
Returning to Corporate Worship – I will be attending a compulsory training on Saturday (19th September) which will be offering new guidelines on the expected protocols for all Methodist Churches. As a local church we have own Covid Task Team in place and we have been doing our homework and preparations so that we can return as soon as we are given the green light. As of today (Friday) I am unable to confirm the exact date of our return due to the meeting only taking place tomorrow. I will send out updated correspondence as soon as I have any information.
The Good News is that I believe we won’t have to wait too much longer J. Perhaps one way we can start preparing ourselves for this re-introduction into corporate worship, is in the understanding that our worship experience is not going to be the same as before the Covid pandemic. Worship will be very different initially and there will be an adjustment into a new kind of “normal.”
Online Ministry – we have committed to continue our Online ministry until the end of the year, so those people who are still at risk or unsure of returning will be able to worship with us. We are grateful for the healthy use of technology during these unprecedented times.
The Methodist Church has always taken a slightly cautious approach to gathering together as we don’t want to bring our members into any risky situations. This may make some people a little frustrated, but please be reassured that we are doing this for the greater good of everyone in our church. So our return to ‘normal’ may be more gradual than stage 1 permits, but our cautious approach is the most sensible and loving approach for our entire congregation.
Small group ministry – a number of the small groups are slowly getting back to meeting, although some are still in recess. Should your bible study want to begin again, you are welcome to do so, but please confirm with either Delme or Malcolm McCormick when you plan to meet.
Our financial situation remains very tight, but thanks to your generosity we are able to meet all our expenses at the moment. Thank you once again for your support of our Church – we really couldn’t do it without your love and care. Remember that if you personally know of anyone who has need, please contact us. If we don’t know about it, then we can’t help them out.
Society Stewards for 2021 – We will be having a few changes in our leadership team at the end of this year. We are praying into this and would ask you to do the same for us. If you have a suggestion of someone who would offer value on our team of Stewards please be in contact with us.
Matrics – as you are well aware the Matric students have now begun their Prelim examinations. We have a number of children in our Church who are writing these Matric exams, including our eldest son, Declan. Please pray for all of our families at this stressful time. We could all do with a little extra prayer J
As we head out into the weekend, I leave you with a thought that will come up in the sermon on Sunday. Apparently Hudson Taylor had a picture on this wall that had 2 Hebrew words painted on it. They were the words: Ebenezer and Jehovah-Jireh. They were placed there to always remind him that ‘thus far as the Lord been with us’ (Ebenezer) and ‘God will go before us and provide what we need’ (Jehovah-Jireh). We have undoubtedly witnessed this over the past 6 months and I am confident that the Lord will lead us into the unknown future.
God bless you friends and stay strong in the Lord.
Living in Grace
Delme, Kim and the family