A message from Ian Goodson (Pastor, GCW)
Being a Christian is amazing. True peace with God, real forgiveness, the power to change, comfort in all our sadness, the certain hope of an end of all our pain, a whole new family, seeing God do amazing things.
It all comes to us when we genuinely but simply place our faith in Jesus Christ. For free. It’s God’s great gift to us.
It’s such a great thing we of course want to share it with others.
That’s why we have a big hope that we can fill Jubilee Hall to bursting, plant new churches (like over at Eastmoor), and work to strengthen and renew others across the city.
In order for that to have all kinds of people need to be trained up for all kinds of gospel ministry.
And that’s why it’s a great thing that for much of August I will be out of the way, currently isolating because a member of my family has COVID-19, and then (God-willing) being away on holiday.
It’s great because it means other people, mainly younger (but not exclusively so), get a chance to ‘have a go’ without me getting in the way!
After all, we need many ‘workers’ in order to grow the gospel in the city. Jesus teaches us to ‘ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field.’ (Matthew 9:38).
It might mean that things work a bit differently or not always smoothly (but there again, when do we expect things to go completely smoothly in a growing church where it’s hard to keep up with what God is doing!).
People are on holidays, at weddings, or needing to self-isolate at short notice.
So, if you are new with us, can I encourage you to not only bear with us during this complicated period, but even get stuck in where you can?
We are seeing more new people around Grace Church than ever before. God is doing something many of us have not experienced. It’s an exciting time.
God bless
Ian