At the start of another year on our journey together, I wish to thank all attending members for your efforts on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ. In the ‘Cong’, we have again shown ourselves to be an active church that can reach out to others in our community and this is down to you as individual church members. I am always pleased when visitors to our church comment favourably on what we are about as Christians following Jesus in our own distinct way as Congregationalists, so once again, thank you.
Of course, as a congregation, we must also have hope in the future and on a practical level, it is good to see the membership investing in the infrastructure of the ‘Cong’. But all of this would be pointless unless we also addressed the issue of increasing our membership. Church membership according to the congregational way is very important. As individual Christians we are expected to be part of a local church which is our spiritual home and community. We are also to live our lives by contributing to our spiritual community. In the New Testament the church is seen as a community of people who are deeply committed to each other, both in principle and in practice.
We live in an age where Christianity is under intense scrutiny and indeed, there are parts of public life where it is actively discouraged. This cannot be right and we as Christians need to respond by increasing our numbers and becoming once again the body of Christ in the world as a strong fellowship of believers. And this is where you come in!
May God bless you and your respective families and continue to increase your faith in 2009.
It has been a busy year. We have invested in our church building to a considerable amount when we look at the new windows, the heating, work on the cenotaph and the painting. We have also held a number of services where our doors have been opened to visitors. In this respect, last year, we held a number of funeral services and my prayers are with those who have suffered loss recently and hope that our service to them in saying goodbye to loved ones left all who grieve with a sense of hope for the future.
Paul the Apostle said,” Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another— and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
We need to encourage each other and then reach outside our church to others and encourage them to take up membership. We need to encourage our ‘dormant’ members to play an active role in our spiritual home and ensure we face the future with certainty that our considerable efforts as a fellowship are not in vain.
I pray that we will increase our membership in 2009 and ask that you become involved in this. Encourage each other and go out and speak to family and friends and encourage them.
