Well, that’s a year just about down. Lord willing a great deal more to come.
This Sunday we celebrate a year of God’s kindness to us as a community, his clearly evident hand at work in building his church, and his grace to use us for his glory.
When we gather this week we will be giving thanks for together for all the Lord has done in our midst and shall hear a couple of testimonies from individuals. After the service, there shall be a sausage sizzle and we have a bunch of drinks to share, so if it is free, keep lunch vacant and hang around. If you are willing, please bring a sweet to share for lunch and/or morning tea.
‘Giving thanks always and for everything to God our Father…’ – Eph 5:20
Before we get there, it is worth looking back and considering all that God has done in a relatively very short amount of time. Stats aren’t always helpful or faithfully proclaimed, but let these be a means of giving thanks to God! As a quick summary, in the last year, we have:
- Baptised four believers!
- Welcomed a great host of new people from the local area. Our Sunday gatherings have over doubled compared to the group that planted out of GospelLife last February.
- Partnered with 16 new gospel partners, with many more on the brink!
- Added 5 new image bearers (by way of reproduction)
- Celebrated the Treanor, Hosking, Raw and Solomonov weddings.
- and launched and seen great fruit and mutual encouragement from our men’s and women’s evenings.
Though it is something that is scarcely seen, yet is often felt, God has caused us to lay a great foundation as a church. Both in the background as Gracelife is now ‘set-up’ in its entirety as an independently functioning body, but also in our community as many relationships that are dicsipling one-another have been formed. Praise be to God for his kindness, and protection to us.
Reflecting on this last year, Tessa and I truly felt that the easiest thing we have done in 2024 was plant a church. Certainly, there has been lots of hard moments and lots of grieving as well, AND we had some significant things happen for us as a family that were extremely challenging. Yet still, planting Gracelife has truly been a joyful and light burden to carry. All glory be to God for that, especially in gathering you to support and make this church all that it is.
‘forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,’ Phil. 3:13
In this coming year we are praying that the Lord will continue to build his church as he has promised and help us to put good meat on the bones. Lord willing we hope to start being more generous corporately in our community, and provide more spaces to minister to and care for both one-another, and those who do not know Christ.
Thank you for all your love, prayers and support. Would you join us in praying for one-another the following:
… that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9–11.
Grace to you, Glory to God.