Tuesday 16 February 2016

Gateway for St Luke's

‘These are the kind of problems we like to have’ is almost becoming my ‘stock phrase’ these days! Whether it’s running out of chairs at Remembrance Sunday, or needing more volunteers for the coffee rota because so many people are coming to services, or having to hold outreach events in Church because the Hall just isn’t big enough, these are all signs of a healthy, growing Church. The prophesy which Capt Tim Smith, our Church Army Mission partner, had for us a year ago, that ‘You who have been faithful with a few things will be trusted with many things’ seems to be coming true. We give glory to God for all that he is doing both in and through us, his Church. We’re now at the point where we need to think and pray about whether God wants this growth to continue, and if so, how we can work with God in his mission to accommodate it.

At the Autumn Church meeting I outlined how our Architect believes it is feasible to extend our premises. Now we are asking people to pray and listen to God about our future mission and how that can best be carried forward. We need to meet the current needs of our groups, many of which are bursting at the seams, and also think how we can facilitate further growth, both in mid-week groups and Sunday worship. Please do pray about this – there are pointers for prayer in this magazine – and let your Trustees know what you think God is showing us.

At a recent meeting of all the different groups that make use of our premises, one group leader who doesn’t come to Church but who lives nearby said something which made me think. She said a number of people had remarked to her that, in recent times, the things which our Church is doing have made Lodge Moor start to feel like a village. What did she mean? In a village, there is often a sense of shared identity – a sense of community – where people socialise with and relate to others from their own local area, which can be lacking in the suburbs of a city where people travel to the city centre for recreation and friendship. If people are finding the events that we put on, and the invitations we offer are creating that sense of community here in Lodge Moor then that is a really good thing and we hope they model the open-ness and invitation of Jesus to all.