Happy New Year, brothers and sisters.
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a great privilege to be able to serve
the Dove Church in the capacity of an Elder.
It isn’t an office that I have sought, but nevertheless, as we face
together certain challenges going into 2020, it is a role that I will fulfil to
the best of my ability.
Most of you have known me for many years – some for a very
long time indeed – so, I hope, there are no big surprises in store.
My heart is for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Good News of salvation and deliverance
that lifts all of us from sin and hopelessness and gives us the hope of
salvation. This is not a vague
‘hope-for-the-best’ but a solid hope founded in the faithfulness of Christ and
the promises of God. The Gospel is the power
of God for salvation to all who believe (Romans 1: 16).
The first time I encountered the absolute truth of this was
as a chaplaincy volunteer at HMP Foston Hall in the late 90s and early
2000s. The Chaplain, Jo Honour, ran a
series of Alpha courses. It was an
incredible honour to be part of that and to see many – tens – of women coming
to salvation. Finding hope and healing.
Then, a little later, and also through the ministry of
visionary prison chaplains (Peter Douglas, Sandie Hicks and the late Richard
Bailey), we saw God moving powerfully at HMP Dovegate. Between 2006 and 2012, to our knowledge 800
men came to Christ – some of whom are no strangers to us at the Dove. The number may be higher than that.
This work has continued in the form of Walk Ministries where
the goal is to disciple men to Jesus.
I have no doubt that God can and will speak light, life and
order into darkness and chaos. And he is
very able to fan what seems to be our little glimmer into a mighty blaze for
his glory.
My desire for 2020 is that the Lord will add another ten
people to our worshipping congregation – and I also want to see some
baptisms, This is not a ‘target’ or some
sort of ‘performance indicator’, it’s what I am believing God for right now.
Feel free to set the bar higher if your faith is bigger than mine – the actual
number is of little significance. One of
the things I’ve learned over the last couple of decades of following Jesus is
that we can’t overestimate what God will do if we are prepared to step
out in faith.
Dear brothers and sisters, I invite you to venture with me
into the Year of Our Lord 2020. Let us
rediscover our love for him and our passion in worship and witness.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
(Psalm 34: 8)
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