February 2012 Magazine Article

What is the Spirit saying to the Church? (Revelation 2 & 3)

 In a discussion I had recently with some of the Alton area church ministers we talked about the strange juxtaposition of St. Mary’s, Basingstoke and the Festival Place shopping centre. The church, which for a couple of centuries had dominated the town, is now dwarfed by the shopping centre. At lunch times people sit on the wall surrounding the church to eat their sandwiches, but they face away from the Church.

 The majority of our society faces away from the church.

 As we have read in Revelation chapters two and three, Jesus knows where we live and the situation we face and he calls us to faithfulness both, toward him, and in witness.

 We thank God for all that we, as a church, through our groups and individuals are able to do. We are blessing our community in so many ways, through Mum’s and toddlers, the various ‘Tea and’ groups, our Lay Pastors, Litter Picking, our extensive schools, children’s and youth work, helping people to face toward the Church and ultimately towards God.

 As a church we are doing well but we are losing ground. We are not growing in proportion to increasing population of the village – the majority still face away from the Church.

 This year we are hoping we can make a greater impact in our community. There are a number of things already planned and others taking shape.

• For our next prayer week (18-25 March) we are planning to prayer walk the entire village.
• We will be working with all our current groups to find ways of being even more effective in reaching out to those not yet included.
• We are looking toward using our Village Picnic, which this year coincides with the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, to even better effect to reach into the community.
• We are looking at having a focus of mission in the build up to Christmas and a number of options are being considered including a Radio station, and visiting every household sharing the Christmas message.
• We are looking again at the pattern of Sunday services to see how these can be better accessible to those who have yet to join us.
• And with all this we are seeking to find ways of working together with our other village churches.

 The ‘we’ in the above sentences is all of us! Let’s hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church and let us remain faithful to Jesus and in witness – growing deeper in God and larger in mission!

 Yours Howard

A note from Simon

 

     

Dear Friends,

 I hope this finds you well. Sally and I are very much looking forward to moving to Four Marks in the summer and getting to know you all. Matt has asked me to write and tell you a little about myself before coming to COGS as the new curate, so here is a little bit of my story….

 I first had a sense that God might be calling me to become a “vicar” when I was about ten years old and a teacher asked me what I wanted to do when I was “grown up”. The only thing I could think about doing was becoming a “vicar”.  Although I can always remember praying, God became particularly important to me as a teenager after an experience of God in a Christian Union meeting in school. One thing led to another, and within a year or two I was leading a youth worship band and deciding to study Theology at University.

 At University, in Oxford, I continued to lead worship regularly, and a fterwards decided to move to Winchester and complete an internship with a view to gaining more experience of ‘church planting’. Over the last twelve years, I have worked in IT, Project Management and Accountancy. Alongside this, I have been ministering in a number of churches in the Winchester area, latterly as a Lay Reader and Lay Reader Training Tutor for Winchester Diocese. I am now studying in Oxford again, training for the priesthood, and doing some research in Practical Theology. I pray that God will use everything that I have learned so far, both inside and outside of church, to keep me thoroughly grounded as I  get ordained and start working for the church full time.

 It has been a real joy hearing about some of the things that God is doing in Four Marks. I look forward to hearing more and joining in – growing deeper in God and growing larger in mission.

 Grace and peace,

Simon.