As of Sunday 3rd March we are a multi-site church – one church with two Sunday venues – Hope North and Hope Central.
Our drive to multi-site is not ‘empire-building’. It is based on clear convictions, supported by significant prophetic words, that God is calling us to ‘Make Room’ for more people to encounter his grace among us, and to ‘Get Ready’ for him to do something new among us and in our city and surrounding areas. As prophesied, there are many signs of new life emerging – and more to come.
The challenge of this exciting time, whichever site you’re committed to, is to find out, with God’s help, what part you can play. Everyone has a unique contribution to make, so let’s serve like Jesus!
We are marking the birth of Hope North and Hope Central with a weekend of celebration starting with a church Ceilidh (barn dance to some!) on Friday evening, 1st March. It’s a great opportunity to be together – young and old – to have some fun and to enjoy this special moment. So don’t miss it!
Then on Sunday 3rd March it’s our multi-site birthday party. For our first meetings we have Steve Petch from Welcome Church Woking as our visiting speaker and we are expecting God’s rich blessing. We’re praying for joy in heaven and on earth and, of course, there’ll be balloons, birthday cake and goodie bags!
Everyone’s Invited 🙂
As we launch into this new and exciting season our theme through March and April will be ‘Everyone’s Invited.’ On Sunday mornings we will start with Jesus’ parable about a wedding banquet (Matthew 22:1-14) which so clearly shows God’s open, generous heart for people, before having lunch together at both sites after the meetings.
Over the following weeks we’ll explore God’s heart in action. We want the whole church to catch afresh something of God’s heart for those who don’t yet know him. It’s not just about inviting people to meetings – though our Sundays and Alpha evenings are great opportunities. It’s really about a greater challenge of invitation – to open up our hearts, our lives, our homes, our diaries to others in the same way that God opened his heart to us. To emphasise this priority we’re calling Sunday 24th March ‘Making Room Sunday’ where we will be finishing our meetings early to give us all some extra time to ‘make room’ for neighbours or friends in some way. Maybe for a walk or a cuppa or even Sunday lunch? So why not get planning who, what and where!
Thank you
Finally, as elders, we want to acknowledge the work that has got us to this point – and which will be needed going forward. We are so grateful to all of you who are embracing change, taking on new responsibilities, giving time, money and talents in the service of this vision to partner with our Great King in the expansion of his Kingdom. We look forward to increasing fruitfulness, more transformed lives and great joy!
Jonathan Lloyd