General Church Meeting
29th January 2017
‘those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.’ (Isaiah 40:31).
As I look back over the last year, as I reflect on the different activities and programmes that we have engaged in as a Church I begin my annual report with that verse from Isaiah. As I look back 2016/7 feels like a year when as a Church family our strength as individuals and as the body of Christ has been renewed by God, where our faith has been deepened and our mission strengthened.
For me some, but by no means all, of the places where we have seen this deepening and strengthening have been:
· through the Prayer Teaching weekend which began a period of study and prayer during Lent. I know this weekend impacted a number of people and helped them to deepen their faith.
· our regular pattern of morning and evening Sunday worship which is now embedded and has helped us to see both our morning and evening congregations grow in many ways.
· Trinity’s children’s work which has grown and flourished over the last year. Following Alison’s appointment in September 2015, working with many volunteers she has been able to create a number of new opportunities for children of all ages to experience God’s love. These new opportunities along with Sunday Club have seen a steady growth in numbers of the last 18 months.
· in our house groups which have seen new members join and some groups adapt their times and venues to enable more people to come and learn.
· the creation of the ‘Retro Group’ for those who are beyond working age.
These and many other occasions have helped us to wait on God and be strengthened by God. It feels like God has been strengthening and preparing us to be missional people. It’s almost like God has been strengthening us so that we are ready to go out and take the next step in achieving our vision, helping more people know of God’s love. Without a doubt the start of Alpha at the beginning of January has been a huge commitment to helping others know more of God’s love and I’m delighted we have 20 people coming regularly to Alpha and how well the team delivering all the different aspects of Alpha are working together.
As we look to the year ahead, having been strengthened by God I believe God is now calling us to rise up, to turn our faces from ourselves and our own Church life to look out, to see new and fresh opportunities to serve the community of Hexham and help people discover the saving love of God for themselves.
In our vision statement we talk about being a Church which is connecting, growing, living, as we turn from looking at ourselves to looking out even more than we already are I think each of us needs to think about how we move from connecting to growing. How do we invite those who connect with Trinity through Tuesday Coffee or Parents and Babies to grow in their knowledge of Jesus for example, how we do invite those we connect with in our streets and communities to Alpha or Sunday Worship, how might we move from connecting with community groups to serving them. When we move from connecting to growing, each of us will continue to deepen our faith but we will help others to grow with God as well. The challenge of course comes that we mustn’t stop the connecting to do the growing or the living and we trust God that we manage to do that!
Over the coming months the Church Stewards, Council and Co-ordinating Groups will be taking time to look at where we have got to in achieving the vision. We will spend time thinking about what we can lay down, what we can continue and what new opportunities God is placing before us to fulfil his vision here in Hexham. As we do this I hope we will keep in the front of our minds the call to turn from inner strengthening to outward mission, to see what God is asking us to do beyond these walls and with those who would never come into this building to help more people come to know Jesus.
I’d like to thank everyone who has been involved with Trinity over the last year, everyone who has helped from the welcome rota to children’s and youth work, from the flower team to the property team and everyone in between – without us all working together we couldn’t be the truly amazing Church that we are. In particular I’d like to thank the Church Stewards, Penny, Pete, Alison, Anna, George and Keith and our Church Staff Esther, Alison, Tara, Tim and Richard without whom so much of what we do for God wouldn’t happen.
As we go forward into the year ahead, let us keep our eyes and ears open for all that God will ask of us as we share his love in this place. Let us go forward trusting in him and letting his Holy Spirit be the one who in whose power we rise up like eagles and share the Good News of Jesus Christ.