Hello Church,
Here are few things to bring to your attention this week:
- This coming Monday the 25th our friends at Engage Work Faith are hosting an excellent discussion on the future of AI. This is a topic that lots of people are thinking about, so it’s a great chance to help them explore how faith in Jesus connects with something so practical. It’s a great invitation for city workers to head to straight after work. More info here.
- Please let us know if you’d like to be part of the planning/catering/creative fun for our guest service on December 15. And please pray for great opportunities to invite people to join us for a fun morning that helps them consider the joy of Christmas (I’m grabbing a bunch of invites this Sunday to door knock my neighbours on our end of the street)
- ES has extended an invitatoin to join them for their National Training Event evening sessions on Monday 2nd and Wednesday 5th at Edwardstown Baptist Church. These will be really encouraging evenings with excellent Bible teaching from William Taylor, rector of St Helen’s Bishopsgate in London. More info here. If you’d like the chance to hear from William about the situation for Evangelicals in the Church of England, you are also invited to a session at 7:30pm on Friday 29th at St Barnabas, Croydon. RSVP to: johnmillerlives@gmail.com
- We kicked off our three week series on the Holy Spirit last Sunday. A brief bible study guide has been prepared and can be found on our website. The hard copy versions of these were very popular on Sunday so we’ve done another print run and will have more available this Sunday.
- There has been considerable media coverage of two separate matters of child sexual abuse in the wider church context. The resignation of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury in the wake of a long running sexual abuse scandal has made international headlines, while there has been local coverage of a decision handed down by the High Court. Such coverage can be very distressing for people impacted by child sexual abuse and if you would appreciate the chance to talk or pray about this please don’t hesitate to contact me or Matt. The terrible suffering caused by such abuse is also a poignant reminder of why we place such a high priority on safeguarding the vulnerable members of our community. You can read more about this on our website. Please pray for those in our midst who serve so faithfully amongst children and youth, and for those who help us administer systems and structures to protect vulnerable people.
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Simon