Well here we are making our way through 2009 and it’s high time I put fingertips to keys and wrote something significant about life in ECF.  Since my last blog so many things have happened before and after Christmas but I’d just like to comment on three that stood out for me.

Excuse the pun, but I’m glad to say that our ‘Big Band Praise’ evening went with a swing.  With a nine piece band and a number of guest soloists we gave some of the old hymns the jazz treatment, some of the more modern songs the rock treatment and with a few blues numbers and of course a couple of carols thrown in we really did have a night to remember.  (If you look carefully at one of the photos you’ll notice yours truly giving the skins a bit of a hammering.)  It was the last event of the year that celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the building that has been used by God to proclaim the Gospel in its fullness to the very privileged people of Ystrad and it proved that the church is still alive and has much more work to do.

The Christmas buffet that we were greeted with after the music was something special with the church family working together to provide for every taste.

Sticking with Christmas we had our first Christmas morning service this year and what a pleasant surprise it was.  Being the first one we didn’t know what to expect but we did have a very good turnout and just the most precious time of worship, reflection and fellowship.  One family came on block and it was a pleasure to see them all enjoying the experience of a Christian Christmas morning.

For 21 years, that is ever since I became a pastor, I have always dreamed of taking time out to teach the basic doctrines of the Christian faith.  I’d spent many hours listening to the ‘Basic Bible Study’ series of teaching tapes of a man called Roger Price who founded a fellowship in Chichester/Bognor in the seventies and longed for an opportunity to emulate his vision of impacting the church with what I think is the most important issue for today.  Well on January 8^th my dream was realized as we started a course called ‘Starting from Scratch’.  We spent the next five (six if you count the one that was canceled because of the snow) Thursday evenings looking at the “Authenticity of the Scriptures”.  We discussed its authority, its inspiration, its sufficiency, its inerrancy and its truly accurate transmission from ‘lost autograph’ through the manuscripts to modern day versions.

What a joy it was to join together week by week, with over half the church on this amazing voyage of discovery with its emphasis on the supernatural quality of a book that only God Himself could have brought into being.

Already I’ve started work on our second 5 week spell which will start on April 23^rd where we will be dealing with “God’s Plan of Salvation”.  If you want any more information just drop us an email and we’ll be on your case.  It should prove to be a very enlightening and at the same time faith-building exercise as some, for the first time in their experience, will begin to really understand just what actually went on at Calvary and more personally what took place the moment they put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation.

Easter is looming large on the horizon and we are looking forward to the Christian event of the year.  For most churches it is a very busy period and we are no exception.  It starts on Palm Sunday where we join together with the other churches in the town and march together to the central spot which is a pub called The Star and there we celebrate the triumphant entry of our Lord into Jerusalem with song and a short message.  Weather has never been a problem since this event started and we pray that this year will be no different.

On Thursday we, as a church, gather together for communion and then on Friday & Sunday we advertise our services locally and invite the community to come along in order to get to understand what Easter is all about.  Our Sunday evening service starts at 4pm after which we enjoy a buffet tea.  Our experience of Easter has been so precious in years gone by and so I am looking forward to a wonderful time of worship, of teaching of fellowship and outreach.

We had our first wedding in the newly renovated church in January and the setting was just perfect for Rachel and Daniel to tie the knot with the signing of the register taking place at the front of the church the whole thing was so laid back and almost informal.  Feedback from both families was very positive and perhaps, who knows, whether we’ll see a steady flow of young hopefuls passing through; each bringing an opportunity to share with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Lord continues to bless us with His manifest presence and I pray that you too will know His goodness and mercy as it follows you all the days of your life.

God’s best