Chads News - 16th January 2025
16 January 2025 12:00
Dear Church Family,
Welcome to our first proper Chads News of the year. After what felt like a slow start with that sense of calm (& desire to hibernate) which comes with snow and ice, it now feels like the year is bursting into life, staff are back at work, new things are starting and the year is underway. In particular a big start to the year has been the start of Alpha, we are delighted that a great number of people have joined the course and there are others who have shown interest. We have consistently prayed over recent years for God’s Spirit to be at work bringing people to salvation and when that becomes a reality it is hugely exciting. Please be praying for Alpha, for those who have started and those who couldn’t make the first week to come along and join in.
Another sign of the Holy Spirit at work which I’m hearing about is a renewed hunger for the Bible amongst our children and young people. I have heard a number of stories in the past week of children and young people starting the year with a real hunger to read the Bible. When we commit to regularly engaging with God’s Word, it completely transforms us, there’s nothing else like it. I cannot tell you how much this excites me, to think of our Under 18s filling their hearts and minds with the seeds of God’s truth, which will bear fruit through their lives. Please pray for this to spread, for them to find habits and patterns that make their reading sustainable and for this same hunger to spread from them to all of us over 18s too!
A third encouragement for the start of the year is the joy of meeting many new people who have been coming to St Chads on Sunday at both services. I love watching our church family chatting to visitors and helping them feel welcome. This is so valued and appreciated and something that we can all do, so please keep extending that love and welcome. Our next welcome lunch is on Sunday 16th February, so if you’re chatting to someone over coffee on a Sunday, please do let them know about that and help them to sign up for it, so that we can extend that welcome further and help them find a home in St Chads if God is calling them here.
with love,
Richard