Dear Friends,

Another New Year - and what will it hold for us all and our Church Fellowship? Our message for 1991 is two verses from Isaiah which have a very particular significance for our Church. They are verses given to me by the Lord before our Church was opened and even before we started building it over six years ago, and were a promise to me concerning this new work God was going to commence in this area. God's promise has fulfilled. God has blessed the work here, and above all many of you can testify to this because of the new life in Christ you have been given during these last six years.

I have found myself with similar fears for the future of our Church recently, just as I had when I viewed the original building of St. Paul's in Throop. God has renewed his promise to me and and thus I have chosen it for our 1991 message. Let God speak to us in these verses and let us in faith take them to heart.

I want now to turn to another practical thing about church life and our attitude to it. I believe it to be important, but I fear to speak of it because it is alien to the way we think in our culture today. It is a matter of priorities, loyalties and commitment. A very powerful witness to the work of God in our Church is our action and attitude to our Church and its life. As members of Christ's body, the way we act with respect to the whole body, the Church, effects profoundly the whole life of the Church.

Our actions are an outward expression of our attitude and inner feelings. What is our attitude to St. Paul's, its work, witness and family? Do we attend and count ourselves members for what we get out of it, or is there more? Are we ready to sacrifice our loyalty to God at St. Paul's if something, albeit spiritual, is more interesting elsewhere; or are we ready to sacrifice our own desires so that the work and witness of St. Paul's may come first? Let me be specific in two directions.

The first direction is in service. The Church needs those who will serve God in his church. We are called to serve. As a member of Christ's body there is a part for each of us to play - a work for Jesus none but we can do. As disciples we are called not just to learn but to work for Jesus.

God's work in our Church depends on the service of its members. How ready are we to serve? The service of God in our Church requires a commitment which does involve sacrifice, not asking for reward or counting the cost. There are the ordinary tasks of cleaning, gardening, helping, catering, etc. There are the more specialized tasks of Sunday School teaching, visiting, and helping run different activities. There is the ministry of prayer. There is a shortage in our Church in almost all these areas, or at least help would be welcome, and in some areas it is urgent.

When workers are few the burden is much greater for the loyal few who do serve, and the work suffers. People today are ready to help in a "one off" situation, but are reluctant to commit themselves to an "on going responsibility". It is more threatening and restrictive to personal pleasure. Sometimes people will accept responsibility, but if something more attractive at some time is available they will do what they prefer rather than sacrifice that preference to fulfill the less attractive prior commitment.

Then there is the problem that service is difficult and thought to be beyond our capabilities. This may be so, but often this is an excuse for not trying.

The second direction I would highlight is our attendance at church and week night meetings for prayer and study. These are the core of the church's life. We attend these because we need spiritual nourishment and we want to worship God. Have you considered that your actions towards these is part of your witness to Jesus, and a very powerful contribution to our church's effective witness and to the effectiveness under God of these activities?

Our culture today is one of "get" rather than "give". We attend church for what we "get out" of it, rather than what we "put in" to it. We argue, it is no spiritual value to me or I find it boring or uninteresting, so I will not attend. But we forget that we are still part of body, and that our absence is severing the body. Then we are told that some people find helpful that which we don't, the reply is - O K! Let them have their activity, but count me out.

Our actions in all this speaks loudly. We say that we are more concerned with ourselves then Christ or the total well being of His Church, and that we are not going to put ourselves out for the whole.

Our attendance is essential. Our morning services are not essentially much different to our evening services, but the atmosphere and spirit are effected greatly by the difference in numbers taken part. When we stay away we are diminishing in some part the effectiveness of the worship and service, because our presence and contribution is an essential part of the whole.

When a visitor or unbeliever comes to church, the attendance is a powerful witness one way or another. A large gathering speaks volumes concerning the value the people attach to the ministry of the Church, and above all to Christ whom we proclaim. A small number devalues Christ and the Gospel in the eyes of the visitor.

When a visitor comes, the success of the service is not so much in what form it takes, but the reality of the worship and the commitment to Christ, and the desire to worship him, that is expressed in it. The Spirit of God will be more powerfully present if God's people are coming and seeking him, than if God's people stay away, or don't put their heart and soul into the worship.

All this concerning Sunday worship applies equally to weeknight prayer and Bible study.

At the beginning of this New Year may I humbly ask you to consider yourselves in the light of all this.

Your servant for Christ's sake,