This month I would like to share with you the substance of what I said at the special Prayer Meeting on Wednesday, 12th April. This Prayer Meeting was specially to bring before God the need for the appointment of a new Vicar which will be necessary when I retire in August this year.

In Acts 13:1-3 we have the case of the church meeting together, and being instructed and guided by the Holy Spirit to engage in a new missionary venture, and to appoint Barnabas and Paul as the ministers of God for this work. This has great encouragement for you all as you face need for the appointment of a new vicar.

We tend to find our minds focusing on what is seen and temporal. Our minds think of the ones who have the appointment as their responsibility, the Patronage Trust and the Diocese. We know the limitations which any human body has, and how difficult it is to know suitable clergy, and to assess them adequately. We know the pressures that can be exerted which effect such an appointment. We fear change. Also because we have so little influence over the appointment we are afraid of what might be the outcome.

This passage in Acts is very reassuring, and if we understand it properly, and take it to heart, it can take away our anxiety and give us peace for the future.

Notice what happened here. The Holy Spirit came to the church and initiated the appointment of Barnabas and Paul for a work that had been planned by God. What God had appointed happened.

What this incident tells us is that God was there in all the work of his church. God had been planning this expansion of his work. He had chosen what the work should be and he had chosen the men to execute the work. When the time was right for that work to begin, and the time was of God's choosing, then God initiated it, and guaranteed that the church would carry out his wishes. So Barnabas and Paul were appointed and commission for the work.

There was nothing haphazard about this. There was nothing left to chance or to last minute decision. There was no doubt about this plan of God being executed as God determined it should be. No power on earth or heaven could thwart that plan. God is in control of his church.

Translate this to our situation here. God's timing is sure. My retirement is not a chance decision but known of God and in God's plan. God has his purposes for St. Paul's in the future, just as he had the expansion of the church in his purpose in Acts 13. Just as God had Barnabas and Paul chosen to be ministers in this work, so God has already got his minister chosen for the ministry in the future here in St. Paul's, Throop.

Just as God by the Holy Spirit secured the appointment of Barnabas and Paul, so God will secure the appointment of the new Vicar he has chosen for the work here. Church Society Trust and the Diocese will use their God given abilities in the task of finding a new Vicar for St. Paul's, and they will outwardly be appearing to use their own initiative, but in reality it will be God who will make sure in all those deliberations and choices, that God's person will be the one who will be appointed.

Just as the church in Acts heard the Holy Spirit saying appoint Barnabas and Paul, so Church Society, the Bishop and the parish representatives will find that, although they make their decisions with the best ability they have, the decision which will result will be that which God has purposed.

God is in control of his church and all the affairs of mankind. We can rest our confidence in him for the appointment of a new Vicar for our church.

I am firmly convinced that this appointment marks a new and exciting period in the life of St. Paul's, in which God has much blessing to pour out, more than the considerable blessing he has given to us all since St. Paul's opened. Even though their may be difficulties ahead, and though we can be sure Satan will be active to fight against God and his church, God's blessing and purpose will prevail, and be achieved.

Be confident, therefore, in God for the future, and let his peace rest upon you and in your mind. In God's good time the man of his choice will come. In the meantime God will keep you all and preserve you. You may rest in the Lord.

Change is something we fear. We perhaps are worried at new ways being brought into the life of St. Paul's by a new minister. Do not be afraid. Trust in God. He has chosen his minister because of the purposed blessing he has in mind for you. The minister's ways of doing things are all part and parcel of this purpose. So don't be afraid of the change, because it is God's purpose. Instead embrace the changes without fear, and with expectant faith for the blessing that God is going to give.

Your servant for Christ's sake,