Greetings to you on this first Sunday after Easter.
I was very grateful to God for our Easter weekend. All of our services were well attended, with Good Friday and Easter Sunday morning services back at the normal levels we saw in 2019 (all in-person Easter services were cancelled in 2020). Maundy Thursday dinner and communion was also a great fellowship time. The new Easter Sunday 4 pm service with egg hunt, BBQ and campfire was a great success, with around 100 people coming.
Thank you for all who prayed, attended, helped and got involved in our efforts to reach out with the love of Jesus over Easter.
If you have re-connected with church around this time, then there is plenty happening to help with this:
- Please come to a Newcomer Welcome at the rectory next Sunday. It’s at 12 pm (following morning tea after the 10 am service), and is for everyone who is new or newish in recent months.
- I’m also running the introductory night of an excellent video and discussion based gospel course called Introducing God, next Sunday evening at 6 pm.
- Bible study groups re-start after their holiday break the week beginning Sunday 18th. These groups are a great way to get to know people in the congregation, and are always open to new members.
- Playgroup, Kids’ Club and Youth also start up again that same week (the first week of school term).
As I mentioned last week, the 6 pm service has now closed, with a view to concentrating on efforts to build toward the launch of our new 4 pm congregation in August. The 4 pm group will be gathering for church most weeks, commencing 25th April, with some gatherings especially designed as outreach events. The church website sets out the full program.
Finally, a number of staff members are on holidays this coming week (including me!), but we’re all back on deck next Sunday.
Sermons in the weeks following Easter are on the book of Acts. This is a great time to study Acts, because Acts is all about how the apostles announced the joyful news that Jesus is the risen Lord to all the world in the early decades after Jesus’ resurrection. Each year we are picking up the story of Acts for the six weeks or so following Easter. We might have it finished in about seven years’ time!