Skip to main content

Message from the Ministry Team

Dear friends

By the time you read this, we will already be a month through this new year. Where does the time go? It really does seem to go by ever more quickly, as each year passes.

For children who have returned to school after the Christmas and New Year break, next Christmas will seem an age away. When I started secondary school, I couldn’t imagine getting to the end of school at 18. I worked out that I would be 35 at the turn of the century, but that seemed impossibly far away. So what makes time seem to pass quickly? After all, each week is made up of seven days and each day has 24 hours, whatever our age or stage in life.

Responsibilities play a part: there are things we need to do at certain times, and any deadline always makes us aware of time ticking away as we approach it. We accrue responsibilities as we grow older and take on more senior positions at work, or have a family to look after. At church, we take on roles that seem to grow in complexity as we are affected by greater bureaucracy.

We cannot suddenly drop those responsibilities, but however pressing those responsibilities are, we can ensure we make time for ourselves. If we wear ourselves out doing things for others, it means that those others will have to manage without us. So our responsibilities are not only towards others, but also towards ourselves, to care for ourselves so that we are longer able to care for others. No-one can go on giving without time to relax and refresh themselves. Even Jesus took time out away from distractions, time with God to remind himself of what he was about, when others would have pulled him away from his path.


This year, I would encourage you to make time to be with God. Ten minutes on a daily basis when we can simply be in God’s presence. A quiet day or longer retreat (there are many opportunities close by) spent focused on things of faith and rediscovering who we are. A thought-provoking book, and a fellowship group to discuss it with, to help us pause and take stock. Why not ask a friend to support you as you try it out?

If we want others to come to faith, we must be energised and built up by that faith, so that we will want to share it. So let’s take time out to be refreshed.

It is never wasted time.
With love Christine 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The wind among the trees

I sat among the trees once. And a wind was blowing. Quite a strong wind; I could hear it in the trees –   rushing, rushing. A lovely sound, soothing to my ears. I stopped what I was writing and began to listen. I remembered that Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was like   the wind. You could hear it; see its effect. But you couldn’t see the wind itself. You couldn’t see   where it was coming from, nor going to. And I wondered, “Are you showing me something about your Spirit, Lord?” So I sat, and I listened, and I watched. They were big, old trees where I sat. Tall they were, in an ancient wood, well-branched,  shapely. Beech, grey bark against the clear blue of the sky. And leaves: they were leaves that knew the wind;   leaves that let the wind know them. They looked, like beach leaves look in a wind: full of life –   and with a certain beauty all their own. I watched the great crowns of those great trees. I watched the branches sway and the ...

For such times as these! - A good news story from Windhill!

For such times as these! (Esther 14:14) On June 1st James Stannet (from e:merge , a Christian Youth organisation) began his youth work for Christchurch LEP in Windhill. He says, "Well! June has been a really busy but very productive month. On Wednesday, in the park, numbers are climbing week by week, now averaging 25. Good partnerships have been made with local organisations. this has been a blessing: enabling us to deliver varied sport activities and build good relationships.' 'The Hope Revolution, youth event, based at Christchurch LEP was a massive hit. A BIG Thank you is expressed to the Church for the support, encouragement and prayers. 200 people attended the Fun Day. Despite the rainy weather, 100 young people took part in local projects: two house clear-ups, school garden project (Windhill Primary) and running the Fun Day. 10 Christian Organisations working together resulting in several families requesting Christian children's activities.' ...

Circuit Talents Challenge

"For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money ..." Matthew 25:14-30 Why don't you take up the Circuit Talents Challenge by taking a £5 note and making it grow for the Circuit? More details ...