As our Giving Review Month draws to a close, I thought I would give you a short update on how it’s going.

As you may remember, we were asking all of you who call King’s home to review your monthly giving as well as to consider making an additional gift towards Vision 2030. After a slow start during the first two months of the King’s financial year, we had set a target of between £200,000 and £220,000 in total offerings for November.

I am delighted to report that a significant proportion of the church have participated in the Giving Review so far. This reflects high commitment across the church, which is very encouraging. Our best indication is that we seem likely to finish the month at just over £205,000 which, though slightly below our faith target, would still be amazing. Massive thanks to all of you who have taken part!

Of course, it’s not too late to contribute, so if you have yet to play your part, please prayerfully respond over the next few days as we approach the end of the month.

Diversity Listening Survey
You may remember that in my Vision Sunday message in October I told you that we planned to conduct a listening exercise in the church, specifically on the subjects of race, diversity and justice, as part of our commitment to building a diverse church. The online survey is now live, and we would love to hear feedback from members of King’s about your experiences in these areas. It is anonymous and is focused on King’s in particular. It will take about ten minutes to complete.

Christmas
Finally, can I remind you that our first weekend of carol services is just a couple of weeks away, so now is the time to start inviting your friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues. To help us manage numbers at our in-person services you will need to book free tickets for everyone in your party, which you can now do here. An online version of the service will be also available, and you will find plenty of ideas of how to invite your friends and family, no matter where they live, here.

‘We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.’ – Hebrews 6:19

Christmas is approaching fast. Our first weekend of Carol Services at King’s is now only three weeks away and band rehearsals are already underway. Christmas at King’s is always a highlight, and I am particularly excited that this year we will be meeting in-person once again.

We are centring this year’s Christmas services around the theme of Hope. Hope is a powerful human emotion. It sustains us through difficult seasons, offering the prospect of better times to come. We can place our hope in many things – a political party, a relationship or a new job. But often these things can disappoint and fail to meet our expectations: the political party does not keep all its promises; we discover the person we love is as imperfect as we are; and the job we had always dreamed of fails to bring the satisfaction we long for.

The heart of the Christmas story is one of hope fulfilled. It tells us of a God who loves us so much He was prepared to come to us in human form and be born in humble surroundings – a God so committed to us that He suffered and died for us and took our sin upon His shoulders that we might be set free from its power. It’s a story about the One who would conquer death and offer us eternal life with Him. It is a hope that is ‘firm and secure’ and that is why we celebrate and sing.

This year we’ll have in-person Carol Services at our Catford, Lee, Downham and Beckenham sites, along with an online service – so you’re able to invite not only those who live locally, but also friends and family from further afield. We’re also running in-person Family Christmas Services at each of our sites. You will need to book tickets for the Carol Services if you intend to come along so that we can manage numbers, and you will be able to do so from Sunday 21st November.

So I want to encourage you to start inviting your friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues to come along to a service. This really is one of the easiest invites of the year! 

Let’s share our hope this Christmas.

kingschurchlondon.org/christmas

‘On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.’ – 1 Corinthians 16:2

The New Testament teaching on giving builds on the Old Testament principle of tithing (Malachi 3:10-12) and bringing our first fruits (Proverbs 3:9). Because of Jesus, our giving is no longer rooted in law, but in our response to the immeasurable grace we have received in Christ.

I believe Christians are givers by very nature. We are called by God to build His Kingdom; we answer by offering our time, our talents and for most of us, our money. We should always give out of what we have, not out of what we do not have. We should give as part of our worship to God and not with a mixed motivation of giving so that God gives us more – though in my experience if you steward your money well, He may well do so.

This coming Sunday is the second of this term’s Vision 2030 offerings. We got off to a pretty good start last Sunday, but I am hopeful for an even better week this week. Please take a look at the video below for a few more words from me about this week’s offering.

We are extremely grateful for the generosity of King’s. The first two months of this new financial year were a little off the target we set, but I am confident that a strong offering throughout November will get us back on track. If we all participate and bring a gift which reflects our income, I am sure God will provide all our needs.


Read more about our November Vision 2030 Gift Days & Giving Review
Giving at King’s

Deb and I are feeling refreshed and ready for the busy run-up to Christmas, having just got back from a two-week holiday in Malta. We have not been able to get away for a full fortnight since before the pandemic, so this was a real treat.

After flying in on Monday evening, I was off to Peterborough the next day to join the rest of the King’s senior leadership team at the ‘Growing to the Next Level’ Learning Community, hosted superbly by Dave Smith of KingsGate Community Church. Along with brilliant input from Rachel Gardner, Louis Giglio and Mike Pilavachi, it was also fantastic to meet up with pastors from across the nation and encourage each other to keep running the race. It was a joy to see David Stroud, a long-time friend who I have known since we were both youth pastors in Bedford, as well as Owen Hylton, Sean Green, Andy Cottingham, Jim Partridge and Ben Welchman, to mention just a few. A meal out in the evening with the King’s team and Geoff and Sherry Surrat from the USA rounded off a full and fruitful day.

Today Deb and I are representing King’s and Newfrontiers at the Richmond Group, an annual gathering of UK church leaders hosted by Nicky Gumbel from HTB and Pastor Agu from Jesus House. This is yet another opportunity to gather with brothers and sisters from across the wider body of Christ to learn, pray and worship together. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed visiting Lambeth Palace and hearing from Archbishop Justin Welby.

So this really has been a week of reconnecting with friends from the wider church, many of whom I haven’t seen face-to-face since before the pandemic. It has been a busy week and I am looking forward to being back at King’s on Sunday. Don’t forget this week is the first of two giving Sundays, so please come prepared for the special offering towards Vision 2030. Let’s rebuild and rejoice!


Read more about our November Vision 2030 Gift Days & Giving Review
Give online