Home and Away
As well as leading King’s, I also lead and host the Newfrontiers Apostolic Fellowship. These dual roles carry a fair degree of responsibility, and I occasionally joke that 70% of my time is taken up with King’s, while the other 70% (!) is spent on Newfrontiers. However, though life is undoubtedly busy, it is also a huge privilege to have been trusted with serving both local church and our wider church family. I am very grateful for the fantastic, gifted team at King’s – without their support I would not be able to serve Newfrontiers to the same degree.
Newfrontiers
The last few months have had a Newfrontiers focus and have involved a fair bit of travel for me and Deb. In February and March we were in southern Africa and spent time with the DNa family of churches in Zimbabwe and with Regions Beyond in South Africa. Shortly after that we had a fruitful few days away with the Newfrontiers Together Team, and then last week we were travelling again, this time to Greece to join our friends within the Advance movement for a conference in Athens. This was aimed at equipping leaders who are working trans locally and into other nations. David Devenish spoke a couple of times on practical apostolic mission, drawing on his vast experience of working cross culturally. Deb and I also spoke on marriage and ministry, ably supported by an experienced panel which included our long-term friends Pete and Nicky Cornford from Redeemer Church in Ealing, London. It was great to catch up with them again.
One of the most memorable parts of the trip was an afternoon spent visiting the Acropolis and Mars Hill, in the centre of Athens. It was inspiring to walk in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and stand on the same ground he had stood on. As our group gathered at the top of Mars Hill, looking across to the Acropolis and the city of Athens, Matt Hosier read Acts 17 out loud – it was a powerful moment.
King’s
We are now back home and looking forward to being more focussed on local church for a few months. Next week I will be with some of the King’s staff team for a few days of praying and planning for the next church year. As always there is a lot going on at King’s: groups for this term have started up, and if you have not already signed up for one, I encourage you to do so – they are a great place to grow in God and build friendship. It’s fantastic to see so many new people around at the moment and on Sunday there will be an opportunity after the service for anyone who has recently started attending to come and meet some of the pastors and key volunteers - please check with your site for details. And looking ahead, there is a Women’s Breakfast on June 3rd and our annual church picnic on July 16th – this is always a fun afternoon, so make sure you get it in the diary.
Meanwhile, our new preaching series, Steadfast Love, continues. I shall look forward to being at King’s this Sunday to worship and hear God’s word.
