Saturday 4th January 2014 was a significant day in the life of our church as we gave thanks for the leadership of Mark and Diane over the past eight and a half years and welcomed Garry and Julie to the pastorate.
First of all we reviewed highlights in these people’s church life through a Power Point charting the work done since the move to St Mark’s.
Celebration service
Dave said that often services like these are viewed as being ‘under new management’, but actually a change in leadership is not new management, for Christ remains the head of the church. Nonetheless, it is significant to recognise all that God has done through leaders and to commission new leaders. He went on to speak from 2 Tim 1:3-7 TNIV, commenting that Mark’s faith had been nurtured by his grandmother and mother and that his vision and wisdom had helped the church to grow both numerically and spiritually over the past eight-and-a-half years.
The move to the new building in 2010 had been the fulfilment of a word spoken to Mark some fifteen years previously, but this had been the right time for this vision to be fulfilled (see Hab 2:3 TNIV) and Mark’s practical skills and confidence in God had led the church to new ventures. Renamed Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church after this move, the church’s work in the community continues to grow, largely in part because of Mark and Diane’s hard work with children and young people and it is with great excitement that we look to see how God leads in future. Mark and Diane will continue to serve on the leadership team of the church and we are very grateful not only for their past work but for their ongoing contribution to church life.
Mark and Diane both shared testimonies. Diane thanked all church members for their love and support and spoke of how God never gives us more than we can bear, even though He often stretches our faith! The refurbishment of the building nearly four years ago turned out to be much more extensive than we had anticipated, but God helped us each step of the way and blessed us enormously. Mark thanked Diane for her unstinting support of his ministries and thanked the church for being a ‘working church’, reminding us once again that God works all things together for good. (Rom 8:28 TNIV)
Prayer and presentations were then made to Mark and Diane:
