As well as looking to develop the actual building in which we meet (an ongoing work which will include roof insulation of the worship room, scheduled to take place at the end of May), we are also well aware that the work the church does is spiritual and involves prayer, worship and witness. At the service tonight, Garry outlined his vision for ongoing prayer for the ministries run by the church: the coffee morning on Saturdays, the Parent ‘n’ Toddler group, the youth work, Sunday School, the food distribution work, the badminton outreach, worship and the ministry of the Word.
Prayer coordinators for each of these outreaches and ministries will liaise with those working in these areas and feed back to the church on a regular basis to help inform our prayer for each ministry. These prayer coordinators are:
- Dave Wood – Coffee Morning
- Diane Burgin – Parent ‘n’ Toddler Group
- Mark Burgin – Youth work
- Stacey Chapman – Sunday School
- Mark & Debbie McKeown – Food Distribution work
- Tony & Gillian Burgin – Badminton outreach
- Garry Turner – worship
- Julie Turner – ministry of the Word
It is easy for activities to continue in isolation, but each of these ministries is part of an integrated whole; every ministry in which church members are involved is vital and important to the overall health of the church. Jesus reminded His disciples ‘remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’ (John 15:4-5) Not only do we need to remain in Christ in order to be fruitful, we need to know what is happening in these ministries if we are to pray intelligently and with understanding. Every activity and ministry needs to be fuelled by prayer; human effort is not enough to guarantee spiritual fruit. Let’s get behind each one of the ministries of the church through prayer and pray that God will inspire, lead, direct and bring fruit from everything that is done!