Children and young people are a vital part of the church today: not ‘tomorrow’s church’, but a key part of the church of today. We are blessed to have a group of young adults who are keen to teach children and young people and who are making changes to the way this is done on Sundays during our evening services.

On Sundays, there will be 3 age groups:

• Spiritual Explorers (for pre-school children)
• Spiritual Ninjas (for children aged 5-11 years)
• Spiritual Warriors (for 11-18 year olds)

We also hope to take the older youth to different youth events at other churches and venues so that they can see something of God at work elsewhere! We hope to host some youth events with other churches called IMPACT (Impact means practising all Christ’s teachings.) Watch this space for further details!

As part of the Easter celebrations (3-5 April), we want to focus on the life, ministry, death and resurrection of our Saviour. In order to do that, we will be showing a film based entirely on the sayings of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel (see here for a preview) over 3 sessions. These will be on:

• Good Friday at 7 p.m. (so no badminton on that evening, sadly!)
• Easter Saturday at 1 p.m.
• Easter Saturday at 7 p.m.

The film is a great opportunity to soak ourselves in Scripture and see something of the power of the ministry of Jesus.

Other events that will be happening over the Easter weekend include:

• a ‘Joint Churches’ March of Hope through Goldthorpe on Easter Saturday in the morning  (more details on times to follow)
• a church lunch on Easter Saturday at 12 noon before the film session
• services to celebrate Easter at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Easter Sunday

We hope as many people as possible will want to attend these events to help us to focus on a key date in the Christian year and to reflect afresh on the wonder and cost of our salvation.

At the Mums & Toddlers group on Friday, members from PSS came to help us learn how to make healthy cheesecakes!

The toddlers seemed to enjoy eating the food as well as making it!

Dave preached a sermon in January on a six-letter word that few people actively like: CHANGE. Change is often feared by people who are comfortable with what is familiar and ‘safe’. Others relish change, flitting from one project to another like a butterfly. The challenge for the church is to be flexible enough to change and adapt where necessary while remaining true to foundational principles which do not change.

As we look ahead to the future, we also had the opportunity last night to talk about how things can change… and if people have ideas and suggestions, we want to know about them. The following questions need to be considered by all:

• How does what we do when we are together inform and inspire what happens when we’re not together?
• What do you want to see happen in church?
• What do you want the church to be involved in which we are currently not doing at the moment?

There will be an opportunity today to give answers to those questions and you can always comment online also as we seek to discover new things the church can be involved in!

Some of the new plans already in the pipeline include:

• special events over the Easter weekend (3-5 April) to help us to focus on the death and resurrection of Christ
• a church day trip to Bridlington on Bank Holiday Monday (4 May)
• running sessions to explore basic Christian teaching and doctrine (suitable for those interested in knowing more about Christianity or who have just become Christians as well as those who want to know how to share their faith more effectively)
• ways to make the Bible studies more accessible to all, even if you are not able to attend the actual meeting
• how to be more involved with missions, including the possibility of a missions trip to India to work with Fredrick and Reeba

Barack Obama once said ‘Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.’ We are instrumental in the changes that God wants to bring, because He graciously invites us to be involved in His work. Let’s embrace the changes that He brings: ‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’ (Is 43:19)

Last night’s Information & Envisioning evening looked at what the church has been involved in over the past year. For many people, this is not new information, but it is sometimes good to pause and reflect on what is happening locally as we seek to be ‘with God in the community, with God for the community.’

Outreach ministries include the coffee mornings held on Saturdays, the Mums & Toddlers group on Fridays, the youth club on Mondays, and badminton on Fridays. These may not seem overtly ‘Christian’ in that no songs are sung, no preaching is given and there is no official time for prayer. But because of the presence of God’s people at each one of these meetings, God is with us as we talk and engage with people from our local community. The number of different people who help at these groups is amazing and there are opportunities galore to get to know people, share God’s love and pray when asked.

We also meet at Cherry Tree Court once a month, seeking to share God’s love with the older residents there. Please continue to pray for this ministry, especially that the residents who are not in favour of this meeting will not be able to spoil things for those who are and who enjoy the fellowship and teaching!

The support of the Salvation Army food bank reflects God’s heart for the poor and needy. People’s generosity in providing food and other items such as clothing is much appreciated. Those who help with the distribution of the food parcels see how much difference this can make to those in crisis. The Salvation Army works closely with other organisations to try to provide support in other areas (job clubs, help with those suffering from alcohol or drug addictions, help in learning how to budget and cook healthy food and so on.) It’s been good to see some local people get on training courses or find work and so find purpose and hope after difficult times. It’s a privilege to be part of that helping process.

Over the past year, we have seen new people join the church and others decide to get involved in different things that the church is doing, including helping with Sunday School and music as well as youth, coffee morning and Mums and Toddlers. Prayer, worship and preaching remain key aspects of what the church does: aspects which may well seem ridiculous or insignificant to the outsider (see 1 Cor 1:18-31), but which are fundamental to our spiritual life. We are also thrilled to be able to support missionaries in Mozambique and India (watch this space for plans for a missions trip to India!) and to sponsor Bedline, a little girl in Haiti. We are well aware that our neighbour extends far beyond the Dearne Valley and that God’s heart is for the whole world.

The church is far more than the building on Market Street, though we are immensely grateful to God for His provision of this building and for providing the ongoing finances – often through the sacrificial giving of members – to run all that we do. Last year, significant improvement to the building included cavity wall and ceiling insulation, new boilers and heating, sound reduction panels, new chairs and tables and the refurbishment of the children’s room as well as new carpets to some areas and a stage partition to replace the ageing curtains. We are constantly amazed at how God provides income (including income from hiring the building to the community and from the coffee mornings) and grateful for those who Gift Aid their donations, allowing us to receive income from HMRC!

When we stop to look at all the church is doing, we are immensely grateful not only to God but to all the people whose enthusiasm, commitment and sacrifice show us that their faith is outworked in totally practical ways. The Salvation Army shop in Goldthorpe has a new sign on it that says ‘Belief In Action.’ We believe and therefore act! Thank you to all who help in any way and to God for His immense grace and generosity to us.

1 Cor 5:9 strongly implies that Paul had already written a letter to the Corinthians before the one we know as 1 Corinthians, but of this letter, we have no trace. It is interesting to consider just how many letters Paul must have written during his lifetime and look at those we have in our New Testament. Why don’t we have all of them? Surely they were all of historical interest?

Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God and that He has ensured everything we need for life and for salvation is contained within that word. We do not know why we do not have other letters written by the apostles, but the fact remains that we have all that we need. This letter shows us some of the concerns facing that church, but it also has advice and help applicable to all Christians, as the opening verses make clear.

The church in Corinth may have had problems with arrogance, richness and promiscuity, but Paul’s confidence for them is rooted in God’s character: in His grace and faithfulness (1 Cor 1:1-9). We are all sanctified by the Lord and are in the process of being made holy. Our lives may often look muddled and far from perfect, but we are secure not in our own efforts to keep and save but in God’s ability to complete the work He has started (see also Phil 1:6). We have a powerful, faithful, miracle-working God who is able to keep us strong in the faith.