Discerning and Deciding

 

“Church Members shall meet together in a Church Members’ Meeting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and under the Lordship of Christ to discern the mind of God in the affairs of the Church.”
 

So says article 9.1 of EBC’s constitution and this Sunday, 24th June, brings us the opportunity to meet to “discern the mind of God in the affairs of the Church” together, after our morning service! It’s a responsibility for our Church Members and also a great privilege that we shouldn’t take lightly. All regular attenders of EBC are also welcome and encouraged to attend the meeting.
 

A couple of weeks ago we were visited by Steven and Dave, our friends from Christian Solidarity Worldwide and this gave us a stark reminder that in many countries around the world, meeting together like this is far from easy, sometimes unlawful and often dangerous! Let’s not take our freedoms for granted – let’s thank God for them and let’s show up to praise and worship Him and yes, to discern His mind together in the affairs of the Church.
 

Over the last year or so, we have made some decisions and set out some objectives together at our Church Meetings.  These include –

• Appointing a Team Leader (me)

• Recommending two of our Church Members be considered for formation training as Baptist Ministers (Karen Bugg and me again)

• Planning for the retirement in the next two years or so of our minister, Steph

• Seeking to invest in and enhance our work with Children, Youth and Families (CYF)

• “Living within our Giving” - and as a first step not spending beyond our means as a church
 

In our most recent meetings we talked about the necessity of having a suitably gifted person in place to enable me to take some time out for formation training (part time from September next year if things go to plan), to enable Steph to begin transitioning to retirement, and to guide and direct our CYF Ministries. We particularly recognised the need for someone with skills and experience relating to the CYF side of things, alongside strong gifting in Leadership. 
 

These things have been coming into sharper focus in recent months as Karen has been discerning where she feels called to next (for her church-based formation training) and in parallel the Leadership Team and I have been prayerfully considering EBC’s needs and the type of appointment which would fit our situation best.
 

We now have an update to share on both these things and will be asking the Church Members to vote on a recommendation that we seek to appoint a Ministry Director as soon as possible. 
 

For more details… see you on Sunday!
 

Simon