Abiding and Inviting

This Sunday we are holding our last Church Meeting of the year. We’ll be looking at our 2020 objectives and signing off on a budget to support those objectives and our ongoing ministries.

Please be there if you can – not only to ensure we have the numbers to formally vote on the budget, but also because if you are a part of the family here at EBC, it’s important to stay informed and involved in the life of the church.

This year has been busy! Philippa started with us as our new Ministry Director and has been busily revamping our children’s work, not to mention the rooms out the back and our lobby area! I have been accepted and started my course at Regent’s Park College on the way to formal accreditation as a Baptist Minister, and we have almost finished work on our kitchen!

We have had a wonderful Church Weekend and a real drive to sharpen our focus on prayer and thanksgiving across the church. Prayer and Membership courses have happened and new members have come into our church family!

We have also helped to fund a fantastic new building at the Freetown Cheshire Home in Sierra Leone, which will be the new home to the Dorothy Springer Trust, run by “our man in Sierra Leone”, Dr Abs Dumbuya. (Abs is excited – the new building has its formal opening this Saturday!)

There have been tough times too – we have seen a number of friends suffering from serious health issues and we praise God for the progress they have made. We have also seen Louise move on from our staff team to pastures new and we closed our Refresh Café.

Now, as we look forward to Christmas and a new year ahead, the Elders and Leaders have been gathering our thoughts, drawn from a host of meetings and prayer retreats across the year. We have distilled our plans into three focussed objectives for 2020, which of course sit alongside our general ongoing work here and with partners at home and abroad (Tearfund, CSW, DST, Mission Direct).

Please do take the time to look at the objectives below and pray about them. If you can’t be with us on Sunday, please find a moment to pray anyway. Exciting times lie ahead and we need God’s wisdom and help. I also ask that you continue to seek God’s direction and ask him how you might personally engage with people on your “frontline” and help them to take a step closer Jesus. Who are the people, and what might you do, with God’s help?

See you on Sunday!

Blessings,
Simon
 
EBC OBJECTIVES 2020: INVITE, ABIDE, ENVIRONMENT

1. INVITE. We will continue to develop a culture of invitation and develop multiple fresh expressions of “frontline” outreach.
What will success look like?

• Stories will be shared about personal examples of frontline outreach.
• Successes will be celebrated.
• Resources will be made available to help.
• New people will be invited.
• New people will come!
• Personal invitation and outreach will become recognised as a central part of our church DNA.

2. ABIDE. We will continue to work on personal discipleship including the introduction of clearly signposted resources to help equip people to move on to their Next Step.
What will success look like?

• A clear and obvious Next Steps hub will be created.
• An evolving set of trusted resources will be made available.
• Courses will happen which support discipleship.
• People will report that their faith is deepening.

• Work on the toilet areas will be completed.
• Other physical areas will continue to be enhanced.
• Our digital environment will be recognised as our virtual “front door” and be more inviting/exciting.