Christ Church Congregational

Abbots Cross

  Aaron & Margaret
Benjamin, Joel & Andrew
44 Hardinge Crescent
Royal Arsenal
Woolwich London SE18 6TB
Telephone 02088551416
Email – pastoraaron@woolcongchurch.freeserve.co.uk

 

  March 2008
   

 

 

   
 

WOOLWICH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

 
Dear friends

In the Woolwich church lately we have been encouraged by looking at Luke chapter 8 & 9 … We have seen Him who can calm every storm, expel every demonic being and influence, heal every disease and sickness and even raise the dead. We have seen Him who can take a few little loaves and two fish and feed an immense multitude of people, to the point were they all ate and were satisfied. And we have been encouraged in this – that this same Jesus, He knows our every need and He can meet our every need. In fact we have been encouraged to realise afresh that there is no need to great for Him, that He is more than able to meet all our needs as we walk and trust in Him day by day.

We thank God that this has also been our experience over the last year or so. God has been faithful and gracious towards us here as a family and as a church and we thank and praise Him for His wonderful provision.

We want to take this opportunity to thank you as well for your love and support to us in many different ways. Thank you for your prayers which sustain us daily in the work of the gospel and thank you for your correspondence and practical help. May the Lord bless each of you who stand with us in this way.

Well in regards to the building work, the great news is that we are really moving forward with these things. We have had some great meetings prior to and after Christmas which have confirmed that we are moving ahead. Currently we are putting together a final planning application, hoping to submit that to the planning department by May/June 2008, and then we are hoping and will be praying for planning permission to be granted by the end of the year. If we are successful in that, we are then hoping to begin work on the site in spring 2009 and a completion date of September 2009 is what we are working towards and hoping for. Please continue to pray for these things.

The work in the church continues to keep us very busy as we lead God’s people, preach and teach His Word and shepherd the flock . We are still meeting in the school on Sunday mornings which is going well and then meeting for all other activities in another local evangelical church. We are very much encouraged that the new initiatives we started last year are still running well and are growing. The football team which is a ministry to men, both Christians and non Christians, the youth fellowship which reaches the 13 young teenagers we have in the church and the new worship group that continues to practice but which is now playing in the services every Sunday. We thank God too for our women’s ministry which runs twice a month, one of these being a home group, while the other being a meeting in the church. It’s a real thrill to see the Lord working in the lives of different people, in different ministries who clearly have different needs.

As a family we are all well for which we are truly thankful. Margaret now has started to work part time for the London City Mission in one of their outreach café’s in Covent Gardens, Central London. Please pray for her as she now has extra responsibilities and particularly as she travels to and from London on buses and trains.
 

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                        Benjamin 9                                             Joel 6                                            Andrew 4


Benjamin, Joel and now Andrew too are all at school and doing well. Between them they are enjoying computer clubs, football training, choir & Boys Brigade. They love Liverpool Football Club, just like dad and are hoping that they go on to win the Champions League again.

The next three years for the church is really quite significant and exciting. The vision that we have can be summed up like this – In three years we hope to:

· Have a new church building in which to worship and from which to serve the King
· Become self financing, completely self supporting without outside help
· Develop a Biblical leadership, training and appointing deacons and another elder
· Be much more effective in our evangelism, in reaching out to our community with the gospel
· Have a greater understanding and a greater desire to be the praying church God wants us to be

Please pray for us as we seek to move forward in all of these ways. Please pray for wisdom and for guidance as we strive to become what we believe the Bible and God wants us to be. And please pray that we will always keep Christ as our central focus and that He would be honoured and glorified in all that we do.

Again let me say a really big thank you for remembering us, be assured we often remember you, and please keep on praying and pressing on until He comes again.