Dear all,
This week I have been away doing some training, part of which was about strategy and vision. This is an important part of the work of the church, because we need to be intentional about how we are going to be a church that reaches out to its community with the good news of Jesus.
In the context of emerging from a global pandemic, it becomes even more important to be prepared, to have a strategy and vision for what church looks like in the light of the new normal.
Over the coming weeks and months, I am excited that we will be looking at our vision and what our strategy for the next 18 months might look like. Thankfully, in this week’s bible reading, we are reminded that we do not have to do this just in our own strength.
“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.” Mark 4:26-28
Our strategy needs to look at how we sow the seeds, which is the good news of Jesus, and God will do the rest. He will make that seed grow and we will not know how but we will be able to see it. Our job then is to be like the sower in the beginning of chapter four, and scatter the seed. We can trust God to bring the growth.
We are not doing the work on our own or in our own strength but joining in with the work of God and relying on His strength.
Please be praying and thinking about how we can sow the seed in all the different contexts in our lovely village of Farsley, and how you can join in with this.
God Bless,
Gareth