A year in review - report on 2014 for the Annual Church Meeting

We’ve had a great year at St Luke’s! I perceive a strong sense that we are well working together, with  God, to further his work in this area and that, although it means we are quite busy, with a lot going on, there is purpose to that busyness in fulfilling our vision to offer 'God’s living water' to those who are open to receive. In many ways we are starting to see the fruit from the changes that we’ve made in recent years – changes to the way Trustees operate which are often letting us move things forward more easily, changes to our music ministry which is proving attractive to new folk. A new couple who came to visit last week told me how tremendously uplifted they were by the worship and teaching at the service that day. The increased focus on welcome and hospitality, and events for outreach and Messy Church, are all attracting new people. 

The fruit of all this is that our Church is growing. We’ve had around 30 new people to welcome meals at my home in recent months – that’s wonderful! Sunday attendance is growing as are our mid week groups, several of which are bursting at the seams. There is so much to give thanks to God for in the life of His Church here.

I know this meeting is primarily about looking back on the last year, but if I can look forward a little too, new things this year which will help St. Luke’s to continue to grow include include the employment of a children and families worker. Through the generosity of folk here we’ve been able to fund a new worker to continue to build on the contacts we’ve made. We are providing folk the opportunity to go deeper with God from initial contact through an event or a christening or something like that, to being warmly welcomed by folk here, to finding out more through the Alpha course or through Messy Church, to becoming a full part of our Church here. There’s a sense that we’ve got a pattern where one thing leads naturally into another to bring folk closer to God. This process often takes time, but I think that if we continue with the good practices that are now established, Church will continue to steadily grow.