Hi Readers.

I type this from a very interesting conference being run by our previous Minister, David Hughes.

He helps lead a national organisation called Rural Ministries, helping smaller village churches to healthily grow. And growing means changing.

This is all about the thorny subject of ‘change.’ I like the phrase “Change is constant; it is the rate of change that changes.” Apart from God and His Scripture, (Heb 13:8  ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’) somebody once said, “if it isn’t changing, it is already dead.)

This has got me thinking about all of us at Morton New Day. If we reflect over the year, when is the last time we did anything that might be described as ‘new, risky, edgy, or radical?’ Moreover, do the good people in our community know about it/them?

If David and Rosie popped back in, and they are very welcome, what change would they notice?

Well, we now run activities pretty much every day (and evenings!) of the week. New faces in the flock. And maybe the big piece of wall missing between the Chapel and Back room! Hopefully the folding glass doors will be fitted next week.

But the real change comes within each of us. As I have been constantly preaching recently, ‘It starts with our hearts.’

The last speaker, Fred, told a story of a single mum who dressed in heavy black garb & makeup style, often called ‘Goth.’ Lots of facial body piercings and tattoos. Fred met her over several coffees, and eventually the young Mum and child came to Fred’s church Sunday morning. Afterwards she said to Fred, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be rude but I just don’t fit in here,” and didn’t explain further. Fred lost touch. A month later her Mum asked Fred to do the funeral service. She had committed suicide.

Our church values, like Christ, never change. But we need to remember WHY we come to church. Ask yourself this. I have. Lets talk with each other, change together, and help change the good people ‘outside’ our church by us changing. Together.

Be richly blessed, Pastor Andy.

Hi Readers.

For the next 4 Monday evenings I am attending the EMBA ‘Equipped for Change’ course. This is because ‘change is constant; it is the rate of change that changes.’ We heard on the course, “If it isn’t changing it is dead.” So as a growing church we are changing. But we need to change in line with our aim of ‘God ‘in’ – love ‘out’. Our reason for being is to bring God’s love into our church family, and take this out to our community to transform people’s lives. Hence the course…to get some wise advice!

There is one thing, however, that never changes. This is the only one I can think of. And also the most important. God.

Hebrews 13 says He is the same yesterday, today and forever. In fact, this Scripture dominates the main internal wall in our fellow church at Dyke. This message is important because we need something solid, at the base of each of our lives

Morton New Day had a thorough refurbishment over a decade ago and through good stewardship all the important things are fine. In my 3 years we have upgraded the sound desk and speakers. We have TV monitor for the Worship Team. Recently the guttering causing damp was repaired, and the affected area plastered. In the next few weeks we are having 5 folding soundproof frosted glass doors fitted behind the organ. Curtains are being made, and Derek will be painting the following month. So changing we are!

So it is good that are building, again through careful stewardship, is becoming more functional and attractive.

But we need to remember we are not about the building, or the sound system, carpets, and all that stuff. No! We are here for one reason, to love our never-changing God and take this Good News out to our community.

So community…if you haven’t ventured in to Morton New Day Baptist church, please pop in at one of our many weekly events, and I believe you may just experience the greatest change ever!

Be richly blessed, Pastor Andy.

http://www.ucb.co.uk/word-for-today-40851.html

This is taken from UCB’s ‘Word for Today’ this week

One of the first things Jesus did after His resurrection was to go looking for the disciples who’d failed Him so badly. ‘On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”’ (vv. 19-21 NIV 1984 Edition). Among the group was Peter, who’d walked on water, whose hands had distributed miracle food to five thousand hungry people, who’d witnessed Moses and Elijah standing next to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Big, bold, brave Peter who said, ‘Even if I have to die with you … I will never deny you!’ (Matthew 26:35 NLT). And he wasn’t the only one. ‘All the other disciples vowed the same’ (v. 35 NLT). Yet the record reads, ‘All his disciples deserted him and ran away’ (Mark 14:50 NLT). Saint John, Saint Andrew, and Saint James – all guys depicted on the stained glass windows of churches worldwide – abandoned Jesus when He needed them most. Yet when He rose from the dead, He never once brought it up. Instead: ‘He showed them His [wounded] hands’ (John 20:20 NKJV). Why? To let them know He loved them in spite of their failure.