1st Sat every month, 10:00AM
Join fr Matthew 10AM on the first Saturday of each month here at the church. If the weather is good, we can go out into the community to pray and extend invitations to our worship services.
Hello Friends,
I hope you are having a blessed week so far and experiencing every blessing as you call upon the Lord with a thankful heart.
As you may know, members of our parish set aside time on October 3rd to pray for our neighbours and our ministry to them in the days and months ahead. For me personally, walking and praying with those who were able to come in to the church was such an enriching experience. I learned so much about our neighbourhood and about our neighbours.
I remember at the time feeling both overwhelmed and excited by the opportunities for ministry that lay before us. As the Apostle Paul says about his ministry in 2 Corinthians, “We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” When we were out in the community, we experienced different reactions to what we were doing, and the people we encountered come from many different cultures and walks of life.
We do not know what is in anyone’s hearts as they encounter us in our attempts to minister to them, but if we make it our goal as the Apostles writes, “to speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence” (2 Corinthians 2.17), then we can trust that they will encounter Christ in us. As they witness Christ in us, they will be drawn to learn more about him by paying us a visit on Sunday and hopefully committing their lives to him and to worshipping with us.
It is for this reason, that I am planning to make this a monthly habit. Join me on the first Saturday of each month here at the church. If the weather is good, we can go out into the community to pray and extend invitations to our worship services. If the weather is not suitable for that, we will stay in and pray for our neighbours. I strongly encourage everyone to join as we lift up those around us to our Heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts - the gift to them of a relationship with his Son, and the gift to us of our community being strengthened and expanded by those God is calling to himself. Listen out for more information about this.
Blessings! Fr. Matthew