DECEMBER 2016
ISSUE 21
K I NGFI S H E R FAMILY A year of growth, of change, of What If? “You have stayed at this mountain long enough!” (Deuteronomy 1:6).
There have been some wonderful high points along the way:
With these words, the Lord challenged the Israelites who had • The Social Enterprise, Treasure recently escaped captivity in Seekers, being finalists for Egypt not to settle for just three awards in the County spending the rest of their lives in and winning the Gloucester the foothills of Mount Sinai. He Health and Social Care Award challenged them to pack up their (healthy communities section). tents and set off towards the Promised Land. They were not to live simply at the level of What Is, but to be captivated and motivated by the possibility of What If? And so, following the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, they set off - and spent the next 40 years wandering in the desert, being prepared for the time when they would be ready to move into the Promised Land. • The International family Throughout those 40 years, they reaching out to the Philippines were guided both physically by and now with an invitation to the pillar, but also by that visit some pastors in China enduring sense of What If? • The growth of the This year, we have begun as a International family in the Family to really tune in to the Punjab, northern India ‘What If?’ from God. We have experienced big steps of faith, • People taking radical decisions new levels of trust and to give up their jobs and trust sometimes what have felt like God by serving within the leaps into the unknown. It takes Social Enterprise courage and fresh levels of • Young people from Tredworth dependence to respond to that church heading off to Durban, sense of What If?, as a growing South Africa to serve in LIV number of us can vouch for! village
The best is yet to come!
It takes courage, trust and faith to live at the level of What If? -
but the rewards are so much greater than just aiming to play it safe with What Is! Following the pillar has also taken us on a journey that has sometimes been difficult. It has become apparent to the the elders and pastor of Kingsway church that the time is right to make the difficult decision to cease meeting in Kingsway and invite the congregation there to join with the Tredworth congregation, so that we can move forward as one church. We thank God for the many amazing highlights of our time as a church in Kingsway, the community that has been grown, the steps of faith that have been taken, the sense of mutual care and support when testing times have come. However, looking to the future, we realise that God is calling us to move ahead together, bringing the strengths of two congregations into one location. Kingsway church has been in existence for 7 years and we honour the sacrifices and the steps of faith that have been taken. But in the next chapter of our journey as a family in the UK we will be doing it together. What if God were to take that new, larger congregation, and do wonderful things in it and through it in 2017? I believe that the best is yet to come!