In the early Church, after Jesus ascended to heaven and they first started figuring out what to do, Peter preached and 3000 people became Christians. What an amazing day right! Right after this, Acts 2 verse 42 says this is what this new group of believers did…
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
If we’re ever not sure what we should be doing – lets always come back to the basics. On Sunday evening at our Worship and Prayer night, we enjoyed praying together, taking communion and worshipping. It was a really great evening to just be in God’s presence and we’re looking forward to Sunday, 13th December when we get to do it again. We’re also looking forward to the 24th January when Guy and Heather Miller come and join our church to share all that’s in their heart for us and our family of churches. So, in this brief letter I just want to reflect on what it means for us to devote ourselves to fellowship. Fellowship is something that forms the very bedrock of what it means to be a church. It‘s much more than it’s definition of “friendly association with others” but speaks to the core heart, humbling nature of loving others as we love ourself. A good way to think of fellowship, is community. Community is the ‘common unity’ we share with one another, and God our father, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. As a church we want to help everyone feel connected to the community that can be found in the church and so we have four key-ways in which we’re doing that over this season.
Helping new people connect
Helping you grow
Helping friends look in
Helping those in need
Helping new people connect.
Each week on our Sunday mornings, we’ve started a Welcome Desk. This is for anyone who is new or feeling new to Hope Church. It’s an opportunity to say both ‘hi’ to other new people and to one of the leaders of the church. It’s open every Sunday after the service through Zoom.
Helping you grow
Fellowship can’t be done in isolation. You need others. So whether you’re a young person or more mature, you can access groups from Youth to Life Groups, to help you grow in your faith and grow in your connection with others. Every Monday and Friday at 6.30am you can join in with a short 30minute bible study, and even do that from your bed with your camera off! We also have a Men’s and Women’s ministry whom over this season have been connecting smaller groups in 3’s, so that you can support one another more easily in this current pandemic. To know more about the various group links or to find out more, get in touch with hello@hopechurchguildford.com
Helping friends look in
Christmas time is a wonderful time of year – yet this year the commencement of the Christmas period has come with anxiety, worries and fears in a much greater way than usual. So, this year we’re looking to put together a Christmas Special. It will be a short video with carols from the band, kid’s contributions and a short, five-minute Christmas message. We’ve also designed Christmas cards with the details of how to find that video, so that as you share your Christmas greetings with friends, family and neighbours – we also share something of the hope that can be found in this baby given to us.
Helping those in need
A big value of who we are is bringing hope to those in our community. With the various government’s decisions on Free School meals, with unemployment rising, and continued uncertainty in many sectors – more people than ever need support this Christmas. So, over the next few weeks, we’re partnering with CAP and Besom to provide hamper’s to local families in need in our area. These families may have been made homeless, have escaped domestic violence, are suffering from physical or mental health issues or simply can't make ends meet. CAP and Besom will provide us with the names and addresses of those in need, then as a church we will deliver these hampers to people’s doorsteps – in a socially-distanced way! We of course need volunteers to help make this happen! So, if you have a small bit of time and some household items to donate to this project, please get in touch with us via office@hopechurchguildford.com and we will let you know the logistics and what the families are in need of.
If we’re going to be known as anything in this community, let us be known as a people who devote ourselves to God’s word, communion, prayer and fellowship – in all its forms!
Every blessing Chris