thinking about the future

I feel a bit like Mary, who used to keep in her heart extraordinary things happening in the early years of the life of Jesus - and wondering what kind of man He will grow up to be. Events continue to sweep over me, and I'm trying to make sense of what the Lord is doing in this church.

Last week I had lunch with Baroness Cox, with the Lord Mayor of Plymouth and his wife, and a few other dignitaries. Both the baroness and the mayor gave me their cards and asked that I contact them, and I had interesting discussions with them. The mayor wants to come and visit our Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade - to show their support for the work we do with the children. Baroness Cox wants to put me in contact with a few people she knows, regarding ministry in Eastern Europe and to Eastern Europeans here in the UK. I have no idea why I ended up meeting with a member of the House of Lords and the mayor and his wife - I'm not interested in politics - but somehow the Lord arranged things so I got there.

People continue to just come and contact us, there Lord is drawing people in before we even get a chance to do anything about it. Last Sunday I was away preaching at a different church, but at Ford there were about 60 people. We got to the point where we need to start meeting again in the main hall, we don't fit any more in the middle hall we've been using over the winter. I've been praying that the Lord will give us at least 100 people regularly during the Sunday worship, before the end of the year. We seem to be getting there ahead of my schedule - a great problem to have! I look around and there is so much need for love, for grace, for a vision and for encouragement. We had the Baptist Association's meeting last Saturday, and I could sense the discouragement and feelings of helplessness in many of the people present. Churches have been shrinking, a few have closed down and there are a few more that face closure unless something is done about it. One church building burned down recently. And yet, all around us there are hundreds of thousands of people who need the Lord, and many of them are somewhat open to the Spirit - they just need the right community, and need people who would lead them to the Lord. I hope we get to be that kind of church. I feel like the farmer standing before a great harvest - one I did not sow or worked for. It's only His grace.