Each year, we take a moment to look back on what God has been doing among us in the last twelve months. Here’s the report for 2025 …
As we look back on 2025 and thank God for another year, we may be tempted to focus only on what was different, what was unusual compared to previous years. That’s helpful, it’s good to remember, as long as we do not overlook the regular ministry of the church, and give thanks for faithfulness.
It is a blessing that we have so many people committed to the week by week and month by month work that is involved in running church services to the glory of God, and seeking to see Christians built up as they follow Jesus, and reaching out to those who are not believers. There’s the welcoming on
Sunday mornings, the cleaning each week, people setting up the YouTube stream and running the sound, various DIY jobs and organising contractors to keep the building in good shape, the music every Sunday, refreshments, children’s work on Sundays and midweek, leafleting, counting the money, flowers, booktable, gardening, administration, shopping and more!
On top of that, people give their time to serve God when it comes to special events like the Quiz Night, fellowship meals, the ramble and the summer fayre. So much of this goes on behind the scenes, especially the setting up and clearing away, and the work mornings before the fellowship meals. It is good to thank God for their willingness and hard work.
2025 saw some larger projects around the building. A few of us have begun work on transforming the main front doors of the church, and polishing the pews in the balcony, a massive task! In addition, we had specialist contractors in to fix the stained glass window at the front of the church. It had been letting in water, and had buckled and bent in a number of places. Now it is looking magnificent again!
And the back garden has been changed from a stony jungle (!) to a pleasant play area, with a new wet-pour rubber surface, and improved flower beds. A whole team of people has worked hard to make that garden and the other flower beds around the church look beautiful!
Towards the start of 2025 we bade a fond farewell to Roger and Pat Neil as they moved to Sheffield to be near their children. Roger was the pastor here for 13 years, and then an elder for another 12 years. Pat was treasurer, alongside many other roles! We are grateful that Antonio has taken over as treasurer, and that we have been able to appoint an outside company to help with our accounts.
It’s been a blessing to share in the occasion of the dedication of a new baby. And it’s a delight when, at a baptism service, we hear how God has been working in the life of a believer, as we did when one young woman was baptised.
Alongside special occasions, we have heard God’s word preached week by week, with Bible series in John’s gospel, Ezra, Romans and 1 & 2 Timothy. Plus there were opportunities to get into the Bible at midweek Bible Studies (on the Apostles Creed and 1 Corinthians), the Men’s and Women’s meetings (recently starting books on Biblical masculinity and the attributes of God respectively) and the Away Day (with teaching on what the Bible says about the body, on transgender issues and on assisted suicide).
But the Bible input didn’t stop there! We had three-minute theology slots from Pastor Thomas on Why do we have denominations? What happened between OT and NT? The Perspicuity of Scripture, How do we deal with Contradictions in the Bible? and more! Plus a day of teaching on singleness, a parenting course and Church Teas covering subjects like the persecuted church, William Tyndale and Bible Translation, Creation, the State of the Church in the UK and Is Christmas Pagan?
We are blessed to have the Bible in our hands in our own language. We are blessed to have so many opportunities to read and study God’s Word together, and hear helpful teaching about the Bible and how it applies to us. It is the message from our Creator! Don’t miss out on growing as a Christian by hearing from your Lord and Master in all these ways! What will you be coming to this year, so you can study and learn, and delight yourself in God?
Pastor Robert Jeffery
