August 2010


Living by Faith Faith is Simple


A few weeks ago we looked at Luke 12:22-34 together and discovered that Jesus wants us to live on the basis of trusting God for our everyday needs. In that sense faith is simple, in that it is simple to understand the basic principle illustrated by the care and provision God gives to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. As we are more important in God’s eyes than either birds or flowers, how much more will he provide for us. Faith is simple.


Faith is Practical


On another level faith is prac t i cal as Jesus commands us to first seek the kingdom of God and all these things (our daily needs) will be added to us as well. It not only takes faith to believe that God provides for us like the birds of the air, it takes faith to believe that God will provide for our needs when we are not turning our full attention to supplying our own needs, but instead give ourselves to doing what God wants us to do ahead of our own agenda. Faith is practical.


Faith is Radical


Finally Jesus teaches that faith is radical in that we show our faith by being r adi c a l wi th our possessions on behalf of the poor, thereby revealing where our heart lies in relation to the


Inside this


values of God’s kingdom and still trusting God to provide for our needs. Faith is radical. These are not easy words for any of us to put into practice in our materialistic and self centred culture but I must not let them be brushed under the carpet because I find them challenging, they are also an important aspect of what it means for us to ‘grow deeper.’


Seeking the Kingdom


As a church community we have to learn to live by these principles as we look ahead to a number of issues. We are in continuing dialogue with Chr i s t chur ch about partnering together and on the faith is practical front, there is a lot that we can do together to serve the needs of our local community. Indeed as you will see inside this BGH there is provision for an operat ions manager post working across all of the joint social projects between Christchurch and St George’s. This comes at no extra cost to the budgets of either church and has been agreed by the local deanery. This will be a significant post and help in the drawing together of the two churches as well as removing the need for myself or any of the other clergy to lead and manage the social projects. Please pray for


Edition … Page 2—24/7


the right appointment to this important position.


Trusting God


As many of you will now be aware St George’s is carrying a deficit of £60,000 from 2009. This is not an increasing debt, as you will see from the treasurer’s report inside, our giving is up for this year against our budget, but not in such a way as to make a significant dent in last years deficit. Under the faith is simple principle, as a community we know that the Lord cares for his church and can provide all that we n e e d .


Page 3— News from the Bells


Page 4—Parish Nursing


Page 5—Supporting Bereavement


Page 6—Children’s Ministry


Page 7—Finances Kisiizi


I n G o d ’ s


providence we have had to slow down our plans to become a CAP centre until 2011, firstly because we need to clear the deficit, but also because it makes complete sense for us to work out the details of the Christchurch partnership and the structure of how the different projects fit together. CAP fits in well with the profile of what is already in place and what we are trying to help build up at Christchurch as we seek to serve the needs of those in debt in the wider community.


www.stgeorgeschurch.net


Page 8—James and Anna


Page 9—Book Review


Page 10—Creation Care


Page 11—Diary Dates Sermon Series


Page 12—What’s on…


Continued over page bGh_


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12