Dear Friends

The church has been pictured in many different ways down through the centuries. Some have been more accurate than others! In the New Testament the picture of a 'people in community' or a 'body' is developed in some detail for example in 1 Corinthians 12. This illustration reminds us of our commitment to God and each other and the responsibility and joy in caring. We are the first to recognize that our commitment is more like a colander than anything else! Our caring can be haphazard; people can very often fall through the holes and though we often intend the best for others what happens is often very different. It is a good job that we are not on our own. God works through our strengths and our weaknesses. This is not a ground for complacency, but a reminder that God's faithfulness is the context in which all our caring takes place.

People will have different experiences of church. Some speak of a real sense of family and belonging - others have had less happy experiences and sometimes feel let down at a crucial stage of their lives. It is good to be able to talk together and be honest about our experiences. In this way the church is like a family - we do not choose each other, but we learn to be honest in our relationships and recognize that love is more important than ‘liking’. Once part of a family, whatever stage we are at, even when we put space between ourselves and others, we are still part of that family. Think about Jesus’ story of the 'prodigal son'; nothing that the child did stopped him from being the son of his father, though the relationship with his brother was strained to the limit.  It is a typical human story in which Jesus contrasts the limits of human love with the patience of divine love. It asks us to imagine God's love as being like that of the father's - once a child, always a child.

It is upon this foundation that we think about our membership of the church. We count people into the church from the very beginning of their lives. We accept responsibility for each other in the promises we make in the baptismal service. We continue to encourage growth in faith, hope and love in whatever ways we can. Our work with children and young people is an expression of the investment we place in each other. When new people come into the church as adults, we express that same sense of welcome. We hope that, who and what we are, will offer something of the ministry of Jesus to them. It is a process that often takes years. Building a sense of reassurance, establishing confidence and true belonging is at the heart of a caring church. Affirming each other through our developing relationships and marking any particular stages of our growth are moments of celebration.

We endeavour to keep informed with all that is happening within the congregation and wider community. We rejoice with families who bring their children for baptism and hope that in the next months there may be those who want to take a further step of commitment and be received into the membership of the church. Please get in touch if you would like to talk through what it means to be a member of the church, it can be done individually or together in a group.  My thanks to everyone who shares in the pastoral ministry of the church, the church stewards, pastoral visitors and house group leaders and everyone else who works in the church and uses their gifts as an opportunity for caring and support.

Love and prayers

David