NEW YEAR. Isaiah 43:14-21
The poem the Gate of the Year was given to Carol & I 25 years ago approximately by members of a mission group I had led doing missions all around Kent.
It is on the wall as you come down the stairs and the words are ones we perhaps all need to adopt.
Every Christmas time I sit and reflect on the past year some of it is good and some of it is bad, but as I reflect I know that without God’s help I would not have got through the bad bits.
I also know that it is God, not me, that has achieved so much in the past year even when I have conspired to mess things up.
As you are sitting there looking at me let your mind do a quick stock take of what has been happening, I have had the privilege of sharing in some of those things with you.
When you get home maybe reflect on how God has seen you through both the good and the bad times.
But as we look at this New Year,at the moment it is a blank canvass, not even a dot has been put on it.
How do you view this coming year, excitement, trepidation, looking forward to the challenges or waiting to see what God is going to do?
As I was preparing this I put a tick against all of those but every year God surprises me with what He does in my life and the life of the chapel.
V18 says "Forget the former things do not dwell on the past, see I am doing a new thing."
If we want to see God moving and people being added to our number it's no good saying that's the way it used to be.
The Gospel does not change, God is the same yesterday, today and forever but the way we do things has to change.
This could be our biggest challenge as we become fit for purpose in the 21st century, if you don't change eventually you die. Without vision the people die.
On the 23 January, please put this date in your diary and be there, Phill and I will be setting out the vision for the coming year but everybody's input is welcome.
Our numbers are now such that we need to seriously consider how we can use the Chapel more effectively.
At the moment the bulk of the Chapel is not used all the year except maybe for 3 or 4 services, weddings and funerals.
Heating it during the winter etc is a big problem I have a couple of ideas but I want to explore what other people have done.
Some sort of temporary removable ceiling may work as at the moment all heat is lost upwards, the front pew means we lose a lot of useful room.
Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
How do we make our services more accessible to people walking in off the streets, prior to the meeting I intend to hold a couple of informal conversations on this.
Language & culture is a challenge, as well as Welsh there is also the challenge of Romanians coming in, how do we meet the needs of these folk.
I could organise a Welsh Bible study which I want to revisit or something similar but how do we engage with others.
I have called at the house of two who came in but have got no answer, last Sunday two other Romanians came in but went before the service started.
I will be talking to Elfed, they are used to this in Cardiff, it is new for us.
Young people is another challenge we are not really any further forward on this, our young families are being lost to football and rugby for the children.
These are the challenges for us as a Chapel.
God is blessing us though, people are walking in off the streets. In the week a Community Psychiatric Nurse rang me saying a housebound man wanted someone to fellowship with and do Bible study etc.
In a couple of weeks’ time I will do a joint visit to assess this guy and to ask a couple of people if they can pick this up.
Maybe, just maybe, God is starting to give us some sort of dispersed church membership.There must be others out there like this person.
But is God talking to you and putting things on your heart? I do not have a monopoly on this, Phill and I want everyone's input but not in a one hour meeting, that will simply not work, this needs to be happening all the time.
I also want to appoint at the vision night some deacons to take a lead in some other areas of the church, it is getting too big for one or two people to be doing it all.
Yes, we can do this together but we need to put our hand as individuals and as a Chapel into the hand of God and to go into this year.
Are you excited? I am it's going to be great, I just know it.
Prayer has to be the thing that underpins everything. On Wednesday nights we have combined the prayer and the Bible study.
Maybe some people would prefer a daytime group, or a group in Welsh, let's see if we can grow this.
Take ownership of your roads, I am thinking of welcome packs to take to people who move into your road.
Let's think outside the box and ask God to lead us by the hand.
Let's pray