From the Associate Minister...  

Dear friends I’ve been enjoying and challenged by our sermon series on Encounters with Jesus; one thing that has really struck me is how often Jesus is found at a table, eating with others. He’s in the home of Levi, the home of Simon, the home of Zacchaeus, with his disciples at the Last Supper and at the home of his followers at Emmaus. One of the criticisms thrown at Jesus was that he was always eating and drinking, but, being around a table with others is powerful; it’s a place of fellowship and offers the potential to be a place of transformation and encounter with Jesus.

We can sometimes think that introducing others to Jesus is difficult, but Trevor and I were encouraged to hear from Phil Knox at the London Baptist Ministers’ Conference, that the hospitality of a Christian friend, getting together around a table, was significant to 38% of people as they explored the Christian faith. 

Phil was presenting the findings of research by the Evangelical Alliance on how adults are finding faith and becoming Christians. We found this a very timely piece of research as, in our Deacons’ meetings, we have been thinking and praying about all the people who come through our doors and how we can play our part in helping them to find all that Jesus offers them. If you are interested in looking at the report yourself and being encouraged by the things we are already doing well and thinking about how we can help others to find faith you can look at the research at https://www.eauk.org/ resources/our-resources/reports/finding-jesus 

Blessings Kathryn