Goodbye Davis Family
/Update From Your Pastors
Dear Welling Church family,
Over the past year we have been pleased to have Mark, Andrea, Eliana, and Theo as part of our Welling Church family. Since Easter 2019 they have been attending our church and, starting in August of last year, they began faithfully serving at our church. We have appreciated Mark’s help with the day-to-day ministry of Welling Church. Sadly, their time in the UK is coming to an end.
Mark and Andrea work for GEM (Greater European Missions) and have lived in the UK working alongside various churches for almost 4 years. During this time, they have experienced loads of life change, including the births of both Eliana and Theo. At this time, GEM has decided that it would be helpful for the Davis family to transition back to America for HMA (home ministry assignment). This will be a quite a transition for the family, especially with GEM being uncertain if they will return to the UK.
The Davis family will be returning to America at the beginning of September. Until then, they will be busy sorting out all the details of shipping their furniture and personal items via a container as well as selling their car and any electrical items that can’t convert voltage. Once they are back in America their HMA will begin, and they will have the opportunity to share with family, friends, and financial supporters all that God has done through them during their time of ministry in the UK.
While we always knew our time with the Davis family was limited at Welling Church, we will be sad to see them go. We pray they can come back for a visit and see us again in the future. As a church we are grateful for them and wish to honour all that the Davis family has done, both here at our church and the other ministries they helped.
We will be opening the church building for a special goodbye celebration 23 August at 5PM. We pray that you will be able to attend and show your support for this lovely family. We also would like to give them a personal gift as a thank you from our church for all the time they spent ministering in Welling. If you would like to contribute, you can do so by giving online through Welling Church. Please feel free to give any amount, but if possible, would you consider contributing £20 - £50 or more to be a blessing to them? Please do so by 16 August, so we can collect it in time for the goodbye celebration.
If you wish to contribute to the Davis family, please give via the church at:
Welling Church (HSBC)
Sort Code: 40-19-04
Account Number: 02171236
Memo: Davis Family
If you have any thoughts or questions, please contact any of the elders.
The Elders:
Tarl Reeves, Justin Rhoades & Joshua Bell
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Prayer Points
Alice and Martin’s son Joshua has been in hospital under investigation for suspected epilepsy, but doctors are unsure what is going on.
Spark At Home is going on this week and we pray that many will come by the church to play games and participate.
Maureen’s nieces’s husband broke his arm and is suffering some nerve damage.
Ministry Opportunity
Bring your kids by the church to participate in the rest of Spark At Home Wednesday-Friday from noon to 6PM. Be sure to invite some neighbours or friends to come along with you. If you don’t have kids feel free to stop by to say hello.
Weekly Devotional
Vital Signs of Saving Faith
Question 4: Do I love the family of God?
1 John 2:7-11
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 John 3:16-18
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Upon admittance into God's family, a believer has a new-found love for his spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. A believer will not only have a love for the family of God, but cultivate it as he or she matures in Christ. Let’s examine what John teaches about true love for other believers.
I. Hatred is a Product of Darkness (2:9) (1 John 4:19-21)
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
II. Love is a Product of Light (2:10) (Col. 3:11-17)
10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
III. Habitual Hatred Blinds but Love Illuminates (2:11) (John 3:19-21)
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
IV. Sacrificial Love is Christlike (3:16) (John 3:16-18)
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
V. Compassionate Love is Christlike (3:17) (Luke 10:25-37)
17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?
VI. Practical Love is Christlike (3:18) (1 Cor. 13:1-3)
18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Questions
Is my life characterised by love or hate for those around me?
Am I willing to sacrifice what I have to show love?
Am I concerned for the welfare of other Christians?
Do I walk the walk of Christianity or simply talk the talk?
