Showing Kindness
/Update From Your Pastors
Welling Church Family — We pray that you have been enjoying “Online Church” at your home during the past several weeks. It has been a joy to still be able to connect with you online both on Sunday and throughout the week.
While our time of quarantine has been very different, and at times challenging, we believe there have been many positives that have come and will come as a result of this season that God has ordained for His people. The church is not confined to a day of the week or a physical location. God is bigger and more transcendent than any of the obstacles that we are currently facing. This includes those areas of your life which you may be fearful or uncertain.
As a leadership, we want to thank you for your continued involvement with the various ministries and your generosity to the church. Your giving in abilities, time, and finances is an opportunity to honour God through your sacrifice. Our mission is still to glorify God by discipling each generation to reach all for Christ. During this time, let us continue to reach people with the Gospel and meet the very real needs of our community!
One last note: The pastors of Welling desire to always be as transparent as possible on our finances. As our church has grown, so has our giving, but our ministry costs have grown as well. We praise God for that! Since 1 October 2019 (the beginning of our fiscal year), here are the result:
Average monthly income: £2,334
Average monthly outgoing: £3,487
Average monthly deficit: £1,153
Building work over the past 7 months has been £5,432 so even if we removed this cost, we would still be in a deficit.
We have used our church savings to help offset the cost, but this cannot be a longterm solution. Our church cannot continue its monthly ministry without committed church members investing in its future. If you are not currently giving, please go to WellingChurch.com to begin today!
Thank you for your prayers during this time!
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Prayer Points
Praise to God for Lucy accepting Jesus Christ as her Saviour and pray for her as she begins this new life with Him.
Alex Barlow’s friend Roger has passed away from COVID-19 (he was a Christian), prayer for his family and friends as they go through this tough time.
Sally’s mum who is still in ICU on a ventilator and still sedated.
Ministry Opportunity
This week we would like to encourage everyone to do 3 things for 3 people:
Call 3 people
Text 3 people
Pray for 3 people
Weekly Devotional
The Fruit of the Spirit: KINDNESS
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22, 23
The fifth characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit is Kindness. The word kindness is defined as having the qualities of generosity, consideration, and being friendly. These qualities are also easily attributed to God Himself. He is generous in the grace He has shown us through Jesus Christ (Rom. 3: 23, 24), considerate and long-suffering to unbelievers (Psalm 145:8), and is a friend of sinners (Luke 15:2). His kindness is ultimately intended to lead people to repentance, not to the rejection of him (Rom. 2:4). The fruit of the Spirit produces in us the same type of kindness that God provides. Let’s take a look at how we can effectively manifest the kindness of God to the world around us.
1. Live to Please the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30)
“30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Paul tells the Church at Ephesus, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (v. 29). Slander, gossip, and lies should never be on the lips of any Christian. Words and actions give us a clear picture into the heart of a person. The sin of corrupt talk is exactly what grieves the Spirit because it violates the will of God. Parents often say, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” That’s good advice, however a Christian should go deeper and seek to dig up the sinful roots of those words. Our words should be edifying, appropriate for the time, and full of grace. If we seek to only speak words that are wholesome, we will surely please the Holy Spirit.
2. Put Away Unpleasantness (Ephesians 4:31)
“31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”
A life seeking to please the Holy Spirit and to exemplify the fruit He has given, will put away all unpleasantness (sin). Bitterness, wrath, and anger are all sins stemming from a prideful, self-centred heart. We often get angry and sin when our pride is hurt. Our anger then leads us to clamour (fight) and slander those who have hurt us. Then we move to carry malice in our heart towards those individuals. Our desire should be to seek after good things so that we might please God. No sins should be named among us. What would it say to the world if our church was full of these kinds of sins? What a terrible testimony! It can be very easy to allow sin to reign, even within the family of God. We must earnestly strive to put away all unpleasantness from our midst.
3. Take Up Kindness (Ephesians 4:32)
“32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
While verses 30 and 31 are challenging and even a bit depressing, verse 32 gives us a hope. The Apostle Paul encourages believers to be kind to each other. How are we to be kind? First, we are to be tender-hearted meaning we are to be gentle and thoughtful. In contrast, a hard hearted person is angry, unmerciful, and unloving. Second, we are to be forgiving meaning we are to stop feeling angry or resentful towards others because of some offence. Whenever we might not want to forgive someone, we should remember that we have been forgiven all our offences by God in Christ. In fact, the best way we can be like Christ is to forgive those who have wronged us (Philemon). We should be a people known for kindness. We are not talking about being nice to someone’s face, but genuine kindness fuelled by the Spirit. Paul says in Romans 6, “I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification” (Romans 6:19). If the unbelieving world can show kindness, how much more should we who know Christ show the world around us. Let’s show everyone that we are children of God by practicing Spirit-led kindness.
Questions to Consider
Am I grieving the Holy Spirit by the way in which I live?
Am I actively extinguishing bitterness and anger in my life?
Am I seeking to show people kindness?
