For many, the start of the year is a time of planning and reflection. What steps have you taken to make 2022 a year for spiritual growth and biblical maturity? It’s still not too late! This is the perfect time to consider how to cultivate your spiritual disciplines and dive deeper in your relationship with Christ for the rest of this year.

We trust you and your family had a wonderful Christmas time celebrating the birth of our heavenly king. As we look back on 2021 and look ahead to 2022, we pray that you will continue striving to proclaim the work and ministry of Jesus Christ to the world. As a church, we desire to make Christ known to all as we live through His power day by day. As we do this, our lives can have a godly influence upon friends and family around us. Thank you for being part of the church and its ministry!

This is a special time of the year, where we can focus our attention on thanking the Lord for all He has done for us and the joy that He brings. The joy of Christmas doesn’t just come from all the presents we receive, from all the festivities we attend, or from the sweet coming together of family and friends. The joy of Christmas is Christ Himself who was born as a baby, died on a cross, rose back to life and made the only way for us to have an everlasting relationship with God.

As we continue to walk and grow in the Lord, we begin to discover how are gifts and talents that we are given are given to us for a purpose. We discover that these spiritual gifts are given for us to grow closer to Him as we help others grow closer to Him.

Welling Church has kicked off all our weekly autumn events, and we are witnessing larger numbers than ever. Praise the Lord! There were 106 people in attendance at our Connect Event and our attendance for our Sunday morning service is growing each week. Our Adventures Clubs on Friday has grown along with our Sunday morning children’s programmes. Your giving allows our church to continue developing new events and strengthen our existing meetings.

In September we are kicking off a brand new series on what it means to be a healthy church member. As we go through this series, we invite you to thoughtfully pray for our church, each other, and your future role at our church as a church member.

We praise God for you and for your continued faithfulness and ministry at Welling Church! As we prepare for the summertime and coming out of lockdown, let us strive together to keep Christ at the forefront of all that we do. In 1 John 1:3 it says, “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” As a church, we work diligently to make Christ known to all. This includes our fellowship within our church community as well as our surrounding community. The basis for our Christian fellowship is in Christ, so let us ever be mindful of His work in us and through us!

As we begin to come out of lockdown, we have been excited to be focusing on evangelism training and praying for how God can use our church in sharing God’s message of hope and peace to our community. We always want to look to Jesus as the cornerstone of our faith.

We are thrilled to be reopening and relaunching many of the ministries we have had to put on pause due to all the lockdown restrictions. Now that these restrictions are easing, we can get back to some sense of normalcy as we endeavour to walk circumspectly and redeem the time because we know our community needs Christ more than ever.

We rejoice in the faithfulness of our church fellowship over these last few months. Your engagement, your prayers, your generosity, your ministry to one another, and your attendance have all been wonderful. During this season when many have been ruled by fear or anxiety, our church is filled with people walking by faith and in His strength. This has been an encouragement to us as leaders and to our community. It’s exciting to see our church take the mission of God to heart.

Almost 3 years ago, Welling Church was close to permanently closing its doors. Though it seemed like this was a possibility, thankfully, God had other plans. He brought in new pastoral leadership who desired to rebuild the church and re-establish it as a lighthouse for the Gospel in our community. Loads of hurdles were overcome and many changes were made. New paint, some remodelling, and better technology have helped give the building a face-lift, but the real change can be seen in the lives of those who attend. Many people have come to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour, followed in Believer’s baptism, and are learning about the Bible in one-to-one discipleship. Welling Church did not have the greatest of testimonies a few years back, but now we’re known as a church that preaches the Gospel and cares for the people in our community.

As we look toward the rest of 2021, we are reminded more than ever that the local church is God’s sovereign plan to serve the community through proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and His love to the world. Our church is committed to fulfilling its mission of encouraging people to follow Jesus and serve Him. Each day, we make a decision: to fall by the wayside or engage actively in contributing to God’s worldwide mission. Let us make a difference to our community and world through a passionate desire to pursue, worship, and hunger after God and His Word.

For many, we are happy to have 2020 behind us. Who could have predicted the deep and long-lasting impact the coronavirus pandemic would have upon all our lives? In many ways, it has rocked us to our core and changed our original plans for last year. Even though it has been a bizarre year for many different reasons, we can still humbly say, “God has been faithful!” We are thankful for God’s provision and protection for us during this time as we trust Him through all our circumstances.