What a Sunday!

21 September 2025

By Pastor John Macindoe - Senior Pastor

My prayer is that everyone who attends church this Sunday leaves greatly encouraged. Sixteen people from across all our congregations will bear witness to the Lord Jesus as they passed through the waters of baptism. Many unbelievers will, I hope, hear the gospel being proclaimed, perhaps for the first time, through personal testimony, the symbolism of baptism, and the preaching of the Word.

I’m looking forward to seeing our facility being chockers, with people filling the lower sanctuary, the upper gallery, and even the fellowship hall. We’re aiming to provide lunch for up to four hundred people and I’m sure it will be delicious. Perhaps our biggest problem will be trying to fit the garbage left over into our bins.

This will be an exceptional day in the life our church! But will it be exceptional? What would it take for such occurrences to be normative rather than the exceptional? The book of Acts leads me to believe that when God’s church is functioning as it should, God’s church will grow as one and go to many. However, if this is to happen we must always:

Pray – ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain’ (Ps 127:1). We long to see God’s kingdom grow for His glory and not our own. We must be persistent in prayer for we are doing God’s work.

Proclaim – ‘How can they believe in the one whom they have not heard?’ (Rom 10:14). We must proclaim the timeless Gospel of Jesus clearly, simply and boldly, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

Persist – ‘Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength’ (Isaiah 40:31). We must not grow weary of inviting our friends, sharing the truth, and loving one another.