A healing Community.......

My Dear Sisters and Brothers

Part of our vision for St John’s is to be a “healing community”. In order to help us both remember and also live out this exciting dream, we are currently in the middle of a preaching series around “Building Healing Community”.

Located in Central as we are, living in uncertain times, and sharing in a society that seems to be increasingly fractured and hurting, I cannot imagine that the call to “Build Healing Community” could not feature in a Christ-following community such as ours.

Our current preaching series will culminate on 17 July when, at a glorious combined service, the community of St John’s will gather, together with friends and well-wishers, to celebrate the opening of our renovated Hall Complex.

What a wonderful home we will then have in which to offer the hospitality and resources that make both for healing, and for community … a place that says, “Welcome”, from the first moment one steps in the door - a place to enjoy tea or coffee and a snack with a friend; a place where students far from home can find friendship, support, and even professional counselling, if necessary; a place where our children can attend Sunday School in comfortable and convenient “classrooms”; a comfortable place for Bible Study Groups …. the list of possibilities seems almost endless!

But material resources alone can never proclaim the Good News of the Gospel. For that, God needs people – you and I. And so, as we gather again this Sunday, let us take care to listen for the ways in which God is preparing us all for the next phase in our Christ-following; the next step in our partnering with God and with each other to proclaim that the Kingdom is among us.

Rod