We finished our first Alpha course for 2026 on Thursday night. Among the group of over 20 people, there were beautiful stories shared of how God’s grace changed people over the seven weeks. In the discussion group I was leading, we even celebrated that one of our group has decided to get baptised on Easter Sunday. Praise God!

In term 2, we are running Alpha again starting with an Alpha dinner on April 23. There are already some people enquiring about the next course, so if you are exploring faith or know someone who is, then you are invited to join us for the Alpha dinner. 

I had lunch with Ryan Vallee this week, who is the national director for Alpha church relationships. In our conversation it was so clear that God is working in ways we have prayed about for so many years. There is a growing hunger for the things of God, and Alpha courses are being run more than ever in history. We are seeing more and more people put their faith in Jesus, confirmed by the amount of people being baptised. 

We have celebrated baptisms over the last three weeks, and this Sunday night we are filling up the pool again. On Easter Sunday there are four people getting baptised, all who have stories of Jesus changing their lives in the last year. And there are more people getting baptised after Easter. It's totally remarkable what the Spirit of God is doing, and if you love Jesus, I hope you are full of thanksgiving and faith today. 

I realise some of us have been praying for many years, but are stilling waiting for hearts to open to God’s grace. If that’s you, I want to encourage you, because there are more stories being told about long term prayers being answered too. Let’s never give up praying, because God is working in mighty ways, awakening even the hardest of hearts. 

Can I encourage us to put on our raincoats. Last Friday I was sitting next to Andrew Carnell, the new senior pastor of Bridgeman Baptist, at an event called The Awaken Network Leaders Day. When Andrew was inducted as Senior Pastor, the previous lead pastor, Nathan Harris, gave him a raincoat and said, “rain is coming”. This of course referred to the countless lives that will pour into God’s Kingdom. Then the leader at the Awaken day prophetically said those same words to all leaders, “rain is coming”. Sitting next to Andrew, we laughed as this was clearly not only for him but for all churches. 

We need to prepare for rain Grovers, which requires us to invest in Jesus church here and be available to help others belong in The Grove, believe in Jesus and to become all the Lord has planned for people of every age. 

It’s an exciting time to be following Jesus! Many of us remember when it was so dry, but it’s sprinkling now, so we better get ready for rain (Isaiah 43:19). 

Marty