Dear team leaders,

 

Tomorrow is the first Christmas at The Grove in our new church home. How absolutely exciting. A moment of heightened visibility for the church to shine with the light of Jesus, and point to his love and life through our acts of love to one another. 

 

Thankyou for serving our Saviour King, and giving of your time and energy to make him known to all he brings along. Thankyou for the great heart you have for our church family, the teams you lead, and for the love that motivates you to offer your service as an offering of worship. You guys are amazing!

 

I feel so expectant about what God is going to do. So many words from God have come, people keep telling me stories, and the enemy is trying to rob our joy and be a nuisance. These are all signs of God at work and planning to reach people. 

 

One story was shared from a person in our church who tried calling a friend, and accidently rang a lost family member by the same name. It turned out the conversation encouraged them so deeply, and this person from The Grove was able to send them an invitation to Christmas in The Grove. How cool is that? How many more people is Jesus preparing to reach this year? Many we pray. We can be sure God is playing his part!

 

I have performed around 30 weddings in my twenty years of pastoral ministry. Those are big days people prepare for. But the weddings that I remember as being the most wonderful and joy filled, were not the ones that went perfectly, or had the best weather, décor or even views (although we have those things at The Grove in spades!). But they were the weddings where love was the focus, where things didn’t always go perfectly, but where people laughed and didn’t let anything get in the way of why they were there.  

 

My prayer for our first Christmas in our church home, after a massive year like no other, is a Christmas where love is totally the focus. Love for Jesus, love for all those we work with and lead, and love for our community. No matter what issues arise, love will enable us to smile and not sweat the small stuff - and there will be stuff to deal with because this is the first time we have done this in our new building! 

 

Yet with peace as our theme, and the Prince of peace reigning, it’s not fear but the unfailing love of God within our hearts that will enable us to be a non-anxious presence among people who live in fear everyday.    

 

Jesus knew exactly what he was saying when he said in John 13:34-35, 

 

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

 

In two verses he said it three times; “love one another”. It’s the most powerful, attractive characteristic of the follower of Jesus. It’s the red-letter key to effective mission, and how ‘everyone knows Jesus is among us’. 

 

Love is a defining characteristic of The Grove, of which I have been so grateful. May it just pour out of us today as we prepare, and tomorrow as we lead and serve. God bless you all. God is with you, loves you and will work mightily through you. Marty