TRINITY URC, IFIELD

On August 1st 2010, Trinity made the hard decision to complete their mission in Ifield and help make the new church in Pound Hill.  There are many years of memories and stories to share with one another.  

 Please can you pray for the Officers and Elders of both churches as they seek to support one another and for all who will be finding this time very painful.

 Thank you.

 Bridget

MINISTER’S LETTER – SEPTEMBER 2010

“I will build my church”

Jesus asked “Who do you say I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

With Trinity’s decision to move their congregation to Pound Hill we all have a challenge set before us.  Jesus says, “I will build my church”, but what did Jesus have in mind when he said this?  And then, the second question that we have to ask is, are we then that kind of church?  In other words, what is essential to Jesus’ definition of what it means to be the church, His church?  The church we meet in the New Testament is very different from the church we have in the West today.  I wonder where parking lots fit in to Jesus’ definition of a church. How about pulpits, pipe organs, flower rotas, publicity teams and even ordained ministers?  All good things, but what is essential and what is merely what we have inherited?  However good or however bad it is part of our inheritance, it is part of what we live within, but it is not the core of who we are.

Over the summer I do hope most of you will have been aware of the various groups (made up of both churches) that have been working on your behalf in the church to look at what kind of new church we feel called to be: what are the core beliefs that are important to us as a new church?

Mission: A new mission statement has been written ready to bring to the churches on Sept 26th.

Worship: You will have been asked for your preferences on times, styles and music.

New name: Your thoughts will be brought to the churches on Sept 26th.

Finance and property: looking at the fabric of both buildings, deeds and covenants, finances.

Constitution: A new constitution has been written ready to bring to the churches on Sept 26th.

We have been offered a chance to question what we feel God is asking us to put in our new churches.  As both churches will effectively close, we can take what we feel God wants to the new church but also make this an opportunity to explore other new ways of being church.  As I often say we are not curators of a museum but participants in an active centre of faith.

It is your church; you will get out of it what you put into it.  Each of us is a part of the church and has the opportunity to build it. Make your voice heard.  Come to the meeting on September 26th and see what shape we can be, with God’s blessing.

Bridget

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

18th September: midday – afternoon	Visit to Denbies Wine Estate (near Dorking)
25th September or 2nd October  (evening)	Harvest Supper and Entertainment