Central is open for business!

I feel full of joy this morning!

It is a lovely sunny day,I have a cup of good coffee in front of me as I write, but above all,,there is a powerful sense of passing a significant milestone when we had the Civic Opening of Central last night.

I thought it was a wonderful occasion shared with so many good people who had travelled the journey with us,who have endured the lows and can now enjoy the satisfaction that by the grace of God,this phase is complete.
The ribbon was cut by Anna and Elliot on the oldest and one of the youngest people in the church respectively signifying this is a church for all.
It was also great to have present many friends ,other Christian leaders in the town  and elsewhere ,who have been, and were again last night, incredibly supportive!

We were grateful for the opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to the architect, the developers,the amazing young people from the 6th form college who all competed to design our logo.

I felt the collaboration was just a sign of good things to come
It was also wonderful to see Roger and Lesley Sutton and to get the chance to chat to them over a meal afterwards.

Roger spoke briefly but very powerfully about the fact that we wanted this building to be a place for the whole community especially the weak and vulnerable, and assuring The Mayor ,councillors,the local M.P. and everyone else  that we want to partner with them, as we seek to bless the community in which God has placed us.

 Loads of people ranging from church leaders, to people who worked for Shropshire Council, commented on how helpful the talk was. I have no doubt it will help as we seek to develop these relationships in the future

Both Roger and Adrian from the Heart of England Baptist Association prayed poweful prayers of blessing on church and community alike

So onto tonight when we have the church opening, as together,and I hope with incredible joy we celebrate all that God has done for us.

After that, it is all about being the church God has called us to be in the town centre and in our other building at Crowmoor.

Our vision has never been about  building  a building, it is about building community ,sharing Jesus love, and together with others ,building The Kingdom of God in this community!

Nearly there !

I have not blogged much in recent days as we have all been working very hard, to get the building open for the Civic Service on Friday and the Church Celebration this Saturday evening. We are excited that Roger Sutton is going to speak on both occasions and Lesley Sutton will also take part on the Saturday evening. They will be brilliant and the church weekend they led last year was not only helpful but formative as we planned the new building

There has been so much to do and Jude our Central building manager has been working flat out as have the rest of the team.

There have been exhibitions to prepare ,a race to get the sound and visual systems in before Friday, orders of service to plan and print and a 1000 other things to do ....but we are nearly there- I hope !
In it all there is a sense of thankfulness to God for the miracle of answered prayer.

As well as all this Susan and I have had the joy of welcoming Philip and Christina from the USA into our home. They are a great couple determined to pursue Gods call on their life,and it has been a pleasure to get reacquainted with them after 23 or so years since we first met, when we were all a lot younger!
Last night we got to reflecting on the past and we were excited to hear that the mission that happened way back in 1988 is still bearing fruit today.The ripples still go on!

"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

There are some days in the many years of my Christian life when I have felt overwhelmed by the love and faithfulness of God.
When it seems to me that what has happened is a direct answer to the prayers of many people, over many years, and that His grace has been poured out on undeserving people
Yesterday was one of those days!
The verse that came to mind again and again was from the psalms
"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Yesterday was handover day for the new building.
That means it  was the day when Central building was formally completed and passsed into the ownership of Shrewsbury Baptist Church.

It is the day when the electrics people and the alarm people and the developer explain how everything works.I was glad that Rob and Rob and Steve and Jude were there, because ,as those who know me well will testify, -I dont understand these things easily!

This process took a couple of hours until those who needed to understand everything did so.

I busied myself in that time taking photos and really just feeling a deep sense of gratitude to God and reflecting on the journey of the last few years, from the point where we had to leave the old building, because we were advised it was no longer safe ,through the warm welcome we received from the church at Crowmoor,to the uniting of the 2 churches for mission and becoming Shrewsbury Baptist Church ,until the reopening of our almost completely rebuilt town centre building "Central" yesterday (although the formal openings are in March)

It has been a painful,difficult and challenging journey but God is always faithful, even when we were weak and feeble. I certainly learned again the value of persevering

Anyway, once everyone was happy we shared a glass with Steve and John from the developers who have been amazingly helpful.

By a strange conincidence although Steve is not a church goer himself one of his ancestors helped carry Spurgeon's coffin at his funeral!

They then left us in the building and we were joined by some of our leadership team (sadly not all were able to come) and we prayed and gave thanks to God for His generosity and faithfulness

As I looked around the faces present I felt grateful for them all. Some have been with us just a short time and some for many years but the experience of not building a building, but building a new church, has birthed  in us what Hirsch call a sense of communitas "Community born through struggle "

I am especially grateful for the encouragement, the love and the support they have given to Steve and I- They are a gift from God

Now we move into a new phase in the life of our new church as we seek to go where God calls, to bless people, and to share the gospel in word and deed

I am looking forward to it!