Matthew's Lectern

Dear friends,

As we enter the summer period and church activities quieten down somewhat, its a great time to look back on the months that have been and ahead to the months that are to come. In many ways it’s been a challenging year in leadership terms, but much of that is due to the “pains of growth” and in my view these are pains worth bearing.

One rich source of blessing to me personally, but also to us as a fellowship, has been the continued ministry of Stuart McPhail as my colleague. His ongoing, encouraging, wise and insightful leadership has been invaluable. And we have grown the full time staff numbers with the appointment of Glenn Innes. His dedicated role in heading up our small group ministries has been wonderful, especially to our community group leaders and students. Its great to see the staff team grow and its my prayer and hope that as we grow as a church, we can grow an outstanding team that will enable and equip us to be continually fulfilling our calling as a body here in Aberdeen.

It has been great to see significant growth in our investment in leaders. Stuart has put a lot of energy and wisdom into encouraging and equipping our leaders this year. And next year, as this investment gets rolled out further to other leaders and emerging leaders, we believe it will have a great impact for our fellowship as well as the wider church.

We have also seen growth in our use of spiritual gifts within the church, particularly healing and prophecy. A major series has led to there being a more consistent expression of those gifts in our services. We still have a way to go though, but we can look forward with a positive sense of momentum in this area.

Membership numbers have been growing as we have seen a 10% increase in membership over the last 18 months. We had 10 baptisms from October 2007-September 2008 and encouragingly the number of baptisms looks to be growing this year. It is our continuing hope and prayer that we would see ongoing numerical growth in the year that lies ahead. And, please God, may we be entrusted with many new Christians to disciple, as we reach out with the message of the gospel.

Building for the Gospel, our major building project, has progressed well over the last few months as we recently took the decision to press ahead with seeking planning permission and beginning fundraising. These will begin over the next few months as this exciting gospel project continues to take shape.

Last, but my no means least, our ministries have been growing and developing in the last few months. J10 has been relaunched seeking to reach a new generation of kids. The first mentored, localised evangelistic course has been run in a school staff room. World mission has seen a team heading out to work with Jonny and Susan in South Africa as well as three members visiting Barbara Scott in Senegal. Our men’s ministry, Distinct, has been relaunched with a new name and focus. A new affinity group- Justice- has been launched for those passionate about peace and justice issues. And our student ministry, Mobilise, has seen significant growth in numbers with 75 students in regular attendance. There are so many other ministries I could mention where God has been at work. Gerrard Street is an exciting place to be!

The elders’ group covet your prayers as we seek to lead the church forward in line with God’s will and purpose for us. Of course, the elders’ group itself has grown this year as we have recognised three new elders: Martin Clarke, Ally Currie and Glenn Innes. It is a great group to be part of- please pray for us as we seek to bring strategic leadership and loving oversight to Gerrard Street.

Growth is a marvelous thing. It shows life and vitality and health. Please join us in praying for all sorts of growth in and through our fellowship in the months that lie ahead.

Rejoicing in the past and faith-filled for the future together with you,

Matthew.