Well I’m sat in Costa in Halifax waiting for my second meeting of the day - and it’s great to be here! I’ve managed to carve out some time to do a bit of a ‘northern tour’. I’m in Halifax today, Manchester on Tuesday, Doncaster on Wednesday and York on Thursday.
Driving into Halifax this morning felt very exciting! Its the first time I’ve been back since we decided to pursue planting in Halifax, and it felt like coming home. It was exciting to think that this is going to be our new home, these people are going to be our new neighbours, and these are the people God has called us to work amongst and preach the gospel to! As I was praying this morning with Luke Jenner from NTGBC he prayed for us that we would know the peace of God that passes all understanding. I’ve been thinking about that wonderfully rich biblical phrase as I drove over to my next meeting - that’s exactly what I am experiencing this morning. As we make plans to move here in a couple of months, no where near fully funded yet, with little idea where it is we may end up living, or what school the kids may go to - it makes no sense that i would have peace in this situation! And yet, we sincerely believe that this is what God is calling us to, we believe we are in his plan for our lives. And so even if it doesn’t work out in exactly the ways we are hoping it will we trust that it is in God’s hands, and therefore we can have peace - even if it is beyond human understanding.
This morning has been about meeting with a couple Halifax church leaders to find out what Halifax needs, how they are meeting that need, and what we can do to serve, not only the people we want to reach with the gospel, but these other churches too. One church is on the western edge of the town the other is to the south, and seeing as though we are focussing on the north, and there’s 90,000 people to be reached with the gospel, no one should be standing on anyone elses toes! Far from it, in fact, we want to be working with other gospel preaching churches in the town in whatever way is possible, while being sensitive to differences in ecclesiology and secondary matters of theology. It’s exciting to talk to other pastors who are passionate about reaching the people of Halifax with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Tomorrow I’m meeting up with Ralph Cunnington of City Church Manchester to get some advice on planting, and on Wednesday I am at a Yorkshire Gospel Partnership meeting where I have been invited to speak for 5 minutes to share our plans. So it’s an exciting week! Please pray that I would make good connections, have safe travels and continue to be excited for the plans that God has set before us. Please also pray for Rach and the kids as they hold down the fort in Worthing
Soli Deo GLoria