Letter from Jon, June 2019 

 Dear Friends
 
Last Sunday we had the excitement of visiting, worshipping and praying together in our new home.  Admittedly there is still work to be done before we can move in, as you would have seen last week, but there has been a huge amount of work already completed thanks to many volunteers and quite a few contractors.  I would particularly like to thank our small core team of men (Rowland, Brian, Doug and Richard) who have worked so hard to get us to where we are, and to thank Stan for the energy and commitment he has brought to the development over the last couple of months. 
 
I hope, as you walked round the building last week, that God stirred something in you as to how this home will serve the Liberty Church family in the years to come.  Perhaps you began to imagine the sights and sounds of people gathered in worship, in prayer, in learning, in laughing and perhaps in weeping.  Perhaps you imagined children playing and growing, parents meeting and supporting each other, the lonely finding friends, the broken being healed and restored, the oppressed finding freedom, the marginalised finding love and acceptance. As I mentioned during my short message last week, I believe all these things await us in the days and years to come, but they will come to a people who are committed to God in worship, committed to his Church and committed to bringing light and life to the community around us.  Our home will not make us into the people God wants us to be, but it will reflect who we are.  At the end of the meeting last week I invited each of us to pray a prayer of personal commitment to God, to Liberty Church and to the world around us (UP, IN and OUT).  It is not a prayer that any of us can pray lightly because it affects our whole life.  For those who weren’t around or just as a reminder to those who were, here is that prayer again:
 
Father, today I commit myself to living out my life, my faith, in three dimensions:

• To commit to living a life of worship as I surrender my life to you
• To commit myself to the Liberty Church family; to serve and to give myself to see your church built up
• To commit myself to the Good News of Jesus Christ and to seeing those around me find hope and come to faith

As a member of the Liberty Church family I willingly offer myself for your plans and purposes this day, to see your name glorified and your Kingdom come.
In the name of Jesus, my Lord and Saviour.   Amen
 
This prayer does not make us into perfect Christians but it is a prayer of intent, a prayer of inclusion in the Liberty Family and prayer of surrender.  I believe, as we pray this prayer and live our lives to honour these words we will see things beyond that which we can imagine as God pours his blessing into and out of his people. I look forward to the things that await us together.
 
Love and Blessings
 
Jon