Letter from Jon, May 2022
I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’
Psalm 122:1
Dear Friends
In case you hadn’t already heard, we now own Liberty Centre. After years of renting our home we finally took ownership last week. This represents a significant milestone in the life and story of Liberty Church, and, as Rowland said when he received the news last week, ‘Hallelujah, praise the Lord!’ It has been a long journey to get to this place with a lot of work by a lot of people. It has taken vision, faith and tenacity by many and we are hugely grateful to all who have helped to make this vision a reality.
Now I know that the church is not a building and we go to great lengths to stress this. The church is people; ordinary people like you and I who have together chosen to follow Jesus Christ. When we speak of Liberty Centre we rightly refer to it as the ‘Home of Liberty Church’. It is the place where we gather to worship together, to serve each other and the community around us. Nevertheless, we believe that Liberty Centre has a significant role to play in the story of Liberty Church. Indeed, we are hugely grateful to have had this space over the last years of lockdown when many churches who were renting community spaces were unable to gather at all. We have not only been able to meet, albeit with restrictions, but have also been able to serve our community and other churches by providing space. As well as our own ministries and gatherings we now have a number of businesses and organisations hiring space from us during the week, some of which provide valuable income to the Church and others which we view as an investment in our community and with whom we are building strong supportive relationships. It was so encouraging on Sunday to hear Rachel express her appreciation on behalf of the NCT* group which meets regularly in our home.
We know that we have a lot of work still to do in developing our home to its full potential but we believe this will happen with the prayerful support of the Liberty family, and the provision of our God. We, together, are owners of this wonderful resource, and there is something about ownership that changes our perspective. This is ours to invest in, to build and develop. This is ours to use for God’s glory, to become a place that is saturated in the presence of God, and where together we continue to build memories; God moments that change us, encourage us, challenge us, heal and restore us.
It was so wonderful to celebrate Easter Sunday a couple of weeks ago and then to follow that up with baptisms the following week. My prayer is that our home would continue to be a place where we celebrate the goodness and life transforming power of our God, where we continue to tell the story of the Good News of Jesus Christ, and where many find faith and hope in Jesus.
Hallelujah, Praise the Lord.
Jonx
* National Childbirth Trust is a charity which seeks to support parents to have the best possible experience of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. Their vision is of a world in which no parent is isolated and all parents are supported to build a stronger society.
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Jon Farrimond, 02/05/2022