Through your prayers and giving, you are our partners in proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that we would continue to do so with all boldness and without hindrance!
One of the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequences of the global response to it has been how much we take for granted. And yet, there are even “new normals” of church under lockdown that perhaps are taken for granted. For example, livestreamed services: not every church can do them! Many churches, keen to legally continue gathering for worship, were relieved when places of worship were explicitly exempted from the third national lockdown. But for others it made little difference - they do not meet in a “place of worship”! Chatteris Community Church is one such church. They do not have the kind of computer expertise that would enable them to do livestream ministry, and the community centre in which they meet has been closed until further notice. Nonetheless, during periods of lockdown, sermon recordings continued to be uploaded every week to the church's website, and the text and questions for interactive Bible study and prayer were circulated mid-week.
But what about when there was no lockdown? The church met, and all of their people gathered, despite the fact that a number of them are in vulnerable categories. It cannot often be said - even in the best of times - that 100% of a church’s membership was in attendance!
The church has been emboldened in their evangelism over the years, not least by help from Daniel Shwe of Grace Baptist Church North Watford in 2015 and 2019. There has, sadly, been little interest from local people. But the church - again, with 100% member participation - perseveres and continues to stay in touch with people they have gotten to know through their evangelistic efforts. They were very encouraged recently to see visitors attending their Christmas carol service in response to gospel leaflets distributed locally. It was also a joy of the past year to see spiritual progress in the unbelieving mother of one of their regular attendees. At first, this woman would only drop her son off to the service and pick him up afterwards, but she has now been attending each service with him for some time and they listen to sermons from the church back-catalogue every day. Much may be locked-down and Chatteris Community Church may feel its limitations, but the gospel cannot be locked-down and God is not in any way limited - he is working, even in and through the challenges of the moment!
Praise God for a dedicated band of workers who, though few, are fully committed to the church. Health issues may have inhibited the ability of some to participate as fully as they would wish, so pray for health, and for more people to commit to assist with the work.
Pray for people to be saved and for other Christians to join Chatteris Community Church to build up the fellowship and share the burdens.
Pray for the church as they look ahead to when restrictions are eased, with a hope to engage in concerted outreach once more, picking up opportunities to advance the gospel that they were pursuing pre-pandemic.
You can make a gift to Grace Baptist Partnership and the ongoing work of leadership training, church planting and revitalisation, using this link: Donate | Grace Baptist Partnership.
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