“Grow in Faith” is part of our mission statement. There are many ways in which growth in faith can be encouraged. Regular prayer and reading the Bible and other good literature can help. Coming together as church is also important. It is widely recognised that sharing in small groups helps us to grow in faith. We can explore the Bible and faith together and get support from others in a way that’s not possible in formal church services or alone.

At St Paul’s we currently have two small groups that meet fortnightly: a home group (Button) and a Bible reading group (Matthews). I am encouraged by the contribution these groups make to the life of the church. I plan to offer an additional small group for anyone currently not attending these groups. It will be during the day and I also encourage people who don’t want to commit to attending every time. So that people do not have to check whether the group is on or not, I will be there every Wednesday at 2pm (except when indicated in advance that it is not happening). Initially, we will be using videos by The Bible Project to look at books of the Bible. These give on overview of the literary structure and message of each book. If nothing else, the study will allow me to go through this good resource myself.

With the move to Level 1 we are nearly returning to normal, also in our church services.
We will have Communion and morning tea again from this Sunday.
We will trial a few changes that COVID-19 has brought up.
For Communion we will be using small, individual cups.
The offering will be collected as a retiring offering, rather than during the offertory hymn. As many parishioners now give by electronic payment, this should not impact too many. To enable the sides-people to join in the morning tea, it would be good if you could place your donation into the basket promptly at the end of the service. I welcome feedback on these changes, so that we know whether we should continue with them.   

Blessings,  Tim