poor neglected blog

We've had to do a few trade-ins recently with 5:17 church starting up on Feb 8. We're thankful for its genesis and the way things have gone so far. It's a small, cosy congregation and a relaxed, casual service. We've seen newcomers each week and look forward to how God works in and through us to impact our non-Christian friends, our local community and our city. We now have some very impressive looking business cards that you can help us hand out to invite your (especially caucasian) friends to 5:17.

We're also really thankful for Pastor Ben and Faith's arrival and partnership with us. It makes a big difference to have fellow full-time staff to serve alongside!

And so you would have noticed we have much less of an upfront role at SLE and less time to blog and send SLE emails! This was the intention (though not a certainty) from the start - ie. to see Ben take over primary pastoral ministry at SLE, and Steve to take on 5:17 church. We anticipated a transition period of several months - which we recognise is a bit bumpy for everyone - you and us. In this transition Steve and I remain part of SLE and some of its ministry areas (namely Clay, Bloom, Grunt, and some less formalised ones) but over the course of the year we'll need to hand over more and more. On this note it's a significant answer to prayer to have had some SLEers take up Deacon nominee roles in preparation for the new structure changes we hope to see take place soon.

And with so many newcomers in the past fortnight, all the more we want to encourage you to see yourselves as fellow ministers of God's gospel to each other and to the world. Pastors are given to the church to equip the saints for works of service ('ministry') - so it's our prayer that we'll be able to keep plugging away at this, and that you'll keep plugging away at living joyful, Jesus-centred, grace-motivated lives that serve each other and make the world take notice.