Praise
We have much to be thankful for at White Waltham Church over the last term. We are encouraged to welcome a small number of newcomers, the promise of a baptism in the autumn and to see faith growing in our church family.
Our links with the local schools saw a good number of Year 6s come through our doors for Easter Cracked, and our two local schools came up en masse for their school Easter services.
We followed this up in the Easter holidays with our very first White Waltham Church Holiday Club! It was an extravaganza of bright coloured t-shirts, footprints and police tape as we became detectives and investigated the Easter story. We were helped by our wonderful array of Bible characters who came to life with wigs, costumes and accents, our avid reporter Iva Story, and best of all, more than half of our own adults and teens getting stuck in to help, along with some wonderful help from St Mary’s folk too. From leading groups, to setting up tech, music, refreshments, registration, games and crafts, it was a hugely encouraging few days. We had 20 children from the local area and one family has since started coming to church.
Please praise God for this wonderful result, ask that his Word would take root in the hearts of all that were there and would be growing. And please pray that this new family would keep coming and would come to know the love of Jesus.
Sabbatical
Our lovely vicar Dave is on sabbatical this term. We hope he is spending a good chunk of his time resting and being refreshed in God’s Word, along with visiting other churches and doing a Biblical Counselling UK course designed for pastors on sabbatical. In July he is going to Kenya to help out with some gospel work there and his eldest daughter Melody is going with him. Please pray for real rest for Dave, for encouragement and refreshment in his own walk with the Lord, and that his travelling and studies will be a real blessing to him and to others.
Finances
As a church we have been greatly blessed to receive a couple of legacies which have been a real boost to our finances. That said, we are running at a loss each year and at our current rate will have run out of money in the next five years. We are keen to be investing in missional work, but also have the burden of a very old building. The PCC are meeting in the autumn to pray and discuss our finances and where God is leading us. Please pray for God’s guidance for us.
We would love to welcome anyone from St Mary’s along on any given Sunday to come and see what we’re up to and share encouragements. We meet at 10.30am.
Katie Croft (Volunteer Children’s and Youth Worker)