Vicar's update - February 2020

Our 2019 figures are still being finalised, but it looks like we received significantly more income than we expected – praise God! Our Church Council have given away 10% of this unexpected money as a ‘thank offering’ – to SCRATCH and Friends International Southampton (to tie in with our financial hardship and inter-cultural relations mission focus areas). We’re considering how best to use the rest of the money to help us build God’s kingdom.
 
I’m also pleased to say that we’ve appointed Adrian Popplestone as our Buildings Maintenance Manager (5 hours pw). We’ve got a bit behind in looking after our buildings – he will help us get back to where we should be!

We’re also hoping to appoint a Safeguarding Administrator (5 hours pw) this month. Click here for details. 

​This month, we’re continuing our sermon series looking at the Extraordinary Jesus, through the lens of Matthew’s gospel. He was so taken with the life that Jesus offered him that he left his lucrative tax-collector position and followed Jesus (Matthew 9.9-13).
 
On the second Sundays of the month (9am only), we’re looking at various Psalms which get picked up by Matthew in his gospel – reminding us that the Older Testament pointed forward to Jesus. As we see how the OT is used by the New Testament, our understanding of God’s plans and purposes grows and deepens. We’re going to begin building a little bit more variety into those services over the coming months.
 
There are loads of excellent (and plenty of not-so-good!) discipleship resources online, prompting some to ask the question “What’s the point of gathering as church?” On the third Sundays of the month, Dan is giving some answers to that question.