Gibbs, David and Jane - UK
Gibbs main pagePrayer Letter August 2006
“Bringing the great news of Jesus to Wanstead”
The Vision:
Our Vision is to glorify God by being a Bible centred, welcoming church family seeking to reach out with the gospel of Jesus in the Wanstead area. Wanstead is in East London. Although relatively affluent financially it is a spiritually needy area of 25,000 people where less than 1% go to Bible centred churches in the area. We have a growing group of people joining us to seek to bring the good news of Jesus to this area and the surrounding area.
What’s been happening:
Much has come together in the last few months:
A Christianity Explored Course and another evangelistic Bible study running during the summer term have been on hold as the summer holidays have arrived. But it has been encouraging that one of the folks from one of the groups has shown a desire to join GCW.
We have been joined by a few more folk keen to get involved in the project. One lady is moving into the area to join the church and is able to give most of her time to Grace Church Wanstead It is exciting to think that we are in touching distance of the 30 adults for which we originally prayed.
Thanks to the generosity of the planters and various trusts and Christ Church, Leyton we now have sufficient funds in place or pledged for our start up costs and our first year!! Work on setting up a charitable company status is progressing well and we should have a church bank account in the next couple of weeks.
On the area of venue we were pursuing three different venues and two said no on the same day, clear guidance that we should use the other!! Although with more people joining the church we will probably need a bigger venue in the near future. We will start at the Tree House Nursery on Woodbine Place right in the heart of Wanstead.
It has been exciting and encouraging to go through the rigorous Crosslinks selection process and to be part of their desire to reach the World with the Word. Crosslinks is an Anglican mission organisation that support worldwide mission in Anglican contexts.
Another major area of progress has been in finding accommodation for the Gibbses. Having worked out the best structure for financing accommodation there has been good progress in terms of selling the Gibbs’ flat in South West London (we have accepted an offer on that) and finding a house that with some modification would appear to very suitable for ministry in Wanstead. We are all too aware of how fraught with pitfalls buying and selling houses can be!!
More of the nitty gritty planning is now occurring with Sunday school teachers meetings happening and Creche rotas beginning to be worked out, and Child Protection administration being done. There is a lot to do in starting a new Church!
Looking forward our start date of 10th September is fast approaching, and there is much to do before then, but it is important that in all the administrative business we do not lose sight of the fact that our purpose is not just to set up a church, but so set up a church that is reaching out with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must be outward looking.
Praise Points
- For the Great Gospel that has rescued us
- For those already reaching out with the gospel in Wanstead.
- For the diversely gifted workers that God has raised up.
- For the financial provision.
- For the support of other Christians, especially at Christ Church Leyton and Crosslinks
- For progress in Gibbs’ housing.
For Prayer
- For on going evangelism.
- For more Workers for this needy harvest field.
- Preparations before the Start on September 10th
- Music, Sunday school, creche, coffee, welcoming. PA, powerpoint. Etc.
- Website, charitable status and company stuff – that all that would run smoothly and facilitate the spread of the gospel.
- The Gibbs’ house buying process and building work would run smoothly.
Once we have started:
- That God’s Word would be taught clearly and boldly, and that people would be encouraged and edified and outsiders welcomed.
- For a good long-term venue.