Sunday 16th January 2011

Welcome everyone

I am not sure what decisions you have made about your life for this New Year, but one resolution that we should all have is to follow Jesus more faithfully – to trust in what he trusted in – to love what he loved – to be occupied with what  occupied him – to resist what he resisted, etc.  In order for us to follow Jesus and have faith in what Jesus had faith in, we need to be constantly growing in our knowledge and understanding of Jesus – learning about the way he lived and the way he calls us to live.

I have just planted a small garden and one thing I have been reminded of again is that plants are either growing or dying.  There is no in-between for plants.  It is growth or death!  I think we humans are not too different to plants – we too are either growing or dying.  So the question we need to ask ourselves is what are we doing to grow?  Where is our water and nutrient supply and are we getting enough sunlight?

To this end I want to invite you to seriously consider signing up for Connections (a 12- week course starting Sunday 30th January at 19:00).  If you have done it before—there is no harm in doing it again—because it WILL be different, not least because there will be a different group of people doing it.  This will also give you an opportunity to meet new people at CMM.   Or if you have done Connections then it may be time to try the DISCIPLE course (also starting end of January).

What I know about my own journey with Jesus is that when I am meeting weekly with other serious seekers of the way, the truth and the life – I grow and when I don’t I die a little.  It is as simple as that!  I want to encourage you to carve out some time this year for GROWTH…to journey with others in following Jesus.

Just do it!  Alan