No.43 - Ministry at Grace Church

Praise God for a wonderful year of ministry.

Verse Of The Year

'Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.'

1 Corinthians 15:58

This was the central verse of the chapter I got to preach on earlier in the year, and it has brought me much joy over the last few months. Paul is urging us to have such a high view of working for the Lord that we commit to give all that we have to abound in it. He wants nothing to move us from working for the Lord.

Why? Well, because Christ really rose from the dead, and so we really will rise from the dead, and the life we have to look forward to is so much better than this one. Therefore, we want to encourage each other to prioritise the work of the Lord, saving people from eternal destruction, and bringing them into eternal life, through the power of God's word. Praise be to God!

The Last Year

I want to say a massive thank you to all of you. We are so grateful for all of your love, support, and prayers over the last year. Through God's grace and your prayers, we have been able to be involved in so much more ministry work and training than we thought possible. It has been a real joy to go through this year knowing that we are not doing things on our own, we have your prayers and support. Thank you again, we are very grateful!

I thought I'd include a little summary of the ministry work and training, by God's grace, I was able to undertake. Each of the different areas has been a blessing in different ways, and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to be involved in these ministry areas.

Ministry Overview

• Led weekly bible study meetings

• Attended weekly church planning meetings

• Gave regular children's talks

• Co-led a primary school RE lesson.

• Attended multiple training days at Cornhill bible college

• Led and managed sung worship and sound equipment

• Attended TEAM, a year-long Cambridge Bible course

• Ran a Bright Light's Party (Evangelistic event)

• Ran the music for a Carol service

• Preached my first sermon on Psalm 2

• Ran an Easter Celebration (Evangelistic event)

• Gave a Youth talk

• Preached at Grace Church on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

• Gave 4 Evangelistic talks at Foxfields Centre

• Attended Keswick Bible Convention

• Led 2 121's in Philippians

• Helped run Holiday Club - gave a talk on Daniel

• Led the music for our weekend at home

The Next Year

Future plans

I have loved getting to spend the last year serving at Grace church. God has been very kind in growing my love for his people, his word and himself. This growth in desire to be a part of God's mission, plus the encouragement from many godly friends, has prompted me to pursue full-time ministry. And so, as many of you will know, my wife and I will be spending the next year or so in London, where I will be taking part in the St Helen's Ministry Associate Scheme.

St Helen's Associate scheme

This is a 1-year program that aims to train people for lifelong, Bible-centred ministry. There are three things that I'm really excited about.

Firstly, getting to spend time with many other godly Christians. Both those who are in a similar position as I am and those who have many, many years of ministry experience.

Secondly, the chance to be trained in understanding and sharing the bible. This scheme is known for having some of the best bible teaching there is. And many people travel from all over the world to learn from their trainers.

Thirdly, the program has been set up not just as a bible training scheme but as a ministry training scheme. I am really excited to learn and be equipped in the many different areas of ministry work.

I think this year will be a great chance to learn about God's word, build great relationships and explore full-time paid church ministry.

Ministry Letters

Over the next year, I would love to continue to share with you ministry updates, encouragements, and prayer requests. However, the ministry work and training I am about to undergo will be quite intense and will require most of my time. Therefore, I have decided to continue writing and sharing ministry letters, but at a reduced rate. So, from September, I will be aiming to share ministry letters monthly.

Prayer Requests

We are very excited about the next year, but we are very aware that we won't learn anything or be of use to anyone without God's help. So we really would love your prayers.

Firstly, we would love your prayers for the people we will be getting the opportunity to minister to. Please pray that our brothers and sisters at St Helens would be strengthened in their faith, grow to delight in Christ more and more and that even more people would come to know the joys of the gospel.

Secondly, we would love your prayers for our church leaders, specifically Drew, who will be heading up the service I will be serving at. Please pray that he would keep trusting in God's promises and that I would be able to serve him well.

And finally, we would love prayer that we would be growing in godliness, a desire to glorify God, and the ability to share God's word, all while being filled with the peace that comes from trusting in the hope we have in the new creation.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support over the last year.

Love and prayers in Christ.

God bless,

Joshua & Luci.

P.S. - I will be aiming to continue my podcast 'Delighted By Christ' throughout the year. If you haven't quite got the brain space to listen to a Sermon or read a Christian book, but still want to be encouraged, my hope is that this could be a great way to help you keep delighting in Christ.

So if you want to hear more about how I've been delighted by Christ over the last week, feel free to check out the podcast on Youtube

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/@helpmedelight

Or watch the latest episode below.