Reflections on Church Planting - 4 Years On
Last week was the fourth anniversary of the start of Rochdale Evangelical Church. As I said in my last post , it's a time for anniversaries. My overriding reflection over that 4 years has been that it's hard, but important, to trust the following verse from Romans: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Rom. 8:28 ESV) It's been a truth that is hard to hold onto, because I think in my mind things working together for good must surely mean a steadily growing church and therefore Bible witness in Rochdale, but it's been rather harder than that (yes I know the context is about conforming me to the image of the Son). But because it's been harder than that it's been all the more important to cling to God and his sovereign purposes for our good. Here are few of our experiences to try and explain why. Things are up and down I think it can be true in any ministry that things ebb and f...
