Andrew's Sabbatical

Dear church family,

I am pleased to announce on behalf of the trustees and elders of Grace London that, after nine years of incredibly hard work, Andrew is going to be taking a three-month sabbatical from the end of April to July.

A sabbatical is an extended period of leave from ministry, drawn from God's pattern for work and rest instituted for his people in the Old Testament.  God called his people to rest one day in seven, and to leave the land fallow one year in seven.  In the same way, pastors will often take a period of leave in every seventh year of ministry.  If you want to know more about sabbaticals, this is a helpful article which explains the concept in greater depth.

Andrew planted Grace London with a small group of friends in 2014.  Since then, he has worked tirelessly in serving God as our lead pastor.  In this time, Andrew has not had an extended time of rest and is therefore overdue a sabbatical. 

Andrew was offered a sabbatical in 2021 (the seventh year of his ministry at Grace).  However, given his desire to be with the church as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, and to be with his family as they faced the ill-health and passing of his father, Andrew felt unable to take the sabbatical until this year. 

Please join us in praying for Andrew and Sie as they take this time off; that they might experience deep rest and precious family time.  Please also pray that this would be a time for Andrew to reflect on his ministry to date and to seek the Lord for the season ahead.  We believe that this sabbatical will permit Andrew to return to ministry with new-found energy and enthusiasm for the calling that the Lord has placed upon him.

While Andrew is away, Jeremy and Luke will assume greater responsibility in the leadership of Grace London. In Andrew’s absence, Jeremy will be preaching more regularly on Sundays, alongside some other pastors from Advance (the movement we’re part of) joining us as guest preachers. Please be praying for Jeremy and Jen, and Luke and Janice as they take on this extra responsibility. 

Kind regards,

Tom

On behalf of the trustees and elders of Grace London

Unsung Heroes

When I’m asked the question of what in church life is most exciting and encouraging to me, I will often reply, ‘Mum’s groups’. Many of the mums at Grace are unable to attend a life group in an evening. Yet they are undeterred, choosing instead to get together as mums during the day to study, be totally honest, and help one another as disciples of Jesus.

It is a sight to behold. I have occasionally stumbled into a group meeting in our home after clambering over endless pushchairs stacked outside, and found myself walking into a wall of sound (babies everywhere) and smiles (bibles open, coffee brewing, cake half gone, conversation flowing).

I cannot overstate how vital and countercultural this is.

The world has an ambivalent and often conflicted view of mothering as a calling. Of course, everyone knows it matters. But being a mother is also seen as second best to advancement in the workplace; a kind of sell-out choice by those who have decided to ‘lean out’ rather than ‘lean in’. And that is entirely wrong.

A woman who has a child is by definition called to be a mother, and it is among the highest and most noble of tasks. She is engaged in the long-term process of disciple-making in the most intense and challenging way possible. She is nurturing the future that we all depend upon in the hope of raising young men and women of God, yet she does this without pay, without a break, and often without thanks. The stakes of her calling are unimaginably high, the effort is relentless, and the charge is holy.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the mothers at Grace. Your passion and dedication is seen. Thank you for pouring your lives into the children. Thank you for helping one another, and engaging in serious study together so that you might be better equipped. Thank you for the unceasing labours against a backdrop of laughter and of heartache. May you be used by God to raise up children in the faith who are fiercely and zealously committed to Christ, saturated in his word, filled with his Spirit, and ready to go on changing the world.

Making Room At The Table

Sometimes an unexpected dinner guest comes along just before you’re about to serve up. You had all your quantities measured out, but now the meal you’ve planned will have to stretch to fill an extra mouth. You’re happy to have the extra guest, but it’s a bit of an inconvenience. This is something like how it feels to be part of a growing church. Many of us are excited to have new people joining the church. But, if we’re honest, it also might also feel a bit inconvenient. Perhaps we secretly liked the way things were. It’s no secret that the church has grown quite a bit since we came back together after COVID. Being part of a city-centre church will inevitably mean regularly meeting new people. The fact there are new faces every Sunday might initially feel exciting but can easily become overwhelming. How do we welcome people well without becoming jaded? Let me suggest three principles:

1. Remembering the call to practice hospitality. Hospitality in the New Testament could be literally translated, ‘the love of strangers’. Just as Christ loved us whilst we were outsiders, so, when we’re brought into the kingdom, our lives are turned inside out. We no longer live for ourselves, but rather seek to live lives of love, both for our family, and for the outsider. This should change the way you approach a Sunday gathering. You’re no longer coming just to see your friends. Instead, you come ready to welcome the stranger and help draw them into community.

2. Be willing to make room at the table. We may need to make sacrifices in order to accommodate new folks into our community. It might mean being willing to split your life group into two, so there are more places available for new people. Or perhaps being intentional about chatting to someone new on Sunday rather than the people you know already. Being willing to inconvenience ourselves is part of our call to love each other.  

3. Remember we’re family. Ultimately, we’re not just loving newcomers as ‘strangers’. For someone joining the church, we need to remember they’re (likely) our brother or sister. This changes how we greet them. It’s not another encounter with an anonymous Londoner, but rather meeting a member of God’s extended family. We might have very little in common in human terms, but we have a kinship and familial connection that should draw us together. And even if they’re not a Christian, perhaps it’s even more important that we welcome them well, to demonstrate the love of God that they haven’t yet come to believe in! 

None of this should be confused with the importance of intentionally building deep friendships with a few people. We all need people who know us well to speak into our lives. But don’t let the need for deep friendships stop us from being intentional to welcome new people well into our community. Let’s create a culture together, where both deep friendships and a warm welcome to outsiders can flourish. 

Praying Together

When most of us think of prayer, we tend to think of it as a private and personal discipline. At one level, this reflects Jesus’ teaching on the subject. In Matthew 6, in the passage immediately preceding the Lord’s prayer, Jesus specifically instructs his disciples to ‘go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen’, lest they (or we) be tempted to treat prayer as an act of performative spirituality. Private prayer is a vital part of our personal communion (relationship) with Christ. Without it, I suspect many of us would dry up in our affections and simply find ourselves trying to squeeze out obedience in the Christian life. 

Whilst individual prayer is vital, I’m convinced most of us undervalue the importance of praying with others. Starting next Sunday (26th Feb), we’re going to be reestablishing pre-service prayer for the whole church. Everyone is invited to join us for ~30 minutes of prayer together before each service (10.15am / 4.15pm). I’d love you to consider joining us. 

Let me give you five reasons why I think we should pray together:

1. Personal encouragement. I find it incredibly helpful to pray with other people. When I hear others articulating their worship of Christ, or simply asking God to work, it propels me into prayer. If we find our personal prayer lives flagging, there’s nothing like being with others to stimulate us.  

2. Welcoming the work of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts describes a number of communal moments where the people of God gather together and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them. There’s something significant about God’s people lifting their voices together and asking God to move amongst us. And it’s right that we hunger for more of the Spirit’s deep work in our life together. 

3. Prayer changes things. The great paradox of prayer is that God uses our prayers to change the world. It’s a mind-boggling reality but the (often) unspoken assumption in scripture is that God chooses to work through the prayers of his people to enact his purposes. Pastor EM Bounds argues, “God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be”. I suspect our prayerlessness reveals we often don’t really believe this. 

4. Prayer displays our dependence. Corporate prayer, by its very nature, is a picture of our dependence on God. As we cry out to God together, we’re signalling our fundamental need for God’s work in our lives, both as individuals and as a body. 

5. Prayer as service. One of the best ways we can serve someone is by praying for them. As well as re-establishing pre-service prayer, we’re also putting together a prayer team to pray for folks after each service. We’d love to encourage anyone to come forward for prayer for anything that’s going on in their lives. Please do allow us to serve you in this way. 

We’ll be praying in the staff room (opposite the toilets) from 10.15am and 4.15pm every Sunday from next Sunday (26th Feb). We’ll pray for 25-30 mins, finishing by 10.45am or 4.45pm, so we’re ready to connect with others over coffee. Everyone is welcome to join us. 

The saltiness of Christ’s sex ethic

As I looked out at the many faces staring back at me, I could see a range of reactions. The room was split, and the atmosphere was charged. There were murmurings and groans of disbelief, some furious note-takers and the odd heckle; but also the warm smiles of the church family willing me on and praying.

We were addressing the question, Have we broken sex? at our most recent Salt Live event. And it was clear that we were trampling on terrain set aside for some cherished idol, some sacred cow. I had felt trepidation coming into this event, but I don’t think I was fully prepared in my mind for how difficult it would be. I felt my own anxiety rising, my mouth drying out, and identified with Paul’s testimony when he said, ‘I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling’ (1 Cor 2.3).

The temptation, of course, is to evade these moments of outright confrontation. But when we first established Salt our aim was to speak directly into those areas where the gospel is most distinct, and therefore also most attractive to some.

Sexual exploration is seen these days as the pathway to personal maturity and freedom, though I have nowhere heard anyone explain that in any coherent manner. It’s just assumed. Against this backdrop, it’s clear that the vision of sexual purity and self-control that Christ articulates is now regarded as ludicrous and even oppressive or dangerous to healthy personal development.

When you see a chasm like this emerge between culture and Christ, that is precisely where the opportunity for witness resides. The church is a people called out from the world, defined as holy, set aside for devotion. And it is our difference that can be compelling and attractive for those who are sickened and despairing with the way things are.

Nowhere is the West’s moral system more obviously bankrupt than in it’s self-obsessed approach to sexual gratification. The fallout from the sexual revolution has been catastrophic, leading to more loneliness, rejection, abuse, objectification, regret, unfaithfulness, childlessness and divorce than anyone could have predicted.

Therefore, in the arena of our sex lives – perhaps more than any other – we, as twenty-first century believers, are called to be salty. ‘Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another’ (Mark 9.50). 

February’s Salt Live talk will be uploaded next week. Visit salt.london to give it a listen or watch a video recording of the talk here.

The foot-washing king

This week, I've been reflecting on Jesus’ willingness to wash his disciples’ feet in John 13. I think we tend to forget how shocking it is. Even to our ears, it feels deeply unappealing. Consider the prospect of cleaning the feet of twelve men who’ve been walking hot and dusty streets all day. What would it have smelt like?! Even in Jesus’ day, this wasn’t normal. Guests were usually expected to wash their own feet. If a servant were required to wash the guests’ feet, only the lowest-ranking servants would be required to do so. You can understand why Peter initially rejects Jesus' plan out of hand.

If the incident isn’t shocking enough, Christ tells us that we are to emulate his example (John 13.15). We are to take on the posture of a servant like our master.

From March, we’re going to be hosting a monthly community evangelistic meal at Webber Street Day Centre (a ministry of London City Mission) for the homeless and marginalised community in Waterloo. On the first Thursday of each month, a team from Grace London will cook, host and hang out with guests from the rough sleeping community. Each time, we’ll also have someone give a short evangelistic talk. To my mind, this is an ideal way to do mission, combining practical loving service with gospel proclamation. Click here to find out more & sign-up. 

Serving others is often humbling, painful and inconvenient. It only works if we’re filled with the love of Christ, which in turn requires us to be walking closely with Christ. But if we take up this call to serve others in love and humility, we start to emulate the greatest servant who has ever lived.