Belonging
Hello all – I hope you’ve had a really good couple of weeks – they seem to have flown by and I just had to check that it really was two weeks and I wasn’t sending this out early!
So this week I’ve been thinking about belonging. One of my frequent prayers for each one of you, is that you will have a very strong sense of belonging. Firstly and most importantly to our Father – we are God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved (Col 3:12) and this is always the foundation of our lives. But my heart is also that you will know you belong in Leicester and, more specifically, that you will know security in belonging to TLC.
I looked up ‘belonging’ in the dictionary and one of the meanings stood out – ‘to be properly or appropriately placed’ – and this is my prayer for you here. Some of you have been part of TLC for many years and some only a few weeks, but if you have decided to make TLC your church then you belong here. It can sometimes take a while to feel ‘properly or appropriately placed’ within a church and if this is a challenge for you at the moment then it would be good for you to ask God to help you find your place. It may help to talk to Tony and I, or one of the other leaders. It may help to join a small group, or a serving team (I’m sure some of you are resisting ‘belonging’ to the 7am set-up team!!) but ultimately your Father wants to place you where you can thrive and bless others and as you trust him he will help you to find the way.
And then of course I have several more dates for you – there really are some fantastic things coming up this month:-
This Sunday morning– there will be baptism teaching in both services for everyone who wants to get baptised. If you’re thinking about it but have some questions this is also a great opportunity for you to find out more. In fact if you’re at TLC on Sunday and haven’t been baptised can I HUGELY recommend that you get yourself along to the teaching.
And then in the evening at the TLC building it’s time for StandOut! If you have a ticket then you’re in for a treat – doors open at 7:30pm. If you still want to come and don’t have a ticket, contact Becka at standoutmakeadifference@live.co.uk.
Thursday 8 March – 7:30pm @ TLC– it’s time for our next Globe Event which is going to be a brilliant fair trade themed evening – bring your friends along – it’s a fun and relaxed evening open to all international students.
Sunday 11 March – it’s our next opportunity to eat together and David and Susan have very kindly opened their home for an 18-25’s invasion – I’m very much looking forward to driving the minibus again and getting us all to the house of Hind for a great afternoon.
And for those of you with a unique ability to ignore information may I announce that 23-25 March is COMEAWAY2012 and that we really want to gather as many of you as possible for a weekend full of good things. There will be food, there will be friendship, there will be beautiful countryside, there will be a lot of fun….and we are asking God to come and meet with us. I believe he is going to answer our prayer and we will be restored, enlarged and inspired as we encounter Him. Booking forms are available on Sunday and I am genuinely excited about spending the weekend with the lovely people who are already signed up.
That’s all for now, may you be blessed so very, very much, see you soon.
With love,
Joy x