Easter 2010
- Mervyn Eloff
- Mar 28, 2010
- Series: Letter from the Rector
Dear Friends
As Easter approaches, we are reminded again of God’s amazing grace to us in His Son Jesus. The Apostle Paul describes this grace in Romans 5vs8: “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were sinners, Christ died for us..” In a world devoid of love and driven by pride and performance, what an encouragement these words are! Do we feel neglected and unloved? We can look at the Cross of Christ as proof of God’s love for us! Do we feel unworthy of that love? It was directed toward us as sinners and is thus not based upon our performance – it is totally unconditional and sacrificial and thus it reached to us as we are and helps us to become something new in Christ. Praise God for His love!!
Music at St James
Speaking of God’s praise, I am sure that you have been encouraged by our congregational singing in recent months. We have always been blessed at St James with faithful and talented musicians and singers and we are deeply grateful to them for their service over many years. We have seen some changes with Colin Peckham’s arrival and of course change is not always comfortable, but I am convinced that the longer term result will be of immense blessing to us all. Our single goal in all that we are doing is that we may glorify God in our congregational praise and have a sense of His presence as we meet together. Please be much in prayer for Colin and our musicians and singers as they work hard at recruiting and training musicians and at building a singing ensemble and choir. Take time to chat to Colin about the long-term vision. I am sure that if you do you will be encouraged and excited about what the Lord has in store for us.
Easter at St James
We are delighted to welcome Thabiti Anyabwile and his family to St James for our annual Easter convention from March 29-31. Thabiti is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman. He is a former Muslim who, to use his words, “was saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.” Thabiti’s subject for our convention is The Gospel and Race and one can hardly think of a more appropriate or important subject for our city at this time. Also, be sure not to miss our Easter weekend services where I will be looking at the questions: What If Christ did not die; What if Christ did not rise from the dead . On Easter Sunday evening we will be having an Easter Carol Service and watching an excellent DVD presentation by Rico Tice.
Plans for Children’s Church
As you will know if you are the parent of a Kindergarten age child, our Children’s Church is bursting at the seams. We have thus decided to take no
Church Finances
As a management council we are of course acutely aware of the financial struggles that so many are facing at this time. Economic recession, increased fuel, electricity and food prices, school and Varsity fees and a host of other demands have made this an exceedingly tough time. We are also deeply conscious of God’s goodness to us as a church, evidenced again by a Thank Offering of R600 000 last year. Thanks to this and a generous legacy were able to survive the year and to end with a relatively small deficit.
We do however need to make you aware that our regular monthly giving is a matter of some concern. To date we are facing a deficit of about R300 000 for the year which means in practice that our income is about R100 000 below budget on a month on month basis. Obviously we have had a careful look at our expenditure and our staffing expenses, but to be quite honest dear friends, there really does not seem to be any way in which we can cut back without negatively affecting our ability to provide the service we ought to provide.
I would thus like to ask each of you not only to pray for our church finances and to prayerfully consider your own regular giving to St James but also to ensure that we do not draw back from giving to the Lord’s work in these difficult times. Nothing would give the evil one greater pleasure than to see the Lord’s work languish as a result of a lack of funding. And we can surely take the Lord’s promise to heart that as we are generous, He will continue to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory. I commend 1 Corinthians 8 & 9 to you for your prayerful consideration. It certainly has been a great challenge to us personally at this time.
Growing the Church
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminds the Corinthians that compromise with the world and its wisdom, though it may be well intentioned, is never the way to grow the church. Because it is God Who alone gives growth, we should work hard to be faithful to His gospel message and we should stick to gospel methods in reaching others. Foremost among these is the role that the individual Christian plays in reaching others for Jesus. To do this one does not have to be a specially gifted person – just someone who loves Jesus and wants in life and word to testify to His grace in our lives. Be available to God – ask him to open a door for the gospel among your family, friends and colleagues. Pray for wisdom to be able to explain the gospel clearly and graciously to others. Take a risk and invite others to come with you to St James. Remember: The Lord is on our side as we seek to reach others. Let us rise to the challenge of being His ambassadors and look with expectation to see Him at work!
The staff and management council join me in wishing you a blessed Easter
With warmest greetings and in His Service
Mervyn Eloff
Rector
