Triumph

“What a triumph” – words from the Bishop’s Chaplain to describe our Confirmation Sunday service this past weekend. She’s right. It was an absolute triumph. With around 200 people in attendance (I counted 190 at the Communion rail), eighteen confirmands, and an army of volunteers running the kitchen, welcoming, singing in the choir, or helping in other ways, its hard to deny how special the event was for us.

Crucially, following Sunday’s service, a half-dozen or so other people have asked me about ways they can take a next step in their faith journey. For some, it will be baptism, first communion or confirmation. For others, it will be joining a choir, offering their skills as a musician, or helping us enrich our worship in another way.

For some, it will be by coming along to Alpha, which begins on January 13th.

If our churches are to grow, they will do so by people taking steps of faith. Perhaps now is the time for you to take your next step of faith by bringing a friend, neighbour, or family member along to Alpha. We’ve been thinking, and praying, about who we can invite for months – now is the time to invite. The worst that can happen is that they say is ‘no’, the best that can happen is that they encounter the love, joy, and peace of the Lord Jesus.

The Triumph of this last week was not merely that we put on a lovely service that lots of people attended – the triumph is that the Lord is building his church. Both in strength and in number. The Lord is at work across Bridgend by his Spirit, through his word, and in his body (the Church). We have received an invitation to join him as co-labourers and fellow-workers – and through his grace and mercy, he invites us also to join him in his triumph.