Dear friends

Well what next!  I’m sure you’ve all had days where you think that nothing else could possibly go wrong and make it any worse and yet it ends up happening.  What next!  Some of us live lives like that, don’t we - rolling from one problem to another.  It has been interesting over the Christmas period to hear so many folk commenting on the work on the Spire and the East Gable, saying how wonderful the work is and checking I have passed on the thanks of the church to the contractors and architects, yet each time their question is, what next?!  Which bit of the church needs attention next?

Maintaining a church building can be a little like painting the Forth Bridge - there’s always something to do and as we begin a new year it is an opportunity to sit back and thank those who have worked so hard throughout 2011.  Yet we have also been maintaining our church community and I guess a New Year is an opportunity for us to sit back and reflect on what next for Alderley Edge Methodist Church community?  Over the last couple of years we have seen new people joining our number and we are thrilled that so many have become regulars.  But what next? 

2012 is a culmination year in so many ways and the beginning of the next cycle.  Whether your sporting preference is football (Euro 2012) or multi-sports (London 2012), sportswomen and men will this year be giving their all to achieve their goal before beginning the cycle again towards the next goals in future years.  This year is also our opportunity to celebrate the achievements that God has wrought amongst us but also needs to be the point when we realise that there is much more work to do.

 So what will you give to God in 2012?  Will you offer him just what you have before?  Will 2012 be the year you just continue on doing the things you’ve done before, attending and sharing in the same ways.  Or will 2012 be the year as a church we search out what God wants of each and every one of us?  Will it be the year we grow increasingly spiritually as well as numerically?  Will it be the year that we have to put on more housegroups as so many more people want to start attending?  Maybe in your own life you already give so much time to the church but do you give your time to God as well?  Will 2012 be the year you challenge yourself to get spiritually fit in your personal devotions?

Whatever 2012 holds for us I believe it is a journey best continued walking with God and I know he has guided us through many difficult times in the past in our own lives and in our church and that he will continue to do so but I encourage you as you begin a new year to remember the promise of the Covenant service that we are no longer our own but God’s and maybe this is the year to let go and let God.  May you all know God’s blessings throughout 2012, wherever it may take you and in whatever you may face.

Yours in Christ

Ben