St. Michael and All Angels Sandhurst
Like or Follow Us:
  • Home
    • Rev John Castle's Blog
    • Services >
      • April 2018 Services
      • March 2018 Services
      • February 2018 Services
      • Services Overview
    • Prayer
    • Newsletters
    • News
    • Social Events
    • Winspire >
      • Winspire Photos
      • Winspire Grants
      • Winspire Windows
    • Events Calendar
  • Activities
    • Children's Activities
    • Young People
    • Sandhurst Youth
    • Families
    • Exploring Faith
    • Music
    • CAP Money
    • Traidcraft
    • Maintenance
    • Photos
  • Rooms/Marriage/Baptism
    • Pastoral Centre Hall & Rooms
    • Marriage
    • Baptism
    • Churchyard
  • Community
    • Links
    • Churches Together
    • Charities
    • St Michaels School
  • About Us
    • Money
    • Annual Review
    • Who's Who?
    • Safeguarding
    • History >
      • History Timeline
      • History Early Church
      • History Victorian Church
      • History Memorials
      • History Churchyard
      • History Pastoral Centre
      • History Features
      • History Clergy Past
    • 150th Anniversary >
      • Flower Festival
      • Beating Bounds
  • Contact

Do you want to be part of a growing Church?

24/8/2014

1 Comment

 
Writing up the register for the recent Confirmation service I was struck by the fact that most of the young people getting confirmed had been baptised at St Michael's too. 11, 12, 13 years later they were professing their own faith in public, after years of being nurtured in faith, both by their parents and by our church family.

These young people, and the adults who were confirmed with them, need our continuing prayers, friendship and support. Sadly, that confirmation register also has the names of many who are no longer actively growing in their faith, or have given up altogether. Like the seed in Jesus' parable, the word of God has shrivelled up or got choked in lives filled with busyness and the pressure to conform to the world's beliefs and values.

Like a garden, if our church and our lives are to bear fruit we may need more than a bit of maintenance, but some clearing of “stones”and “weeds”, and some pruning, so that young and established plants can grow together to produce fruitfulness and beauty for God's Kingdom in Sandhurst. Are we ready?

1 Comment
Liz Percival
24/8/2014 02:46:28 am

Thank you for this, John. It's easy with an employed youth worker to see it as their job to nurture our young people, but it's an all church responsibility. Every one of us can take the trouble to speak to one of our young people at church or pray for them. What's more all the volunteer youth leaders are just ordinary people who care about young people and want to see them grow in their faith. If there is anyone reading your blog who could give a few hours to work on the youth team, we'd love to hear from them.
PS Perhaps we could also pray for those who've been confirmed here and no longer come along. God can work miracles through those prayers even if we don't see the results.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Rev John Castle has been Rector of St Michael & All Angels Church in Sandhurst, Berks since October 2004.




    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

✕