Hey folks, here’s another monthly update from us at Downham Baptist Church. We’re blessed by the keeping hand of our God, and how He is able to uphold us. Not much has happened this month, but here are some updates nonetheless.
Working At A Slower Pace
As a church, we have been operating at a much slower pace, and will be continuing to move at a slow pace for the foreseeable future, and here are the reasons why (with somewhat of a detailed explanation):
- More Workers Are Needed – Since July 2022, we have had to say goodbye to a lot of our workforce. As many of you are aware, Travis and his family have moved back to America to occupy a new role within their Missions Board/Agency. Not long after this, Sam and his family moved to Colchester to continue the work that Travis started there. Just last month, Bethany (a missionary who worked with us for a year) went back home to America to raise support with the hopes of returning to the UK as a full-time missionary. We have been blessed to have worked with them throughout their time here, but without them, the work is unsustainable for the saints who have remained – without slowing down, we will all be in over-worked and over-burdened to the point of it being detrimental to us all.
- We Want To Focus On Grounding Our People, Not Ministry Output – As a follow up to the point above, we want to focus on building up the people here rather than putting them to work in a ministry. According to Ephesians 4:11-12, we believe that we must first perfect, or mature (ground) the saints so that they are enabled and ready to do the work of ministry, not the other way around where they are put into a ministry or a position they are not equipped for. With that in mind, our focus for the future will be to help build up and further disciple the saints here, with the hopes that from mature saints will come ministry.
- We (Ricardo and Katharina) Are Expecting Our Third Child – Thirdly, my wife and I are expecting out third child any day now. Because of this, we will be unable to do as much for the next few months as we take the time to adjust to having another child.
With all of this said, our aim and desire is not to stop the work, but rather, to work with what we have, in the place where we are, and labour in the ways that we are able to. Please pray for us, that the Lord, in His mercy, would provide us with more labourers who can share in the work with us, please pray that the saints here will continue to grow and continue to be grounded in the love of Christ and of His word, and please pray for my wife and I that the Lord will give us wisdom in our parenting and how we serve the church.
Community Outreach Postponed
In light of what’s mentioned above, we have decided to temporarily stop doing our Weekly Community Outreach as I am unable to dedicate the time to lead and organise it. However, we do not discourage, but we rather urge the saints at Downham to continue Personal Outreach/Evangelism – just because we are unable to have an organised outreach ministry for, it doesn’t mean we should stop sharing the Gospel as individuals, on a personal basis.
Lessons On Evangelism
To help with Personal Outreach/Evangelism, we have started teaching on What is Evangelism, Why Should we Evangelise, and How to Evangelise. These lessons are on Wednesdays 7:00 PM. We invite you to come and be equipped in how to share the gospel with those around you.
Youth Photography Day Out
Although we have not been able to organise a lot of events for this month, our brother Jeff was able to organise the Youth for an outing. Last Saturday, they were out together for a day of fellowship and photography – they were tasked with taking photographs of something “Natural” and something “Man-made” and the church voted on their favourite pictures. To celebrate the winners of this competition (as well as blessing those who took part but didn’t win), Jeff is organising a Pizza Party for them in the near future.
Q&A Evening
On Wednesday last week, we held a Q&A session where we allowed people to come and present their questions about the Bible, about faith, and life. We also had people send in their questions via message as they couldn’t make it, but wanted their questions addressed. Thank you to everyone who came, who asked, and ultimately, thank you for your fellowship in the Lord that evening. We would like to make this a quarterly event, and so we are hoping to host another Q&A in about three months’ time.
That’s all for now. Have an awesome upcoming month, and the Lord bless you all.
Ric