eNews | Fri 16th Oct '20

Dear e-News friends and church family,Reshaping ChurchI’m often asked these days, ‘what do you think God is doing in this pandemic?’One thing is for sure He is not the cause of it, but I am convinced that He is at work within it.For one thing, the global church has been re-shaped.Jesus made a big promise that He will never renege on, Jesus said that He would build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.It’s a sadness to see that PM Modi in India, President Xi Jinping in China, and the Democrats in partnership with the liberal media in America are using the pandemic to attempt a shut-down of the church community. Pastors are attacked in India, jailed in China, and taken to court in America.We see the conflict of opinion between business, science, and political leaders, and the ongoing confusion between them.So, it’s a great relief to know my life is in God’s hands, and Jesus is still the head of the church. It’s been under the same management for 2,000 years.But I do believe we are getting back to basics. Our mandate was to make disciples, and it’s never been busier.Several thousand tune in every week to church online with us, the recent Diamonds women’s conference had its highest attendance ever, and the Box women’s discipleship initiative is adding new groups every week, from the USA to London.THE BOX Here we are remapping some things locally. New leaders have been appointed into our kids' ministry, youth ministry, and the Bold students/young adult ministry. They are all working closely together to make sure that all our young people are discipled well at every stage, with no gaps in the transition from one to the other. We will be laying hands on these wonderful people soon.New growth groups are starting up, including this week a Dad’s growth group.Church online is here to stay, but we have now begun to use our buildings for café/friendship houses so that those who wish to physically meet others can do so in a safe environment.Whilst the new raft of lockdowns has stopped the friendship houses in many places at the moment, we are still seeing a very high turnout for midweek growth groups.We are also now running church in Spanish, Romanian, Italian, and Farsi.A joint Alpha kicked off this week with Destiny Church Edinburgh.This is a challenging time for many, and our foodbank and food ministry continue to be necessary, with around 1400 meals going out each week.Others, depending on the nature of their business, are doing extremely well, with some businessmen telling me this week that this is the busiest and best season they have ever had.I have heard of some losing jobs only to get better ones within days, God is being extremely good to us as a church, and our new weekly testimony slots bear strong witness to our wonderful and great God at work.The praying4u@destiny-church.com team are very busy with dozens writing in each week, and plenty of testimonies coming back with praise reports.This year we have partnered with Samaritan’s Purse/Franklin Graham for our Christmas acts of kindness appeal, this project is called ‘Operation Christmas Child.’ We are both gathering in shoeboxes to donate, and we have helped them open up in new areas in the world for gifts to be received. Please make sure you get that shoebox and fill it to bless a child somewhere in the world from our Southside or City Building. Pray for our very challenging court case against CEC, which is now live. For the sake of all churches in the UK, we must win this case.SUPPORT THE COURT CASE Please also pray for Lois Denham who has been hospitalised with kidney trouble, and for Ron McLean as he walks through chemo for his ongoing battle with cancer, we are trusting that this will be the end of it, and he fully recovers and gets back to full strength.The church is open, get in touch if you need anything at all, and feel free to point neighbours or friends towards the ministry we offer into the community, which includes an amazing well-trained counselling service.Watch out for a brilliant church online this weekend, both services are very important - see you there!We love you guys, Andrew & Sue