Pastoral Update #1

It's Friday the 20th of March 2020 and this is the first of a pastoral video that we hope to

put out once a week from St Columba's just to update you on what's happening. So to let you

know what's happening on Sunday we are live streaming the services at 11am and 5 30pm.

The link is syncsfc.org forward slash live stream and you'll find the service there.

Harrington Community Church, one of our church plants will be joining us on Sunday morning and

we look forward to that. If you're part of a city group that have already had met on online platforms

why don't you meet up after the service to discuss it maybe, to pray, to drink coffee. So the 11 o'clock

and then 5 30 we'll have a shorter live stream and John Watson one of our ministers in training

will be leading that. At 7pm on Sunday we hope to join the rest of the nation, the Christian churches

and different Christians in the nation to pray as part of a national day of prayer for God to

intervene in this situation and turn what has become a real national challenge into something that

will result into his glory. So moving forward just a couple of things I want to mention we're

moving forward on the basis that what we're doing just now will happen for at least 12 weeks probably

longer and if things get worse for example if there's a city-wide lockdown then probably the Sunday

stream will look a little bit different from what it's looking for now we'll not be able to record

from the church it will probably be from the manse and it might just be more informal and less like

an ordinary church service. But we want to stress a couple of things from the leadership point of

view and the first is sustainability because it's going to be happening for quite a long time

we realise our resources are quite limited and self-isolation might make things harder

so we want to put what we want to provide centrally we want to be able to keep providing

and sustain what we're doing and because of that simplicity is very important you'll have one

email correspondence on a Wednesday and that email is what you currently get if you're in the habit

of not reading it then please do read it if it check your promotions or your junk mail sometimes

it will go into that and do read it because it will give you an update and you can also of course

follow us on Twitter or on Facebook or you can subscribe to our YouTube channel which will give

you information. We also have this one short pastoral video each week the services will always be

online 11 a.m and 5 30 p.m on a Sunday. On Wednesday evenings we want to keep the pattern the same

engine room one week city groups the following week but of course city groups can be anytime

with the added flexibility of meeting online but on the engine room we hope to have an online

platform to meet together and pray and that will happen this week more information will go out about

that but generally we really want to encourage the pastoral areas of city groups and people within

that to be in touch with one another every day as I mentioned on Wednesday in the email pray please

pray that's the most vital thing to do more important than all the hearing all the information

that's going on just now phone someone new every day from your pastoral area within the church or

even out with the church of course and think of one way that you can help practically or be helped

and don't be slow to ask for help so that the pastoral teams in the city groups are very very

important for us so sustainability simplicity and also stability we want to focus our attention

on the Lord Jesus Christ we're looking at the Sermon on the Mount on a Sunday morning and at the end

of that Jesus says if you hear these words of mine and put them into practice you'll be like the

wise man who built this house on the rock when the storms came that house stood and we know that

that is a picture of putting our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ in the hardest and most difficult

of times and so we want to keep that focus and that perspective and that stability and I want

just to finish with a reading from my massive big preacher's Bible from Colossians 3 verse 3 which

Colossians 3:3

is since then you have been raised with Christ set your hearts on things above where Christ is

seated at the right hand of God set your minds on things above non earthly things for you died and

your life is now hidden with Christ in God when Christ who is your life appears then you will also

appear with him in glory so in all our questions fears doubts and concerns help us maybe be people

who keep our eyes on Jesus Christ through all of this thanks