As a church we're part of an international family of churches called Commission, and it's a good family to belong to.
We've been blessed at Welcome Church over the last year by some excellent visiting speakers from various parts of our Commission family, including Simon Argent, John Groves, and Tim Blaber (all from the UK), and Sydney Nevis, Vinu Paul and Wellington Gomes (all from India).
A good number of people from Welcome Church are booked into various Commission training programmes that are running this year too, and I know they'll be great (I'm even speaking on one of them myself 
)
This summer we were blessed by the Commission Festival, and lots of us were involved in helping to make that event happen. The bookings for next year's festival are open and a good number have booked in already - don't miss it!
What's Changing?
Most of you will know that, for several years, I've been part of the Commission UK Leadership Team. I've had a range of responsibilities and have taken the lead on several events and initiatives, as well as helping to give oversight to other churches. The role has taken a growing portion of my time and focus, and it's been a joy to do, not least anchoring the main meetings at the recent Festival and preaching in one too (what a huge privilege that was!)
At Welcome Church we've also been increasingly busy over the last couple of years, and we've seen significant growth in numbers. We're praying this continues.
I'm very excited about what's ahead for us as a church, and there are a number of new opportunities and initiatives on the horizon that will require my energy and commitment for us to continue to thrive and to flourish.
With this in mind I wanted to let you know that, in July this year, I made a decision to step aside from the Commission UK Leadership Team for the next season of life and ministry. This will free up some much needed time to prioritise Welcome Church, and my family.
I chose not to say anything publicly about this decision before the Commission Festival, in order to avoid any confusion around the role I was playing there, and also to allow some clear space to reflect on the decision and discuss it with the right people, and for God to speak into the decision too, which He has most definitely done (and that's another story!)
The future
As a church we remain part of Commission, and are committed to the vision of seeing 1000's of lives transformed through 100's of churches in 10's of nations. We will continue to build our connections with India. We will still be involved in many events and activities going forwards. We will still be going to the Festival in the summer. Jo is still part of the leadership of the Commission Collective who lead worship at the Festival. There may also be some areas where I continue to serve our wider church family too.
I do feel some sadness about the decision to step aside from the team, but I also feel a deep sense of peace that it's the right call to make, as well as a growing excitement about our future together at Welcome Church.
Hopefully I'll see you on Sunday morning for the launch of our brand new Autumn Preaching Series, and then again at 7pm for our Prayer and Vision evening where we'll be reflecting on the last year together and talking about the year ahead.
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