Second to Last Week in Wales

          I almost cannot believe that I have just finished my second to last week in Wales.  In a little over a week I will be back on a plane headed to for the United States.  I'm not particularly looking forward to the trip itself as it is quite wearisome and stressful (the trip back will be a few hours longer than the one over).  But I know that God will go with me in it and probably bless it in some ways that I do not expect.  It is certainly a good time of reflection, prayer, and reading.
           The weather this past week has been really nice.  It reached around 75 degrees Monday (hot for the UK), and the weekend was sunny and like a warm spring day back in North Carolina (they would call them summer days here).  It has been so sunny and warm that I commented to Ruth on our trip to London (more on that later), that England just doesn't feel like England in the sunshine.
           It has certainly been good weather for a number of trips around town this week.  Wednesday before our midweek gathering I took an hour or so to explore the neighborhoods and "lands" surrounding the church building.  The church building is located in a fairly unique place, with great access to the city center and neighborhoods.  It is about 10 minutes walk from the main business district on the other side of the river and in an area packed with homes.  From the main road you turn left and pass under the railroad to enter a "secluded" neighborhood of over 300 houses crammed together around a small park and bordered by the river.  The Church is right in the middle of all this and is in a great place for outreach and ministry.  After I explored this area I followed a path along the river which led me up to a fairly new primary school.  From there I explored some large parks (mostly soccer pitches) that stretch under the M4 motorway to the north.  It was a really neat area to explore and has given me a great idea of where to go running in town near the church building.
           Along with this trip I visited Mike over at Cardiff University on Friday.  He gave me a tour of the

buildings he is in most often, which are primarily bio-medical science buildings.  Unfortunately there was pretty restricted access to a lot of these buildings on the weekend, so I didn't get to see as much as Mike wanted to show me.  Still it was pretty interesting.  Cardiff University has over 27,000 students scattered around the center of Cardiff and is well known as a research university with a medical school, law school, and a number of other degrees.
           I mentioned I went to London, but this is probably a stretch.  I went with Ruth on Sunday when she went to pick up Heather (her daughter) at Heathrow airport.  She was returning from a month in China.  This is probably as close to London as I will get while I'm here, which is alright.  London is such a huge city and I'd rather explore areas around Wales and West England instead.
           Sunday was also the day we had a congregational meeting after Sunday morning service.  It was a bit nerve-racking to try and direct this meeting for the congregation, but I think it went well.  We spent time talking about where Newport CofC is at currently and where they would like to be "going."  There is a great desire to grow, to be more organized, and to do a better job of reaching out to their community.  I was pleased to hear this and believe that God has given me abilities that can help us in reaching out to young

people, families, and college students in the community.  However, there is a lot of growth in discipleship/fellowship that is needed at the same time and we will need to be seeking growth for the right reasons.  Growth simply for the sake of growth, or because we think this will make us a better church are the wrong reasons for growth and outreach.  Our outreach and growth need to be driven by a deep understanding of the Gospel and a desire to share the love, grace, and truth that we have come to know in Jesus Christ.  I also took some time to share my thoughts and ideas with the congregation so they could see what I'm thinking.  I shared with them that I think a possible process towards good growth and outreach would be as follows: 1)Growth in discipleship/fellowship/worship; 2) Increasing involvement and ministry of each member; 3)Prayerful study of our culture/city to see how we need to adjust to be more relevant and counter-cultural; 4) Begin sustainable outreach to young people, families, and college students in our community.  Obviously some of this will need to happen simultaneously and will probably not be all lined up in order (I wish things worked that way...).  But I hope this process will give us direction and better understanding of what is needed and where we are headed.
               Please continue to pray for me and for the Newport congregation in this time of transition and preparation.  Please also be praying about an attempt we're making at outreach this Wednesday.  We've invited some of the kids from the youth club to dinner and Bible study on Wednesday night and I hope this will be a good opportunity for me to meet some of the teens as well as connect them with the Church.  So please pray that God would bring the right people together and help us make connections that He can use over the long term.  Thanks!

Sincerely in Christ,
Chris