Being discontented with the church we were attending by default, Erica and I decided to give church hopping one more chance. I talked Erica into visiting a C.O.E. in the nearby village of Loose. (I've mentioned Loose before here) While church hopping initially we had heard the curate (read associate pastor) of All Saints Loose speak at a different church and I was impressed so we decided to give them a chance.
We are so glad we did.
Our first visit was Palm Sunday and was the kickoff of a week known as Passion For Life week in which the church was very intentional about welcoming outsiders. They had a quiz night the night prior, the first session of Christianity Explored the next night, and other events for the non-churched public. We were warmly welcomed (there's a first time for everything) and ended up meeting the vicar (read head pastor) and his wife and chatting for a bit after the service. We told them why we were in the UK and that I had been looking for a job. We mentioned the church we had been attending and Steve told us that All Saints was probaly more "text based" than the church we had been attending and then proceeded to use the term "expository preaching" as the method the church followed in teaching scripture. I have never in my life been to excited to hear that term.
It turns out that Steve (the vicar) just took over the post in September and that All Saints is his first head pastor position. He is a graduate of Oak Hill Seminary which is one of the seminaries I was considering if we stay over here long term. There is certainly an enthusiasm and life to the church started by the previous vicar and now really taking off with Steve. The church isn't a one man show however and that is another aspect that we are excited about. There seem to be four or five other Godly men who preach on a regular basis and wise believers of both genders who make up the church along with a lot of newer Christians.
Erica is jumping right into helping the church do some branding and establishing itself graphically. We're still considering what exactly my role might be, but it sounds like we'll at least be helping out with youth group a bit.
With All Saints as a home base we are really beginning to contemplate being over here long term. If we can play a role in a growing body (and get Erica or I a decent job) we'd love to do it and there are so many opportunities in the C.O.E. for followers of Christ to step forward into a society that is suffocating without Christ both inside and out of the church.
We have been so blessed in our two months of being a part of the body.
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