Green shoots & fruit (Minister's message)

I can see some green shoots and I can’t wait to taste the fruit.

Down in my back yard I have a raspberry patch. During the months of summer, every couple of days, I normally get enough raspberries for a bowl of dessert and from time to time a handful of raspberries for on my breakfast cereal. About 2 months ago I had to prune them back to twigs of wood poking out of the ground. If you go down to them now you can see the green shoots and with a bit of work and care I will be tasting the fruit.

In the life of our church there are green shoots of new life sprouting as well. With the green shoots of our young families, including our children’s and youth ministry, there are great signs of new life. Over the last couple of months, we have been extending our nursery area on the side of our worship centre. This has been made possible through someone seeing the need and offering a very generous donation. Others have come along side and supported this project with generous donations and the nursery area should be completed in the next week or two. A couple of weeks ago we were also given a grant from Uniting to build a playground up on the edge of the bush where our children play after worship. With this and other donation’s given to help children’s ministry, we are nurturing the green shoots we can see in our young families. Nurturing green shoots takes time and energy but with a bit of imagination you can see the fruit.

Blessings,

Richard