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IN FOCUS - Our Church "Facts and Figures" |
| The Christadelphian Church
Old Trafford is set in an old chapel, which is still known locally as the
'Bethel' (Bethel is also the name of the place where Jacob dreamt about
the ladder to heaven!). The building was built in 1899 and a stone on the
front of the Bethel has an inscription indicating that it was laid on 18th
July so it's almost a century old.
Earlier this year, before an evening service of the dozen or so people who had arrived earlier, there were eight different nationalities represented. There is also a wide age range of people who belong to our church, from those who have just committed their lives to Jesus, to those who were the first members, when the church moved into the 'Bethel' building in the 1930's. We number on between 60 to 70 members with around 45 regularly attending. There are others including
many children and young people who regularly attend our services. Being
a University City with at least 4 universities, plus other colleges of
further education we have a good number of students who attend and contribute
to church activities.
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THOUGHT - "A New Year Thought" |
| In the weeks before Christmas
you couldn't wait to open those presents, especially if you are young (it
seems that most of us adults have either got used to waiting or we could
probably buy the thing ourselves so we are not so excited over a gift?).
But when it comes to New Year things seem to swap around don't they; going
back to work, going back to school, the end of a holiday – and what about
those resolutions. Yes, resolutions, amongst other things, are things
we don't mind waiting for. We know we should do them, that's why
we made them in the first place, but do we carry them out? You don't
have to wait before you do it, it's not like waiting for a Christmas present
remember, but I think we make ourselves wait till New year because we don't
really want to commit ourselves.
Knowing God is a bit like all this. To know Him is a gift from Him, which we should be excited about. Also, deep down, we know that we should make the resolution to seek Him out. But with God there are some important differences too. There is no need to wait because God always holds His hands out to those who would come after Him. And, maybe unlike some of those New Year resolutions, we shouldn't put Him off for, in the words of the apostle Paul, "I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation." |