" Live such good lives among the pagans that,

though they accuse you of doing wrong,

they may see your good deeds

and glorify God on the day he visits us."

(John 11:25)

This will be the last weekly email until September as we take a summer break. There will still be weekly services available on YouTube and of course you can attend our church services in person at 10:30am on Sundays.

As we pause to some extent it is worth reflecting on the purpose of the church. Our mission statement at St. Luke's is: "To glorify God and enjoy him forever!" As we read through 1 Peter we see it begins with great joy in the living hope that God has given us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has certainly made it possible for us to enjoy him forever!

Yet, that joy comes when we glorify God. It also happens when we encourage others to glorify God. In the verse above, Peter says that can happen when we live good lives. Others will see our good deeds and recognising that they stem from our faith in Christ will want to join with us and so also glorify God!

Isn't that a wonderful vision? Let's pray that as we come out of these strange times as a church we will increasingly be a people encouraged to do good and to point people to Jesus! "To God be the  glory, great things he has done!"

This week's email includes:

• Previous Sermons
• Summer Focus: Recovery Plans
• Prayer Requests
• Notices in Brief: Boilers, Prayer Meetings, Harvest Appeals, PCC appointments and after church Zoom...
• Link of the Week: THRIVING in a time of Coronavirus, J.I. Packer

Previous Sermons: Did you know that on our website there is a whole back catalogue of sermons. All those before March can be listened to and the ones since March can be watched. I am now also including PDF files of the sermon transcripts for the sermons on 1 Peter. 

You can find all this on our Sermon page​.

Our PCC met on Monday evening and one of the items of discussion was our recovery plan as a church from the Covid-19 lockdown. There have been many positives about the way we as a church have coped with lockdown. The new thing that we want to continue coming out of it are the YouTube services. However, we also need to think and plan, if, when and how to restart other aspects of our church life.

We have taken the first tentative steps of opening up the church for in person services on Sunday mornings. However, we are very aware that these are very restricted and that most people at this stage feel it best to carry on watching the YouTube services at home. 

At present it is not clear what the situation will be in September. We hope the levels of infection in the country and locally will carry on decreasing, but we cannot be certain about that. Also, schools will be restarting with all students attending in September and that may change the way people feel about coming to in-person church. There may also be changes in the regulations of what we are allowed to do in church, but it seems likely that things will not be that different in September.

With all these uncertainties our plan is to form a small 'recovery group' in the second half of August to look at what is possible and when. Issues we need to consider include: how many services we will need on a Sunday, how we can restart children's work on Sundays, how might we have communion and baptisms and whether other mid-week groups that we run can start again.

We also need to complete setting up for livestreaming services so that we can continue offering access to services on YouTube without simply increasing the workload. At present we have purchased most of the equipment we need, but there is a key piece of technology that is at present unavailable in this country.

Please do be praying through the summer that we can make effective and wise decisions about the best way to move forward in September.

Be assured I will do my best to check that people are happy for the requests to be shared before including them. Please pray for:

• June Warren and family after the death of Gordon Warren.
• Beth Patterson's mum who is now back at home, but very weak. She is hoping to have radiotherapy on 11th August.
• Debbie Smith who had an operation to remove a sarcoma from her stomach recently. Give thanks for a successful operation and pray for a good recovery and wisdom for the doctors on the need for any further treatment.
• Nathan. Give thanks that he is now clear of cancer cells. Pray for wisdom for the doctors as they consider possible treatment to stop the cancer recurring.
• Fay Hatton for a good recovery after the operation on her wrist.
  
• Pam Morecroft, who is now in Westbrook House recovering from her broken wrist.
• Joy Smithers in Westbrook House  to receive physiotherapy.

• Joy Ovenden and Shirley Crabb who are in a lot of pain with their hips.

• Gloria's daughter's friend, Barb, who has just been diagnosed with having pancreatic cancer. Who is now having Chemotherapy.
• Mitch Styles that he will be relieved from his severe anxiety.
• Pauline Mackinney's sister having investigations on her heart.

• Virtual Ventures:
  -Pray that young people would have a genuine encounter of Jesus
  -Pray that those who are new to Ventures would feel welcomed
  -Pray that technological issues would be avoided.

Prayer from Church of England for during Lockdown:

Lord, you are ever watchful
and bless us with your gifts;
as you provide for all our needs,
so help us to build
only what pleases you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Boilers: The PCC took the decision to go for a refurbishment of our present boilers in the hope that they will last a few more years and we will be able to go for a more permanent solution to our heating needs in the church when many of the present uncertainties have passed.

The cost of the refurbishment including a proper flushing of all the pipe work will be just under £5,000. We are grateful that we have already received a donation of £1,000 towards this. If you would like to make a donation to the cost of this we would be very grateful! You can use St. Luke's Online Donation. Please state clearly that the money is to go towards the refurbishment of the boilers. Any money raised for the boilers that exceeds what we need will be kept for future development or replacement of our heating system.

Prayer Meetings: There are two prayer meetings in the next week on Zoom - one for Thanet wide churches this Sunday (26th July) @ 7pm:  https://zoom.us/j/99094930945.

The other is the Churches Together in Ramsgate prayer meeting on Saturday 1st August at 9am: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8651865167

Harvest Appeals: At the PCC we decided that our Harvest Appeal for this year will be the Tear Fund Coronavirus Emergency Appeal. We will have our normal fund raising efforts at the end of September and beginning of October. We will also collect non-perishable food stuffs for the Food Bank. So do think about putting tins and packages aside now so we can make a good contribution.

PCC Appointments: The PCC made two key appointments on Monday. We are grateful to Eleanor Dawson for serving as Secretary for the last few years. Sadly, she, Andrew and family are moving to Edinburgh in the summer so she is standing down as PCC Secretary. We will miss them as a family and are grateful for their many contributions to the life of St. Luke's. Do pray for them as they make the big move. 

I am delighted, however, to announce that Brenda Walters-Erlam has been appointed as the new PCC secretary.

We have also decided to make the Parish Disclosure Role part of the administrators job, so that we can tighten up on our safeguarding. The role is to carry out DBS checks on volunteers involved with children, young people or vulnerable adults. The PCC have now appointed James Patterson, our administrator, to this role. We are grateful to Victoria Waldie for all her hard work on this over the last few years.

Zoom after the service: We're continuing with these Zoom meetings after the service on Sundays for those watching online and even for those who have been to the building! Do join us if you can from 11:30am until 12:30pm. Just click the button below:

Thriving in a time of Coronavirus and Beyond​

Although this is written for full-time ministers, much of what is said is pertinent to all of us, particularly those who are working through the Pandemic. Lots of wise advice here to help us to THRIVE. 

J.I. Packer, Knowing God, author dies at 93​

Those that have been Christians a while, will no doubt of read or heard of J.I. Packer's books. Sadly he passed away last week. Here is an obituary.

Don't forget to join us on YouTube this Sunday and every Sunday through the summer. (Video should be available from 6am on Sunday mornings).

Yours in Christ,

Paul.