At our last Sunday Celebration, we had time for what we call Vision Sunday; time to talk about the vision God has given us as a church and to pray for the things we feel He has called us to work on in the coming months.

The key two things we have felt Him saying to us are:

1. Church At Barking Riverside as a relatively new church family, are in a similar transition period as the Israelites were when moving from the wilderness into the Promised Land.
2. A vision of 4 furrows being ploughed together in the same direction, towards the same goal of what God wants to do in this place, that His love and water of life will flow into and create growth.

If you didn’t manage to come along to our Celebration, here’s the talk Sam did that goes into more detail:

So I invite you to do two things off the back of Sam’s talk:

1. take time out of your undoubtedly busy day to sit and think about the place(s) and/or person/people that God has put on your heart. That He shows ways for you to be able to join in with the work that He is already doing there, that you can join in with and help make a difference. This may be an opportunity to practice Listening Prayer if you haven’t already.
2. add the 4 furrows that we believe we’re being called to work on as a church family to your prayer list. That we may decern the right approach, resources and people to actualise what God has set out for us to do:
   • Youth and worship/creativity
   • George Carey and The Rivergate Centre as physical spaces we can connect with others in the community
   • Communications and raising our visibility/voice across the estate and wider
   • Training and Empowerment – as we are a Disciple Making Movement, may we be able to raise up more disciples and give them the confidence to fulfil their calling whatever it may be

I invite you to share whatever comes out from the two exercises above if you get the chance to do either of them, as it would be really useful to us if there are any further steers from our wider church family that He is giving us. If He puts anything on your heart to share, then please do Get In Touch!