As we start 2024 there’s a real sense of expectancy, that change is coming. Some reasons are obvious – for one thing, Zahra our friend and resident blog writer, is on maternity leave….so you’ve got me today! Locally, we’re into our final year of funding as a church community….so we’ll be discerning together the long-term shape of our life as a community based on what we see God doing and hear Him saying. Nationally, it’s an election year….so [insert comment here!] 🙂

But there’s something more. A deeper sense that this is a year when things can / will / have to change. 

I’ll be honest, I’ve felt that way most years – especially since responding to the call to move to Barking and start a worshipping community here. This journey has been intense at times, sometimes in almost constant transition….and in the last few Januarys I’ve tried to plot a course or spell out a strategy for what the year will hold. 

2024 is different. My sense, as I pray and pause at the start of the year, is that it’s not about our trying to make change happen. It’s about trusting ourselves to the One who is bringing change. The key is not our plan, but our posture. Am I ready to approach this year as if all the challenges, opportunities, hopes, and obstacles are already in God’s hands? As if He already knows how He will provide, where He will lead, what we as individuals and a community will look like come 2025? If I’m ready to trust, I’m free to pause and see where He is moving, to hold lightly things that seemed so important, to listen to what He’s saying through the people around me, and be open to “your will be done, your kingdom come.”

So, as we start this year, I’m praying for grace to adopt the posture of peace – to hold the hand of God and tread gladly into the unknown.

If you want to join on the journey, why not share this prayer that has spoken to us?

You can join us through one of our Hubs, get in touch for prayer, or watch this space to be part of a journey of discerning together over this coming term what Church at Barking Riverside looks like in the long-term.