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Chichester, My Weekend, and My Week Ahead…
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Chichester, My Weekend, and My Week Ahead…

Adrian Holloway on December 1, 2010 with 0 Comments

Thanks so much for those who have asked me about my visit on Sunday 28th Nov to Grace Church, Chichester. It’s one of the fastest-growing churches in newfrontiers, and it was a joy to be there at their 9.00am and 11.00am services. They did not want to go for healing, but they did want me to preach the gospel (which I did from John 3:16) and give an invitation to respond. At both services, 5 people responded.

Steve Petch, who leads the church, and who is becoming a good friend of mine was very positive afterwards, however, personally I had been praying for a larger number to respond. But it’s a privilege for me to be involved in a church which has made such huge strides forward in such a short space of time.

I also saw old friends Stuart and Jan Foster from the glory days at Queens Road, Wimbledon, and Doug Rotberg, who was part of the church at Reigate and Redhill when there were only 40 or 50 of us. So it was great to connect with them again.

This week, I am flying up to Scotland (snow permitting!) on Friday 3rd December to speak at two Carol Services at the foot of Edinburgh Castle, in a huge Church of Scotland building. Several universities in the city have come together to jointly host these two celebrations.

I have really enjoyed the interaction with the organizers building up to the event. Of course, the Carol Services present a truly unique opportunity to invite people into a context where they will hear the gospel.

One of the defining moments of my life was December 1989, when I was a student at Durham University. The Christian Union invited J John to speak at Durham Cathedral. There were only 5,400 undergraduates at Durham at that time, and 1,400 attended the service. It was the first time I had ever seen John in action, and two things stayed with me from that event. Firstly, that virtually all the people I had been trying to share Jesus with came that night and heard J John speak. In a single bound (because it was a Carol Service, and because it was in the Cathedral) more gospel content was delivered to more people than anything else that we did in my 3 years there. The second thing that stayed with me was seeing John in action and thinking: “that’s what I want to do with my life.” So, please pray for me, if you get a chance on Friday night in chilly Scotland as I try and unpack Christ, God’s gift at Christmas.

Then on Sunday (5th December) I am back at Christ Church, London, preaching morning and afternoon, as we continue our series in Matthew. I am speaking about Jesus cleansing the temple. (The bit where Jesus gets angry!) In John’s gospel, he “makes a whip” and drives them out!

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