This Will Change Your Life Forever

Lesley's grandmother was born in poverty in Oklahoma towards the end of the "dustbowl" period; the aftermath of the Great Depression that John Steinbeck made famous in his book "The Grapes of Wrath". She left home at 16 and ended up living as a spinach farmer's wife in a tiny rural town. Some seasons were full of bounty and some seasons saw the entire crop wiped out by weather or disease. She had 4 sons and 3 daughters. Lesley's mum and her 2 sisters still live, but all of the four sons died in painful and difficult circumstances. Lesley's grandmother picked up major wounds from other events that aren't appropriate to share in an email like this. And yet until she died last week at the age of 99 she remained strong, cheerful, noble. Even through so many years and so much pain she kept on keeping on.

She said the source of her resilience was her God. You see, Mema (as Lesley called her) went to church. Even into her 90s when her knees were filled with pain, Mema spent her Sundays driving to and from the Sunday services where she would worship Jesus with her church family and draw strength again from her God. And so her passing makes us think about our Sunday routine. Is our Sunday routine one that sets us up for decades of goodness? Are we using our Sundays to draw strength from God and to help pour his strength into others? There is a great cloud of witnesses who testify to the enduring, pulsating power that comes from going to church every single Sunday.

And so we want to invite you - and all of Croydon - this Sunday to come and worship with us. Come and draw strength from our God. We've doubled our Sunday capacity through opening a new service at 4pm every week. It has amazing provision for kids of all ages, and we have already seen both fun, healing friendships beginning to form and deep encounters with God happening. You see the gospel of Jesus is this; God wants to help you. God wants to pour his strength into you. God wants to help you endure in decades of goodness. One of his major provisions to help you do that is his church. And your coming into that space is also part of God's provision for others who will be there. So, this weekend, if you don't do so already, why not choose to adopt the greatest habit that anyone could ever adopt; get yourself to church every Sunday, and invest in a life that will endure in everything that is good.

Taken from our CV Invite email 19/01/24 which can be read in full here - https://mailchi.mp/32b081e15313/this-will-change-your-life-forever