My third Sunday away from Bethel, and I now have a communion score of four out of six! I followed the pattern of the last two weeks, going to one Caerphilly church and one a bit further afield. In the morning I went to Ararat Baptist Church in Whitchurch, who were celebrating their anniversary. The service was led by the pastor, Dave Hibbin, and the preacher was Andy Baker from near Salisbury. The sermon was on Romans 12 and also 1 Cor. 12, looking at how everyone has a role to play in the Body of Christ. A phrase was quoted today which might be well-known to some, but I only read it for the first time yesterday, and today I heard it in the service: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” which I suppose could apply to many areas of life, but it is especially helpful in reminding the church to focus on that which matters!
In the evening I went to Bethel, Bedwas. The service was led by Pastor Mike Edwards, and the preacher was Chris Wood from Newport, whom I have heard before. He also touched on the point from this morning that ‘God has called us not to be spectators’, although he also covered quite a lot of other ground… he certainly had plenty of time to preach on most of the Bible!
The aim of these visits to other churches is partly selfish, in that I am hoping to receive personally in my Christian walk, and partly church-orientated in that I am hoping to pick up some ideas! So far both of these aims have generally been successful to varying degrees. Of course, I have stuck entirely to churches which are within the same kind of theology and style as Bethel.
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