If Christians in Penyrheol choose to travel some distance to a big, lively church, it will often be King’s in Newport. So today I paid my first visit there myself. I can see why people are drawn to King’s: The music is lively with an impressive band on stage right from the beginning; Ray Bevan is a charismatic, exciting preacher; it is quite possible to be completely anonymous. I’m sure that when people get involved in the mid-week activities and events they can become ‘part’ of the church family, but anyone who chooses to attend on Sundays only, in the dimly-lit auditorium, can (if they wish) get away without ever getting to know anyone else, or ever being known by others. It suited me for a one-off visit while on sabbatical, but it made me aware of the strength of love and family at Bethel, and similar smaller churches, such as ACC.
The sermon was about covenant and grace – and Ray Bevan managed to link God’s covenant with Abram in Gen. 15 with David and Jonathan’s covenant in 1 Sam. 18, then how Mephibosheth benefited from that covenant in 2 Sam. 9, and how we in the same way benefit from the covenant between God and Abram through Christ, as shown in Gal. 3: 29 and it all came back to Heb. 4: 16 where we approach the throne of grace boldly, just as Mephibosheth was able to do in approaching David because of covenant! Clever! He had to exaggerate some of the story of David and Jonathan to make some of his comparisons work, but even without that it was a well plotted trail through the Bible showing the grace of God in his covenant relationship with us, and it linked with the Terry Virgo book on grace that I still haven’t read very much of.
Gateway is a church we have close links with, but until today I had never been to one of their Sunday services. So it was good to be there in the evening today. A nice crowd and a good service. David Ollerton was the preacher, on the subject of prayer, from the end of Eph. 6.
So far, in four services away from Bethel, I’ve had communion three times. Now, which churches are likely to be having communion next week…?
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