By Andrew Franklin
Sunday 19th September 2021 our Grand Opening had arrived, almost exactly one year after Sam Jameson and I had invited Travis to Colchester with a view to possibly starting a new work here.
What a year it has been! As we reflect we marvel at God’s work in our midst, how He has brought together a core of like-minded believers, all different and having a variety of gifts, in various stages of Christian maturity, and has used them to birth the Colchester Mission.
There have been challenges, and I think the greatest of these was when we had to move locations three times in two months. Looking back we were homeless with 60 hymn books and not much else but through a wonderful member of our congregation we were able to rent the former Mercury Theatre’s rehearsal room and, after much hard work, our new premises are newly painted, have new carpets, and are generally unrecognisable from when we first moved in. We have much to be grateful to God for.
And so to the Grand Opening. We were blessed to welcome 58 people to the Mission, family and friends, a contingent from our sister church, Downham Baptist, and at least one curious local person.
We began by singing the Hymn, ‘To God be the Glory’ which we had sung at our unofficial launch, and then we reflected on the significance of our building’s location which is actually on the medieval Headgate. Ricardo Hipoito opened us in prayer and gave greetings from Downham Baptist Church. Words of greeting were read from Pastor Gearóid Marley of Alconbury Independent Baptist Church. The Revd Daniel Chae kindly shared some words of encouragement and brought greetings from South Korea. Sam Quinn who has been a tremendous blessing to us briefly shared what it means to be a Church Planter before the Snode family sang a marvellous song, ‘Jerusalem’ which was very warmly received. Finally, our Pastor spoke on the words of Jesus when He said, ‘I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’.
A wonderful promise and we are all now looking forward to what the Lord will do in the coming year!
Here are a few upcoming events:
- Sunday 26 September 6.30pm – Worship Service (NO 5.30pm Small Groups this Sunday)
- Tuesday 28 September 8.00am – Prayer Meeting
- Tuesday 28 September 7.30pm – Bible Study
- Saturday 9 October – Men’s Breakfast
Below you can watch the service. (We apologise that part of the opening did not record properly.)
Also, here are some photos from the service.
