Dear Friends<\/p>\n
I hope you have all managed some time to yourselves over, what we have been told, was our summer!\u00a0 The weather may have left us feeling frustrated and down because we were unable to be outside as much as we would have liked, but it may have given rise to new activities or simply reading numerous books over many cups of tea or coffee!!\u00a0 Whatever has been your experience, one thing is for certain, it is once again over all too quickly.<\/p>\n
As I\u2019ve reflected over this past year I am extremely aware of all that has happened to us as a congregation and individuals.\u00a0 My first thought is to say it is hard to believe a year has passed, time seems to have moved so quickly and yet for some of you it has been a difficult time through the death of loved one, ill-health, concerns for the future both for self and the church are uppermost in your thoughts.\u00a0 And yet, there is a real sense of knowing God walking beside you, carrying you and enabling you to carry on, I have no doubt He will continue to do so as we move into another church year.<\/p>\n
This new calendar year highlights where we are in God\u2019s plan.\u00a0 Our buildings are now complete and offer so much to our organisations and community, the upcoming Ceilidh on the 19th<\/sup> of September will \u2018launch\u2019 the refurbished Large Hall which looks great \u2013 many thanks to all those involved in ensuring the work was overseen and finished on time.<\/p>\n I have always had a feeling of our congregation working together as the Body of Christ and this kind of project shows the gifts we have in abundance, we are truly blessed by God.<\/p>\n My hope and prayer is that we continue to recognise within ourselves, and each other, the wonderful work God is doing through the power of His Holy Spirit in bringing those gifts which will make us strong and courageous as well as gentle and compassionate for the kingdom work that lies ahead of us.\u00a0 Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12: 12 \u2013 13 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.\u00a0 So it is with Christ.\u00a0 For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body \u2013 whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free \u2013 and we were all given the one Spirit to drink<\/i>.<\/p>\n Whoever is coming to Clincarthill as our minister they have a body of people who are both equipped and being equipped to serve in the future for God\u2019s kingdom to grow in this community, of that I have no doubt.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a real joy to see the growth in our people during this time of vacancy.<\/p>\n God bless you in all that lies ahead and may we always seek His wisdom and guidance in all we say and do.<\/p>\n Love and Blessings<\/p>\n Joan<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Friends I hope you have all managed some time to yourselves over, what we have been told, was our summer!\u00a0 The weather may have left us feeling frustrated and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8z2vw-b6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1599,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/ministers-letter-jan-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":688,"position":0},"title":"Minister’s Letter – Jan 2018","author":"admin","date":"8 January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God\u2019s will for you in Christ Jesus (1st Thessalonians 5: 16-18 NIVUK) Change is an inevitable part of life, and in recent decades, we have seen the speed of change increase dramatically. Even I, as a 27-year-old, have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":978,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/ministers-letter-feb-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":688,"position":1},"title":"Minister’s Letter – Feb 2017","author":"Graham Shankland","date":"18 February 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear friends, I hope that this monthly letter finds you well. It\u2019s difficult to believe a month has passed since I last wrote! This month, there are two things I wish to share with you in this letter. The first is to say that Ruth and I continue to feel\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":726,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/message-from-our-locum-joan-kilpatrick-dec-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":688,"position":2},"title":"Message from our Locum \u2013 Joan Kilpatrick \u2013 Dec 2015","author":"admin","date":"7 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I have found myself looking back over this year and being aware of how quickly it has gone by, must be an age thing!!\u00a0 How much we have achieved together is a sign of true faith which has seen us face all the ups and downs of our lives. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":689,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions\/689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}