God's purpose is not that we drift aimlessly or coast unthinkingly through the course of our lives. As the church, we are called to live with gospel intentionality as we bring the truth of Jesus to bear in community. This Sunday I will be preaching a message encouraging us to take on the responsibility to encourage one another, bear with one another, love one-another... (using mainly Colossians 3 12-17 as the text).

I like to call this ‘intentional one-anothering’- letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we live our lives together. This foundational necessity of church life is a significant burden for me, recognising that the vertical reality of our relationship with God is meant to be displayed in strong horizontal relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. My prayer is that this message will be an encouraging challenge as we look to build together the life of St Ives Community Church in the year ahead.