|
Dear friends,
Well the time has come for the change. You will remember that it all started in August 2009. There was a sense that God was moving and that there were going to be some changes around GRACEPOINT. One of them was a name change. The reasons were as follows:
1. Biblical
(There are many instances in the bible where names are changed)
2. Demographic
(We will no longer be worshipping out of Lonehill)
3. Jerusalem
(Acts 1:8 speaks of us being God's ''witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." Our new Jerusalem will be Glenferness. We do not want our new neighbors and new community to feel that we are outsiders invading them, but rather that we are a part of their community. Being called Lonehill Methodist Church could potentially not support this quest.)
4. New Journey
(As a church we are on a new journey, we will always be a Methodist Church, but as we claim the land and further work out how we reach the lost, we walk into a new expression of relevance, a new innovation, a new taste of an old truth.)
Part of the process that unfolded was that on the 2nd November the name change was raised at Fast Forward, our leaders meeting. We asked for thoughts and comments to be forwarded to me via email. On the 22nd November, I preached on some of the changes we were anticipating, Name Change and Service Time Changes. Over 2 weeks, the congregation was given an opportunity to ‘vote’ on some of the names that were suggested. The top two names were Hope Hill and Gracepoint, with Gracepoint receiving a slight majority on both occasions. On the 25th January, the leaders at Fast Forward were asked to indicate their preference between the 2 names. The results were marginal. Hope Hill received 4% more votes than Gracepoint. The Society Stewards were part of the discussions round the name change from the beginning and were supportive of the name change. On the 1st of February, myself, Jacqui and our heads of department finally decided on Gracepoint - A Methodist Church.
The change will officially take place on Monday 15th March. Thank you for being part of the journey, please don’t hesitate to email me
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
with any questions or concerns.
Blessings,
Gary and Jacqui |
