A Historic Day?

We live in an age that is uncertain about the future and obsessed with the past. Cynicism prevails too often and sows subtle but deadly seeds into the hearts of any that dare to look orward and dream of what could be. Relationships are not expected to last, new jobs will turn sour and we will be left dispirited and disillusioned....at least you could be forgiven for picking up these signals.

Contrast that with Gods people who look forward to eternity, a people that encourage, support and forgive one another. A people that dare to plan, and believe in a good and better future for all. A people not living on past glories (or failures!) and then you have to wonder whether yesterday was a historic moment for Hilton Church. After all, starting a second morning service is a daring and risky move. Failure would be visible to all and lets face it we all hate failure!

I have to admit that I wondered how it would go. Would anyone turn up for the second service at all? Would the first service still be full and buzzing in its usual manner now that we had moved it back half an hour to a 10am start? One of my Dad's favourite expressions is 'If it ain't broke don't fix it', and I am sure that many of those involved in the decision to change the format at Hilton worried that we might be doing just that, messing up something that was clearly working well, even though we have been planning and praying for growth for some time now. So, what happened.....?

Well, it was a great day of encouragement. The 10am service was packed with all of our usual folk, old and young, some back from holiday, and the team back from Peru. Murray and the gang led us in worship and a multi-national team from Operation Mobilisation told us of there work both at home and overseas. Phew!... one down and two to go...

The second service started a little late but we had 40 plus people present which was just great. Rodney from OM led us through the service and even led us in worship as a one man band (no problem he was given 5 minutes notice after all!). I was on the sound desk with Tom and we had to keep turning up the guitar because folks were drowning it out with their singing. Oh sure we had lots of empty seats but we had left them deliberately to remind us of all those folk that God has planned to come and fill them. So the second service had finally happened... great!

On to Impact Cafe and I am sure we had our biggest attendance yet. We had 10 tables out and must have seen 70+. As usual I had great difficulty getting them to stop talking and start the 'not so formal' proceedings. Our youngsters did their usual immaculate job of serving everyone and OM once again did a great job of informing and encouraging us; in fact it was very fitting that all of the services were led by OM, a Mission organisation about to celebrate Fifty years of International Mission. We learned of work in India where there have been thousands of so called 'untouchables', or Dalits as they are known, renounce Hinduism and embrace Christianity - a faith that would give them value, purpose and hope. We also learned of the work that OM is doing in London amongst the 1 million or more Muslims that now live there. The team from OM gave us a glimpse of what is happening around the world and I found it very encouraging against the background of our own efforts to 'mobilise' and go for it.

There are not many moments in life which one can look upon and say 'that was a Historic day', but I look forward to some time in the future when we all might look back and say ' that was indeed a Historic day for Hilton', a day that meant Hilton could go forward, a day without which many would not have had the chance to hear or know about the goodness, the hope and future certainty that is available for all those that belong to God's people in Christ.

Thanks to everyone for your prayerful and practical support.
Now lets move on and fill those empty seats! Amen.

Rob Barlow