Half way through 2019 already?

Can you believe it's almost the longest day? We're nearing the half way mark of 2019. Sunday comes around and sometimes it's hard to believe a whole week has passed and it's time to gather for worship again. As I always say, if you're bored with church life then you are doing it wrong!

I've been looking back at some of the things we've done so far in 2019, and it's a joy to review the life of our church. Every January I put a new verse on our Facebook page, it stays there for the year. For 2019 I chose a simplified version of Psalm 91:2 - "He is my God, and I trust him." Such a simple statement but a huge challenge to live out every day.

So what have we been up to in Trosnant...?

Bad weather had slowed the work down on the rebuilding of the steps and ramp access to our hall and so we were still eager to get back to using it, but had to be patient... as you can see, the work was taking shape...

At the end of January, our church meeting voted to appoint two new Deacons. Well, one new Deacon, and a returning Deacon. Dale Norman and Keith Fordham were both elected, bringing our leadership team to six. Praise God.

In February, we welcomed Lucien Tuinstra and Dominic Statham of Creation Ministries International. It was a busy evening with many questions, plenty of resources to choose from, and lots of tea and coffee served. The Creation meetings happen once every 3 to 4 months, be sure to keep an eye on our home page or our newsletter for information about the next one.

The end of March saw the LIFE Exhibition come back to Torfaen. It is overseen and organised by the Torfaen District Gospel Partnership, with a number of local churches working together.

It was great to be part of it again and we really enjoyed welcoming around 1000 local children to hear about Jesus. A number of the children knew Pastor Richard from his assembly visits. However the people in the photo below are some of Pastor Richard's more mature students :)

In April we joined with our brothers and sisters in High Street Abersychan for their Good Friday service. It was a joy to share worship with folk from different churches. Pastor Richard played the organ and Pastor John from Noddfa preached; then we all enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship afterwards. On Easter Sunday we had the joy of celebrating our risen Lord.

By the end of April the work on our steps and ramp was complete and we celebrated the official re opening of the hall. We were joined by our MP Nick Thomas-Symonds, Torfaen Council Leader Anthony Hunt, the hard working team who transformed the hall access and lots of friends and church family. After a Thanksgiving Service in the church, the ribbon was cut! Phil and Helen Norman had had their wedding reception in the hall 11 years previously, to the day, and so it was fitting that they would do the honours. We then had a cake reception in the hall.

In May we had an overdue goodbye and hello to former and new officers of the church. Sadly, Dale Norman was unable to be there, but our mini deaconette, his lovely daughter Felicity joined us.

June saw our first full 'Teatime@Trosnant' since the reopening of our hall and we had our largest afternoon tea gathering so far. 44 people joined us on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

We're so blessed to have these wonderful occasions in addition to our weekly Sunday services, mid week prayer meetings, and regular inter-church gatherings such as Ladies Prayer Retreat, and Eastern Valley Christian Men's Fellowship. We pray God's blessing for His will and on His work for the rest of 2019, and the years to come.

Next stop - Teatime@Trosnant on the 6th of July at 3pm. Get in touch if you'd like to come to that, or any of our meetings. There's plenty to do, and always a warm welcome at Upper Trosnant.