Chads News - 2nd Dec 2025

Dear Church Family,

What an amazing start to Advent!  Sunday’s baptism service was highlight of the year, such a beautiful moment of rejoicing.  Obviously, it meant a huge amount personally as a Dad, but I know I wasn’t alone in shedding a few tears at the inspiration of Dan, Jade, Charlie and Caleb’s testimonies and the power of the prophetic words spoken into their lives.  It is a day which will live long in the memory as a celebration of the many varied and glorious ways God is at work here.  Beginning a season of anticipation by celebrating the stories of what he’s already doing stirs our hearts in longing for more. 

On Monday morning, as we started December, with the amazing LifeCentre Christmas menu now available, we prayed that we would feel a real shift and change into this season of Advent.  November felt long, cold, dark and wet, but December is a season of anticipation and celebration.  Personally, I felt such a shift in my heart through the celebrations on Sunday, ready for more joy and celebration the coming weeks.  As I write this, I’m praying for you to have a similar shift, Advent is a time for a shift in perspective, from winter to hope, as we focus on Jesus, the source of our hope.   Our Advent theme is to focus on Jesus, to prepare our hearts for Christmas when we will be creating space for him.

Some other ways in which we will be focussing on Jesus through Advent are through our daily reflections and monthly prayer gatherings.  We began our daily reflections on Sunday and I do hope you are finding them encouraging at the start of each day.  If you would like to join our St Chads announcements community on WhatsApp then details for that are below.

As well as Sunday’s celebration of what God is doing, we had an amazing time with Year 1 from Romiley Primary School visiting last week to learn about Jesus, and a lot of encouragement from the Just4Dads Christmas curry night.  In each of these people have commented (as they often do) on the sense of life and presence of God in St Chads.  This is the fruit of being a praying church and when we see God changing lives, we long for more, and that stirs our hearts to prayer.   Our monthly gatherings are earlier in the month in order to pray for Christmas events and for the hundreds from our community who will be attending them. 

It takes a shift in our hearts, to move from the heaviness of winter, to focus instead on anticipation and celebration.  I pray for that shift for you and as you read on through Chads News and see the many ways we are finding to share the good news.  Please pray that as we create space for God in our lives and our church, the one who created space will come and dwell with us.

with love,

Richard.

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