<div>Catherine thanked the whole St Mary’s Family for persevering over the past 18 months and for their patience, their willingness to try new things, for keeping their sense of humour and for the love and care <span style="font-size: 1rem;">shown to one another.</span></div>

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">She reflected on the Pentecost passage from the book of Acts. When we feel uncertain about the future of our churches we should remember the disciples didn’t know how they were going to fulfil Jesus’ command </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">to make disciples of all nations. They didn’t have a plan, finances or manpower. But God had a plan and the resources. Catherine reminded us that ‘The Church of God doesn’t have a mission in the world. The God of mission has a Church in the world’ and he will equip and empower us, through his Spirit for that mission.</span>

<div class="">It’s His mission and His Church. Sometimes we forget that and think it’s all down to us, rather than looking, watching, being alert to what God is doing and then joining in.</div>

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">The Spirit also pushed the disciples out of their comfort zones and they went to people and places they would never have imagined, empowered and equipped by the Spirit.</span>

<div>The pandemic has pushed the Church out of its comfort zone, to reach new people in new ways we wouldn’t have imagined. We need to learn from the experience. The Church will have been changed by the <span style="font-size: 1rem;">pandemic, but through the Holy Spirit the Church is always changing and being pushed out in new and unexpected directions – that is what it means to be church. But through the same Spirit, God has always </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">equipped His Church for every new situation.</span></div>

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">What God asks of us is to wait on Him – like those first disciples; expectant that God will act, open to the gift of his Spirit and willing to follow where the Spirit leads and guides us – including in unexpected directions.</span>

<div>The future of the Church may be uncertain, but it never has been set in stone. But it is secure in God’s hands and if we’re waiting prayerfully and expectantly, open to the Spirit and following the Spirit’s leading then we can look to the Church’s future with anticipation, confidence and hope.</div>

<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Catherine then set out some of the ways in which St Mary’s have been or will be waiting on God and seeking to follow the leading of his Spirit over the coming months which is can be read in the document attached to this news article.</span>