Happy 40th Anniversary City Centre! 1980-2020

- Well done. Take a moment to celebrate God’s goodness to us as a church family.
- Keep going and keep growing (in every way!) If we coast, we are toast!
- Stay faithful. Revisit and renew your personal participation and commitment to our core beliefs and practices as a church family. If we compromise, we are crushed. “Hold fast” to Him. To His Word. To His Church.
- Stop regularly to look back on all that God has done. Memory can be a great tool to inspire us to move forward in faith.
- Love one another. We are living in raucous days and it’s increasingly difficult to find the oneness that is prescribed in the Bible as a key factor in the health of the church. Don’t kid yourself, City Centre has had moments of struggling to stay united, but in the end, we have, and it is “good and pleasant” when church family dwell together in unity.
- Give God the Glory. If we take the credit for what God is doing, we will be shelved.
It’s not exaggerating one iota to say that thousands have come through our doors, some were here only for a short time, some have stayed longer, and we have been blessed to be a blessing. Our Easter services in recent years have shown us the potential we have to reach this great city with the truth that is in Jesus. Pray that our vision and passion remains strong for the next leg of the journey.
This coming Sunday you will be able to hear a word of greeting from all 4 of the senior pastors who have been blessed to be your pastor. (I write this blog as number 4!). My word of blessing and challenge to our church family is taken from Jesus’ famous sermon in Matthew 5. In fact, this will be my text for Sunday, because the words seem fitting, knowing you as I do.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5)