The Gift of Extra Months

1 Peter 2:5 says that we (the church) are living stones, being built into a spiritual house, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. That feels like a theme verse for this final phase of the renovation project at Lytham Road. In the pictures below, you’ll see the combination of progress being made on the building, alongside the still very active construction site with its mud, unfinished surfaces, and heavy equipment.  

These pictures are a great visual representation of the final phase, both for the building and for us as a congregation.  

While on one hand, I wish we were re-opening the building in a couple of weeks, on the other hand I’ve come to believe that God has given us a gift of another couple of months. I believe we have an opportunity this summer to process what challenges we’ve faced together in this Tabernacle season, to cement some of the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve sacrificed, adapted and grown, and to prepare for the ministry God is calling us to when we re-enter the Lytham Road Campus.  

Construction of a building is messy business, and so it is in our spiritual lives. But we are sure of this – God is the one working to build us up. So as we continue to wait, and to pray for the work being done on the building, I want to encourage you to also be asking, “God, how might you be using this waiting season to build us up as a congregation?” 

For those of you who worship with the Lytham community – this will be a theme of our times together for worship this summer at Windermere. As your pastors, we are planning times of worship and prayer, and teaching, meant to help us process, rest, and prepare.

And for all of us, at both campuses, and those supporting and praying for this project from afar, I’d encourage you to be actively seeking how it is that God is working to build us up, together, as the Body of Christ.