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Wot no church?


In the light of the recent coronavirus outbreak, many churches are changing the way they connect together. For many this means no meetings on a Sunday for a season and even no small group gatherings. What can you do to make the most of this time as a family and grow spiritually?

Jesus often withdrew to a lonely place to pray and it seems that for many of us we are entering a season of withdrawing from others. Whilst others are fighting to keep this country going, let's make the most of this season to seek God's face, grow closer to Him and build His kingdom.

Whilst there are many new stresses and routines have been broken , let's not forget that we serve a great God and now is the time for the church to rise up and shine for Jesus.

Many families will be spending a lot more time together, whilst others will be working at full stretch to keep our country going. In times when a nation is in crisis, it is vitally important that we seek God. This is an opportunity for the whole nation to reflect on the very foundations of our lives and to seek God. God’s judgement on nations is found when they go through times of crisis but do not choose to seek him.

If you are stuck at home, with your family, I want to encourage you to see this as a time of retreat from regular life to encounter God. Don’t get sucked into endless binge watching, but set aside time to encounter God on your own and as a family.

Do connect as closely as you can with your local church. Pray for your leaders, tune in to the online services and pick up the phone to talk to your friends.

We are producing a number of resources to help you do prioritise time with God as a family. Firstly, later this week we will be working with TBN UK to record a special edition of At Home with God and a special children’s programme addressing some of the issues our children are facing and encouraging them to depend on God.

Secondly, we have begun daily family devotionals that are available as a podcast. Help us spread the word. To accompany these podcasts we also have an activity pack that has loads of ideas of how you can talk about the teaching further, pray and have fun together as a family. The podcast is available on our websites, anchor.fm and spotify. It will soon also be coming to UCB radio, Apple Podcasts, Google podcasts and others. Whether you choose to use our family devotionals or not I want to encourage you to have time together as a family devotional.

Also, now is a great time for you to watch the At Home with God series, if you have not had a chance to do so yet. Series 1 & 2 are available on demand together with an accompanying workbooks.

Let’s make the best of this time. Feed you spirit, believe God for a great awakening in our nation and pray for God’s mercy on our nation. Remember, even in the midst of the devastation we are seeing, the sickness of sin is a far greater evil and Jesus has given his life as a cure for all. The church has not stopped, the kingdom of God is still moving forward, now is our time to see real lasting change for the better in our nation as we press in for more of God.
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