The Globe Church staff team enjoyed a celebratory staff lunch today to reflect back on the year, and thank Alice – The Globe church’s first ministry trainee – for her contribution to it. We are so grateful to God for the ways which we have grown relationally, in our capacity to disciple one another, in our mission and generosity. Highlight’s included our move to a new venue…

After two years of searching, we have found a home for the meantime in a lecture theatre on Guy’s Campus of Kings College. We praise God for a space that we can sing in, that is conducive to listening, and doesn’t have resident rodents (like the last place)! Conveniently situated next to London Bridge station, and close to Willcox House, we are grateful to God that we have been able to run kids work and retain our meal together whilst having much more space in which to worship God and invite friends.

We have been thrilled to welcome a sea of newcomers, and to see them quickly involved in the fabric of the church. The day away in October, Globe Get Away, was a real testament to this – not only did many new people come along, it was organised and run by people who just months earlier were themselves newcomers to Globe.

Focus has been key in drawing people deeper into community. In splitting into two evenings (Wednesday and Thursday) we saw a 50% increase in attendance. What felt like a risk to the leadership has borne much fruit, and it has been thrill to welcome over 100 to join us midweek. We have been stretched in our thinking about the theology of work through the Cultivate series, had our minds blown as we saw the theme of redemption brought to life through the Exodus account, and become excited together over the core values at The Globe Church- relational, discipling, missional and generous. Thursday found the acronym ReD MuG helpful in remembering these values. Wednesday laughed in the face of such a need. But then got smashed by Thursday in the Globe Extra rounders match…brains or brawn? You decide to which night you belong!

The Have You Ever Wondered month was a fantastic month in the life of the church as we raised the profile of mission and encouraged church members to bring along friends. We introduced Wonder by the River; it was thrilling to engage tourists in discussions about the gospel, a practice we are hoping to expand in the years ahead. The Mark Drama was a real highlight of this month, using the arts to bring the gospel of Mark to life. It was so natural to talk about Jesus off the back of the performance, and watching the cross narrative brought to life reduced the actors to tears as they practiced. It was no less moving on the night, and really helped people to engage with the reality of what our sin cost, and how incredible to think that in Christ we will never face that agony because of his sacrifice on our behalf.

We have been challenged through the book of 1 Corinthians in the Sunday sermons, and it has been amazing watching that teaching spring to life as members are flourishing and using their gifts through writing, Bible teaching, drama and song. We have grown relationally not just through the joys, but also the sorrows. Alice shared how touched she has been to see the church care for the suffering. The homeless outreach has been a real joy, and welcoming all sorts of different people into the church has felt exactly where we want to be headed.

And One21… wow, what a blessing that app has been in helping us to engage much more deeply with the sermon, in relationship with one another. We do praise God for the gifts and heart he has given to James to develop such a powerful digital tool.

Our staff team has grown relationally through our weekly lunch, study and prayer, and are thankful to God that as He is relational, so he calls us to work relationally. We are thankful to God for a great team of workers, and though we will miss Alice, we praise God that we can welcome two new ministry trainees onto this team for the year ahead. One of the huge benefits of having ministry trainees is the increased capacity for one to one discipling that this affords us.