Dear Northside
Welcome to the first Bulletin and Pastor’s Blog for 2026.
How was your Christmas and New Year? I hope and pray they were wonderful. Our Christmas services were amazing, and we had a wedding 2 days after Christmas. Thank you to everyone who was involved in our Christmas and New Year ministries. For some, it has been a tough time. We had 3 funerals. It seemed that the new year came really quickly this year. We do pray that you were able to rest a little bit, catch your breath, spend time with family and friends and recharge your internal batteries.
2025 was a tough year, but if you look closely, we achieved quite a lot. The church is looking better, and all our ministries did amazing things. We achieved all we set out to do and maybe even more than we expected. Helping people know God more and glorifying Him! Praise God!
2026 has already started off with a bang. No easing in gently. I am sure it is not going to be an easy year, but I am confident that God will continue to build His church here at Northside for His glory! Adding to the work done in the previous years. We have a lot of opportunities coming up in this new year for you to grow, serve and go! What is God asking you to do? Where is He asking you to give of your time, treasure and talent? Who is He asking you to come alongside in faith? Be expectant!
We are starting a new preaching series today, and I am excited to hear what God wants to say to His people, through His Word by His Spirit. This will take us right up to Easter, which is always a very special time.
In January, we have 2 leadership retreats. One for the elders and their wives, and the second for the church council. Please, can I ask you all to pray for our leadership? Pray that God will speak to us and that we will have ears to hear and hearts that are obedient to what God tells us to do. In February, we will have a meeting with all our ministry leaders to talk through 2025 and 2026.
The Livingstones school opens this coming week, with all the other schools nationwide. Please pray for parents, teachers, staff and students as we start a new year – new teachers, new classrooms, new friends, new curriculum. Please pray specifically for Livingstones as we try to increase our enrolment.
Please pray for all our ministries as they get started for the year ahead. May God inspire their leaders and teams. May God provide for all we hope to achieve. A word you are going to hear a lot about in 2026 is Discipleship. Are you being discipled by someone or in a small group? Are you discipling or mentoring someone or a small group? If you would like to know more about this, or you are not sure what this means or how to do it, please get in touch with our pastors, elders or the deacon overseeing discipleship, Mr Chris Lunga.
God bless, Pastor Gary