Erik's Blog

As a nation, we’re moving quickly toward the General Election. You may already know how you will cast your vote; you may still be considering your choices. As a Christian, there is one message we are asking you to pass on to Parliament: I PROMISE TO VOTE.

Stand up and let parliament know that the Christian vote needs to be acknowledged in this General Election. To do so, you can sign this online declaration:

To The Speaker and Members of the House of Commons,

I promise to vote in the upcoming 2010 General Election using my Christian conscience to decide which party to support. I will be voting on matters of national importance to create a stronger and better country that reflects Christian values.

To sign the declaration go to: http://www.promisetovote.com

Last week I attended the Vineyard national leaders conference. At a seminar run by Jason & Michelle Scott (Vineyard Pastors from N. Ireland) they talked about getting out into the community and touching the lives of many. This is something we are really pursuing and emphasising at Woking Vineyard - we'd like everyone in the church to be involved in some form of outreach or community service. Things like Jigsaw, Outside Light and the Homeless shelters are part of this, but we also want to move towards doing things like Healing on the Streets.

Being a smallish church, we can sometimes feel a little inadequate, and this is where two encouragements really hit home from what Jason and Michelle shared:

1. Let's not define our success by counting how many people attend a church service but rather by counting how many lives we touch in the community.

2. Let's be a church that "punches above its weight". With the right God-directed connections and intentional focus we can make a hugely significant impact in our community that exceeds human expectations of a church our size.