Autumn Synod met on the 9th September at Emmanuel College in Gateshead. The theme for the day was Extravagant Generosity which continues the theme from the work of Robert Schnase on the five practices of fruitful congregations. Stephen Lindridge began with a story told by Rev Roger Walton from South Sudan where after villagers had hidden from those who had come to kill them, buried thier dead, they came together to share bread and wine and celebrate God’s extravgant gifts. The morning continued with worship led by Rev Alan Bradley and the band from Rowlands Gill Methodist Church.
Stephen shared thoughts on God’s generosity using the song Like the Sunshine by Stuart Townend and from Psalm 23.
Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.Psalm 23:6 MSG
We were then asked to respond by asking ourselves the following questions;
What comes to mind when you think of God’s generosity to you?
How’s your heart?
What hinders you?
What helps you?
What might God be saying to you in this whole area of generosity?
Finally, we heared from Rev Kathryn Stephens and Rev Tim Thorpe who brought personal stories of God’s generosity to them and we closed our time of worship with communion.
As we moved from worship to our time of buisness we were welcomed to Synod by the Rev Jona Sewell the new superintendent of the Newcastle West Circuit. We then heard reports from the servicing and resourcing group, pioneer pathways and the Regional Discipleship and Ministires Learning Network.
Highlights from the rest of the morning can be found here.
Credits – Church by Amy the Nurse under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0