Letter from Luke Shooter

Dear church family,

It’s an exciting season in the life of our church at St Thomas’. Last week we got to meet the Mantles. Please keep them in your prayers: Ellie asked us to pray for wisdom as they get the kids settled into school and Mickey asked us to pray that he would trust God’s word to do the work.

This Sunday (12 September) is Mickey’s first message as our new senior minister. He’s speaking on Hebrews 12:1-2 and will be encouraging us as we run the race of our lives.

Then the following week (19 September) we will be starting a new series in the letter of 1 Timothy. We will be looking at 1 Timothy in all our services and it will take us right up to Christmas.
So why should we study 1 Timothy together?
Paul wrote to Timothy, to give him some guidance as his young apostolic delegate at the church in Ephesus. Paul had spent at least 2 years in Ephesus preaching and teaching and many had turned to Christ during his time there (you can read the back story in Acts 19).

Even though he was young, Timothy needed to think through a wide range of issues; from dealing with false teachers to roles in the church; from who should lead to how they addressed pastoral matters.

Paul states his purpose for writing in the middle of the letter: “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:14-15)

Isn’t it incredible to think that we at St Thomas’ are God’s household and that God has chosen us to be a pillar and buttress of the truth?

I hope you can see why this letter has been chosen. A young new pastor settling into a big church to build on the foundation that has been laid…sounds like a great letter for us today. It will be a great vision setting series as we listen to God’s purpose for us as a church and how we can be fit for that purpose.

Three things we can be doing during this series:

Firstly, let’s commit to reading it for ourselves. I have found the ESV Illuminated Scripture Journals great for reading and making personal notes in.

Secondly, let’s commit to praying through the issues it raises each week. Pray that we would be the household of God that is ordered by His word. And we would also appreciate prayer as those who will be teaching it to you too.

Finally, let’s also commit to discussing it and talking about what we are learning each week from the passage. There will be some great things that it will raise, there might be some hard things, there might be some things we have neglected. Let’s keep the conversation going after the sermon has finished.

Together in Christ,
Luke Shooter