Milton Hall Baptist Church, Lorne Street, Kidderminster


	A New Year - A New Start As we enter a new year we start to think about our aspirations, hopes and dreams for the next twelve months. Within just a few days we will have started well and failed well with many of our good intentions. Within the Church this year we have chosen to undertake the CWR ‘Bible in a year Challenge’ planning to as individuals read the Bible throughout the year using the passages laid out in a daily format. As we share in this together we will be able to encourage one another as we go, sharing together as we explore Gods Word. The text that I have chosen for the Church this year is taken from 2 Timothy 1:5- ⁵I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. ⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. As a church we have seen over the past twelve months many people coming forward to take on new roles within the life of the fellowship and the wider church. I have been reminded of the sincere faith that is evident in the lives of the congregation. My prayer is that in the coming twelve months we would take onboard the words of Timothy and ‘fan into flame the gift of God’. A New Year brings new challenges, new decisions to be made, but we can be sure that God is right beside us. He has given us gifts through the power of the Holy Spirit; we must now take those gifts and use them. As a fire is started in a hearth it needs to be gradually built up and brought into flame to be effective. If we are too effective for God we must allow God to work in us and through us as our Gifts are brought to flame. Let us this year lay aside our timidity and take up the challenge to be people living for God in a Spirit of power, of love and self-discipline.