As it usually does Christmas creeps up very suddenly and catches us unawares. I would have loved to write a personalised card to everyone in the church but time has run out. Everyone who is part of Liberty is so very important to us and therefore a generic message that goes out to everyone just doesn’t seem appropriate.

Di and I feel really blessed and privileged to be your pastors and to be part of the Liberty family. Our society’s western mentality with its very individualistic, self-centred approach to life, can blind us to the importance and security of being part of a church family. Together we can do a lot more than we can do by ourselves. 

Many people become very frustrated as they start off with great dreams and visions of what they are going to achieve in this life, and then realise some where along the road that they are not going to reach them. Many times these dreams and visions were supposed to take place in the context of a team rather than as individuals. Without the amazing team of people at Liberty we could not have achieved much at all.

Whatever 2009 holds for us, I feel far more confident about going forward as part of a team. It is so good to know that there is the support of committed intercessors and a whole lot of other people doing their part. In 2009 we are going have some great victories and we will be able to rejoice together on those occasions. There will also be some difficulties and even some defeats. Together we can get through those times much better than we could alone.

As we have been coming to the end of the year we have been evaluating our last year. We want to improve and bear more fruit for God’s glory. We don’t want to keep making the same mistakes. We want be clearer on what is working best and what is in need of change. To help us do this we will be giving out questionnaires to everyone in the church so they can give us their feed-back.

Christmas is a wonderful time to reflect on the marvellous and miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. We pray that you have a wonderful time enjoying the celebration and especially that you grow in your understanding of God’s love, humility and mercy towards us.

God bless you and your family richly.

With much love from,

Richard and Di