Woodies News, comment

Yes, I'm 50 today! And I wanted to start the day by saying thank you. Thank you to God for the life he has given me with such a great family and wonderful friends and an amazing church.

When you reach certain landmarks in life, it does cause you to reflect a bit. I am looking back at almost 24 year of being part of our church, most of that time being a leader. I've seen it grow from about 60 adults meeting in Highgrove Church, to now well over 1,000 across three congregations.  I do love our church, not because it is perfect or because it is the best church in the world, but I love it because it is the Bride of Jesus. I look around on our Sunday gatherings and I see people who are genuinely trying to follow Jesus to the best of their ability, I see people who haven't got a faith yet feeling at home and welcomed, I see people who want to serve God not just on Sundays, but through out the week in their workplaces, communities and homes, I see people finding forgiveness, freedom and healing.

There are lots of people who think Christians make too much noise. All that preaching, telling everyone what to believe and how to live their lives – 'Do this! Don't do that!' And then there is all that singing on a Sunday morning. More noise! Given this bad press, it might seem strange that churches in north Bristol should get together and organise an event every May Bank Holiday and call it THE NOISE. The thing is, like many words, 'noise' has more than one meaning. While we tend to think of it as sound, often the kind that is unwanted, it can be used in another way: to make a noise is to make something known. And making something known doesn't necessarily mean making a loud announcement.