Hey Village,

It was wonderful to celebrate 4 years with you all on Sunday. I'm reminded of God's grace to his Church. Our 4 years are just the last crumb of God's work over thousands of years growing his people from every tribe and nation. And, it's by God's grace that we will continue to see his Church be light in the world and in our town.

Here's a few things to be aware of:

I always want to provide as many avenues as possible for people to grow at Village. Our aim is as Paul says in Colossians, to present all people mature in Christ. Maturity isn't just about knowledge of the Bible. But it is a significant aspect. Here are two options to help you grow.

Living Grounded Podcast

We've started a new season. No longer answering questions (although we might do a few special episodes). Instead, we will work through the highlights of the Bible from beginning to end. Each week asking how each episode relates to Jesus and to us 'living grounded'.

You can find Living Grounded on Spotify, Youtube & The Village Church App.

Deeper

If you want to dig even deeper into the Bible and theology over pizza with a good group of people. Then Deeper is for you. One Friday or Saturday night every 4-6 weeks at the Canosa's house.

At this point, it's just an expression of interest. To let us know you might be keen, click on the button below.

At Village Meet I gave the latest budget update. I've attached it below. The summary is that we are ok without being great. We were $20,000 behind budget at the end of April. We are essentially still $20,000 behind budget at the end of July.
Like I said, ok but not great. I've put to us at Village Meet that I would like to raise $15,000 for two items:

• To raise $5,000 towards providing some support for Laila. She has offered to work for nothing but I want her to be able to have a holiday, buy a new computer and so on.
• Contribute $10,000 to our budget deficit.

$6,500 has already come in so that means we only have $8,500 to go.

Can I ask you to prayerfully consider contributing to the $15,000 target using the Give button below (or the usual account details).
Could I ask that you include in the reference "October" so we can track our progress.

We don't want to just grow in our knowledge of the Bible. We want Village to be a place where our affections, our love and joy, are stirred toward God and each other. Again, this looks like two things:

Prayer & Praise Nights

We are going to close Bible Studies for a night to pray and to sing God's praises.

14 Days of Prayer

God's greatest gift to his people is prayer. For 14 days, let's call out to God with one voice.

For those who weren't able to make it to Village Meet. You can find the recording of the talk HERE

Ok, that's everything for August.

Let's see ourselves and each other for what we are in Christ.

God's chosen people, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, God's special possession.

Tim